Why We Fast and What It Changes with Lisa Bevere- Episode 1039

That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

Annie F. Downs

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 10.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s time to talk about fasting. Lisa Bevere is a spiritual mom to a lot of us and was the exact right person to help us kick off this conversation. What I love about this conversation is how Lisa reframes fasting not as punishment or performance — but as invitation. As a way of intentionally making space for God to move in us and through us. We talk about what fasting actually is — and what it isn’t. We talk about motives, about hunger (the physical and the spiritual kind), and about how fasting, when paired with prayer, can sharpen our awareness of God’s presence in everyday life. It’s practical and deeply spiritual at the same time. If fasting is something you’ve been curious about but never tried, we talk about some simple ways to start. Head over to spirituallystronger.com after you listen as we process this together and give some questions to think through this week. Remember, this year we’re saying give us one hour a week listening to this episode and 10 minutes a day going through the Substack questions. We have loved this rhythm and love reading your comments each week! Find the show notes here . . . . Thank you to our sponsors! This show is sponsored by BetterHelp: Sign up and my friends get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/thatsoundsfun. ELIC: To learn more, visit elic.org/thatsoundsfun. Wayfair: Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Our Place: Visit fromourplace.com/TSF and use code TSF for 10% off sitewide. Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com/soundsfun⁠. Capstone Wellness: Learn more at capstonewellness.com/thatsoundsfun. Boll and Branch: Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/thatsoundsfun with code thatsoundsfun. NYTimes bestselling Christian author, speaker, and host of popular Christian podcast, That Sounds Fun Podcast, Annie F. Downs shares with you some of her favorite things: new books, faith conversations, entertainers not to miss, and interviews with friends. Sign up to receive the AFD Week In Review email and ask questions to future guests! #thatsoundsfunpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, friends and welcome to another episode of That Sounds Fun, spiritually stronger. I'm your host, Annie F. Downs. I'm so happy to be here with you today as we kick off our next spiritual discipline series
0:22.2	in the spiritually stronger series. Y'all, it is time to talk about fasting. Today on the show,
0:28.5	I get to talk with my friend Lisa Bevere. Lisa is a spiritual mom to so many of us and was the
0:34.1	exact right person to help us kick off this conversation about spiritual fasting.
0:39.7	I know. Just hearing the word can bring up a lot of feelings, a lot of questions, maybe even a
0:44.6	little resistance. I get that. But what I love about these conversations, and particularly today
0:49.0	with Lisa, is how she reframes fasting, not as a punishment or a performance, but as an invitation,
0:55.4	as a way of intentionally making space for God to move in and through us.
1:00.5	We talk about what fasting actually is and what it isn't.
1:03.5	We talk about motives, about hunger, the physical and the spiritual kind, and about how fasting
1:08.7	when paired with prayer, can sharpen our awareness of God's
1:11.7	presence in everyday life. Today, we're going to get practical and deeply spiritual at the same time.
1:17.8	If fasting is something that you've been curious about but have never tried, we talk about some
1:22.4	simple ways to start. Head over to spiritually stronger.com after you listen, and we're going to process this
1:29.3	together and give you some questions to think through this week. Remember, in this spiritually
1:33.5	stronger series, we are saying, give us one hour a week listening to the podcast this episode
1:38.7	to get your mind started on the theme and then 10 minutes a day going through the substack
1:44.0	questions and going deeper
1:45.4	with God. We have loved this rhythm and love being in the comments with you over at
1:50.8	spiritually stronger.com. And now here's our first fasting conversation in this fasting series
1:57.2	with my friend Lisa Bevere.
2:06.4	Lisa, welcome back to that sounds fun. Thank you for doing this.
	...

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