Jason's Blog

People have been fasting for spiritual reasons for centuries. Below is some wisdom that I’ve collected that tells what happens to the body and how to get ready for a fast.

1. Just as it would not be wise to sign up for a marathon without having an extensive training period, it isn’t a great idea to try to do too much fasting too quickly. You might find that a partial fast is a good way to get started. Try a lunch to lunch fast (skipping dinner and breakfast).
2. Drink plenty of fluids during your fast—especially fruit juices. You might find non-sweetened and non-acidic juices to be the best. Tomato and orange juice are pretty hard on the stomach.
3. Don’t chew gum while fasting. Chewing activates the digestive process.
4. Any time that you break from a fast, do so with a light meal with plenty of fruits and vegetables.
5. If you’re taking things slow, two or three weeks preparation can ordinarily get the body ready for an all day fast.
6. When fasting over 24 hours, drink lots of water.
7. When you feel hunger pangs or discomfort, recognize that this is your body’s conditioning. You won’t die. I like how Richard Foster puts it, “in many ways the stomach is like a spoiled child and a spoiled child does not need indulgence, but needs discipline” (Celebration of Discipline, p. 57). Don’t give in to these pains. You’ll be surprised how they pass. Drink some water—that may be what your body is really craving at the moment.
8. In general, if you are in the habit of eating poorly, your body will complain more violently as you take on a 24 hour fast.
9. Before you begin, you need to decide how to handle tea and coffee if you avidly drink either of these products. Caffeine addiction has real side effects, but it is good to break through this chemical dependence.
10. If your family commitments will permit it, take the time that you would devote to eating to prayer and meditation.
11. Don’t call attention to the fact that you are fasting. As much as you can, go about your regular schedule. You may want to reduce some rigorous physical activity.
12. Once you’ve completed several 24 hour fasts, you’re ready for a 36 hour fast. After discipline and practice with 36 hours, you can pray and discern whether God is calling you to take on a longer 3-7 day fasts. The first 3 days of fasting are the worst in terms of body pain and discomfort. By day 4, most of these symptoms begin to subside.
13. When participating in a longer fast, sudden movements will promote dizziness.
14. Don’t be surprised by bad breath and/or a coating that appears on your tongue. This is your body getting rid of toxins.
15. There are lots of great resources now available. Consult them before taking on a 3-7 day fast. Check with your doctor, if you have any doubt about your health in approaching a fast.

There are a number of texts that point to momentous events that shaped the course of history that have followed periods of fasting.

• Moses fasted before delivering the Law to the people (Exodus 24:18; 34:28).
• Queen Esther encouraged all the Jews in Susa to fast before she approached the king of Persia  (Esther 4:16)
• Nehemiah mourned and prayed after hearing a report about Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 1:4)
• Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit and he fasted for 40 days (Luke 4:2).

Is it a coincidence that fasting is mentioned in these passages?

Do they establish a precedent that we might follow in seeking God’s will?

“It is almost impossible to overstate the historical importance of this moment in Antioch in the history of the world. Before this word from the Holy Spirit there seems to have been no organized mission of the church beyond the eastern seacoast of the Mediterranean. Before this, Paul had made no missionary journeys westward to Asian Minor, Greece or Rome or Spain. Before this Paul had not written any of his letters which were all the result of his missionary travels beginning here.

This moment of prayer and fasting resulted in a missions movement that would make Christianity the dominant religion of the Roman empire within two and a half centuries and would yield 1.3 billion adherents of the Christian religion today with a Christian witness in virtually every country of the world. And 13  of the 29 books of the New Testament were the result of the ministry that was launched in this moment of prayer and fasting.

So I think is it fair to say that God was pleased to make worship and prayer and fasting the launching pad for a mission that would change the course of world history. Is there not a lesson there for us?”

John Piper, A Hunger for God, (Crossway, 1997): 107.

What Kind of Fasting?

Recently when I was in Cincinnati, I had a chance to hear Scot McKnight talk about spiritual disciplines.  He made the point that many today are using spiritual disciplines.  For example, someone might undertake a fast in the hopes that by doing so we will get some sort of answer or health benefit.  This kind of fast is not what God wants from us.  When our fast is a means to an end, we run the risk of missing God altogether.

In Zechariah 7:1-14, the prophet complains that the people were not mourning and fasting after the LORD.  The question in verse five rings loud and true:  “Was it really for me that you fasted?”

We have to look closely at our motives.

Fasting should not be treated as a magical ritual that we can embrace to make God tip his hand.  Instead, fasting is an opportunity to seek after God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body.

“Once the primary purpose of fasting [to have a life that is centered fully on God] is firmly fixed in our hearts, we are at liberty to understand that there are also secondary purposes in fasting.  More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.  This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ”

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, Revised Edition (HarperCollins, 1988): 55.

This week find a sacrifice that you make so that you can seek God more fully.

It is a bit old school, but I think it is really important to plan ahead and be ready for our Sunday services.  I believe that God is drawing us together for encouragement and transformation.  One small way that you can get ready is to pray the Psalms.

In my previous post, I asked you think about what it would be like to pray the Psalms with Jesus.  So here is an effort to do just that using Psalm 15 to prepare our hearts for Sunday:

Scripture says –

“Lord, who dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
And who does what is righteous,
Who speaks truth from his heart
And has no slander on his tongue . . . ” (Psalm 15:2-3)

I say -

Father,

I know my own life
The choices that I’ve made this week
Both for you and against you
My walk is far from blameless.

Righteous?  I can’t even use this word with a straight face.
Truth?  Has that been what is in my heart?
I don’t even understand myself.
I’m much more like Jonah – the prophet who ran the other way.
Jonah who knew exactly what he was supposed to do
And fled.

Jesus says -

Who can dwell in the sanctuary?  I love to be here.  I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
I feel complete and entirely at rest on the holy hill
That’s not to say that the holy hill – where the cross is jabbed into the Earth that I made
Is without pain.

I feel the weight of all their sins here.  Even my brother who is praying right now.
But I love him and I want him to know that my holiness, my purity
Covers all his faults.
I welcome him to Your Holy Hill – into our presence.

Here – he is made righteous and can find newness and life.
When He worships, he is not covered over with guilt.
Here, he is free and can change as he listens to Us.

By dwelling with Us, he can learn:
How to treat others –
How to keep his word – even when it hurts.
How to stand for truth and for those who are innocent.

I am ready to share everything with him and invite everyone that he knows
To find life.

My Father,

May they all come and find life and hope when they worship together.
Make every space sacred and pure.
Cover over them and make them new. Even this weekend –

This is my prayer – Amen.

Have you ever been through one of those heavy times in life?  When the dust settles and life begins to crawl along again, it can be difficult to reconnect with God.  After you’ve walked in a traumatic place for a while, everything will seem a bit off.  I find this really true when it comes to prayer and devotion with God.

When you’ve been around death, or sickness, tragedy, the idea of curling up in a chair with the Bible may feel a bit cold.  You might not want to admit it, but “regular prayers” or even a prayer routine may feel the same way.

• So what can we do in times like this?
• Do we just wait around for our feelings to settle back down?
• What if that doesn’t seem to come after a few months?
• Then what?

Let me suggest that you take up the Psalms in a new way.

The writer of Hebrews offers a unique perspective on the Psalms and Prophets.  He highlights the truth that Christ was speaking through the prophets and David.  Consider for example Hebrews 10:5 –

“Therefore when Christ came into the world he said:  ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.  then I said, ‘Here I am – it is written abut me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”

Though these words were spoken by David, they were in fact Christ speaking.  I like how Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains this principle:

“The same words that David spoke, therefore, the future Messiah spoke in him.  Christ prayed along with the prayers of David or, more accurately, it is none other than Christ who prayed them in Christ’s own forerunner, David” (DBW Volume 5, Prayerbook of the Bible (Fortress, 1996): 159).

Can you believe it?  Christ prayed in David.  How could this be?  How could the future Messiah articulate a prayer in and with David?  A partial answer might be found in 1 Samuel 16:13 where we learn that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David after his anointing.

So what does this mean for you and me?  I have two suggestions:

1.  We can take comfort from the fact that when we don’t know how to pray and commune with God, the Holy Spirit can take up the slack.  Take comfort in the fact that the Spirit can be at prayer in you on your behalf.  He can express what you don’t have words for and fill in every blank (Romans 8:26).

2.  We have a record of Christ praying in David — we call them the Psalms.  All of the words of prophecy and the Psalms were inspired by the one and same Spirit that dwells in us as believers.  We can rest and read the Psalms and allow Christ to pray them in us and for us.  When we take up the Psalms, Jesus is praying and interceding for us.  All we have to do is listen.

In my next post, I’ll show an example of Christ praying Psalm 15.