Day 10 of #31dbc! Today is the second part of our discussion on fasting. If you missed yesterday’s post, please go read it here first! When we are fasting we cease to feed our flesh and concentrate on feeding our spirit. It benefits us in so many ways, spiritually and physically! Please feel comfortable to comment and share your thoughts, experiences or questions on fasting! This is community, friends. Blessings!

“Fasting and prayer will bring you into the seventh dimension which is love, and that is where all the gifts operate. This can only be attained through obeying the words of Jesus, ‘…this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting…’ “(Mark 9:29). -T. W. Barnes.

Even the early Church fasted and prayed regularly after they received the Holy Ghost! We have a continual war going on between the carnal and the spiritual that will not end until after the Lord comes back for His people, the final battle is fought and Satan has been put in his place. Forever.

I quoted Joy Haney several times in yesterday’s post. Sister Haney has written a wonderful book entitled “When Ye Fast” that I always carry with me when I fast. It is not very long, easy to read, but oh, so powerful! You will enjoy her truth teachings; she is a prayer warrior and a godly example.

In order to be overcomers while we are living in this world, we must have a relationship with Jesus Christ and we must learn how to pray and fast to keep our bodies, this flesh, under subjection.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10.

Fasting “kills” that inner man and empties you of everything that is not of God so that He may fill you up with HIS power, power that can overcome anything the tempter throws at you!

Now we are going to talk a little more about the particulars of a fast. You will remember that I said I was doing an extended nine day fast a few months ago for specific needs. I did not eat ANY FOOD at all for the entire nine day period. Now stay with me, don’t panic!

Remember I also said if you had never fasted before at all that you do NOT jump into an extended fast! Just like you would not give an infant a sirloin steak, you must start out slowly. So just fast a meal the first few times, and then fast an entire day, just drinking water. This is not a game and you must be careful how you treat your body, it can be very, very dangerous.

Whatever you choose, do NOT go without water, ever! The body cannot survive.

Do that for several weeks in a row, fasting one full day each week. Then you would be ready to move up to a two or three day fast.

There are no “rules”, pray about it! See where the Lord would lead you. If you do set out to go on your first extended fast of ten days or more, it is wise to get support in prayer and if you have any health issues, you might want a doctor’s advice. You do have to use common sense in all things.

Of course God can take care of you, but He expects you to be wise.

It is also advisable, if you have never done an extended fast before, to seek counsel from your pastor. Especially if you are young in the Lord, please go talk to the shepherd of your soul, he would love to help guide you in this area and even more importantly, it is so good to have others praying for you during an extended fast!

I chose a partial juice and water fast, mostly just water, but my son is an RN and came down a few days after I had begun and said I was extremely dehydrated and insisted I drink some Gatorade (yuck!) and then from the third day until the ninth day I did drink some store bought organic juice. The only reason I didn’t go a full ten days was because coming off of an extended fast of that nature takes about four days and we were going out of town on vacation and being on the road, etc., I decided to do my “winding down” at home.

During the fast you will want to drink plenty of water. You will be flushing toxins from the body and the water will help keep you hydrated and the toxic waste moving on through like it should.

You may even notice some physical healing from your fast! Longer fasts of 21 to 30 days definitely can heal the body of physical ailments, but shorter fasts have been known to cleanse the human body of harmful toxins that will then heal whatever was causing the pain or disruption in the body’s ability to perform or operate! Cold sores, boils, blemishes, ulcers, even more serious diseases have been healed through the benefits of fasting!

The body’s ability to cleanse itself truly is a healing process which brings fantastic results.

So, there are the particulars about the length of my fast, I will tell you after the first three days it really does get so much easier! You really are not that hungry if you drink enough water.

You can find a plethora of information about types of juice fasts, or other type fasts, on the internet by simply doing a Google search. One that I referred to regularly that had some good information about what to do and what NOT to do, especially when you are ending your fast, is here.

The most important thing is that you swap that time that you would normally be eating and spend it PRAYING!

Praying and studying the Word, talking to the Lord and discovering things about yourself…where are your issues with trust coming from?

What is causing you to worry so much?

Is there sin somewhere?

The Lord will show you things during a long fast about YOU that you haven’t had time to notice before. But you have to slow down and listen.

Joy Haney mentions in her book that she fasts regularly, weekly even, at least one full day a week is a good recommendation by most people who fast regularly.

“Any time I feel a heaviness in the body, a sluggishness or depression, I know it is time to fast, have special prayer, and to withdraw from certain pleasures. It is time to come alive in the spirit again.” ~ Joy Haney

Quarterly, a three day or seven day fast is a wonderful suggestion! Then once a year, those that really benefit most from fasting, try a 21 day, or even a 30 day fast. Some will add in broth or other types of simple nourishment to help strengthen when necessary, especially depending on the type of physical labor that their job requires. Again, use wisdom!

It is also good to stay away from, or at least taper off of, media, the computer, Facebook, television, anything that is distracting and keeping your mind off of God during your fast.

Now for the spiritual aspect.

I admit for the first part of the fast I was expecting miracles to fall out of the sky, signs and wonders to appear and all of my troubles to disappear overnight. Okay, not really but I have heard stories of some who had been on long fasts and had deep spiritual experiences. I am sure even longer fasts of 21-40 days would be amazing and I would love to try that one day soon!

But, when I had finished the fast, I cannot explain to you the way that the weight of what I had been carrying began to be lifted from my shoulders. I had been living under a cloud of depression for weeks. Some of it was my own fault.

Referencing Joy Haney again, because she is so good at this, “When there is soul searching through prayer, fasting and the Word, there is always a cleansing. The spirit of Isaiah comes upon you and you cry as he cried, ‘I am a man of unclean lips; take fire and cleanse me.’ You naturally feel a humbleness and dependency on God, instead of satisfying your appetites of the flesh with natural things, you become satisfied with spiritual things. When there is a deepening in the spirit and a cleansing, there is a keen awareness that ‘He must increase, and I must decrease.’ (John 3:30). Fasting strengthens the inner man while weakening the outer man. Through dying daily and decreasing in self, something strange takes place. He is increased in you and a new power and authority that is not born of man begins to take hold inside of you. You learn to take authority over Satan, you learn how to war in the Spirit.”

Many things had happened during my fast. Spiritual warfare had taken place!

I may not have seen what was going on but a battle was fought and my side was victorious!

“You don’t fight spirit with flesh. You fight spirit with spirit. The only time the devil is afraid of the church is when they start worshiping, praying and fasting. He trembles at the name of Jesus and runs from the Word, but when the church starts praying and fasting consistently he starts fighting.

The devil came to Jesus ‘after he had fasted’. He does not mind committee meetings and socials, but when the church starts bombarding heaven and souls agonize and pray fervently, he cannot stand against it. He will fight against you. He can attack, but he cannot win!” Joy Haney, “When Ye Fast”

So it wasn’t DURING the fast for me, it was AFTERWARD…I started noticing a difference in the way I prayed. I prayed with AUTHORITY. I had carried it all along, I just didn’t use it! But by getting rid of my baggage, cleansing my mind and detoxing the attitudes I was carrying, I now could use that God-given authority I had with boldness in the Holy Ghost!

Not only had those burdens been lifted but I could also speak to the enemy….oops! We are naming names, aren’t we? I could speak to the father of lies, and say, “Get behind me, Satan!” Then he had to leave! I had the authority to make him go!

I also had a difference in my attitude, (and it will last if I continue to pray and keep fasting a regular part of my life!), a change in the way I looked at my problems.

Problems? I gave those to Him! I decided there was nothing, absolutely nothing, I could do about those “three things” that we’re keeping me awake every night. I could not physically change any one of them. But they had physically consumed me, depressed and oppressed me to the point of outright despair.

Thankfully, in that moment of desperation, I found enough strength to do something that I had wanted to do my entire life, but didn’t think I ever could.

Well, I couldn’t. But I asked God to help me.

You can do it too. Fasting can change your life. It will draw you closer to God, help you see things about yourself that you need to change, allow God to dig out the ugly and replace it with His grace and best of all, lift those heavy burdens from you that you just don’t need to carry or worry about any longer.

You need your sleep, friend. Let Jesus take your worries.

He’s gonna be up all night anyway…

 

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