Turning the Volume Up or Down

Dannah Gresh: Here’s Erin Davis with a paradoxical statement.

Erin Davis: When you turn down the volume on the flesh, you will turn up the volume on the Spirit. I can’t explain why it happens, it just happens. It’s supernatural. If I could live in a continuous fast I would. I can’t. Fasting is feasting, ladies, because when you are fasting there is a sweetness in your walk with the Lord that isn’t there otherwise. 

Dannah: Welcome to the Revive Our Hearts podcast for January 26, 2023. I’m Dannah Gresh. Our host is the author of Adorned, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Today we’re going to hear about a topic that you may or may not have considered before, and that’s the spiritual discipline of fasting. In fact, it may be a topic that you've considered and said, "Uh, I don't want to go there." For many of us, our relationship with food is, well, complicated. Today’s speaker on Revive Our Hearts is going to help us sort through what fasting is and isn’t. 

Erin Davis has written a book titled Fasting and Feasting. At the True Woman '22 last fall, she led a breakout session on fasting. You’ll hear that session today and tomorrow here on Revive Our Hearts. Erin heads up the Revive Our Hearts content team. And if you watch the weekly videocast, Grounded, she is one of the co-hosts. Erin and her husband Jason live on a farm in Missouri with their four boys. Let’s listen to Erin Davis with “A Practical Guide to Fasting.”

Erin: Okay, we’re going to do a little group participation. Everybody stand up, or don’t stand up, depending on what I say. So, everybody is getting situated, that’s good.

Stand up if you’ve ever fasted! Wait, wait, wait, let me give this disclaimer. I’m not talking about fasting for weight loss or other medical issues. I am not your guide for that today. You can probably tell I have a normal person’s body.

I’m talking about fasting for prayer. If you’ve ever fasted for prayer, I want you to stand up. Alright, good, you can sit back down. Who has never fasted for prayer? Alright, smaller group but close to half!

Who fasts regularly as a regular part of your spiritual life? Smaller group. I’d be in that group. Who goes to a church that teaches about fasting? Okay, more of you than I thought. Who has never heard a sermon on fasting? Okay, yeah?

Who can think of at least one passage (you don’t have to give me the address; I always say the chapters and verses are not inspired, so it’s okay if you don’t remember them. We live in the age of Google.) But who can think of at least one passage of Scripture that addresses fasting? I’m not going to make you quote it to me. Thanks, you can have a seat.

Who feels like you don’t really have the first clue about what Scripture says about fasting? Anybody in that group? Okay, a few of us, good. You can be thoroughly confused! Absolutely!

Well, I want you to know that I think there is room at the table for all of us today. We’re going to talk some about why I think some of us are confused about fasting; I think you can trace that to a couple of things. I imagine you didn’t take this session because fasting is a regular discipline in your life, though maybe it is.

Maybe you’ve fasted a time or two, and maybe you’ve never fasted. What I’m learning is . . . I did just come out with a new book called Fasting and Feasting; we’ll talk a little more about it. So that means I’ve been doing a lot of media interviews and being on podcasts, talking about the subject of fasting. 

They almost open the same way:

“I really don’t . . .”

“I’m interested, but I don’t really know what it means . . .” 

“I haven’t really heard anybody talk about it.” 

I would not position myself as an expert, but I have been studying it. I’ve been learning a lot about it, and I’m excited! I’m excited that we’re going to have this conversation. 

I hope it is a conversation where you can just talk back at me. You can heckle me; you can ask clarifying questions, whatever you need to do. But I think we’d better start with a four-letter word. (I’m going to say a four-letter word in the True Woman ’22 breakout): FOOD! Okay? (laughter)

We love food! Who loves to cook?! Me, too. Who hates to cook? It is your least favorite chore. Just be friends with one of us who loves to cook, because I cook like army-size portions every night. I don’t know why. Well, I live with an army, maybe that’s why.

Wherever you are on that spectrum, we need to realize we live in an absolutely food-obsessed culture. That’s not all bad, but it is all true. It’s good for us to recognize the waters we’re swimming in.

We read food labels. We count calories. We keep lists of our favorite recipes. We used to keep them in recipe boxes, now we just have Pinterest lists, right? It’s the same idea. I love the Food Network! I’m currently watching the spring baking championship, and I just love it!

But I think it is kind of indicative of how our culture thinks about food. Here are some top celebrities and their food network. Guy Fieri (I don’t know if that’s how you say his name, but you know, spikey-haired guy) Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. He’s worth twenty-five million.

Ina Garten, I love her lemon chicken. If you don’t have that recipe, you need it. She’s worth fifty million dollars! And Bobby Flay, who nobody can beat, on Beat Bobby Flay. (I think I could beat Bobby Flay!) (laughter) He’s worth sixty million dollars. 

So, you know, if we’re paying our chefs millions of dollars and our teachers tens of dollars, it’s indicative of this obsession that we have with food. Which is why food can be a really unique way that we live set apart lives for Jesus. It’s an everyday way.

So we talk about food a lot, we think about food a lot, we eat food a lot, every single person has to eat food every day. It’s kind of this great equalizer—unless you’re at a conference, and then, I know we don’t eat, we just go. Maybe we eat all the time, depending where you are.

This is just an interesting tidbit: cave dwelling olms, they’re these little lizards that live in caves. They are blind. They only eat once a day. God could have made us that way. (Isn’t that interesting to think about.) But God made us to need food every single day, and then He meets that need every single day.

Why? Why did He make us that way? Why are we forever tethered to food? The result is in many of us—women especially or at least women uniquely—we have a very complicated relationship with food. 

What I would submit to us is that I think for most of us, food is an area where we’ve never let our faith intersect. It seems carnal, like, “Does Jesus care what I eat or what I don’t eat?” “Isn’t He more concerned about my heart?” Well again, God made you to need food, and then made the food that you eat. So to have the idea that He’s unconcerned about it or that it’s not an area that needs to come under His Lordship is, I think, just a mark that we’ve really missed.

So again, I’m not a health expert, but I am someone who’s opened my Bible and said, “This is a pattern in my life. Okay, God, I want to know what the whole counsel of Your Word says about food. Because I don’t seem to be on the right track here.”

I’m kind of obsessed when I feel like the women in the church are missing something. I’m determined to figure it out and then teach it. So I have opened my Bible and said, “Okay, what does the living and breathing Word of God teach about food?”

Let’s think about that for a moment, holistically. I can tell already that you are some women with some depth. You could extract an Old Testament verse on food and build your food theology on it and you just wouldn’t be eating any pigs, and you just wouldn’t have a healthy understanding of food.

You could even extract a New Testament verse and build your whole food theology on it, and you would be missing the mark. So you’ve got to think holistically. Think of the whole Bible and think about where we see food show up—like Genesis, with the original sin, that was related to food.

I actually think the original sin was “exaggeration” (that’s a different lesson for a different day) followed quickly by food, right? There is Cain and Abel. There’s frustration over a grain offering—that’s food. There are the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and complaining. The leeks and garlic in Egypt were so good in their memory—that’s food.

Then there are the Israelites in the wilderness needing manna, that’s food. Then complaining about the manna and they get the quail—that’s food, right? Then there’s the Promised Land, where the grapes are so big the men carry them on poles—that’s food. 

There are the seven feasts (Leviticus 23) where God gives the Israelites their calendar, and it’s all about fo-o-o-d. “Well, that’s an Old Testament thing.” Right? Well, what was Jesus’ first miracle? It was turning water into wine—that’s food.

There are the many, many times that Jesus ate with sinners—not just walked with sinners (although He did some of that), not just preached at sinners (he did some of that). But what He did that infuriated the Pharisees was that He was always sitting down and having a meal with those sinners, right?

Then there’s what Jesus wanted to do with His disciples when He knew He was going to the Cross the next day. He wanted to eat with them . . . what we call the Last Supper. And then there is that beautiful gospel where Jesus told us He was poured out like a drink offering (see Matt. 26:28)—that’s food.

And then after the resurrection when He appeared to the disciples who were in the boat, what did He do? He made them breakfast, fish for breakfast (I don’t like that, but that’s what they liked). (see John 21:7–9)

Then there’s Revelation. I mean, I’ve missed some in there—the wedding feast of the Lamb. (see Rev. 19:9) What are we going to do in heaven? I don’t know, but we’re going to eat! So, it’s all over the Bible! When we look at the Bible holistically, what I see are two alternating rhythms: fasting and feasting. 

Now, God cares a great deal about our rhythms. Think about work and rest, think about sorrow and rejoicing, and think about fasting and feasting. The Christian life most definitely is a life of self-denial, picking up our cross and following Jesus (see Matt. 16:24), that’s the fasting piece of it.

But it’s also a life of abundance, of blessings, of gratitude! That’s the feasting. Now, I don’t think we need a whole breakout session on the feasting; we’re pretty good at the feasting. Am I right?! Some of y’all just feasted before you came to the fasting class! (laughter)

So, we’re going to focus on fasting today. Let me read to you; this is what I want for you today. Go with me in your Bibles to Psalm 34. I’m going to read verses 8–10, and I’m going to pray for you again. I know I already prayed for you, but unless the Holy Spirit shows up and does the heavy lifting here, you’re going to gain nothing of value, and I don’t want that.

So let me read us Psalm 34:8–10; this is my highest hope for you:

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man [I would say “woman”] who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
   for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

Jesus, I pray that these sisters of mine, these new friends of mine, would taste and see that You’re good and that they would lack no good thing. It’s in Your name I pray, amen.

Okay, I’m going to show my hand. I’m actually not here to change your thoughts on food; I’m here to change your thoughts on God. Food is going to be the mechanism I’m going to use to get us there, but I want to talk about Jesus.

When I say those terms “fasting” and “feasting,” you probably gravitate toward one of those more than the other. You probably feel some rather strong feelings towards the other. I was just starting to be interested in fasting. I teach a group of women in my home, and I said to the group, “Hey, would you want to study fasting?”

And one of my friends who loves the Lord, loves His Word, is otherwise a reasonable human being, stood up and said, “I do not want to talk about that!” (laughter)

I was like, “Cool, I will just go to talk to strangers about it that don’t come to my Bible study!”

That’s probably the first time I’ve encountered that kind of reaction to talking about fasting, but it’s not the only time. I went to my pastor a few years ago and talked to him. I love him, great man of God, so faithful to the truth, has pastored my church for decades, very paternal toward me, has always been very reasonable. He’s like in his sixties. I think he wears Old Spice. It’s like, “Hmm, I want to be near him!”

Anyway, I went to him and said, “Hey, Pastor Tim, would you consider teaching a series on fasting?”

He said, “No!” And he has never talked to me that way. He said, “Because I don’t fast, I’m not going to teach something I don’t do.”

So there’s like this response that rises up in some of us when we think of the subject of fasting. Now, you may not be in that camp, or you would not have taken my breakout. You would have been like, “Not that one!” 

But sometimes we do it with feasting. Sometimes the idea that food is good and that God intends us to enjoy it and indulge in it, that makes us feel a little bit out of control, because we’ve been taught that food is the enemy. So, we’re going to try and find some balance in all of that.

I want you to come just as you are, with your real experiences, your real approaches to food. I’ve called this "A Practical Guide to Fasting." I’m not really going to build a huge theological case, but you can do that on your own. Start where you should start with everything . . . with Jesus. Just read the gospels and see how Jesus approached food. He was fully God and fully man, which means He got hungry, which means He had a digestive tract.

I’m going to talk about the “why,” the “when,” and the “how.” I’m also going to share some of my own experiences with food, which feels uncomfortable, and I think I know why. 

In Matthew 6 Jesus was talking about fasting, and He said a couple of interesting things. One thing He said was, “When you fast . . .” (v. 17). Okay, you’ve got it. He didn’t say, “If you fast . . . You might fast . . .” For Jesus, talking to the context He was talking to, it was a foregone conclusion that fasting was going to be a part of their lives.

I’m going to put it this way: for those of us in the New Testament, fasting is never a command. In the Old Testament it often was, but for us it’s a “get to,” not a “got to.” But what my experience is, is that for all mature followers of Jesus (God doesn’t usually start us here; He starts on milk, but when we’re ready to move to meat), there’s usually something inside of us, by “something,” I mean Someone—the Holy Spirit—who will say, “Hey, have you considered fasting?”

So, I believe God moves all mature believers toward this discipline, but it’s not a command. Anyway, after Jesus said, “When you fast . . .” He said “. . . don’t be like the Pharisees. They do it in public; they draw attention to themselves; they make themselves look sick.”

“You should go in your room, close your door. For what the Father sees in secret, He will reward.” That’s the Erin Davis paraphrase, but those are those big ideas. So, I think we’ve read Matthew 6 all these years and we’ve thought that what Jesus was saying was, “When you fast, you must never, ever, ever tell anyone.”

Well, here’s the deal: Jesus fasted, and Jesus put it in His inspired Word. So either Jesus broke His own rule—which He cannot do—or we’ve been misinterpreting. I actually don’t think He meant, “Don’t ever tell anyone you’re fasting.” 

He cares so much about the heart. He was saying, “They fast to get human attention, so human attention is all they’re ever going to get. If you’re fasting to get My attention, don’t do it to get other people’s attention.” So, because no one is talking about fasting, no one is teaching about fasting . . . then nobody’s fasting.

So, I’m going to talk about some of my fasting experiences. That’s not because I have a trophy: Best Faster in the World! No such trophy exists! This whole thing is about humility, so I’m not bragging on it. 

But I do feel like, “Man, if I could demystify this just a little bit, we’re all going to be better off.” I’m not here as the Queen of Fasting. I am here as someone who fasts, and considers it a tremendous gift that I left on the shelf of my Christian life for about twenty years, and I’m not going to put it back on the shelf.

So don’t take it in the spirit of bragging, please. A little sidenote, my middle school superlative (it’s in the yearbook) was “most conceited.” Then I came to know Christ and my high school superlative was, “most outgoing.” So I feel like it’s a redeemed version of the same thing. (laughter) I’m not being conceited, I’m just being open. I hope you’ll track with me on all that.

I’m going to give you three good reasons to fast; note-takers, here you go. Reason number 1 to fast is that Jesus fasted. Close your books, head on out, you get a coffee break. Right? Jesus fasted.

I remember having a conversation with a friend once who was a follower of Jesus, but hadn’t gotten baptized. She said, “Why should I? It’s not tied to my salvation.”

And I said, “Well, because Jesus did!” And she got baptized. 

So, Jesus fasted. Most notably, of course, there’s that forty-day fast in Matthew chapter 4. And that forty-day fast preceded His earthly ministry. If you pay attention to the timeline, He went off into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

Scripture seems to indicate He had no food or water during those forty days. He was tempted by Satan, then He came down and immediately started preaching about the coming kingdom, and healing the sick.

This is an interesting thought, because the whole reason Jesus came was to save us through His death on the Cross. Why didn’t He go straight to the Cross? Why did He fast and then have an earthly ministry and then go to the Cross? 

Well, I think there are lots of reasons, but among them is the fact that Jesus came to show us what it means to live inside a human body in a way that glorifies God. And part of that human experience for Jesus was fasting.

I encourage you to read that again, it’s Matthew chapter 4. What you won’t see is that Jesus was able to supernaturally bypass His own need for food. At the end of that fast He was very, very weak and very, very hungry.

If you’re like, “Uh, He’s the Son of God, of course He could fast for forty days!” Well, no, He felt everything that you would feel if you were to undertake a forty-day fast, and He wanted to do that before He took on what we consider the greater parts of His ministry, and I just question that. I think the forty-day fast is one of the most miraculous, amazing things that He did.

Jesus wasn’t the only one. Moses fasted at the receiving of the Ten Commandments. (see Exodus 34:28) David fasted, you remember, when his child was sick. He was fasting that the Lord would heal that child, and once word came to him that the child had died he got up, washed his face, and went and had something to eat. (see 2 Sam. 12:16)

Ezra fasted to mourn the sins of his people. (see Ezra 10:6) Esther fasted when that edict of death had been issued for the Israelites. (see Esth. 4:15) The elders of Antioch, they fasted before they sent out those missionaries that founded the church that we are now a part of. (see Acts 13:3)

If you need a good reason to fast, Jesus did it, Moses did it, Ezra did it, Paul did it, Peter did it. The heroes of our faith fasted, so let’s emulate them!

Reason Number 2: Fasting turns down the volume on the appetite of your flesh. News flash! You are a woman of flesh. I’m a woman of more flesh than some of you! (Some of us have more flesh and some of us have less.) 

I always say that my flesh is the first one on the scene. It’s like my flesh is an ambulance. It’s like, “Whooooo! I’m here!” My spirit comes slower, it’s under wisdom, but unfortunately this side of glory we will remain women of flesh. 

The early church must have had some discussions about this, because Paul said. “Well then, shall we just go on sinning?” (see Rom. 6:1) In other words, should we just say, “Ah, I’m a woman of flesh. I’m gonna just live in the flesh! Grace covers me!”

What did Paul say? “BY NO MEANS!” [she growls it out loudly] (Rom. 6:2) depending on your translation. Sometimes he’d call a name and say, “SEE, I’M WRITING IT IN BIG WORDS!!!” Right?

No, just because we are women of flesh doesn’t mean we indulge the flesh. And, if you can imagine turning down the volume on your flesh by denying your what it wants, which is food . . . followed by food . . . followed by more food!

When you turn down the volume on the flesh, you will turn up the volume on the Spirit. I can’t explain why it happens, it just happens. It’s supernatural. If I could live in a continuous fast I would. I can’t. Fasting is feasting, ladies, because when you are fasting there is a sweetness in your walk with the Lord that isn’t there otherwise. Again, I don’t know why.

 

There is an attentiveness in your spirit that isn’t there otherwise. There is a willingness to run quickly from sin. Some of you I see are aggressively nodding, which means you’ve experienced this, right? 

So fasting turns down the volume on your flesh, which turns up the volume in your spirit. I will say that if you are fasting without prayer, you might be doing a kind of fast. You’re doing a health fast, but you are not doing a biblical fast.

It’s been hilarious to me the past few years when the health industry is like, “We’ve discovered this new tool—intermittent fasting. It’s amazing!” I’m like, “Yeah, the Ancient of Days has been telling us that that’s good for us since the dawn of time!” They’re talking about fasting for health, but what they’re discovering is, “Hey! God’s Word is true!”

But because we have disordered eating, we can really quickly get confused. It is not about the food. It is about turning up the volume on the Spirit. You probably already know Matthew 5:6; it comes from the greatest sermon of all time. I’m on a campaign to stop calling it The Sermon on the Mount—bleah. It is The Greatest Sermon of All Time!

And as part of the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” When we fast and when we feel hungry you say, “Jesus, help me to hunger and thirst for righteousness like I am hungering for food right now.” Our volume on our belly gets turned down and our volume on our spirit gets turned up.

Nancy: Erin Davis has such a wonderfully relatable way of communicating the truths of Scripture, doesn’t she? She’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of her message. Her book on this subject is titled Feasting & Fasting: 40 Devotions to Satisfy the Hungry Heart. You’ll find more information about it or order it when you click on a link within the transcript of this program, at ReviveOurHearts.com, or on the Revive Our Hearts app.

If you sense the Lord wanting you to try fasting, let me remind you of something Erin said today: “not eating food is a form of fasting, but the spiritual discipline of fasting needs to involve more than simply abstaining from food." Dannah, the reason we stop eating for a time is so we can focus on prayer and meditating on God’s Word, isn't it?

Dannah: That’s right. And one helpful tool for soaking your mind in the Word of God is a set of Scripture cards we’ve designed for you. We call them Savor and Share. So, instead of savoring your lunch sometime, you can savor the Word and mentally chew on these verses. And use them as prayer, prompts, too. 

The Savor and Share Scripture cards come in a pack of fifty-two cards: you could think of it as one card for each of the fifty-two weeks in a year, if you want. And we’ll send you a set in appreciation for your donation of any size to help support the ministry of Revive Our Hearts. 

To give, just go to ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. Request the Scripture cards with your donation. 

Nancy: Well in part one of her message, Erin Davis gave us two reasons to fast. Number one: Jesus fasted. And number two: fasting turns down the volume on the appetites of our flesh.

Tomorrow she’ll be back to share more of her "Practical Guide to Fasting." I hope you’ll join us, here on Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, encouraging you to fast and relish your freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.

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