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Fasting is never commanded in the Bible. Jesus simply said, 'When you fast....' This suggests that He figured we wouldn't need to be told to fast; we would simply recognize the necessity of it. When a believer is fasting, he is depriving himself of one of the most basic human desires: food. This is a way of saying, 'God, my relationship with you is really important to me.' As Job said, 'I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food' (23:12). Isaiah said that fasting will 'make your voice heard on high' (Isaiah 58:4). So obviously, we believe that fasting is an important part of the spiritual life. There is much more that could be said, so perhaps we will put together an article on this topic in the near future.
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