The idea of fasting stinks. I tend to get a little depressed when I know I’m going to be fasting. 

In fact, I am probably bothered more by the thought of fasting that I am by the bad news headlines I’m hearing everyday.  

Actually, can I be honest?

It may even be true that I am more bummed by the prospect of being hungry than I am by the reports of people dying (unless I know them, of course, but isn't that just selfish?).

And yet ironically, once I’m in the middle of fasting, it has a way of making my heart more sensitive to the brokenness of the world. 

As John Piper put it, fasting lines the ache of our stomachs up with what should be the ache of our hearts for God’s kingdom to come.

We started the year off with a series called Your Kingdom Come. It's about praying and longing for God‘s kingdom to come through physical and emotional healing, through justice for the oppressed, through the salvation of loved ones, through families being put back together, through offenses being forgiven and overlooked, through the nations being reached, and ultimately through the return of Jesus. 

If you are fasting today, ask God to enable your heart to long more for his kingdom than your stomach does for food.

It's the kind of prayer He loves to answer.