Many churches and believers set aside time for prayer and fasting at the beginning of the new year.

This begs a question, what's so spiritual about going hungry?

Dr. David K. Bernard explains what the Bible says about fasting and why an empty stomach can bless your soul.

Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern day

believers live out the teachings of the first century church. This podcast is part of the teaching

ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard. Dr. Bernard is dedicated his life to studying the Bible and

helping believers apply its message to their daily lives.

Thank you for joining us for this episode.

It's January, and this just seems like the time of year when every church in the United of Pentecostal Church is calling for some sort of special fast.

I heard Terry Shock joke once that he hoped Jesus comes back in January

because that's the month when most of us are ready to meet him. And a lot of churches are asking

their members to participate in some sort of fast. It might be what we call a Daniel fast. It might

be some sort of 40-day fast. And there's all sorts of variations on it. But I guess the question

here is, what does the Bible say about fasting, first of all?

But maybe to put it in a sort of a humorous way, what is so spiritual about going hungry?

What effect do you think that fasting has on the individual believer, but also on the church corporately?

Certainly, fasting is a biblical teaching and practice.

Now, it's interesting, you don't have a command in the New Testament fast.

It's just assumed.

The sermon on the mount, Jesus says, when you fast.

So he's assuming believers are going to fast.

He doesn't have to tell them. And then he gives guidelines, you know, don't boast in

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