I take several medications and I wonder how this community feels about fasting. Do you deny your body of everything but water? I have seen there is quite a bit of intelligence on here and would love to hear the different views. I do not drink or smoke however I do smoke marijuana before I go to bed. Just a single joint, I do not over use And change my state of mind.
Please share how I you think fasting should be handle for someone in my situation or similar. I look forward to reading the different views from a very knowledgeable group that this is.
the Old Testament has earthly obyiscal
Patterns ofnthe New Testament fasting from food is a pattern of Christian’s abstaining from works of the flesh in other words fasting morally and behaviorally fasting from worldly things that interfere with our spiritual growth and focus
Food is about our flesh the food laws were about the flesh
for instance clean and unclean foods defined by the law was a physical pattern of the spiritual issue revealed To us in the gospel
“And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also?
Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
And he said,
That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
Mark 7:18-23
what we eat or even when we eat isn’t a matter of the gospel it was a matter of the earthly physical patterns of the spiritual issue
under the law eating the wrong food made a person unclean in the gospel it can’t affect our status with God but what we think about , what we say and do will what comes out of us will not what food we take in this is the change that happened all physical laws were a pattern of the true spiritual laws
we want to fast from the works of the flesh and not worry any more about whether we eat food every day or not we want to make sure we don’t get comfortable in our flesh nature is the thing and remain in repentance
fasting was a part of that in the e ot they would not eat , spread ashes on themselves and tear thier garments to appear as destitute and sorrowful and humble and meek needy and repentant
we have the gospel to induce repentance and don’t need to do any of that we don’t need to worry about the flesh but to follow the spirit
“for
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For
he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.”
Romans 14:17-18
I’m not saying fasting isn’t a benefit if you believe it is, just that the testaments have changed and how we interact with God has changed.
we have the living water to drink daily but it’s spiritual water and we have the bread of life to wet every day but it’s spiritual food and when we fast it should be towards the things of the flesh
“This I say then,
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall
not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
( we want to fast from any of these )Now
the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:16-17, 19-21
but if we are hungry and don’t eat I’m not sure what spiritual principle we’re accomplishing now more an excercise of our own Will power not to eat when we’re hungry .
The gospel will
Induce fasting from spiritual evil on earth like lust , pride , grudge bearing , greed , selfishness and then we can begin spiritually fasting in Christ
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I find your above statement interesting! And hope you do not mind if I ask you some questions regarding it. I used to be a regular user of marijuana and know it certainly helps with sleep. (In a month I will have been clean and sober for 12 years; I had eight years before that but relapsed a number of times in between those two stints.) How soon before going to bed do you smoke? A whole reefer just for the purpose of sleep enhancement does seem like a bit much. I laud your desire to do a fast. I did a ten day fast once, I think it is called a master cleanse, where you put maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne in water, and that is all you consume. In looking it up now, I see that a saltwater solution and herbal laxative teas are also encouraged. Since you are on medications, it may be wise to check with your doctor before undertaking such an endeavour. Good luck!
