Thoughts on Fasting

We are four days into our fasting and we love it. Fasting and praying together is such a blessing. I am so thankful for a husband who loves God and who is willing to pay any price just to come close to Him. 

I have read a few quotes on fasting that have really spoken to my heart, so I decided to share them with you.

The true fasting which should be recommended to all, is abstinence from every stimulating kind of food, and the proper use of wholesome, simple food, which God has provided in abundance. Men need to think less about what they shall eat and drink, of temporal food, and much more in regard to the food from heaven, that will give tone and vitality to the whole religious experience. — CD 90

Now and onward till the close of time the people of God should be more earnest, more wide-awake, not trusting in their own wisdom, but in the wisdom of their Leader. They should set aside days for fasting and prayer. Entire abstinence from food may not be required, but they should eat sparingly of the most simple food.—CD 188

Many who profess godliness do not inquire into the reason of Christ’s long period of fasting and suffering in the wilderness. His anguish was not so much from enduring the pangs of hunger as from His sense of the fearful result of the indulgence of appetite and passion upon the race. He knew that appetite would be man’s idol, and would lead him to forget God, and would stand directly in the way of his salvation. 1SM 284

The spirit of true fasting and prayer is the spirit which yields mind, heart, and will to God. 4BC 1148

For certain things fasting and prayer are recommended and appropriate. In the hand of God they are a means of cleansing the heart and promoting a receptive frame of mind. We obtain answers to our prayers because we humble our souls before God. MM 283

Humility... how much we need it. And this is the whole purpose of fasting. We do not soften God's heart to answer our prayers through fasting. Humbling our hearts should be the reason for fasting. When we humble our hearts before God, He knows that He can trust us to give us more because we would not take the glory to ourselves, but will give all the glory to Him.

Read this sobering quote about pride:

There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable. COL 154

As we fast at the beginning of this year, one of my heart's prayers is: Lord, teach me how to humble myself before You!

Seeking His Face through Fasting and Prayer

As I look behind at 2014, I can only be thankful for all of God's blessings. I have seen Him answering so many prayers. He's provided time and again. He has given me a wonderful, God-fearing, affectionate, sensitive, tactful and faithful husband. I am so thankful for his leadership, vision and determination to be true to God. I am so happy that we can travel together, pray together, minister together. It is such a blessing to have a ministry companion.

I am very excited to seeing how He will lead us in 2015. Though we are at a crossroad waiting on His leading, I am confident that our ears will soon hear behind us a voice telling which way to go.

So, since we believe that this year will bring many changes in our lives, we decided to start the year with 21 days of fasting and praying. We have been inspired some time ago to fast and pray by our friend Martin Kim. It is not the first time when we do a Daniel's fact. We fasted together for 10 days even before we started courting. And we have done it again  for 7 or 10 days several times in the last year and a half. But this is the first time we do it together at the beginning of the year for 21 days.

Why 21 days? In Daniel 10:2-3 we read: "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled."

So we are following Daniel's example. Daniel's fast is not a fast where we totally abstain from food. Why? Because Daniel ate only certain foods during his fasting. So what do we eat?

In Daniel 1 the Prophet ate only vegetables (that would have included fruits) and drank only water. So we find in these scriptures two of the guidelines for the fast: only fruits and vegetables and only water for a beverage.

Then in Daniel 10 we read that the Prophet ate no meat nor any precious breads or foods and he drank no wine for 21 days. So from this chapter we get two other guidelines: no sweeteners and no breads.

In conclusion, we eat fruits and vegetables, raw or very simply cooked. No grains, no sugar, no artificial or processed foods, no chemicals are part of this fasting. I guess we can say that this fast is like a vegan diet but with even more restrictions.

The bottom line is to have a diet that will allow our mind to be more clear and more receptive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, to eat simple food that does not require a lot of preparation so we have more time for prayer and Bible study. We do not intend to only abstain from certain foods because that it is called a diet, not fasting. Our desire is to draw closer to our Saviour. We do not do this fast for Him, but for us. That is why we also do a media fast (fasting from Facebook, Youtube).

As we have done this in the past, we know that it has helped us tremendously. We have seen many answers to prayers. Last year I have started the year with 21 days of fasting and I have seen God working for us amazingly. He provided for our wedding though we did not have the money for it. We have prayer that He uses us to touch more people. As a result the General Conference has asked us to do the material for the 10 Days of Prayer. It has never crossed our minds that He can use us to put together a material for the worldwide church. But He showed us that He can trust us much more than we think and deserve. We've also heard many inspiring testimonies of what God can do when we seek for His face through fasting and praying. We have some friends who were facing many challenges in their marriage. After fasting and praying for 21 days they have told us that they have never been so close to God and to each other as they have been during this time. And I can go on...

My question for you, dear reader, is: Why don't you join us? You may want to think and pray about it. You might be reading this post after January 1. But it is never too late to start. You can start it later and finish it later. If you desire to come closer to God and to see Him working more than you do now, then I believe that fasting and praying is the answer to your pursuit. 

If you decide to join us in fasting and praying, or if you want more information about the Daniel's fast, you can leave a message below.