Why do you fast for God?

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Why do you fast for God? When I was little, the idea of fasting was extremely weird to me. Why would you purposely starve yourself when there's people starving around the world? Now, I had tried a 24-hour water fast because the youth group I was a part of asked if I wanted to join, but the entire time I was just counting down the number of hours until I could eat again. It just felt pointless. Well, it felt pointless until I became a Christian and started to learn the Bible more. For example, there were some Christians in the church in the Bible who were worshipping and fasting and God used that to speak to them. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them." So, I learned that God can tell us the next thing he's calling us to do while we're fasting. Actually, the same spirit that told them what to do is the same one that led Jesus to fast for 40 days and 40 nights. It says, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry." Question, why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted by the devil? Well, I think part of the answer is in their interaction. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Who wouldn't want to eat after 40 days and 40 nights? But, Jesus answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" What if part of the reason the Holy Spirit let him to be tempted was to get an example of how we're supposed to depend on God's words over our desires. Shortly after learning that, my church group asked if I wanted to fast with them 3 days this time instead of just doing it. I went in with a purpose, prioritizing God over my own desires. So, every time I would feel hungry, I would say, "Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." That experience broke something off of me. It taught me that I could choose to be driven by God over my desires. Even Jesus had to put aside his desires to prioritize what God wanted. He could have chosen to turn the stones to bread, to not get up on the cross, but his mission was to seek and to save the lost, us. And he encourages us to take on the same mindset. Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Fasting isn't something to flaunt to make us seem holier than we are. Jesus actually speaks against that. But, to give you an idea of what this looks like practically now for me, every Sunday when I wake up, I now intentionally fast until 3:00 p.m. because Sunday is when I go to church, when my focus is worshipping and spending time with God. To say to God in my head, "I want to make this time all about you. I want you, God, more than what I want. If there's something that you want me to learn or see like those Christians who were worshipping and fasting in church, I'm open and willing to hear it." Every week I see it as an opportunity to reset my mind, to reset my soul, to prioritize the thing that matters most, every word that comes from the mouth of God. If you've ever fasted, let me know, friends. Why do you fast for God? I'm praying for you today. God bless.