Spiritual Practices: Keyword Listing
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
- Fast/fasting - explore the type of fasting that God honors and rewards
Spiritual Practices: Fasting
Fasting and prayer are linked together throughout Scripture. While some people focus on what they cannot have or how fasting will benefit them, the purpose of fasting for the Christian should be a way to transition our focus from the things of the world to the things of God. Fasting can help us renew our reliance on God and learn to think more like God so that we may act more like God.
This week, fast. There are a multitude of ways to fast from food, such as a short fast of 6, 12, or 24 hours, or a partial fast where you deny yourself one or more specific foods for a longer period of time (such as during the week). There are longer fasts where you abstain from either food or non-food items. In today’s media-driven culture, perhaps this is the fast for our time to draw closer to God. Instead of social media, read your Bible or a biography about a great man or woman of God. Instead of watching that sport or sitcom on TV, read the passages from this week and pray/journal what God may be trying to speak to you. Instead of watching 24-hour news repeat itself through different commentators, invite a couple of friends over to share a meal and pray together.
The goal is not to succeed in your fast. The goal is to have deeper fellowship with God.
Maria Ward
Fasting and prayer are linked together throughout Scripture. While some people focus on what they cannot have or how fasting will benefit them, the purpose of fasting for the Christian should be a way to transition our focus from the things of the world to the things of God. Fasting can help us renew our reliance on God and learn to think more like God so that we may act more like God.
This week, fast. There are a multitude of ways to fast from food, such as a short fast of 6, 12, or 24 hours, or a partial fast where you deny yourself one or more specific foods for a longer period of time (such as during the week). There are longer fasts where you abstain from either food or non-food items. In today’s media-driven culture, perhaps this is the fast for our time to draw closer to God. Instead of social media, read your Bible or a biography about a great man or woman of God. Instead of watching that sport or sitcom on TV, read the passages from this week and pray/journal what God may be trying to speak to you. Instead of watching 24-hour news repeat itself through different commentators, invite a couple of friends over to share a meal and pray together.
The goal is not to succeed in your fast. The goal is to have deeper fellowship with God.
Maria Ward