Tag Archives: fasting

Your Personal Guide to Fasting and Prayer

Campus Crusade for Christ has put up an interesting and comprehensive guide to fasting.

If you’re thinking of starting, or just want to see what other’s have to say about it, I encourage you to check it out:

YOUR PERSONAL GUIDE TO FASTING AND PRAYER :: Campus Crusade for Christ International.

Fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual admonitions. In fact, it has been ignored for so long that it is difficult to find information on the “how-to’s” of this life-changing experience. When I first undertook an extended fast, I had a difficult time finding information on the nature of a Biblical fast, how to start, what to expect physically and spiritually, and how to terminate a fast.

These pages are designed to answer your practical questions about fasting and ease any concerns you might have. In this series, you will learn:

* Why you should fast
* How to fast safely
* How long and what type of fast is right for you
* How to prepare yourself spiritually and physically
* How to manage your schedule while fasting
* How to deal with the responses of friends and loved ones
* How to make your spiritual experience the best it can be
* How to maintain nutritional balance and health from beginning to end (including specific juice and broth recipes)
* What physical benefits to expect
* How to finish your fast and return to your normal schedule in a HEALTHY way

Fasting with Ease

After hearing a sermon yesterday about letting God come into our lives and clean out some areas that we may have been keeping from Him, I decided to put it in practice.  I had been planning on fasting on Wednesday, which is the weekly day of fasting and prayer at my church, but after the message I felt the need to start right away.  I didn’t want to, and tried to convince myself that Wednesday would be fine.  I’d do the handover tonight, recommit to God, and fast on Wednesday.  No dice.  No matter how much I tried to convince myself, I just knew that I had to start today.  If was really giving it over, this was a way to show my commitment.

Funny enough, I’ve had no real problem keeping the fast.  This is only my fifth or so time fasting, I’d never done it before moving to DC.  I’m learning that it’s something that definitely takes discipline and will, and a certain amount of training and experience help.  Though like yesterday’s morning prayer, I think God was helping easing me into the practice.

Halfway through the day I took some time to pray.  I’m quite blessed with where I work.  It’s a huge concrete complex of offices and shops that cater to busy businessmen (junk food, convenience stores, Starbucks, etc.), but there are also some interesting little mini-parks landscaped into the area.  These places are completely empty and unused.  Nobody takes advantage of them, even though they do actually provide a nice break from the stress of the office.  I’ve singlehandedly cajoled more people into the tables and benches than the place has probably ever seen.  One of the mini-parks makes for a nice, calm, tranquil place to pray, both because of the environment and the fact that there’s never anybody there.  People don’t even walk by.  But hey, so much the better for me 🙂

Near the end, though there was some considerable temptation to break the fast.  Someone brought in incredible homemade fried chicken.  It looked and smelled amazing, and everyone was telling me that it tasted even better.  Of all the days to not only get free dinner, but a homemade meal!  Fortunately, however, God did take away what would have been the worst temptation of all.  On Monday evening, as I was leaving, I noticed someone brought in homemade brownies.  They were gone by Tuesday.  Those I would not have been able to resist!