Customer Reviews

A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer

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This is an excellent book on christian fasting. Through careful and cogent analysis of the Bible, Piper shows: (1) fasting has a long and righteous history with Christians; (2) fasting can reveal things that are in our hearts and that control us; (3) fasting is an important spiritual discipline that draws us closer to God and glorifies Him; (4) fasting (along with prayer) is one of the most effective ways of showing God our "hunger" for Him; and (5) fasting for the right reasons will bring us immeasurable gifts from our Father. Piper explains that understanding the teachings of Isaiah 58 holds the key to fasting for the glory of God. We fast as an offering of emptiness to God in hope. It signifies our utter helplessness and total dependence on God. Read this book and add fasting to your arsenal of spiritual disciplines to live and grow in the kingdom of heaven.

I appreciate the forthrightness with which Piper divides the Word or Truth in each and every one of his works. "A Hunger for God" is no exception. In this book, which continues to build on Piper's idea that our "duty" as Christians is to delight ourselves in intimacy with our Heavenly Father, he speaks of the power of prayer and fasting-- and how these disciplines which seem to be so tedious, so difficult, so "duty" like actually release some of the greatest freedom and joy we can experience in this life.

Read it along with Dallas Willard's "Spirit of the Disciplines" and/ or Richard Foster's "Celebration of Disciplines."

John Piper does a great job of describing what fasting is, and what it isn't. He is very encouraging in the way he draws us to want more of God - it's a heart issue, so much more than not eating. I heartily recommend this book.

This book is a great wake-up call to realization that fasting is more than just not eating. Would recommend it to anybody who would like to increase the presence of God in their life.

Reading "A Hunger for God" has been a surreally happy experience to me, as Pastor John Piper; one of my most-loved preachers, from whom I have been learning how to be truly happy, expounds on the meaning, the danger, and the blessedness of the often-neglected delightful discipline of fasting, as well as the powerful testimonies of revival and the outpouring of grace in the life of individual saints thereof. One danger or enemy that fasting helps to fight against is the dulling of heavenly appetite, the weakening of holy affections to God, the erosion of desire for a happy communion with God because the body is full of burgers, steaks, fries, pops, and the head is full of sports, TV, movies, among many other things that tend to yield physical irreverence which in turn leads to irreverent frame of mind and irreverent affections.

What particularly causes me not only to be profoundly happy, but also to crave and long for a sweet precious communion and fellowship with the Lord and so to act accordingly is the comments from some prominent saints; past and present, in regard to fasting at the end of the book, some of which that I consider peculiarly powerful are as follows:

- "... it is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body. For when the stomach is full, the body does not serve for preaching, for praying, for studying, for doing anything else that is good." (Martin Luther)

- "Holy and lawful fasting has three objectives... to weaken and subdue the flesh, or that we may be better prepared for prayers and holy meditations, or that it may be a testimony of our self-abasement before God when we wish to confess our guilt before him." (John Calvin)

- Throughout its course, the life of the godly indeed ought to be tempered with frugality and sobriety." (John Calvin)

- "... although these abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, ..."(William Law)

- "...Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain the Kingdom of God." (Andrew Murray)

- "When the flesh is satisfied, it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation." (Dietrich Bonhoffer)

- "Fasting is the most effective help for a religious who has vowed chastity. Fantasies no longer appear during the happy hours of physiological freedom..., and the rest of the time, they are easily controlled and eliminated." (Adalbert DeVogue)

- "... a certain mastery of the primordial appetite, eating, permits a greater mastery of the other manifestations of the libido and agressiveness. It is as if the man who fasts were more himself, in possession of his true identity, and less dependent on exterior objects and the impulses they arouse..." (Adalbert DeVogue)

- "Self indulgence is the enemy of gratitude, and self-discipline usually its friend and generator. This is why gluttony is a deadly sin. The early desert fathers believed that a person's appetites are linked: full stomachs and jaded palates take the edge from our hunger and thirst for righteousness. They spoil the appetite for God." (Cornelius Platinga, Jr.)

and many more profound God-centered views on fasting which I'm afraid if I write further, I might spoil your reading experience. Fasting (and prayer) are a way to be truly happy in God by stripping ourselves of lesser pleasures to gain greater ones, for in his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand is pleasure forevermore, Amen.

Clearly John Piper has more than a surface understanding of the Scriptures. He knows how to keep central ideas central - a rare gift today! Anyone who wants to fast in the Spirit of Christ would undoubtedly be helped by reading this book.

I've never read a book on fasting before, so I guess I don't have anything to compare this with. Yet, it seems to me that Piper has done a wonderful job with this book. I can testify that this book has given me an increased interest in the spiritual discipline of fasting.

Piper does a wonderful job of communicating basic truths about fasting and also instilling in readers a hunger for God. This book is very emotional, and yet also provides a very solid Biblical basis for what it communicates. Of particular significance is the fact that the book doesn't present fasting not as a way to sway God, or as a mere Old Covenant ceremony, or as an "ordinace" to be routinely followed, but rather as a heartfelt expression of our hunger for God. He presents it as a hunger which we are willing to pursue to such a degree that we occasionally will set aside the things that "fill" us, whether they be food or some other gift from God. The book also separates Christian fasting from mere ascetism and also handles a number of the common objections to the practice of fasting.

Also, in the Appendix there is an index of quotes on fasting from Christain leaders ranging form Ignatius to modern day people. What a nice touch!

I suppose that this book will be the standard by which I evaluate other books on fasting that I may read in the future.

I read this book to learn about fasting because it's something I haven't practiced but thought that maybe I should. Piper is brilliant in stating why he thinks Christians should fast and in suggesting reasons to fast (such as our longing for the return of Christ), but he falls short in the how-to department. The closest he comes is on page 126 where he says we can avoid the physical dangers of fasting by following a few simple guidelines. Then he footnotes to the back where he recommends a couple books that apparently list the guidelines. How complex are those "simple guidelines" that he can't list them himself? Doesn't that seem a no-brainer in a book of this sort, to cover the practical aspects of fasting?

Piper's thorough in telling me why I should fast, but how can I practice what he preaches if he neglects such a fundamental component?

One of the best books I've ever read, particularly if you are fasting. It takes away the legalism so many of us attach to fasting and puts the focus where it should be. Excellent read...I've recommended it to many friends.

This book is an incredible work on the subject of fasting. Piper examines several myths regarding fasting, and contends that Christians aren't so fond of the discipline because they've "been nibbling at the table of the world for too long". Piper gives an extremely thorough look at the subject, and calls the reader to examine the way he/she lives as a Christian in the 21st, or really in any, century.