Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
(Luke 4:1,2)
And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.' " (Luke 4:3,4)
It is commonly agreed that the true meaning of the word "fasting" is to deny oneself food for a season of time. Some argue on the basis of Isaiah 58 that fasting is not about this at all, but rather ONLY about certain issues of relational justice. However, whether you call what Jesus did here fasting or not, you have to admit that Jesus did go for a long time without food. And since Jesus is a model for us, its something we should be open to, at least.
Why did Jesus go without food for so long?
Jesus did this for two main primary reasons. One was that God's Spirit led him into the wilderness. In the wilderness there was no food to eat. Jesus followed the Spirit of God into a place where there was no natural provision. To be like Jesus, we also must be willing to do this if the Spirit of God so leads. I can assure you that every spirit-filled Christian is led into some kind of wilderness at some time in his or her life.
Even though there was no natural provision in the widerness, Jesus could have created the provision simply by commanding it to be so. I am sure Jesus could have done this, and the devil invited him to do it. Perhaps the devil would like to teach us ways to have our provision met based on spiritual techniques or whatever, also. There are plenty of people out there teaching us how to visualise the success we desire and speak things into being, and they are not all Christians by an
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