{"id":778,"date":"2019-04-29T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glitterandgraceteens.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2020-09-24T00:51:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T00:51:34","slug":"fasting-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/?p=778","title":{"rendered":"Fasting for christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Each year\u2019s Secret Church gathering consists of over four\nhours of intense Bible study, as well as concentrated time of prayer for our\npersecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Over 53,000 people\nattended Secret Church 2019 either live in Washington, DC or via simulcast. This\nyear, my church, East Pickens Baptist, hosted a live simulcast of Secret Church\nfrom 7pm-1am. It was an amazing experience and really opened my eyes to how \u201cself-sufficient\u201d\nthis world is becoming and how prayer and fasting is pertinent to overcoming\nthis epidemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s theme focused on the importance of prayer and\nfasting. From Genesis all the way to Revelation, David Platt went through the bible\nand discussed how important prayer and fasting is. We started with the foundations\nof prayer (Genesis) and ended with the consistency and culmination of all our\nprayers (Revelation). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In David Platt\u2019s words, \u201cThe\ngoal for Secret Church is not to entertain you, but to equip you through God\u2019s\nWord.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must admit, although the goal is not for him to entertain\nyou, he does amaze you. For one man to be able to go through the entire bible\nand astound you with basically one topic for 4-5 hours, it is amazing! It\u2019ll\nopen your eyes to how passionate you should be for God and how intense your\nstudy of His word should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main things I took from the night, amongst the\nhundreds of things, was that fasting is something Christians should be doing on\na regular basis. As a Christian, I know that I am supposed to pray every day,\nread my bible, desire to be like Christ, love people like Christ loves us, and\nseek God first in all that I do (etc. etc.); however, I\u2019ve never thought about \u201cfasting\u201d\nbeing on that list. At 31 years old, I can\u2019t remember a time in Sunday school\n(as a child, youth, or adult) that my teacher stood up and said, \u201cHave you fasted\nlately? Or have you ever fasted?\u201d No one talks about it because no one wants to\ngive up their food, and to be honest, not many people realize how important\nfasting really is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fasting is repeatedly seen throughout scripture as a way of\ndeep communion with Christ. The world views fasting as a way to lose weight or\nphysically renew a person to health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual definition of fasting is to abstain from physical\nfood for spiritual purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, most Christians choose to ignore this ordinance because\nit\u2019s not an easy task. No one wants to give up food or feel uncomfortable, but\nGod calls us to pursue Him. Through prayer and fasting, you will gain a deeper\nrelationship with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as David Platt stated, I am not a doctor. If you have a\nphysical health condition that requires you not to abstain from food, consult\nyour doctor first. Also, start small. If you choose to try to add fasting to\nyour Christian walk (which I hope you all will try), don\u2019t start by giving up\nfood for an entire week or even a day; instead, start by cutting out one meal\nand devoting that time to prayer. The goal of fasting is to remind you that you\nnot only need your daily bread, food, but you need your daily Bread, God, even\nmore. Fasting will teach you to rely on God more than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason we fast is to teach us to rely on God. When you\nstart your fast, you will inevitably get hungry at some point in the day. If\nyou choose to skip breakfast so that you can spend that time in prayer, you\nmight be ok for a few hours, but as you get closer to lunch, you\u2019re stomach\nwill start to rumble as reminder that you haven\u2019t ate in a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rumbling stomach is\na physical reminder that you need to eat. Conviction is a spiritual reminder\nthat you need to feast on the word of God. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are fasting and you start to feel hunger pains and\ndesire to eat, take that time to pray and thank God for all that He has provided\nfor you. As you feel weak, thank God for the strength that only He can give. As\nyou hurt, pray for those that are hurting. Embrace every moment you fast as an\nopportunity for you to grow closer to Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We fast from food because God has given us an innate desire\nand addiction to food. We are accustomed to the comfort that food gives us, and\nwe easily get into the habit of eating even when aren\u2019t hungry. Have you ever\nfound yourself snacking all day long for no apparent reason? Or just eating\nbecause you\u2019re bored or having a bad day? We seek food for comfort and\nfulfillment physically just like we should be seeking God to fulfill us\nspiritually. Fasting will teach you to rely on God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod us our physical\ncravings to teach us about spiritual sustenance (nourishment, fulfilment). Our spiritual\nneed for God is far more fundamental than our physical need for food and water.\u201d\n\u2013 David Platt <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you fast, you are giving up your comforts to be\nfulfilled by God. Your sacrifice of one meal a day or maybe even a few meals may\nseem extremely tough for you to do, and it will probably make you uncomfortable,\nbut I promise you it will bring you closer to the Lord if you\u2019ll let it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.L. Moody bluntly states, \u201cIf you say, \u2018I will fast when God lays it on my heart,\u2019 you never\nwill. You are too cold and indifferent to take the yoke upon you.\u201d D.L. Moody<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will never be a \u201cright time\u201d to start fasting. Make a\nplan today to fast in the near future so that you might deepen your\nrelationship with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directly after Jesus is baptized, He is sent to the desert\nto be tempted by the devil. In Luke 4, Jesus is tempted by the devil for 40\ndays and 40 nights. During this time, I can\u2019t imagine the hunger pains and\nstruggles that He went through, but through God\u2019s word, He was able to overcome\ntemptations. Even Jesus felt the pain of fasting, yet God sustained Him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwhere for forty days\nhe was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end\nof them he was hungry. The devil said to him, \u201cIf you are the Son of God, tell\nthis stone to become bread.\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cIt is written: \u2018Man shall not\nlive on bread alone.\u201d Luke 4:2-4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the entire bible, prayer and fasting are pertinent\nto the Christian walk with Christ, what makes believers think today that things\nare different? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you willing to get out of comfort zone to get closer to\nGod? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My prayer for you is that when you do fast, you will learn\nto rely more on God and less on yourself, learn to submit to God\u2019s will, and\nultimately grow closer to Him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May God bless you and\nshow you His grace every day!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year\u2019s Secret Church gathering consists of over four hours of intense Bible study, as well as concentrated time of prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Over 53,000 people attended Secret Church 2019 either live in Washington, DC or via simulcast. This year, my church, East Pickens Baptist, hosted … Continue reading Fasting for christ<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-devotions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1123,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions\/1123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}