Snapshot: True Fasting

I have been seeing lots about fasting recently.  Seeking the Lord about it, I turned to this passage:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

    and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I..."

Isaiah 58:6-9

This is fasting.  Fasting is denying oneself and satisfying the needs of others.  Fasting is to be spent on behalf of others.  Fasting is a journey onwards to being "moved with compassion" (Matthew 14:14).  On a spiritual level, fasting in itself cannot leverage us closer to God.  It cannot automatically push us into His presence.  We must be receptive and hungry for God...regardless of what we do, let's follow this command:

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Neither feasting nor fasting is much in itself; God is Spirit and the flesh profits nothing.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.