Post 8...Fasting

 
Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

3 During that time the devil[a] came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

                So this is different... 
        If you notice in the picture
                                   there is no tea..

                           ...and no yummy treat.

                           Why?

Well, the reason for the picture is because for most of January my Church took part in a fast; a 21 day fast. You may or may not have heard that a lot of christian churches are fasting primarily in the beginning of the year.  Why 21 days? This fast is based on the Daniel fast in the bible. Daniel 10:2-3  says Daniel fasted for three weeks.

Daniel 10:2-3
2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

In fact people all through the bible fasted. 

Later the bible says about Daniel seeing the vision of a man

Daniel 10:10-12

10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 

When first I found out about the fast which was suggested by a dear friend who fasts every year...I thought " Aw man, another task I'm going to mess up"

You see the Daniel fast is staying away from anything that Daniel stayed away from. No meat, fish,butter, dairy ( this includes eggs) no sugars which means no sweet cakes or bread for that matter. Essentially, you eat beans, veggies and fruit and grains. 

On a side note...there are tons of cool Daniel fast recipes. My friend even made her kids cookies using creative ingredients in a recipe she found!

In our church the fast was voluntary and there were several fasts to chose from. 
There was the Daniel fast,
The Sunrise Sunset fast (where you fasted all day only drinking water until sunset), Thats the one I chose.
The Soul Fast was where you increased your prayer and bible time with God.
Then there was the fast which was abstaining from certain things like sugar, social media or TV, and lastly and the most brutal was the Water Only fast. My Pastor and another member chose this. and if you are wondering...yes, he had only water (with some vitamins added) for 21 days.

Now you might be wondering why? 
We did it to get closer to God. To listen, really listen to what HE wants. Fasting humbles us, it draws us closer to HIM and it can also reveal what we are doing wrong. It can reveal what is keeping us from doing what God wants us to do. 

Our church has undergone big changes in the last five years.

First we said goodbye to our youth pastor...
Welcomed a new youth pastor
Then our senior pastor left to be closer to his grown children
Then we welcomed another senior pastor
Then we said goodbye the second youth pastor and just recently welcomed youth pastor #3

That's a lot

and with that some members of the church left....OK, a lot of members

just poof...gone.

and the remaining members felt the growing pains. I read somewhere that it takes a new pastor two years to fit in and get into the groove of a new church and in turn in takes that long for members too. 

So needless to say everyone has been praying hard.

So back to the fast.

Experiencing this fast with (as well as following a devotional) my church family would keep focused on God and what he wants from our church. 

At first I didn't get it. How could taking away my favorite foods or making me wait nearly 24 hours to eat keep my focus on God?

It does. It just does. Instead of diving into that cake or midday snack I would switch my focus to prayer and reading my bible more. I knew that the devotionals would make me ask hard questions of myself and I would have to answer them truthfully to myself.

The fast brought us closer as a church. 

And somewhere during that time I started to have hope. It was a feeling that I hadn't really felt for a while in my little church. I sat in service and I looked at some of the empty chairs and I knew that people will come and they will want to hear the word...I just do. 

The fast is over and It was hard, but I learned a lot and feel rejuvenated and I know my church family feels it too.

So tonight my prayer is that you feel hopeful

I pray that you know through Jesus there is ALWAYS LOVE and HOPE. He wants you to know that. 

and that is a great feeling.


PS. As with any drastic change in diet consult your doctor. Many of our older parishioners chose the Soul Fast. A lot of our youth chose to stay away from social media for 21 days.