Prayer Hints - Fasting 101

A Beginners Guide to Fasting

Much of the reason that fasting has fallen into disrepair in the modern church is that many people have come to misunderstand fasting. If you mention the word "fasting" to many people they thing of long periods of time going without food. While an absolute fast is one form of fasting, it is not the ONLY way to fast. Other people have come to believe that fasting is a discipline to be practice by spritual super-heroes and not the common disciple. The fact is fasting is a powerful tool in the life of the ordinary believer to create space for God to speak in new and special ways in their life.

If you are new to fasting, or haven't fasted in years, here are some practical hints to help you get started again.

Fasting should be prompted by the Holy Spirit. Fasting is an activity that the disiple should practice at the leading of the Holy Spirit. Too many people begin fasting in their own strength and leadership. This defeats the primary purpose of fasting. The point is to deny our base needs and desires to experience God in new ways and to be more completely open to his leadership. Human effort, human wisdom, and human strength gets in the way of the holy space. On the other hand, when God leads to fasting (through his many ways of speaking) he already has something in mind for us. We can begin to fast more aware of his presence and leadership.

Begin your fast at sundown and end your fast at sundown. In my own early attempts to fast, I sabatoged myself. By fasting one day, from breakfast to breakfast, I was actually fasting something closer to 36 hours. By the end of the evening I was ravenous. (There are times when this is the point, but not at the beginning stages.) A wise person pointed out to me that fasting in scripture is from sundown, to sundown, a natural 24 hour fast. In my early stages, this was much more managable and led to a great deal of success early on. I found the momentum made it easier for me as the Lord grew me and deepened my walk with him.

Take your personal limitations into account. Many people don't fast because they have physical restrictions that mandate a certain level of caloric intake, or certain kinds of food. I take a medication that I must take with food. Thus, when I fast, I have to take that into account. So for me, when I fast, I begin my morning with juice, or water and a piece of dry toast. I take in a minimal amount of calories that I might observe my fast, but still deny myself.

We also may fast things other than food. Their is great benefit in fasting noise and practing the disipline of silence, or holy listening, for a time. I have benefitted from fasting television and other distractive practices in my life that God might have more space in the rythyms of life to more fully invade my space.

These are only a few hints to help you on your journey. Ask God in your quiet time if he would have you fast something so that you might be closer to him. "Taste the Lord and see that he is good!"

Fasting

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that has fallen into little use in American churches today. It is little wonder. In our instant gratification, drive-up, feed-me-now culture anything that smacks of self-denial is looked upon with great suspicion. Anyone who shares that they do practice fasting is looked upon as something of an eccentric, or a hero. This misses the point of fasting.

Note that in scripture, fasting is assumed by Jesus as a normative practice among his followers. Jesus, when instructing his disciples in fasting says, "When your fast..." (Matt. 6.16-17). He is assuming that at different times in their journeys, they would find that fasting, as they prayed, would bring spiritual breakthroughs and progress not otherwise possible. Fasting is a key practice in scripture to growth and power.

Fasting is not a practice to be entered into legalistically. It is a means of humbling one's self before God to create the holy space through which God can speak to our spirits. Fasting reveals our dependence on people and things other than God. Through our hunger, we can come to more fully appreciate our dependence on the power and grace of God.

In my own life, some of the deepest revelations that God has given to me have come in those times when I have entered into fasting. Some of the deepest awareness of the grace and love of Jesus Christ have come when I have denied myself food and exposed the deeper motives and condition of my soul.

I invite you to pray and ask God if he would be leading you to practice fasting. Trust in him, follow his leading. You will be rewarded with a deeper and more powerful awareness of the power and presence of God in your life.

Dry Times and Prayer Blocks

There are times in life when it seems as though your prayers hit the ceiling and go nowhere. That can be an intensley frustrating and dry time. Praying can often become a chore and most difficult. We life in an instant gratification society. Like it or not, we often get pushed into that mold. We expect our prayers to be answered immediately and to our personal satisfaction. Problem is, it doesn't always work that way.

What do I need to do to experience the fresheness that comes.

First realize that spriritual warfare is a reality. The battle that we fight is with powers taht are far beyond ours. By recognizing who our fight is ultimately with, we can tap in to the spiritual resources that guarantee our victory. So, that being said, here are 4 hints to overcome the dry times in prayer.

Pray anyhow. The temptation when prayer gets difficult is to simply stop praying. This is absolutely the worst thing that we can do in our spirit. We disconnect from the one who is the source of life, power and deliverance. Even though we may not feel that anything is going on in us when we are in the dry times, God is working. We must continue to create the environment in which he can most clearly speak and move in our lives. Continue to pray.

Trust God. The dry times shake our faith. It makes us doubt our self, our spirituality, our fitness, and ultimately the love and power of God. Dry times in our life are times when we must most clearly continue to trust in and rest in God. As his disciple, we have faith that at exactly the right moment, he will break through and answer our prayers, deliver us, and minister to us. Dry times are times for unshakeable faith.

Pray Scripture. Dry times are confusing and disorienting. Things that previously made sense, don't. Old ways of coping are challenged. The words that we need often escape us. Simply put, we don't know how to pray. The disicpline of praying scripture, openly, honestly, and obediently often helps us through this difficult time. We can hear God's promises in our lives in fresh new ways. He speaks through the power of his word to reorient our life, our needs, and our hearts. His word lives in us in new ways.

One way that I often tell folks to pray is to look at situations in scripture that mirror your struggle. There is nothing new under the sun. There are parallels in scripture to everything that we go through. Do word searches, character searches, read parables. In short, do anything you can to identify with the biblical message and allow it to invade your space.

Engage a prayer partner. Something powerful happens in us when we partner with another person and link arms through prayer. Faith rises. Hearts are transformed. Find a person who is more mature in your walk. Let them teach you about faith and God's love. Share your heart. Allow them to help you shoulder your burden. Together, you will find your way from the wilderness.

I hope that these thoughts enliven and improve your prayer life!