Mark 2:18-22 NIV

New Covenant Fasting

Mark 2:18-22, Luke 4:1-2,14

1) Fasting is a tool that cultivates a hunger for God and a homesickness for his presence.

2) Religious fasting is like wineskins without wine. There is a form of godliness but it lacks the power.

2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

3) Spirit-led fasting often results in a Spirit-empowered life.

Luke 4:1-2 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted[a] by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Luke 4:14 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

Jesus lived about 30 years and as far as we know did not do any miracles. He gets baptized and then the first thing God does is lead him to the rocky desert wilderness to fast.

Ask the Holy Spirit: what do you lead me to do?