Lent always begins with Ash Wednesday, which fell on Feb. 14 this year. Many Christians engage in habits of self-denial during Lent. They give up certain things for the weeks of Lent to focus themselves on their relationship with God. I’ve known Christians who give up being on social media, or give up eating certain things like chocolate or meat, or give up food in general for certain meal times or longer periods of time. This is called fasting.

I’ve noticed a surge of interest in our culture when it comes to fasting in terms of weight loss and health, especially with programs that tout the physical benefits of intermittent fasting. When you fast there are often desirable physical side effects, but that is not the focus or reason why someone engages in fasting for religious reasons. The emphasis in a religious fast is to remove barriers between us and God by not giving power to the things we are temporarily giving up.

There are some things that tempt me almost to the breaking point. They pull me like an asteroid caught in the gravitational force of the sun. For instance, I love to eat just about anything, but pizza is king. If I really let myself go, I could wander into a pizza place, down a large pizza and chug a pitcher of diet soda (if it’s diet soda, I get to eat all the pizza, right?), and then waddle out with that sleepily-engorged feeling of being over-stuffed. I’m also partial to sweets – cakes, cookies, ice cream, chocolate, pies, you name it, I’m am more than interested. And then there is caffeine, especially in the morning with a couple of cups of really good coffee. Throw in a bagel and cream cheese, and I am a happy camper. When I am fasting, I am intentionally giving up many or all of these things for a period of time.

Why would someone want to do something crazy like that? Sounds like medieval torture — like sitting on a tall pole in the middle of a snowstorm, or whipping your back with bits of bone tied to strings, or trying to go to sleep on a bed of nails, right?

Fasting is a way of putting things in proper balance – focusing on the things that are most important. The worst thing you can do for a spoiled child is to enable their temper tantrums by continually giving into their demands. What if your own desires are like that spoiled child? Some people never tell themselves “No,” much to their own detriment. Fasting is a way to strengthen self-control, a more disciplined way of living that leads to a fuller, healthier life in the long run.

Fasting is a way of bringing stuff that has been under the surface to the light in order to be dealt with instead of ignored. Sometimes fasting can be ugly — you realize how dependent you are on that cup of coffee because your head is pounding with withdrawal, or bitterness comes out in words to someone close to you, or you find yourself mesmerized by a certain temptation that you know you shouldn’t give in to. When I hit that struggle point in a fast, I lift it up before God and ask for His help in dealing with the ugliness that gets churned up in the moment. Fasting is a way of detoxifying your soul.

Fasting opens the door to repentance (repentance being defined not only as saying you are sorry for something but actually turning away from it and not returning to it). In the fast, you find out quickly what you have allowed to control you instead of the presence of God in your life. Sometimes fasting can result in a breakthrough moment, like being able to forgive someone of a long-held grudge, or coming face-to-face with a controlling sin that should no longer be given free rent in your brain or your heart.

I have a friend who sometimes engages in extended fasts where he does not eat for several days. One time, I asked him why he put himself through this. He explained that when he stands in the shower, he stands right under the shower head. Some people may stand on the edge of the spray and get a little moist. He wants to soak it in – the blessing, the movement, the power of the Holy Spirit – drenching him in the very presence of God. That’s what many years of practicing fasting has done for him: put him in a position of receptivity before God.

It wouldn’t surprise me if you have never engaged in fasting, even if you have been a Christian for a long time. Fasting is one of the lost spiritual disciplines of the post-modern church. We don’t talk about it, teach about it, or practice it very much anymore compared to our spiritual fathers and mothers in the past. How do you begin?

First, check with your doctor and make sure it is safe for you. Then you start small, and you don’t expect overwhelming results immediately. Once you pass through the initial resistance and skepticism, I believe you will start experiencing greater closeness and intimacy with God than you may have before. Maybe you should start by skipping a meal. Instead of taking a lunch break at work, take a walk outside and pray for the people in your life. Maybe you want to cut out a certain item or practice that has been dominating your time and energy. You could take a week off of your social media accounts, especially if the posts you’ve been reading ramp up your anger or stress. Maybe you want to give up a certain food or drink. Experiment over time, and ask God to lead you.

I want to be hungrier for God in my life than for anyone or anything else. Fasting helps me to get to that point. What are you hungry for?

Derek Russell is pastor of the Hillsboro Global Methodist Church. He loves Jesus, family, dogs and football.