What does fasting look like in our day and age? Have you
ever fasted? From what? Food, media, people? In the past few weeks, I’ve felt
like God was calling me to fast. I have fasted from food only once before, one
year ago, and it was for several days with a community of people.
BUT, Let me be honest. The first time I fasted in this
country, it did not go over very well. I was tired, HUNGRY, weak, and kind of
out of it. I intended to drink only water and juice all day and to break fast
in the morning. But as the day progressed, my stomach groaned louder, and my
head began to spin more, I gave into the temptation to eat and had a late
dinner.
Do I say this with a defeatist attitude? Of course not!
Through the struggle for control over my mind and body, I learned some valuable
lessons and drew into the Lord even more.
1.
Food is
made for the body and not the body for food. If you have ever tried to fast
from food, was one of the first struggles you faced fighting your urge to eat a
certain food for emotional reasons? Did it feel like eating just one thing
would make you feel happier and more emotionally at rest? Let me tell you, I was
genuinely surprised that this was
going to be an issue. Praise Him, by the end of the day, I found that food no
longer controlled my emotions. Drinking a cup of coffee, eating my favorite
snack, starting the meal out with a good breakfast no longer set the tone of my
mood for the day.
2.
God
intended to challenge us to a dependence on Him when He modeled His 40 days of
fasting in the desert. I would challenge you to consider fasting from food,
for often we depend more on food for strength rather than the Lord. Didn’t Jesus
say in Matthew 4, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Do you think Jesus only fasted
from media, people, certain coffee shops, FB, and whatnot? Maybe there’s some
truth in the challenge and difficulty of fasting from food. During my day of
fasting, I found myself calling out to Him a whole lot more than normal. Times
when before I would not even think His name.
3.
Culture
can sometimes get in the way of fasting. With our Western (especially
Southern) culture’s dependence on mealtime as social time and meal time as a
good highlight to look forward (and back) to during your day, it makes skipping
a lunch a little more challenging. While this is not always bad, it does throw
a kink into someone’s “normal day” while fasting. I have no insight into this
fasting from food feeling, but to say that prayer time with the Lord becomes a
lot more real and social when you replace mealtime with it.
4.
You will
probably want to quit a million times. The evil one doesn’t really want us
to walk in the footsteps of our Lord, and our bodies are trained to expect food
at certain times of the day. That’s all I have to say on that. If you’ve fasted
before, you know what I mean.
5.
Fasting is
a journey. After my first difficult experience with fasting a month ago, I
felt like God revealed to me (in no exact words), “Rachel, this experience is
just the beginning of your time with fasting. There’s more I want to show you
in this discipline.” I learned failing one time is not the end of the road. God
does not see your unmet goal as a roadblock but a pothole (probably not even
that).
There are so many reasons people will fast: to hear God for
more discernment, to know God better through following what He did, to spend
more time with God, to break bad habits, to mourn for tragic events, to humble
themselves, as an act of repentance, or to take part in religious culture. If
you are interested in knowing more about Biblical fasting and what this food
fast stuff is all about, check out Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster who encourages taking baby steps into fasting, first fasting from 2 meals,
then increasing the number of meals on a week by week basis.
To bring it all back around. I’ve been fasting from lunch
every Sunday, praying and asking the Lord for His sovereignty to reign over a
certain situation. It has been a time of remembering my dependence on the Lord
and growing my faith in Him. At first it was good, then fasting became a means
to an end. Never fun to realize that, but super helpful of the Spirit to set us
straight when we turn our well-intended devotions into self-fulfilling acts.
Again, Fasting is a journey. At this
point, I think it’s time for me to explore a new area of food fasting. I’m
looking forward to how this journey will play out.
Is there anyone who
wants to join me on this journey of fasting once a week? If so, let me
know. I’d love to hear how it goes for you and why you chose to fast. It is
always great to learn from one another.
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Have you ever fasted? If so, how did it go? Any tips or
advice? If you have not fasted, what has been your reason not to fast?