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Who should FAST? Perhaps you're thinking, "I still don't know how fasting can really be for me." "Fasting is not for me." Fasting and Prayer are an integral part of a child of God; it strengthens our walk with God. It brings us closer to God. It makes our relationship with God consistent. During the years that Jesus walked this earth, He devoted time to teaching His disciples the principles of the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus provides the pattern by which each of us has to live as a child of God. This chapter focuses on Giving, Prayer, and Fasting. These are three great Christian duties—the three foundations and by them we do service to God. We Pray with our souls, Fast with our bodies, Give what belongs to us.

Giving: "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets ...then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."(Matthew 6:2-4)

Now in these verses we are cautioned against hypocrisy in Charity. There is always a temptation for people to give in order to get something out of it...be it praises, affirmation, and applause, or even some other form of reward. Consciously or sub-consciously we ask, "What's in it for me?" Jesus tells us that if we have any motive other than seeing the smiling face of God, who sees our secret acts of love for Him, we are on the wrong track. The more we give here on earth we are storing up our treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust will corrupt it.

Prayer: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues ...But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen"(Mathew 6:5-6)

When Jesus says, when You Pray, he assumes that all His children know they have to pray. Prayer is the very breath for a Christian. The Pharisees were guilty of vain glory and vain repetitions. They did not love prayer for its own sake, but they loved it when it gave them an opportunity of making themselves noticed. But when you pray, remember it is between you and God. Isaac went into the field (Gen. 24: 63), Christ to a mountain, Peter to a housetop. By secret prayer we give God the glory of His universal presence (Acts 17:24). The reward will be open.

Fasting: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do ...and your Father, who sees what, is done in secret, will reward you (Mathew 6:16-18)

We are cautioned against hypocrisy in fasting. Fasting is a duty required of the believers of Christ. Jesus said, "When you give..." and "When you pray..." and "When you fast." Jesus placed fasting on the same level as praying and giving. He made it clear that fasting, like giving and praying, was a normal part of Christian life. As much attention should be given to fasting as is given to giving and to praying.

Jesus didn't expect His disciples to do something He hadn't done as well. Jesus fasted... Jesus is our example in all things!

When giving, praying, and fasting are practiced together in the life of a believer, it creates a type of threefold cord that is not easily broken - Jentezen Franklin