Do It For Forty Days And See For Yourself

Could you go forty days without food? Actually, could you do any new habit for forty days?

Why forty days? Stay with me and I’ll explain.

Forty days - that’s exactly what Jesus did before He preached one sermon, healed one person, or performed one miracle. Luke 4:2 tells us plainly: “He ate nothing during those forty days.”

The number forty is not random in scripture. The flood came for forty days before the earth was reset. Moses fasted forty days on Mount Sinai before receiving the Law. Elijah traveled forty days through the wilderness before encountering God. Israel wandered forty years before crossing into the Promised Land.

Forty is always the same thing: a God-ordained season of testing and transformation that leads to something new.

Let me say it another way. It’s the space between where you are and where God is taking you, and it is uncomfortable by design.

So I want to talk about fasting. So what is it? Along with forty, fasting is also a time of transformation.

Fasting is not a diet. It is not a spiritual performance or a way to earn something from God. Fasting is the deliberate removal of something physical in order to awaken something spiritual.

It is choosing to say with your whole body, I want God more than I want comfort.

That sounds simple. But here is what most people never discover, because they never actually try it long enough to find out: fasting exposes what you really run to when you are uncomfortable.

Skip a meal today and just watch what happens inside you. You will get restless. You will start reaching, for your phone, for noise, for food you don’t even need, for something to stay busy with.

You will tell yourself you are just killing time. But you are not. You are revealing something. That discomfort becomes a spotlight, and it shines directly on your default coping system.

Whatever your hand instinctively moves toward, that is what has a hold on you. If you don’t believe me, try it.

When Jesus was at His absolute weakest, hungry, alone, physically depleted, that is exactly when the enemy showed up. Temptation always hits hardest when you are empty.

And Jesus responded not with a display of power, but with the Word of God: “People do not live by bread alone, but by everything the Lord says.” — Deuteronomy 8:3 NCV.

He was pointing to a truth that runs deeper than hunger: you can be physically empty and still be spiritually sustained.

Christ knew that God is a source of life that food cannot provide. But wait. He’s also the source over your phone, your schedule, your kids, your addiction …

Most of us never discover that. Because we never allow ourselves to get uncomfortable enough to actually test it. When was the last time you tried this?

The Israelites wandered forty years not because God forgot them, but because the generation that left Egypt still had Egypt in their hearts. Their Egypt is your comfort.

They were free in body but still slaves in their thinking, their habits, their trust. When life got hard, they didn’t cry out to God, they romanticized their bondage. They said, we remember the food back there.

God couldn’t lead them forward until the wilderness had finished the work of dismantling forty years of slave-thinking. And sometimes, this is worth sitting with, our own season of struggle isn’t really about the destination. It’s about what we’re still holding onto that has to go first.

So what is your forty right now? What’s your wilderness? Maybe it’s weight, years of reaching for food every time life gets heavy, and you know deep down it has never really been about hunger.

Maybe it’s an addiction that has more of your time and attention than you want to admit, something you reach for automatically when the pressure builds.

Maybe it’s anxiety that follows you everywhere, and you’ve tried the noise and the distraction and the busyness, and it’s still there waiting for you when things go quiet.

It could be a new diagnosis. Maybe it’s too much free time?

Or maybe it’s something that looks smaller on the surface, the Bible that hasn’t been opened in weeks, the quiet time with God that slowly slipped away without you really noticing.

Whatever it is, the principle is exactly the same: the next time you feel that pull toward your thing of comfort, pause. Pray first. Ask God to meet you in that moment before you reach for anything else.

That is not a formula, it is a practice. And practiced consistently (for forty days) and being honest about it, rewires something deep in you over time. To. Be honest with you - I need this and want to do it. Will you do it with me?

You are not just a body that needs feeding. You are a soul that needs God. Most people never truly discover that because they never allow themselves to be uncomfortable long enough to find out what is actually running their life.

Isaiah 43:19 promises: “I will even make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.”

The desert is where God builds roads. The dry places are where He makes rivers. But you have to be willing to stay in it long enough, and honest enough, to find them.

Do it for forty days. See for yourself.

GOD, we all have something we need to be transformed from. We need to be free from. Help us commit to forty days of fasting. Praying when we feel the urge. Drinking water when the urge arises. Fasting will look different for each us. Holy Spirit, help us live in the deficit - it will change me - it will change anyone reading this. Help us - we desire the transformation. IJNIP amen ♥️