Fasting - Conclusion

As a church we started a 21 day fast Sunday, January 4th at sundown. Over the next few weeks I will be doing a series of blog posts to further explain the biblical practice of fasting.

This will be the last post on fasting - for a while... so I will try to land this idea for now. If you are wondering should I fast, or is fasting for me, I would say absolutely.

The only reason I share this is because I feel led to, and I believe God wants to use it to help someone get through their barrier to fasting. This is the story of how I broke through the fasting barrier...

I had tried fasting on several different occasions, and to be quite honest I always felt like I was missing something. I usually came away feeling like fasting might be a good thing to do, but apparently I just wasn't any good at it. That or my flesh just loved food too much for God to minister to me through fasting.

One January, out of the blue, I felt a strong leading to do a 21 day fast. Now understand, the most I had ever fasted at one time was for three days and it was hell on earth. This time was different though,... I responded to God's call to fast and had the assurance of God that I was supposed to do it. It was a fast born out of my relationship with God, not some self imposed discipline. That made all the difference.

To this day it is still one of the most wonderful 21 days I have ever spent with God. God used that 21 days to take me to a new place with Him, and He moved in our church in an awesome way. And for the record... I wasn't the pastor at that point. I was just another member of my church. You don't have to be the guy for God to use your prayer and fasting for a bigger purpose.

The long lasting thing that came out of that fast for me was a breakthrough in my life in the area of fasting. Once you've done a fast, and didn't die, and all the what if's and what about's don't happen... and once you've felt the closeness of God in the special way fasting can bring... then the enemy can no longer threaten you with the fear of the unknown, or the fear of what might happen. That 21 days forever broke down my mental and spiritual barrier to fasting. Not only that, but it opened the door for many people in our church who had felt led to fast, but could never quite break through the barrier.

Since then I've done a 40 day fast, several more 21 day fasts, many three days fasts, and I usually fast at least one meal a week.

If you don't feel God leading you to do a long fast, then don't do it. And don't feel bad about it. When/if God wants you to do a long fast He'll let you know.

At the same time I would tell you this, I don't always wait for God's leading before I fast. When I get in a rut, and just don't feel the closeness with God that I once had. Or, when my spiritual edge is dull and I know something needs to happen in my heart... then fasting is usually the way I quickly regain what I've lost. I don't wait on God to tell me to do it, I do it because I know I need to be changed. That approach is also born out of a relationship with God.

Fasting works. I can say that confidently from years of personal testimony. Start by fasting a meal, or maybe one day... If it is done with the right motive - God will use it. Don't listen to what your flesh tells you. Don't be afraid to follow God's leading if you hear or feel Him leading you to fast. It might take a while to break through the barriers holding you back, but once you do... you'll be so glad you did.