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BIBLICAL FOCUS:

“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” — Matthew 5:6 (NLT)

What if the biggest thing God is changing in this fast isn’t your schedule, but your appetite?

Fasting is powerful because it doesn’t just reveal what you eat, it reveals what you crave. And not every craving is about food. Some cravings are about comfort. Control. Attention. Approval. Escape. The “quick relief” you run to when life feels heavy.

That’s why fasting can feel uncomfortable. Because when you remove one comfort, the heart starts reaching for another. Our goal shouldn’t simply be to have less appetite; the goal is to have a new appetite.

Jesus said, “God blesses those who hunger and thirst…” Notice, He doesn’t bless people who pretend they don’t need anything. He blesses people who recognize a need and bring it to God with honesty. Because God can work with hunger. Hunger is not your enemy, misdirected hunger is.

Jesus is describing a hunger that God honors: a hunger for what is right, what is holy, what is true, what pleases Him. It’s the hunger that says, “Lord, I don’t want to keep desiring what keeps leaving me empty. I want to desire what leads to life.” And then He makes a promise: “they will be satisfied.”

That means God isn’t trying to starve you spiritually. He’s trying to satisfy you with something better. Because many of us have been “full” of the wrong things, full of noise, full of distractions, full of people’s opinions, full of entertainment, full of stress, yet still empty inside. Fasting creates a holy emptiness so God can fill you again.

So today, don’t only pray, “Lord, help me not to crave the wrong things.” Also pray, “Lord, give me new hunger.” New hunger for prayer. New hunger for Scripture. New hunger for worship. New hunger for purity. New hunger for righteousness in my home, in my mind, in my motives.

Because when appetite changes, direction changes. When desire changes, decisions change. And God often begins His “new thing” by changing what you reach for and letting him be your satisfication.