Fasting Together In 2010

Hi Everyone…

 

Below are some suggestions for how to end our fast.  Thanks to Megan Williams with the Madison County Health Department for these!

 

What a great journey this has been!  I look forward to hearing all that God has done in your lives!  Looking forward to fasting with you again very soon!

 

It’s very important to ease back into a typical diet especially with fatty foods, processed foods,sugar, meat, dairy,  and caffeine.

 

Remember to continue to drink lots of water.

 

For those who want to reintroduce caffeine- 1 cup or glass a day.  It may make you feel funny-jittery or even give you a headache- (the same reaction you get when you cut it out!) so go back at it slow.

 

Eat small portions and start with low fat meats and dairy. (this is good in any typically diet) and recommendations are low fat meats and 1% or skim milk and milk products.

 

If you decide to do more fatty meats one day- only have one a day.

Returning to an immediate diet of whoppers, coke and fries will make you feel AWFUL and possibly make you sick to your stomach, headaches, etc.

 

That said, it is normal to have some feelings of tiredness and be sort of blah feeling because you have been detoxed over the past 20 some days and your body may not be very happy with what it suddenly has to process- hince the reason to take it slow with reintroducting typical or favorite foods that might be high in sugar and fat.

 

Try to keep as much fruits and vegetables in your diet as possible.  The dietary recommendations are 5-9 servings a day now, so don’t let them slip as you start adding other foods back into your diet!

 

Hey everyone…it’s been a few days since my last post, but I’m doing great!  How about you?  God has been speaking so clearly and moving so powerfully, I hate to see our fasting end.  However, I know that what He is doing will continue to happen in more and more powerful ways!

I’m finding that as this fast is continuing, my constant desire is to be pleasing to the Lord.  Each moment, every day, I long for Him to say “This is my son…I’m pleased with him.”  Fasting has humbled me and heightened my awareness of the spiritual needs all around me, as well as within.  I sense that the Lord is growing my compassion for others as I seek Him in fasting, prayer and the word of God.  He is answering prayers and moving circumstances.  I praise Him for this journey we are sharing together!

So it’s not really my plan to re-publish John Piper’s entire book on this blog, but…!!! 

“Christian fasting is an expression of dissatisfied contentment in the all-sufficiency of Christ.  It is an expression of secure and happy longing for the all-satisfying fullness of Christ.  Christian fasting does not tremble in the hope of earning anything from Christ.  It looks away from itself to the final payment of Calvary for every blessing it will ever receive.  Christian fasting is not self-wrought discipline that tries to deserve more from God.  It is a hunger for God awakened by the taste of God freely given in the gospel.”

I pray that we are all growing in our hunger for and fullness of the sweet satisfaction of the nearness of Jesus.

As we near the half-way point of our journey, I wonder how you’re doing?  I’m sure that by now the detox difficulties have passed and that most cravings have settled.  I believe that you should be finding a very sweet place of fellowship with Jesus now.  For eight days, you have been seeking Him.  You have continued to deny your fleshly hungers and cravings in order to maximize your spiritual appetite.  God rewards this…

Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled.

Proverbs 8:17 - I will love those that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Today I want to encourage you to not grow weary in the pursuit of God!  Psalm 42:1 says, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, O God!”  Like that thirsty deer who will not stop until he finds the life-giving brook, don’t stop seeking the life-giving presence and power of Jesus.  What you have discovered so far is not enough!  There is more.  He wants to do more in you, show you more of His glory, reveal more of His power to you and unleash more of His provision to you.  Press on!  Don’t stop short! 

THE PAYOFF IS WORTH THE CLIMB!

What a great day!  The presence of the Lord has seemed to surround me all day long.  Psalm 84 has been my song.  “Better is a day in your courts, than a thousand elsewhere!”  My hunger for Jesus is more intense now than last week, drawing me like a craving to a snack bar.  I want to be with Him, to hear Him and to know Him more fully.  Only Jesus can satisfy me. 15 days to go…it will end too soon!

So I’m having a hard time focusing in prayer today.  My thoughts have seemed to wander.  Imagine my encouragement at reading this excerpt from Jentezen Franklin’s book, Fasting, “Without being combined with prayer and the Word, fasting is little more than dieting.  But I want you to realize that fasting itself is a continual prayer before God.  There may be days when heaven opens and your heart is prompted to deep times of prayer.  But there may be other days when your energy is sapped and you just cannot seem to focus in prayer at all.  Don’t condemn yourself.  God sees your sacrifice.”

I’m encouraged to know that our acts of self-denial as means of seeking Jesus are not unnoticed by the Lord!  We are not seeking to “impress” Him so that He will love us more.  Such thinking is prideful and silly!  We are simply seeking Him!  I’m thankful to be on this journey with each of you!

So how is it going for everyone?  Day four was very busy for me.  The headaches are past but the craving for sweets is ramping up!  Even more, the craving for Jesus is rising in my heart.  John Piper says this, “The weakness of our hunger for God is not because He is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with other things.”  I’m finding that the more I empty myself of so many things that I often crave, I long more to be with Him.  I love the growing anticipation of all that the Lord has in store for us!  Tell us how you’re doing!

Why fast anyway?  Why all this self-denial?  The simple answer is to declare to the Lord and to demand of ourselves that we have a greater hunger and a deeper craving.  We are pushing away from some foods that we might feast more fully at the Master’s table!

How is your personal worship, prayer and scripture reading going in these first couple of days?  It’s important that you make time each day to be alone with the Lord in as quiet a place as possible.  You need to seek Him.  To decline physical foods without seeking spiritual nourishment is only dieting!  He sees the longing of your heart and He desires to pour out blessing, renewal and revelation.

Wow…what a great day!  I’m encouraged by how many people are participating in the fast.  Today in the hallway at church, a fifth grade student at North Asheville Christian School stopped me and asked, “Pastor Jimmy, can I have popcorn on the fast if I pop it in olive oil?”  An 11-year old guy saying “I want to be a part of seeking God!”  That’s great stuff!!!

Did you journal today?  Honestly, I’m not much of a “journaler” (I need to take more time to do it on a regular basis), but I’m expecting the Lord to reveal some things to me in these days and I don’t want to forget any of it, so I began a 21-day journal of my prayers and readings. 

Also read more of John Piper’s book, A Hunger For God.  Check this out, “There is no easy way home to Heaven.  The hard and narrow way is strewn with obstacles many fatal paths of innocent pleasure.  There is a war to be fought within and without.  And one of the weapons along the way is fasting.”  Sharpen my sword, Lord!