fasting

When You Are Hungy For God

When our soul aches, our daily to-do list is a mile long and we can’t hear God over the noise of our technology then what?

Maybe it’s time we fast.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that feeds our soul while we starve our body. Every time our mind signals “I want food” it’s a signal to pray.

As Americans, to give up our beloved food from sun down to sun down is not an easy task. When it comes to fasting, my friend Diet Coke is hands down the hardest thing to deny myself for 24 hours! But how hungry for God are we?

John Piper writes in A Hunger For God: “When midmorning comes and you want food so badly that the thought of lunch becomes as sweet as summer vacation, then suddenly you realize, “Oh, I forgot, I made a commitment. I can’t have that pleasure. I’m fasting for lunch too.” Then what are you going to do with all the unhappiness inside? Formerly, you blocked it out with the hope of a tasty lunch. The hope of food gave you the good feelings to balance out the bad feelings. But now the balance is off. You must find another way to deal with it.”(pg.20)

Fasting is a servant. In its quiet moments, it brings out your soul’s struggles. The hope of a bag of chips or a gallon of ice cream to drown your sorrows out is stripped away and you find yourself raw before God’s throne.

On days of fasting for me, I do not watch any television and have minimal computer time or texting. Sometimes I do it with friends, so we will text and email each other encouragement. But otherwise, it’s a quiet day. There is nothing and no one to conceal my dark feelings and it is there, before God’s throne, that I find time and time again, indeed God is enough.

In the Bible, we see many great men and women of God participating in fasting and prayer. There’s David (2 Sam. 12:16), All the Jews for Esther (Esther 4:16), Ezra (Ezra 8:21-23), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:4) and of course Jesus, our ultimate example, in the wilderness for 40 days (Matt. 4:2).

Have you ever gone on a fast?

Here’s a few of my tips.

1. Start with a 24 hour period. (do not fast if you are pregnant or have a medical condition that requires a special diet)

2. Look at your calendar and pick a day where you are home most of the day.

3. I like to go from sundown to sundown, which means an early supper in the winter time on day 1 but the next evening it is such a joy to break the fast with family!

4. Fasting is not to impress God or others. Fasting was created by God as a tool to bring us into a closer relationship with him.

5. Without prayer, fasting is simply a diet. You must commit to praying and meditating.

6. As a homeschooler, I usually lighten our class load and have the kids join me in some of my prayers. I also try to line up quiet activities for them to do so I can break away for pockets of prayer times. I will admit, lunch time and afternoon snack time can be a beast but you can do it!

Are you hungry for God?

“Sometimes you are so hungry, the only way to be fed is to fast.”
~Susan Gregory writer of The Daniel Fast

For further reading on the topic of fasting – download this free PDF written by John Piper titled “A Hunger for God.”

Book Review: The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory

Fasting is a Christian discipline that is rarely talked about in the Christian church, so I found the book, The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory, to be refreshing and enlightening. America has been plagued by an epidemic of obesity – we love our food -and for some they love their food more than they love their God! Fasting was a part of the Jewish culture and great men and women of God through out the Bible, participated in fasting and prayer. Our ultimate example is Jesus our Savior, who went into the wilderness for 40 days to fast and pray.

Have you ever gone on a fast? In the last few years I have begun to practice this spiritual discipline. Sometimes it’s been with my Good Morning Girls group, often it’s with my husband and once with an old friend from high school who now lives in Texas! The support through out the day of emails, texts and prayers has gotten me through some rough days of fasting – (I do love my Diet Coke! I know for others giving up coffee is a struggle!)

What is so great about this book is it provides a step by step plan – including how to prepare, some recipes that follow the restrictions and daily devotions for doing a 21 day Daniel Fast. I have not done a fast that included food so this sparked my interest – maybe I can do this!

Susan Gregory says in The Daniel Fast, “The definition of a biblical fast is to restrict food for a spiritual purpose.” Susan explains there are three types of fasts – an absolute fast, a normal fast, and a partial fast. The Daniel Fast is a partial fast – abstaining from some foods but not all. Daniel abstained from all foods except foods from the seed and water. So this book explains how to follow his example.

Do you wish you had the deep faith of Daniel? One that could lock the jaws of lions in a den? I think we all wish we could have that type of walk with God and yet are we willing to do what Daniel did in order to have what Daniel had? Fasting is not so you can impress God with your “super” Christian ways – but it is for you. It is done to draw us nearer to God and without the aspect of extra prayer and time in the word – it is just a diet.

Fasting was created by God as a tool to bring us into closer relationship with Him. If you are interested in doing a 1 day, 3 day, 7 day, 10 day or 21 day fast – go to Susan Gregory’s website to learn more about the Daniel Fast here. You can also read a past post I wrote on fasting here.