There are many things about the Lord and His ways that are difficult for us to grasp or hold onto. Our Father pours out blessings upon us for which we do not have room to receive. Jesus uttered words in His prayers that were too wonderful for human language to contain. “And tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be written by man the words which he prayed.” (2 Nephi 19:32). If the blessings and the glory of the Lord tend to overflow that we can't hold them all in, or they bounce off of us because we are too dense or hard-hearted to comprehend or fully receive them, what can we do so that our Heavenly Father's bounty and tender mercies are not wasted on us? One thing that we can do is add fasting to our prayers. In addition to meaning to abstain from food or drink so as to bring the needs and desires of the body into subjection to the Spirit as a means of increasing faith and drawing closer to the Lord, the word fast, when used as an adverb, also means secure or firmly fixed or attached, as in, the ship was held fast by the anchor chain. Fasting with faith helps us to make fast, or make secure or firmly attached, the blessings of the Lord. When we are struggling with concepts that keep sliding off of us because they are too far above our understanding or experience, then we need to fast so that the Lord can enlighten our minds and soften our hearts and expand our souls so that we may have room enough to receive the fullness of the blessings that He has prepared for us. Every time we fast we help bind ourselves a little more securely, a little more fast, to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. As we make ourselves more and more fast to them, our thoughts become closer to Their thoughts, our ways become their Ways, our will is swallowed up in Their will. I know that none of us have received even the tiniest sliver of all that our Father wants to bless us, but by fasting we can secure fast a little more of these blessings each time.
