Fasting… Another discipline we focused on during our trip
was a 24 hour food fast. For those who have never fasted from food this experience
can be hard. There are hunger pains and desires to just snack that play a huge
role throughout your time in the fast. These moments are what should push you
to seek Him in scripture and allow Him to feed you!
So why fast from food? What is the point? Well our focus on
fasting was a time to really rely on God and to focus our thoughts on Him and
the things that He provides for us each day. We don’t actually have to eat 3
meals a day to survive, in fact we don’t even need one meal every single day.
But something we do need.. is HIM every day. Without Him what is your purpose?
For me the fast wasn’t hard on me physically because fasting
is something I have somewhat scheduled into my relationship with the Lord..
When I lived in Japan, this was a discipline we practiced weekly. Back then;
this was a very hard task for me. My biggest struggle in these moments are not
hunger pains, but just a desire to snack only because I am bored and want to do
something. I found that on the beach fasting wasn’t as hard because I didn’t
have the snacks that I could have had if I was somewhere else. One really
encouraging moment was during our “lunch” when we chose to worship the Father
through songs! What a blessing and joy it is to sing with some of my brothers
and sisters praises to our King.
But as we fasted for the most part as a Walkabout family, I
found that though I personally wasn’t struggling it was hard to help those who
were struggling… to focus not on the pains but on the purpose. I understood why
it was a hard task and how it over takes your whole body, so I chose to be
uplifting or I desired to remain uplifting to those who were becoming hungry as
the day went on. One thing I focused on was scripture and reminding them of the
“food” the Lord had given us. It was such a blessing to watch as over half of
the 30 people on this trip gave their food desire to the Lord and were
connected with Him on a much deeper level!
Fasting of food isn’t for everyone so please don’t hear me
wrong. But we are all called to make a sacrifice
of some things in our life in order to grow closer to Him. Maybe it is a fast
from social media. Or your cell phone. What about even the TV? Anything that
consumes you and keeps your focus tied up in whatever it is. Whatever that may
be for your life, consider fasting it. During your fast focus on spending that
time that you had previously consumed… use it to focus on the Lord.
Use that hour a day you spend on Facebook to read scripture
or be in prayer. Use that nightly run, nightly snack time, or nightly internet
search to put everything up and take out a bible study and devote that time to
the Lord. It is rough. But the Lord is good and can get your though! Love you
dear friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment