Now we are one week into our church fast. I hope you have been able to spend quality time in the Lord’s presence. I also hope and pray that He as started speaking with you in more profound ways. Fasting is a wonderful time to get our priorities back in order; namely the eternal things first, the physical things second.
Yesterday Pastor Byron shared from something he received from the Holy Spirit. As the next few weeks come, I pray the Holy Spirit will give you (and us as a church) clear understanding and strategy for His purposes. Today, I’d like to reflect on three things that fasting can do for a person who is right with the Lord.
Fasting Clears the Spiritual Atmosphere
I had my first fast when I was 17. It was for 21 days, nothing but liquid. It was challenging to say the least. For one, my father didn’t understand (not being a Christian). He thought I was on a hunger strike. Second, I had started the fast about a week before I knew our church was treating everyone who helped serve at a banquet to a Chinese buffet (one of my favorites). Third, the hunger pains.
However, as a result of the fast (this happened after the fast not during), I had a greater sense of God’s presence. I felt close to him, as if He respected my diligence and showered a greater sense of His presence around me. I felt like I had great spiritual authority when I prayed for people, when I spoke, and when I was in my prayer closet. The spiritual atmosphere seemed clearer, and so did my thoughts.
Fasting Can Make Us More In Tune With God’s Heart
After I went on fasts, I would later notice changes in my own self. Some of it may have been the process of spiritual maturing. Yet some had to be the result of the fasting. I really began to embrace Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, “Not my will, but yours be done.” I was delighted to be in God’s presence, to be good relationship with Him, and wanted to know His heart more–and it happened.
I began to see the priorities of Heaven as greater than my own priorities. As a result of fasting in college, I changed direction from studyin pharmacy to studying Classics and Hisotry, which layed the foundation for me to attend seminary. As a result of fasting, I was directed to TEDS to get my seminary degree. As a result of fasting, I had opportunities to work with believers from around the world.
My priorities would have led me into a profession that promised big money for intense hours of work. Fasting led me down a different path. It is a path of simplicity, of contentment in the Lord, of embracing what I was made for, regardless of money–knowing and trusting in God’s provision.
Fasting redirected the trajectory of my life; I couldn’t be more pleased with where I am now.
Fasting Can Help Empower Us To Stop Unhealthy Life Patterns
Fasting can also help empower us to stop unhealthy life patterns. Remember Jesus’ words, “You can’t serve two masters. You will hate one and love the other, or vice-versa.”? Since fasting involves putting your appetites aside for an intense period of devotion to Jesus, it can push you more into his presence. In His presence, the unhealthy things in life may come to taste bitter, be less pleasing, and all around less tempting. It is a great starting point to walking away from them. Stopping unhealthy life patterns during a fast can greatly help you to stop them for life. You may even notice your appetites changing to healthier options. This can apply to food, entertainment, friends, and more.
In the end, fasting isn’t about making a dramatic change in something. It is about intentionally devoting time to the Lord in prayer at the expense of a luxury, usually food, drink, or time-consumers. Such an act puts the Lord as the primary object of our attention–usually more than when not fasting. Spending such an intentional and intense time with the Lord invariably changes us. We may just find that after fasting, we become more like Jesus in our lives.
How is fasting affecting you? Let us know either at church, or in the comments below. I pray the Lord continues to guide you into creating an environment for