Sunday, January 9, 2011
Starts Tomorrow
My name is Christina. I have been a follower of Jesus Christ and a believer in His word for many years, but I have never participated in a Biblical period of fasting. Tomorrow, in fellowship with my husband and my church congregation, I will begin a 10-day fast. My husband and I plan to abstain from food, but we also plan to incorporate a small media fast (from TV and internet surfing). For the first five days our plan is to have nothing but juice and tea to drink. Then we may move into a period of abstaining from meats and sugar, eating vegetables, fruits, and grains only for the remaining 5 days. I'm sure everyone in the church will approach the fast a little differently, with some people taking in nothing but water for the whole ten days and some people only abstaining from meats and sugar for the whole period. The point is not to follow a specific regimen, but rather to focus on spending time with God and with each other, and to tap into a greater source of spiritual power by displaying faith and discipline in our lives. One of the things I'm hoping for in this ten days is simply to understand fasting better...why Jesus did it, why He expected His followers to do it, and why God's people throughout the Bible turned to it as a solution to problems. I invite anyone who reads this to add your thoughts, comments, or personal experiences with fasting to the blog.
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I'm encouraged to once again meditate on Isaiah 58 as we embark on this 10 day fast. The whole chapter is centered on fasting. Elmer Towns wrote a book in the 1990s titled Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough. He draws out 9 different purposes for fasting. I'd like to draw from these nine themes over this fast time. There's some good stuff there. Here are the 9 purposes he listed:
ReplyDelete1. Loosing the bands of wickedness.
2. Undoing the heavy yokes.
3. Letting the oppressed go free.
4. Breaking every yoke.
5. Giving bread to the hungry.
6. Allowing light to break forth.
7. Causing health to spring forth.
8. Causing our righteousness to go before us.
9. Causing the glory of the Lord to be our reward.
Looking forward to pondering these together over these next days
Fasting is a powerful time to spend with the Lord and it really clears your heart, mind and soul of those things that you struggling with and the things that are wanting to hear from God. I hope that everyone stays encouraged during this powerful time and that you may have many revelations for your life.
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ReplyDeleteDay one fast almost complete...GO GRACE CHURCH! Thanks for the motivation Pastor Chris....
ReplyDeleteI received a workbook for Christmas from a dear friend. Title: Keeping the secrets of Jesus for Women by Denise Glenn. She states Fasting is a beautiful way to shut out the distractions of the world to concentrate on the face of God. When we come before Him, seeking His face, and turing from our physical desires for a season, our hearts open more fully to hear His voice.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah chapter 58 (along with Isaiah 61) has special significance for me. When I was about 21 years old, God used this chapter to bring healing into my life. Then, I struggled with a loss of appetite. I didn't enjoy food, wished I could just have an IV so I didn't have to eat--you get the picture. At 5'7" I weighed 105 pounds. Things were getting pretty serious, and I knew I needed the Lord to heal me. As I cried out in desperation to Him, He led me to this chapter. I meditated on this word daily. By my purposing to obey it, He promised to "make fat my bones." And that, He has done. Overabundantly. (Pun intended.) He also gave me promises for the future that He continues to fulfill, more than 25 years later (verse 12).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't resist sharing that testimony, but the real reason I am commenting is to share what the Lord has spoken to me today. As I spent some time seeking Him, He gave me a word that I think is relevant for the church.
Fasting Journal
Day 2
The Book of Haggai
Building (Rebuilding) the House of the Lord
How interesting that the Lord has taken me to the topic for which my husband has so much zeal--rebuilding the house of the Lord so that His glory may be displayed in greater measure.
The Lord impressed upon me the idea that it's time to rebuild the house of the Lord. Consider your ways. We must put the things of God before our own desires. There is a drought on the land and a dearth of success on the work of our hands because the Lord's house remains in ruins.
Obedience brings the presence of God, and the reverence for God's presence brings His favor. God wants to go beyond restoring the glory of the former temple. He wants to take the broken down shambles and turn it into a place of marvelous glory--to make His house the "Desire of All Nations," so that the glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the former.
While on my face before the Lord, I began to sing, "You are good, you are good, and your love endures . . ." Then God reminded me of the rest of the song--how his glory came, how the priests were overwhelmed by it, how the sacrifice was made and then the fire came.
The message for today is: We are preparing for His glory to fall. Get ready. God wants to send His fire as a response to our sacrifice. We must first change our plans, our habits, our way of doing things, our thoughts-- to prepare for His glory to fall. I echo my husband's constant refrain. Come, O Lord, that we may behold you in your glory.
Over the years I've engaged in various types of fasting for differing amounts of time. I have always found fasting to be a time of greater impartation, greater clarity in hearing his voice and above all a dramatic increase in annointing especially when done in preparation for some specific ministry event or overseas trip. Sometimes I've fasted one thing, sometimes another. The greatest impartations always came when the fast was a total food fast.
ReplyDeleteMany churches I've attended instituted regular fasts on a particular day of the week and while participating in these didn't often bring the same almost instantaneous increase, the discipline of fasting weekly was benneficial.
Fasting has always been a sure way to connect with God and receive an increase in my spiritual walk.
Just last week my husband, friend & I fasted from food for the day, breaking our fast together with prayer at dinner. We were specifically praying for God to intervene in the lives of some friends facing a divorce. It was really helpful to seek the Lord throughout the day, and to be reminded that "all is vain/unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down." As a breastfeeding mom, I couldn't fast completely, but I did eat a smaller breakfast than usual (so I was still hungry), went without lunch, and drank extra water & juice to make up for the lack of fluids/calories. My milk supply didn't go down so I guess it was fine!
ReplyDelete... A book by John Piper "A Hunger For God" really helped me a lot on this topic.
I had a little chuckle today. I decided my fast was fruit juice and vegetables, no sugar or meat. So when I went to eat my salad, a little old lady told me she was waiting for me to eat my lunch and she would buy me a soda. I refused the drink and told her I prefered water,(which I really do). What came shortly blew my mind. A little lady stood at my office door with a huge (had to be 5 lb) bag of tootsie rolls. How could tootsie rolls be from the devil. They are one of my absolute fav sweets. I think the Lord allows us to be tested to check out our sincerity. No, I did not eat the tootsie rolls. Yeah!! Victory!!
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