Friday, January 2nd

Gods people have been honoring God through fasting for thousands of years and yet for many of us we’re just now maybe hearing about the importance of it. For others you have been fasting and know all about it…. No matter where we’re at on the journey with God he desires us to seek him wholeheartedly!!! I believe He will honor you for your faithfulness!!!
I think about my children, their 8, 7 and 5 years old. When it comes to brushing their teeth before bed I still go in every once an a while to check on how the production is going…. Are they just spitting toothpaste out, only brushing some of their teeth or do they have a healthy rhythm as to brushing their teeth…

What I’m getting at is it takes muscle memory for us to get into a healthy rhythm of doing things. To be able to get there we need to try different things and find out what works and what doesn’t and keep building healthy muscle memory so that when hard temptations come we don’t just fall into them…

So when it comes to fasting you have to prepare for your fast. If your just starting out maybe your fast will be for a meal? Maybe it will be half a day working towards a full day. Going longer than a day I would encourage you to cut down on food several days before hand in preparation of not eating and only drinking water.  

Another part is what’s your plan during your fast? I don’t know about you but I think about food aaaalot…. Three meals a day and snacks…. Something that has worked for me is intentionally reading scripture, listening to worship music at meal times, having a cheat sheet when food enters my mind, I’ll already have verses that remind me and feed my soul prepared to challenge my weak moments! Another option is having a journal and writing thoughts down… When we slow our craziness down, we are better able to hear God in our promptings!!!

Ending your fast is super important and in honesty I think the one I’ve struggle the most with thus far.  So to encourage you, especially if you’re going over a day, to prepare how you’re going to enter back into eating. Something light would be recommended. I would say once again what’s the true posture of our heart… if I’m fasting food and all of a sudden at the end I gorge food, have I really given over my addiction to God?

Fasting should never be about doing it perfectly, nothing with God should be… it’s about the process and learning how to surrender and deny what keeps us from growing in our relationship with God. There might be times where you didn’t finish a fast, it’s ok, bring it before God!  Once again, God will honor you in faithfully running after him!!!

Especially in todays society spiritual Fasting can be hard to comprehend.  We can do it for losing weight and other reasons but spiritually our culture doesn't engage it much, yet fasting and its importance is littered throughout scripture.  There is an issue here cause we listen more to what society and our culture says and less of what God has created for us to follow, the guidelines and expectations he has created are for our safety and to grow us into Christ's image.  Let's take a look at some wise words in Proverbs:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭

Trust not in your own understanding, man that alone is worth fasting over, I don't know about you but in confession I can be addicted to my own understanding and not seeking and trusting God and what he has for me.  Know that God is speaking to you right now around something, will you take those thoughts captive and give them to God or just decipher them through your own comfortability and understanding?  As story after story in God's word is about getting out of the boat, stepping into the lion's den choosing courage in the face of uncertainty.  So, will you choose courage today, will you choose Gods wisdom over your own today?  Let God know, speak it to him, proclaim it boldly!  We need to come against the devils schemes with boldness!!!