Fasting: The Discipline I Dread, Yet Crave.

In case you were wondering… no, I was not sucked into a blackhole!  There were many times that I wanted to write over the past few months, but between my internship, school, work, moving, moving again, trying to be a good friend/boyfriend, my life has been crazy and not much time was left for writing!

That being said, back to the spiritual disciplines series!  Lately, I have been mauling over the topic of fasting.  It is a pretty interesting one that tends to keep people fairly torn. 

1.     There are more things to fast than food!  Too often, people focus on the food aspect of fasting.  Yes, it is good to do that, but don’t limit yourself!  One of the best fasts that I did was I stopped playing video games for a month, and you know what, I felt SO MUCH BETTER!

2.     I try to fill the time with prayer and scripture.  If I am just going about my life not eating for a day, or two, or forty, I want to fill that time that I am not eating with communion with God.  It draws me closer during that time and reminds me of why I am sacrificing the item that I am fasting from.

3.     Sacrifice is the heart of the matter.  In the past, I have went into fasts wondering what I can get out of it.  In all reality, I was way off base!  I should have been focusing on the fact that I was setting aside something that was hindering my life. 

4.     I put that “thing” in it’s place.  Often times, we feel helpless against our feelings, desires, and emotions.  But God created us to have dominion over our life.  When I had that focus, I realized that those things that I thought controlled me were at my mercy… not me being held at it’s mercy.

5.     I need to have the right mindset.  If I look at the fast as grueling and torturous, well, it probably won’t be very successful!  I will probably go right back to what I was doing.  That being said, I always tried to have a positive attitude and talk about the freedom that I was gaining because of the fast.  As Jesus mentions in Matthew 6:16-18, do not look gloomy and get attention for your fasting like the Pharisees, but do it to be noticed by God.

6.     Don’t announce it to the world. When I fast, I usually only tell a few people so that they can keep me in prayer and keep me accountable.

7.     Don’t do it just because everyone else is.  I firmly believe that group fasting can be good, but just because my neighbor is doing it doesn’t mean that I should feel obligated to do it because God might not want me to do it. 

8.     Fast something that I struggle with.  I usually fast things I struggle with, and not whatever the “in thing” is.  For instance, when people were fasting Facebook, I realized that I would lose touch with too many people so I should keep it.  Instead, I decided that was a good time to start writing Bible verses and positive quotes rather than frivolous things.  That being said, I found something that I needed freedom from and set it aside for God to take away permanently.

9.     Fasting does not always give immediate results.  When I had a crisis of direction, I decided to fast and seek God’s direction.  The day after I stopped the fast, I got my answer!  Whenever I have fasted and sought out God’s direction, it usually came a few days later.

10. If you break a fast early, God won’t punish you!  Too many people think that once you accidently break a fast, that its over.  God knows your heart and he knows your intent, so get right back on the bike and keep pedaling! For instance, when I was giving up soft drinks, I accidently drank some here and there over a month.  But my intent was to sacrifice it so that it did not have a hold of my life and that God could fill that void with something healthier.  When I slipped, I did not let it hold me back because God knew that I wanted to manage it better to honor my body and to honor him.  Mercy is one of God’s great qualities that we often forget about.

Honestly, fasting is one of the hardest disciplines for me to engage in, but I would recommend it to anyone.  Even though I can dread it and avoid, every time I do it I feel closer to God.  Like every other discipline, it requires patience and time.  But in the end it is very rewarding.

I look forward to writing more soon, a lot has happened in eight months so I have a lot to write about.  Until then, have a great day and may God bless you greatly today!