My Journey into Fasting - Part II

                                                    Fasting P's and Q's - by Linda Young

II.  Plan and Prepare for Prayer

One of my journal entries went something like this:  Thank you Lord, for keeping me so hectic and busy all day long that I didn't even realize I was fasting. Seriously?  That can't be right.  In Isaiah 58:4 (NIV), God says that "you do as you please."  Contrast that and my journal entry with Joel 1:14 and  2:15-16 where God calls the people to sanctify a fast, consecrate, set aside, declare holy.

But there I was, doing as I pleased, going about my routine and doing all my normal things.  I was going without food for no reason.  Oh, sure, when my tummy grumbled I would shoot up an arrow prayer as I worked.  But my time was not set apart or sanctified, and there's nothing holy about the noises my tummy made. 

There are two words that Scripture repeatedly links with fasting.

The first word is prayer.  Plan to set apart, to consecrate some time for prayer.  What kind of prayer?

Moses talked to God, but he really listened to God.

 Although Scripture doesn't tell us what Jesus prayed while he was fasting in the desert,  we can assume He was intimately conversing with the Father.  He was being strengthened to overcome temptations and spiritual warfare.

I notice here that both Moses and Jesus spent the time AWAY from their normal life responsibilities and spent the time ALONE with God.

Anna, the prophetess mentioned in Luke 2:37, worshiped as she fasted.

In Nehemiah 9, Israel confessed their sins as they fasted.

The second word linked with fasting is humility, to humble yourself.

My first journal entry went something like this:  I am preparing to fast today.  I have a supply of Gatorade in the frig to prevent dehydration and hopefully prevent roaring headaches, plus a bottle of Tylenol on my desk just in case it doesn't, and a supply of Imodium just in case other issues present themselves.

I wanted to avoid suffering and discomfort.  I was worried with self and the comfort of self.  Can God be pleased with a fast when I'm only worried about myself?  Suffering and adversity changes us (remember the kind of fast that God has chosen).  When we suffer, we start to see things differently.  We can see what is important and what is meaningless.

Comfort has become an idol to us in America.  How often do we avoid things, conversations, people, situations that make us uncomfortable?  We push our uncomfortable clothes to the back of the closet.  We spend money on things that make us more comfortable.  Ever said, "I'm just not comfortable with that." But comfort isn’t always a friend.  Comfort seems to keep us from seeing ourselves as we really are.  We never have to face our true selves, to really evaluate our lives.  If we really did, we might be humbled.  When we really look at ourselves, we will find humble confession in order as part of our prayer.

So plan to set apart time with God in prayer when we fast.  Consecrate it, make it a holy time with God in prayer.  Spend the prayer time in worship, in talking with God and listening to God, being strengthened by Scripture, and humbly confessing our sins.

III.  Practice!!

Another journal entry was one where I was very upset with myself.  It was a day of fasting, and I had wandered out of my office for more Gatorade.  I absent-mindedly picked up a few cookies from the counter and munched on them while I fixed my Gatorade and went back to work.  As soon as I sat down and realized what I had done, I felt awful.  I failed!  What kind of idiot fails at fasting (me, obviously!)

Do you remember the old joke that asks, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice!

There was a book in that list I mentioned that spoke of having a successful fast.

So what is a successful fast?  Is a fast successful when we get the answer we want to our prayer?  Would Queen Esther's fast have been called a success if the king ordered her execution, but the Jews were still saved?  Is it a successful fast if I can make it for 24 hours without food without fainting?

Could it be that a successful fast is one where we have grown closer to the Lord, or felt His calling to ministry, or truly confessed and repented of a sin?  Could it be that any aspect, large or small, of our life or our self is changed from those moments forward?

God knows our heart.  And since it is not the act of doing without food in and of itself that pleases Him, we are free to practice, practice, practice, until we find the fast that works for us.  Even if I ate some cookies, I believe the fast is successful if I have grown closer to God and have learned something new.  Isn't that enough to change me?

IV.   Pitfalls:

What pitfalls prevent us from fasting, or what pitfalls can come from a fast?

1. No time to set aside. 

Really, we don't have to spend an entire 24-hour day fasting.  Again, it's not WHAT and the WAY we do, but our motive and our heart behind it.

2.  Fear
-of failing
-of suffering
-that it won't make a bit of difference?
          And isn't all that just pride? 
Pride of accomplishment 
Pride of self

3.  Embracing legalism of how a fast is done properly.

Concluding point:  Perhaps Brother Lawrence says it best "That all bodily mortifications and other exercises are useless, except as they serve to arrive at the union with God by love . . ."