Fasting in the Bible
Week 14 Day2

Matthew 4:1-4

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

This passage for me shows the so obvious divinity of Jesus. Could any of us even imagine being in this situation? Fasting for forty days and forty nights, starving, and having the ability to listen to the devil and make whatever feast he could imagine in front of him, but instead relying on God instead. Looking at Jesus we can see the true power of fasting. In a time when the devil would think Jesus is weakest, he is actually the strongest because he has been living on ‘every word that comes from the mouth of God’ rather than earthly things.

Reflection Questions
1. What is a name given to the devil in this passage and what light does it shed on his character?
2. What does it mean to live on ‘every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
3. How can you do this?

Take the Next Step
Feasting on every word from God, while fasting from earthly things, is how Jesus defined and showed us true fasting. As we do for everything, let us look to Jesus and learn this week how to fast as a spiritual discipline that even Jesus relied on.