Today’s podcast is the second portion of our interview with best-selling author Bill Perkins. Bill continues talking about King David’s “mighty men of valor.” In this quick segment Bill first mentions 1 Samuel 30, a dramatic story about how David’s men have to fight for their families. Secondly, Bill talks about 2 Samuel 23:8-17, in which David’s three closest mighty men encourage him when he needs it most. From these stories Bill shares about how we (men) need to fight for our families and friendships.

Read more in his book, Six Battles Every Man Must Win.

Thanks to The Glorious Unseen for use of their music for this podcast.

When I was young, the first time I read the temptation story in Matthew’s Gospel, one clear impression stood out in my mind: this is a showdown; it is like an epic battle of good vs. evil. As I read, it was like watching a gripping movie, sitting on the edge of my seat, rooting for the good guy, hoping that he can see through the enemy’s clever traps.

As I grew in faith and knowledge of the Bible, the story took on a new flavor for me. Concerned more with my own temptation battles, I began to see the story not as an epic tale of victory, but as a means of instruction, a primer on outwitting the devil. But there was one problem: I wasn’t quite sure what I was meant to get out of the story. I can’t recall a time I’ve ever been tempted the way Jesus was. I have never had the slightest urge to turn stones into bread. I have never felt like jumping off a building to see how fast God’s angels could fly. And I have never felt like engaging in open Satan-worship.

As I’ve grown even more in my faith, I find myself returning to my first childhood impressions of this story. To be sure, I still see Jesus as my rabbi who can teach me to fight temptation—someone I am meant to observe closely and emulate. But most importantly, Jesus is my Savior. The victory He won in the wilderness was more than just a way to teach me—it was the first in a long series of battles to save me.

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Bread in the Desert

Moses stands before millions of men and women to deliver his last sermon, his final message. Through his undimmed 120-year-old eyes he can see millions of eager faces staring back at him. Soon his younger protege Joshua will lead this ragamuffin group into the Promised Land.

As he stands before them, he utters this sober reminder:

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. . . .

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:1-6,11-18, italics added).

As the past 40 years flash through Moses’ mind, he remembers the first day the manna arrived, which was only a couple months after they had walked out of Egypt in the midnight hour and shortly after seeing the sea stand up in a heap in front of them. Yet even after that incredible deliverance, Israel had still murmured against God. Before Moses could control the situation, the whole camp of Israel had grown bitter as they thought back to their life of slavery in Egypt. At least there, they thought, they ate around pots of meat and had all the bread they wanted. The wilderness had no such luxuries.

God told Moses that soon He would rain bread down upon the people. Sure enough, the next morning, the manna appears: a fine, flaky substance like frost on the desert floor. Everyone gathers as much as they can eat. Despite their grumbling, there, in the dusty desert, they feast on the sweet bread of angels (Psalm 78:23-25).

Moses also remembers another time in the wilderness of Paran, when a rabble among the people had broken out in which they craved the food of Egypt. “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Number 11:5-6). That day the fire of God’s anger burned at the edges of their encampment, and again they learned how deeply God was offended by their ingratitude and selfishness.

And so it was, the people of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they came to the border of Canaan (Exodus 16:35). These forty years had truly tested their hearts—God let them hunger and gave them specific commands about gathering their bread so they would learn: “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

It was about 1,500 years later, listening to the Tempter’s subtle lies, that the Son of God found His strength in these specific words of Moses in Deuteronomy. Why?

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Quoting Deuteronomy to the Devil

I’ve often wondered why Jesus chose to quote only the book of Deuteronomy to the devil. The Bible is a large book, and yet, as Pastor John Piper says, when Jesus drew the sword of the God’s Word in the desert, he drew it only from “the scabbard of Deuteronomy.” Why?

I believe it is because Jesus can’t help but see the parallel of Moses’ text to his own experience.

• He had just heard the majestic voice of His Father speak clearly on the Jordan bank, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” With this in mind he remembers Moses’ words, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:5).
• Jesus has been clearly led by the Spirit to walk into the wilderness. With this in mind, he remembers Moses’ words to Israel about “the whole way that the Lord your God has led you” (Deuteronomy 8:2).
• Jesus has just spent 40 days in the wilderness; Israel had been in the desert 40 years.
• Jesus knows, just like Israel, that He has entered the wilderness to be tested. Perhaps He even hears the Scripture ringing in his ears: God is “testing you to know what [is] in your heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Israel shows its true colors in the wilderness, and now it is time for Jesus to show His.

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The First Temptation

Satan comes to Jesus and says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Perhaps Satan’s first temptation sounds more like mockery: “Prove yourself, so-called Son of God.” Or perhaps it sounds more like flattery: “Since you are the Son of God surely you can turn stones into bread.” We can’t be sure. What we do know is the Tempter shows real craftiness in his statement. First he plays on Jesus’ obvious hunger: this is when Jesus’ physical appetites are screaming the loudest. Moreover, Satan’s tempting words are laced with all sorts of subtle biblical notions: Aren’t you the Son of God? Didn’t God give His children manna in the desert? Didn’t God call water from the rocks? Couldn’t the long-awaited Messiah make bread from stones? In this sense, the devil is right.

Satan shows great finesse at twisting the Scriptures to fit his purposes. He sites Jesus’ obvious authority and power to perform a manna-like miracle, but he completely ignores the reason that God had given manna in the first place. Read Moses’ words again:

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

1. Israel was meant to learn that there was purpose in both the filling and the hunger.

It is easy to fixate on the presence of this peculiar, miraculous food called manna. But it is a miracle with a message. There is a rhythm to the giving of manna. God waits until Israel’s Egyptian provisions are completely gone, waits until they are facing famine, before He starts giving them bread. Each morning Israel needs to trust that the manna will be there on the desert floor. Each day they must gather only what they can eat that day. Hoarding manna is not allowed, and any leftovers will spoil and rot. Each Friday they need to gather twice as much, trusting God will keep the manna fresh for two days so they can rest on the Sabbath. Each step of the way requires trust in and obedience to God’s specific instructions, training them not to revolve their lives around bread, but around every word that comes from His mouth.

There is a purpose to Jesus’ time of fasting, and Jesus knows it. There, in the lonely, cruel wilderness, Jesus is at the mercy of the elements and his physical limitations. Will He take the devil’s bait and rush to the quick fix for His hunger, or will He trust His Father’s purpose for this time of fasting? Jesus chooses the latter.

2. Israel was meant to learn God is the one who feeds us.

At God’s command the manna appears. It is not bread made by human hands. When God rains bread upon them, the message is clear: He is their Provider. In fact, Moses warns them to keep this in mind, even after they enter the land of Canaan and become wealthy, lest they say in their heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” They need to remember that the Lord is the one who gives the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

Notice there is nothing inherently evil in Satan’s suggestion to make bread, which makes the temptation all the more subtle. There is nothing wrong about meeting one’s physical needs. But Jesus easily detects the underlying temptation. The real temptation Jesus faces is whether he will act independently on His Father, plowing ahead to take control of His situation. Will He rest in His Father’s love and sovereignty, or will He murmur and complain like Israel did. Will He focus on the God as the Bread-Giver, or will He let his stomach be His god and focus on the bread?

Even in the midst of a 40-day fast, Jesus is not preoccupied with food, but rather with His mission and the One who has sent Him. His food is to do His Father’s will (John 4:34). It is the Spirit who leads Him into the wilderness to fast, and it will be the Spirit who will lead Him out. Jesus will say, later on, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). The heart of Jesus’ righteous life is that he is unwilling at every point to do or say anything without the approval of His Father’s heart.

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Our Deliverer

When we think of encountering temptation, we typically think of being enticed to obvious sorts of sins—gossip, lust, slander, prideful boasting, spiteful anger, etc. But when do we spot the subtle temptations to rush ahead without God in the small, day-to-day matters of life? When do we spot the subtle temptations to do our own thing in the seemingly “secular” activities—like eating, drinking, traveling, casual conversation, buying, and selling? This is where all sin starts, in an independent spirit, a desire to live autonomously.

If we are going to win against the devil’s schemes, then we must be willing to see the root sins underneath the obvious sins. If Jesus’ first temptation shows us anything as disciples, it is that we must be willing to let our heavenly Father be the Lord of all of our lives, even our eating and drinking. We must be willing to fight the battle with the deeper temptation to live independently from God, the temptation to believe a part of our lives still belong to us.

At the heart of every temptation is being enticed to delight in something else more than God. Jesus overcomes the temptation to eat by focusing on the superior delight of knowing God’s will and doing it. He delights in the knowledge that His Father’s word is perfect, knowing that He could live by it and never be put to shame.

But we must also read this story not only as a disciple trying to mimic Christ, but as a sinner being saved by Christ.

Paul explains the reason why God inscribed the story of Israel’s wanderings on the pages of the Bible: “for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11);  written “as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did” (v.6). Paul specifically sites Israel’s grumbling in the list of their evil deeds (v.10). We all are guilty of this. Haven’t we all been faced with a stressful situation in which we chose to complain rather than pray, in which we chose to rush ahead rather than wait on God, in which we chose to doubt rather than trust? Haven’t we all impatiently made our own agenda and impulses our gods? The story of Israel’s wanderings acts as a mirror for us: aren’t we all guilty of these sins?

And yet Jesus does not give into this temptation. He comes up against the great enemy of our souls and stays faithful to His Father. And because He does this, He goes to the cross as the spotless Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Because of this He stands now in heaven as the sinless High Priest who prays for us and secures our ultimate hope, our hope that we will not be condemned in the last day, but embraced by our God.

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Thoughts for Personal or Group Reflection:

1. Read all of Deuteronomy 8. What stands out to you? What in this passage is the most convicting or encouraging to you?

2. Have you ever been tempted to think there is no purpose for the depressing times in your life? Think of a time when you seemed to be walking through a desert—a time when you lacked money, employment, energy, emotional stability, healthy relationships, opportunity, time, or simple pleasures. Were you inclined to believe you only had to “get through” the desert to a place of plenty? Or did you trust there was a purpose for the desert time?

3. Read Philippians 4:11b-13, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” What do you think was Paul’s “secret”?

4. When was the last time, or a very memorable time, you saw the subtle temptation to rush ahead of God? To act autonomously? To do you own thing? What would your life look like moment-to-moment if you could fill your own name in the blank of John 5:19? – “Truly, truly, I say to you, _______ can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that _______ does likewise” (John 5:19).

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Covenant Eyes has been installed on my laptop for about four months or so now. Being living proof of its fruitful effects, I thought it would be encouraging to provide my testimony in this respect.

I’m currently 24 years old, having celebrated my birthday just a couple weeks ago. However, for the majority of those years, I was trapped in various forms of pornography, mostly dealing with TV and the internet. It’s especially heart-breaking that this started when I was eight.

Well, this past March, Christ broke my heart and I sought the help I really needed. This led to exposing my sin to the assistant pastor of my church, Mark, who’s become an invaluable friend and brother in the body of Christ. I’ll never forget the first question he asked after I explained my burden: “So Justin, on a scale of 1 to 10, how willing are you to do whatever it takes to gain freedom from this?”

I immediately responded, “Fifteen!” Needless to say, he got a good chuckle out of that, but was pleased to see just how serious I was. Though at the very moment, I also wasn’t aware of the extreme measures that would be necessary to permanently break free from the shackles of sexual sin. I do now.

Since then, I’ve destroyed all porn I’ve ever owned, have CE installed on my laptop, and am rarely bothered by temptation to view internet porn. In addition, books like 13 Ways to Ruin Your Life, Every Man’s Battle, Resisting the Lure, along with others like Boy Meets Girl and Stop Dating the Church (authored by Joshua Harris, a man I’ve come to greatly respect) have completely changed my perspective about Christian relationships and how to sever all ties to sexual sin. Through my church and God’s love, grace, and mercy, my resolve to bounce out impure thoughts has never been stronger, not to mention my personal relationship with Christ has never set me more on fire.

In fact, I have such a growing hatred for it that God is slowly turning me into a pioneer against the adult media industry. I’m in the process of writing a book that will explain what happened to me when I was initially trapped at eight years old, to present day. Lord willing, it will one day be published and provide a ray of hope to the millions of other men and women out there experiencing the same struggles and looking for freedom.

I can’t thank God enough for blessing me with the product of Covenant Eyes’ labor. I feel that the annual fee isn’t just the cost of the tool, but an investment in my long-term spiritual health and growth.

To end this off, I’d like to share the Scripture that Mark first showed me, because it’s had such an impact on my every day strive for Christ-likeness.

For this is the will of God; your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4: 3-8)

- Justin Joseph

All of these are questions being asked by community members. Over the last few weeks the library has held two board meetings at a local middle school. Hundreds of people have turned out for these meetings. News media has interviewed many citizens. The public has also been allowed to make comments at these meetings, most of whom are passionate to see the library take a strict stance against the display of obscenity on publicly viewable computer screens.

There’s always been a sticky intersection between freedoms of personal expression and the ever-illusive idea of “public morality.” There are many places today we see this intersection. When it comes to issues surrounding pornography many questions come to mind:

• Questions about public decency: Are there things that should be only done or viewed in private?
• Questions about consent: Should people be protected from the uninvited intrusion of erotic images displayed by someone else?
• Questions about secondary effects: Should we limit the adult entertainment industry because it might encourage prostitution, sexual assault, or other criminal activity?
• Questions of social injustice: How should we crack down on child pornography?
• Questions of legal authority: What kinds of speech, if any, were never intended to be protected by the First Amendment?

The verdict is still out on the proposed library Internet policy. After a lengthy private meeting with the library’s attorney, the Board of Trustees presented the policy to the gathering crowds. The policy prohibits the “violation of any applicable federal, state, or local laws, ordinances, rules,or regulations including obscenity, child pornography, and material deemed harmful to minors as defined by law.” Filtering will be put on all computers. Patrons can have the filter disabled on two designated computers in the case of an over-blocking filter.

Tomorrow the new policy will likely be voted on.

Have you ever experienced withdrawal symptoms when trying to avoid porn? Linda L. Simmons, Psy.D., says this is simply a part of the addictive cycle, “When pornography is stopped, withdrawal symptoms will likely be experienced—irritability, anxiety, frustration, and so forth.”

Marnia Robinson, author of Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow, collected the testimonies from many men about this. She recently reported this on the Huffington Post:

“The whole day I have been shaking with jitters similar to how it felt when I quit smoking.”

“Intense bouts of anger leading to interpersonal difficulties, aggressive demeanor, easily stressed out, . . . suicidal ideation, severe depression, violent dreams, . . . insomnia, hallucinations, . . . ‘insects’ crawling all over me in bed, shakes, mania, . . . and inability to concentrate.”

“. . . I didn’t recognize I had an addiction until I had surgery and masturbation wasn’t an option for fifteen days. On day three, I was literally shaking, and I began to connect the dots. Other symptoms: irritability, inability to focus (’staring at walls syndrome’), mood swings, headaches (sometimes quite strong), sense of pressure in my genitals, flashbacks, paranoia, self-defeating thinking, depression, hopelessness, and fear that I will never have sex because I’ve learned no social skills since diving into porn eight years ago as a teen.”

“No matter how many orgasms I have, I never feel satisfied; I just finally collapse in exhaustion, and start again the next day.”

“I’m more anxious or depressed, and I have a strong desire to avoid other people.”

You can read the extremely long thread of comments on her blog from men who reported these symptoms.

Call it what you like—addiction, compulsion, fixation—habitual porn use is much like any drug addiction, only the drug our body craves is its own neurochemistry—a fix of dopamine and other hormones.

Do you ever experience withdrawal symptoms?

1. Pornifying the Marriage Bed
2. Breaking Free
3. A Theology of Sex
4. Detoxification
5. Freedom
6. Recommended Resources

Challies’ treatment of this subject is not only hard-hitting and relevant, but deeply personal. He speaks as a man who has witnessed God’s power to deliver him from the tempting power of pornography.

Pornography is inherently violent, inherently unloving. It is a perversion of sexuality, not a true form of it, and one that teaches violence and degradation at the expense of mutual pleasure and intimacy. It is about conquests, about conquering. It is the very opposite of God’s intention for sex. It tears love from sex, leaving sex as the immediate gratification of one’s most base desires. It lives beyond rules and ethics and morality. It exists far beyond love. (Tim Challies)

Today’s podcast is the first portion of our interview with best-selling author Bill Perkins. Bill talks about King David’s “mighty men of valor.” In this 5-minute segment Bill talks about 1 Samuel 26 and how Abishai learned about real integrity and holiness from David. Bill says this is a lesson all men must learn today.

Read more in his book, Six Battles Every Man Must Win.

Thanks to The Glorious Unseen for use of their music for this podcast.

A friend of mine decided that it was time she learned what the discipline of fasting was all about. She purposed to start her fast on a certain day as she prayed through a number of pressing issues in her life. A day or two after starting the fast I found her in one of the college cafeterias eating. I asked her why she was eating, and she informed me she tried fasting but got really hungry and assumed she must be doing something wrong. So she ate.

We had a laugh about it, but that conversation made me think about the misconceptions about fasting in the church. Some, like my friend, hope fasting will be a catalyst for some sort of mystical, out-of-body experience, separated from a need for food. Others think fasting is a legalistic practice or a form of unhelpful asceticism. Others think fasting is good but reserved for those in “professional” ministry situations. Many others simply don’t know what they think about fasting.

Jesus fasted during His forty days in the wilderness. He later taught on the subject of fasting. These facts should move the serious disciple of Jesus to learn more about this important discipline.

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The Growing Hunger

As the days and weeks pass, Jesus wanders through the stony terrain, spending night after night under the elements. This desert offers no oasis for refreshment. Occasionally He swallows small amounts of water, but He eats nothing. As the days move along, He feels the pangs of hunger come and go, and then they come again with a vengeance. There are times He finds it hard to stand, let alone walk. After about a month Jesus is aware that He is  losing strength in His muscles as His body begins to eat away at itself. He is beginning to starve.

While growing up Jesus had heard the stories of Moses and Elijah, famous prophets who fasted for forty long days. Moses ascends Mt. Sinai and spends weeks soaking in the presence of God. He watches as God chisels His law into the tablets of stone. Moses feeds on the glory of God, miraculously staying alive, eating or drinking little to nothing. He later comes down the mountain, not crippled with hunger pangs, but with his face shining, radiating God’s brightness. Elijah is also fed supernaturally by God. Angels come down from heaven and bring cakes baked on hot stones and a jar of refreshing water. This food and drink somehow sustaine Elijah for forty days as he journeys to Mt. Sinai to have a powerful encounter with the God of Israel.

Jesus’ forty days of lonely hunger are not so glorious. No supernatural glory that we know of sustaine Him in the wilderness. No angels bring Him bread. This fast is a hard one. But after the time of testing is over, Jesus walks back into Galilee filled with the Spirit’s power.

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Fasting in the Bible

Fasting has a unique way of testing our hearts: when we are free from the most simple and basic crutch of food, we find out quickly what really controls us.

It is interesting that the only traditionally recurring fast commanded in the Bible is during the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29,31). God never obligates a regular fast for His people in any other instance, and yet we find many situations throughout the Scriptures where the people of God are fasting. This shows us that, under normal circumstances, fasting should not flow from obligation, but from a personal burden.

Jesus never commands fasting: He assumes it. In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us what to do, not if we fast, but “when” we fast (v.16). In Matthew 9, Jesus tells John the Baptist’s disciples that a day is  coming when His disciples “will fast” (v.15). It is Jesus’ assumption that the church will engage in the practice of fasting, just as many before Him did.

All throughout the Old Testament, we see the burdens that move the people of God to fast:

• Moved by the suffering of his enemies, David fasts and prays for their ailments to be cured, feeling the burden return to heart again and again (Psalm 35:11-14).
• David also fasts when he mourns the death of Saul (2 Samuel 1:11-12).
• King Jehoshaphat calls for a fast throughout all of Judah so they might all seek the Lord for protection from the Edomite army (2 Chronicles 20:1-4).
• The prophet Joel calls for a season of national fasting and repentance (Joel 2:12-16).
• The king of Nineveh proclaims a city-wide fast, praying to God to relent from the judgment He has promised (Jonah 3:4-10).
• The prophet Daniel, after reading the scroll of Jeremiah, is  so burdened by the guilt of his people that he fasts and prays for God’s mercy (Daniel 9:1-19).
• Ezra calls for a fast among the returning exiles as they pray for safe passage back to the Promised Land (Ezra 8:21-23).
• Queen Esther calls for a three-day fast for the Jews in Susa so they can intercede for her as she approaches the king (Esther 4:15-17).

The New Testament also speaks of men who were burdened to fast:

• The prophetess Anna devots her whole life to worshiping the Lord with fasting and prayer, and she is one of the few to whom God reveals the truth: that Jesus is the redeemer of Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-28).
• Paul eats and drinks nothing for three days after Jesus appears to him on the Damascus road (Acts 9:9).
• The prophets and teachers in Antioch worship the Lord with fasting and prayer, and in that time the Holy Spirit moves them to send Paul and Barnabas out on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).
• In each city, Paul prays and fasts as he commissions elders to lead God’s flock (Acts 14:23).

We see from these and other examples, fasting is always accompanied by prayer: seeking the Lord’s face and His mercy. Fasting is typically accompanied by a time of felt need. For some the need was perfunctory or immediate—a burden that prompted a timely season of intense prayer and fasting. For others the need was continuous and ongoing, leading to a lifestyle and rhythm of fasting. For some the felt need was personal—a longing to be free from sin’s grip, an intense desire to know and experience God, or a need for wisdom. For others the need was communal or national—protection from a militant group, healing from a deadly plague, or the aversion of national judgment.

Christians are called to follow the example of these holy men and women, and ultimately the example of Jesus, experiencing for ourselves the blessing of fasting.

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A Hunger for God

“Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the Tabernacle have been high days indeed; never has Heaven’s gate stood wider; never have our hearts been nearer the central Glory.” (Charles Spurgeon)

One statement from Jesus about fasting continues to grip me. He is questioned by the disciples of John the Baptist: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14-15). This is a good question. Jesus’ movement wasn’t marked with the same character as that of the Pharisees or John. Some of the Pharisees are known to fast twice a week. The disciples of John are likely to share in the rustic, ascetic spirit of their teacher, a man who comes “neither eating nor drinking” (11:18). One can’t help being drawn to these groups feeling a sense of holy sobriety and solemn prayer. But Jesus’ movement has a different flavor.

Jesus replies, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Weddings are times of great communal celebration, nothing like the spirit of a fast. Here He likens His presence to that of a groom among his wedding guests. This is likely the atmosphere surrounding Jesus. We find Him often enjoying rich table-fellowship with His disciples and notorious sinners. He is even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard because of His lifestyle (11:19). There is an unmistakable joy about being in Jesus’ company.

The Bridegroom was taken from us, so therefore, today we are called to fast. We fast with a longing to be with Jesus again, a longing to be together again with the Bridegroom of the church. To be sure, the Christian life is full of joy, a joy that comes because the Spirit of Christ is in us and among us, but it is a joy that is merely a foretaste of the eternal joy at the wedding supper of the Lamb. John Piper explains, “Jesus connects Christian fasting with our longing for the return of the Bridegroom. Therefore, one of the most important meanings of Christian fasting is to express the hunger of our hearts for the coming of our King” (Hunger for God, p.83).

Let us make an effort to regularly meet in small Christian communities that know a rhythm of fasting and feasting. What a blessing it is to know this rhythm, to gather as the early church did for seasons of intense prayer, seeking the Lord’s face, to gather also for rich times of table-fellowship. We are meant for that kind of community, a community where our fasting and feasting is marked with a sense of anticipation and longing, a desire to see the kingdom of God come, a desire to sit at the table in the great Messianic banquet.

In a day when it is far too easy to pacify and medicate the little empty places in our soul with fast food, Jesus calls us to know a deeper hunger, a deeper satisfaction.

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Thoughts for Personal or Group Reflection:

1. Experiment – As a group experiment, choose a day or two to fast. Keep a journal during that time. In the journal write down: (1) the purpose of your fast, what you are praying for and about; (2) the duration of your fast; (3) the limitations of your fast, i.e. What you will and will not ingest; (4) your experiences during the fast. Come together and share your experiences. Break your fast together at a real, sit-down meal of table-fellowship and a time of worship.

2. Learn – Understand how the body reacts to fasting. Dr. Bill Bright has written some excellent thoughts about prayer and fasting, including thoughts on nutrition, starting and stopping a fast, and the physical effects of fasting.

3. Read – Pastor John Piper has written a wonderful book about the subject of fasting, Hunger for God, and has made it available for free online. Take time to read this book and study it in a group.

4. Bible Study – Several Bible passages talk extensively about the subject of fasting. On your own, or with some friends, take time to study the following passages in depth:

• Isaiah 58
• Zechariah 7
• Joel 2:18-32
• Matthew 6:1-18

Paul will be remembered for many things by his friends, church, and family, but America will also remember him for his willingness to be open and honest about his struggles with sin. Over a year ago Paul and his wife were interviewed on Good Morning America about his porn addiction. Paul served as a model of transparency for many people with this same struggle. You can watch the story at ABCNews.Go.com.

Paul was on the staff of Olive Drive Church and served as the Chief Operations Officer for International Christian Ministries USA.

You can read some of Michael’s tips on finding the right kind of accountability partner for you. Here are some of this thoughts in brief:

1. Seek to be equally yoked - Choose someone who understands the depth and breadth of your problem with porn.
2. Resist inviting or appointing a Moses - Don’t simply choose a “giant of the faith” who can’t relate to what you are going through.
3. Look for a relationship, not just an accountability partner - Don’t settle for formal or scripted conversation questions. Pursue a real friendship.
4. With very few exceptions, do not use your spouse as your accountability partner - If you are in the recovery process, choosing your wife to hold you accountable may set you up for failure.
5. Seek out your partner through prayer - Ask God about this vital relationship.