This week I am looking at five exercises to help strengthen your life as a follower of Jesus. I am going to combine these posts with my Bible study series into a short e-book which will be free for download.
A lot of people make a huge deal out of fasting. There are books that tell you fasting is the best way to “spiritual breakthrough” or it will bring you so close to God that He will answer all your prayers with an emphatic “yes!” Believe it or not, fasting has become religious (this is nothing new, see Matthew 6:16). There are a lot of reasons to fast, and many not to. Let’s begin.
What is fasting?
Fasting is simply abstaining from something so you can focus on Jesus. For example; let’s say you are a video game addict and you play Call of Duty for three hours everyday. Once you realize you could use this time to pray or read the Bible, you may choose to fast video games completely and use that time for spiritual growth. Many people substitute other things for video games, like food.
Fast food
Most fasts center around food. Some go without food for a given period of time. It could be one meal for one day, or maybe all meals for a set number of days. Some have looked to the book of Daniel in the Bible and have done partial fasts of a particular food group (Daniel 10:2-3).
What is NOT fasting?
Fasting is not a weight loss option. If you are using it as such it is not fasting, it is an eating disorder. Fasting is also not some miracle-causing-hyper-active spiritual fast track. God does not pass more blessings to you because you fast.
Why fast?
There are many reasons to fast, (feel free to share yours) but the main reason I have found is humility. We can eat whenever we want, watch TV until we look like the people in Wall-e. We can find ways to make ourselves (and our need for food and entertainment) more important than God. Once we get our idols out of the way and focus on God, we find we our reward in a closer relationship with Him.
How to fast?
- First things first, pray. Ask God to help you determine what you should be fasting and how long you should do it. Ask God for help and strength while fasting.
- Set up some accountability. Get someone who will encourage you and pray for you while fasting.
- Start slow. A discipline takes time to build. You do not have to start with the 40 day total food fast. Try fasting a meal or maybe even a 24 hour period.
- If you are fasting food, ask a doctor if you are healthy enough. If you have a health condition that would kill you without food, make sure you talk to your doctor first.
- Humble yourself. Fasting can be one of the hardest disciplines on the planet.
- If you feel tired, rest. During a two week fast, I was able to run two miles a day. During a three day fast, I found myself resting on the couch and taking more naps. Listen to your body.
How to stop a total food fast.
Finishing up a food fast can be hard on the stomach if you do not do it properly. Even a 24-hour fast can play havoc on your system if you end it abruptly.
- Have a light soup like vegetable or chicken noodle. Avoid tomato soup, trust me.
- Eat a light salad with no nuts or dressing as your first solid.
- Eat bread with some sort of fat on it (cream cheese or butter)
Finally, don’t get caught up in the stupidity of others.
Do not allow the more charismatic influences to dictate your fast. Again,you are not going to get super powers or extra blessings. Some will tell you what you are and are not supposed to fast (I got yelled at for drinking dairy products during a 40 day fast). Do what God has called you to do, not what others have.
Fasting as mentioned in the Bible:
- Ezra 8:21
- Ezra 9:5
- Psalm 69:10
- Matthew 6:16
- Mark 2:18
- Acts 14:23
- Isaiah 58
I hope this helps set you on your way to spiritual discipline. If you are veteran at fasting, share your tips with us in the comments!
-Don-
Wow you could write a book on this stuff. and from your tweet: no, I am not good at fasting. Workin on it.
I kind of am writing a book (all bit a short one) on this stuff. But hey, I'm not grading you on fasting. I hope and pray you do it more often and get better at it!
Isaiah 58
Very good point. Fasting for false piety is also pretty lame. I added Isaiah 58 to my section of verses.
I'm not good at fasting. I always give in to the temptation I'm fasting from before my time limit is up. Its quite disheartening.
That being said, I WANT to fast. I also want to do it for the right reasons. I know I've looked at it as a miracle-causing-hyper-active spiritual fast track. Yes, I know that is wrong now. I didn't always though.
I absolutely blow at fasting. When I say that, I don't mean to imply that I have trouble resisting food… it's actually the opposite: skipping food for a day for some reason isn't that hard for me. I think my body survives off of the fat or something. There's also a point (pretty early on) where my body stops telling me I'm hungry, and I'm fine for the rest of the day.
I think the only reason I ever did it was so I could tell myself I was uber-spiritual. That being said, anytime I've toyed with the thought of giving up food for a less comfortable period of time, I've stuffed the thought away and told myself that a one day fast makes me 'holy enough'.
… now there's two words that really don't belong together.
“holy enough.” I love it. BTW, welcome to intense debate comments!
I used to be a part of the “miracle-causing-hyper-active” group as well. I read one too many bad books on the subject.
I too fall prey to the temptation as well. I remember grabbing food onetime and not even thinking about it until I ate it. Then the realization hit me, “I’m fasting.”
Aside from that, I sit and dwell on food when I'm fasting.
I'm working on changing my mindset from "I live to eat" to "I eat to live". Aside from the obvious weight loss ramifications of that thought, I think it would help fasting (when involved with food) because I would not (hopefully) dwell on eating so much.
Because I really think about food a lot. and maybe that's the point. Maybe fasting is a way of redirecting my thoughts from the distractions that pull me away from the Father and back towards Him. Its not really about the not eating — its about redirecting your thoughts.
Right?
Why does it say that I deleted my comment? I haven't been here since I posted it, and now it's gone.
I think I accidentally destroyed my plugin. It should be back to normal and your comment was retrieved from a backup. I dont really know what I did.
Pthbbt. Friar_don, Destroyer of Plugins, Deleter of Comments. Beware!
LOL! At least I have a rep!