Fasting (Help?)

[RedTent]

My minister referred me to the Crusade for Christ site for training about fasting.
http://www.cru.org/training-and-growth/devotional-life/personal-guide-to-fasting/index.htm

 

[pastel1]

How to fast from a broken heart. What did Hannah do she cried out. Mary cried out concerning Lazarus. What were his words to her? Ezekiels wife dies God instructs him concerning what to do with his feelings and it's prophetic purpose. I would say meditate on the word, specifically his promises. Because his promises are sure always. Concerning an unstable heart, mixed emotions and feelings. And if we are going to learn to wait for something or heal from something in the process of waiting. We need to learn to apply God's promises to our lives daily. Also, what I do is I pray lord I am empty and feel void of love and compassion right now. I need you to fill me up with your love because if im going to continue like this situation wise i need you to pour down your love on me . And show me you love me more and more and more and more. When I pray that it works. Look up the promises of our Lord Jesus for a list of promises from the bible. Adnd meditate on those scriptures. And God will heal and bind your broken heart because of your love for him.

 

[pastel1]

basically whatever you need pray for God himself may not change what you are going through. But he can get you through it. And even i say even because he has. Turn your situation and trails upside down. By changing you, how you react, respond. So yes when in fasting think about why you are broken hearted, and what God can do. Because even if we feel wronged I've learned it always starts wih us. Because we are being damaged by it even if it is the other person. So we can fast to ask the Lord to help us stop feeling damaged or getting damaged. In it you will find alot of yourself accepting things moving on from things and even finding yourself in a place of blessing. But i believe it starts with us first. So how do we heal ask God to help us love ourselves.

There is something called the husband fast or wife fast where we focus on only them to see where we are not serving them and where we need to.
But learning to be quietly motivated for them .

But focus on God's promises for us keeps us from getting stuck on failure in our situation.
Fasting can even just mean taking alot of time out for God and setting aside things we would usually do.
I'm not an expert though but that's just from my experience...
I pray your answers will come though in Jesus name amen...

 

[pastel1]

both of my responses I should of said were for NW2U

 

[simplyme_bekah]

Greetings sister,
Many great posts on this topic, and all of them have spoke the Truth. There are many different things a person can fast from, anytime a person gives up something they love, for Christ, is very pleasing to Christ.

i would like to talk about why i fast, when i say fast, i am only referring to food. i only drink water when i fast and nothing else.

The number one reason i fast, is for Jesus Christ. You see i know that if i obey Christ in everything, if i feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit those in prison, give to charity, pray for the sick, help the homeless, volunteer my time, love others, walk the walk of a True Christian, i am only doing what is REQUIRED of a good soldier in Jesus Christ. Fasting however is something we choose to do, not commanded to do, it is something EXTRA i can do for Christ to show Him that i LOVE Him, more than food. i have been celibate for more then 5 years now, so food is the pleasure of my life. i use to fast 3 days every month for around 3 years, prior to that i fasted for 3 days about every 4 to 5 months. Now i fast for 3 days when i need to hear from God on specific issues or for others going into surgery or the such.

Another reason i fast, is because it helps a person to get more in line with their spiritual selves. If you do a study on Fasting using the Bible, you will find that most people who recieved revelations from God were in a state of fasting to some degree. For example when Peter was on the roof and seen the sheet come down three times it is said that he was hungry. When you deny the flesh its desires this opens up spiritual channels. The flesh and the Spirit are at enmity with each other, deny the flesh - spiritual awakening can occur, or spiritual understanding.

Another reason i fast, is because it is actually healthy for you to do so ( not so much once you are older) The third day of only water and no food, i would always get a very bad taste in my mouth, i have learned that is because of poisons leaving my body, poisons that were trapped in my body, but now can escape.

i seen a documentary one time, sorry do not remember which it was 20/20 or Discover Channel or something else. But it was about fasting. i found it to be extremely enlightening. The scientists were doing a study on the mind during fasting. They went to Tibet i think, and put all their electronic monitoring devices on these Tibetan Monks while they were fasting. Here is what they found and i find to be extremely interesting, and from my own fasting can verify to be True. The first day the equipment showed below normal brain activities in the minds of the Monks being monitored. The second day the equipment showed normal brain activities, but on the Third day brain activities were off the charts


For me it was always on the third day, that i would feel the most Spiritual and receptive of Spiritual understandings. The first day was never really that bad, just will power to not eat, but the second day, for me, was always the real challenge. my body would tell me in various ways that it was hungry and needed some food, stomach pains, nausea, cramps, grumbling, and sometime vomiting (dry heaves). All ways that my body is trying to tell me it wants food. But the third day i feel excellent, i guess my body figured that it wasn't going to get any food, therefore my body starts to feed off my body, that is to say it eats the fat that i have stored up in my body. what is excellent is that my body will only eat what it absolutely needs and not more. But my point is the third day i feel great, i think more clearly, thoughts come more easily. This is why if anyone has a serious decision to make in their life, i always recommend Fasting for three days, because on the third day you will think much more clearly and be able to see and understand things better than you did before the Fast. But be warned, the first and second day you might be dumber. Well i was anyway, forgetful, can't pay attention, you know Dumber. lol.

Well anyways, i highly recommend fasting from food, not food and water though, i found (for me) that drinking water helps purifies my digestive system, cleans it out. However don't drink so much water to try to get full, i did that once and got real sick. Drink water periodically and not too much at one time. Also i would not recommend doing three days if you are not use to fasting. Go one day this week then try two the next week, work your way up to three days. Also i hear people who before going on a three day fast will eat only vegetables a couple of days prior to the fast, this may be a good ideal as well. Also another tip, even though you may feel like you are going to die on the second day, you won't die, it is a defense mechanism that your body will do to you, to try to tell you to eat some food. The longest (on record) that a person has went without food before dying is 62 days. Jesus went 40 days and 40 nights. So i am sure you can make it past the second day. For me the second day was always the hardest, days following were easy. the second day was the trial for me, thinking who do i love more Jesus or the food, while the whole time my body is screaming EAT FOOD YOU IDIOT. lol.

Well hope this has helped in some way.

^i^

That was such a delight to read and I sincerely thank you for taking the time to share all that with me. It was packed full of helpful info. So may our Lord bless you for guiding me on this sweetcheeks.

 

[simplyme_bekah]

Thank you so much everyone....aprilandkeion that was so very helpful. RedTent I got that page open now and really really appreciate it, thanks buddy. And pastel1
what is NW2U? Thank you much for everything you wrote. I appreciate you all and hope our Lord blessings you big time. (((hugs)))

 

[simplyme_bekah]

So I have a question. Can I fast from the internet for a day? Like spend the whole day reading my bible and just not getting on the internet? Anyone ever heard of that before and do you think it would work?

 

[Brighthouse]

LOL Simplyme!!! Sometimes you just make me smile at you!! Check this out sis!! hebrews 11:6!! Now knowing this,how can it not help! The very ground of faith we have in our Jesus is firmly established! ( 2 peter 1:2) and 2 peter 1:3-11!!! Good sister i not only think it will work for you,I know it!! And you will to!! Blessing sis! Before Jesus our name was established in sand,after Jesus, our names in him are concrete !!( Matt 7:24-27!!) Glory to God!!

 

[RedTent]

I love Crusade for Christ’s direction on fasting. It says “Fasting is the most powerful spiritual discipline of all the Christian disciplines. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.” It gives many scriptural references to follow what God says about it. It lists seven proven results of what fasting can do for us. There are the outlines of just how to go about it. But I like best his explanation of the spiritual preparation. He uses the last part of psalm 66 when David is praising God. David offers burnt offerings first, and you know for us we don’t do that, we go to Christ and use His blood for forgiveness of our sins. They didn’t know that was what they were doing, but it was a shadow of Christ. David said that had he cherished evil thoughts, God would not have listened, but through forgiveness of his sins so he did not do that God heard him.

There are many wonderful points in CforC’s explanation of fasting, I like the tip on what he calls spiritual breathing. We are to breath out the impure thoughts and breath in the pure thoughts of God. Wow!

 

[ForthAngel]

I think we get a good idea of what fasting is in Isaiah 58
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

1. Someone wants to approach God. It is a time to give up other things and focus on our relationship with God. For prayer and study.

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

2. Here we see they were fasting for the wrong reasons and God won't hear them. Similar to what Jesus says in Matthew 6:16-18.

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

3. Apparently fasting is used to break away from sin and bondage, and a time to be charitable.

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

4. This is what God promises those who fast and do it properly.

So basically this is just my understanding, I could be completely wrong. We should fast to improve our relationship with God, through prayer and study, and repentance. These all go hand in hand like links in a chain. One form of modern day fasting would to be to give up watching t.v., or at lest cut out an hour of t.v. time or something for a month. During that month, spend the time you would normally be doing something else on prayer and reading the bible instead.

I think during this time our prayers are probably more likely to be answered because we are showing God that we do want a closer relationship with him and are willing to put forth the effort. We will also gain a lot more understanding and insight when reading his word during this time.

Anyway, this is how I see it. I could be way off.

 

[shekaniah]

Prayers for wisdom and strength for you Sweet Bekah!
My whole church once fasted from TV for a week.
It was hard for me because the kids still watched,
I would catch myself listening to it.
Love and hugs, Shekaniah

 

[chuinchoy]

My church (anglican) encourage us to fast for 40 days every year during the lanteen season ( 40 days before Jesus was crusified on the cross and raisen). There are many ways to fast. I think the details are available in anglican communion website. Is there isn't any, please let me know, I will dig my previous year fasting material.