Starving Yourself For Jesus
I have a friend who shall go unnamed (you know who you are Chris) who likes to do everything 110%. When we were in college, he had the great idea of getting a bunch of guys together to do a fast. But of course it couldn’t be a one day, or even two day fast. No, if we were going to fast it was going to be for three days. So we got ourselves fired up like a bunch of gladiators preparing to go into battle, ready for three days of intense, potentially revival-starting, spirituality.
We had some wonderful times of prayer during those three days, but they were quite possibly the three most difficult days of my life. I thought about food all the time, including when I was sleeping. My stomach felt like it was trying to eat my shirt. I got headaches, and lightheaded, and weak in the knees. I haven’t done much fasting since then.
I haven’t done much fasting for a couple of reasons. First, it’s really hard for me. I’m not a big fan of starving myself, and frankly, I’m a pansy. Second, I never had much vision for it. I knew fasting was good, but I couldn’t really tell you why. It just seemed like self-inflicted pain that made things like prayer and Bible reading even harder. But recently I read this quote by a guy named Arthur Wallis:
Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly earnest…Not only so, but he is expressing his earnestness in a divinely-appointed way. He is using a means that God has chosen to make his voice heard on high.
That quote struck a chord with me. Fasting was invented by God so that we could experience God in a unique way. Fasting is a divinely appointed way of adding power to our prayers. When I fast, I’ll experience the grace of God in a way that’s completely different than when I pray or read my Bible. Fasting adds an edge to my prayers, and gives them extra weight in the court of heaven. It’s not just pain for the sake of pain. We experience hunger so that we might experience God. That was a new thought for me.
So now I want to incorporate fasting into my life more often. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to incorporate it into my life, but I want to. I now have more vision and faith for fasting. Fasting is God’s invention and is for my good, so I want to take advantage of it.
What about you? Where does fasting fit into your life? What encourages you to fast? What keeps you from fasting?
Posted in Passion For God
April 11th, 2008 at 7:51 am
My thought about fasting is that it aids our spirituality because it is self-denial. Granted, I have no scriptural back-up for my theory, but this is just what makes sense to me. God calls us to be self-disciplined, which I know is something super difficult for me and my delightful spastic mind. Fasting is a form of self-discipline. It enforces your faith that God gives you grace for self-discipline in the way that you can think: “Well, if I was able to handle not eating for x number of days, I think I can handle this situation with self-restraint.”
That being said, it might be prudent to check out some medical information on fasting–there’s a fair amount on the web. Medically speaking, there’s a proper way to do it so that you shouldn’t suffer as many light-headed spells or do something silly like pass out. The general idea is that you need to decrease your caloric intake gradually down to nothing.
Thanks Stephen
April 11th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Becca - People should definitely make sure that they don’t have any medical issues before they fast. I didn’t mention that in the post, but you’re right, I wouldn’t want anyone passing out.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Stephen,
for a time, a group of friends at my church fasted monthly. it was always the same day each month with the same focus for prayer. some of us did it for breakfast and lunch, some did all day. some would drink juice throughout the day to help with the lightheadedness.
knowing my friends were fasting, helped me to not brush it off as “something I’ll do tomororw” and during that day, we would send e-mails (devotional thoughts from the day, verses, prayers, etc) back and forth to encourage each other and remind ourselves that we were not doing this merely to grow in a spiritual discipline, but we were seeking to worship God through that time as well.
Though we are not still fasting as a group, the 2nd Wednesday of each month is still a special reminder of God’s provision.
For me, fasting clearly reminds me of my weakness and makes me grateful for a God that never tires or grows weary - a God of all strength.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Great thoughts Emily, and really practical. I like the idea of doing it as a group…
April 11th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Ahhhh, I remember the end of semester fast with Chris and others. You forgot the vital part that we did this either the last week of the semester or during finals week . . . which are probably among the hardest times to do a fast, as you are really trying to study.
It was an amazing experience, though, especially the times we got together for prayer each morning. Of course, Luke and I were able to get together on a more regular basis too, since we lived at the same place. It seems that we were all coming to crossroads - end of college, beginning of career, and God used this to help us focus on him during that time.
I should get a group together for fasting here.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot about that part. Why did we choose to do it at the end of the semester?
Anyway, it still was a cool experience and God really did meet us.