More than food

Are you hungry for more of God?   ...Have you ever tried fasting?
This week I ate manna.  Okay, not literally, but I did experience that it is possible to live, in fact thrive on spiritual food alone. Contrary to how we feel when we sit in front of a Sunday roast, the body is more than food! Fasting means giving up a craving of the body for a deeper need of the spirit.

After some nudges from the Lord, I decided to try an extended fast for the first time.  No, I am not a Christian superhero, I am actually a pretty pathetic faster. I have done it usually for one day at a time, and felt so hungry I counted down to midnight and raided the fridge when the clock struck 12. And that is if I made it to midnight at all... If I was breaking the fast at dinner time, I even found it hard to stick to a time - everything is negotiable when hunger pangs strike! 

But I heard that after day 3 you stop feeling hungry, and the rewards Isaiah 58 describes are so much greater than the sacrifice of food. Besides, I have wanted so long to really mean what I say to God, that I want more of Him, to have Him working on my behalf, to hear His voice and see through His eyes. So I committed to a longer fast. It was a significant week, important decisions had to be made and I wanted God's heart on it. 

Day 1 was not too bad. I knew I had a lot more days in front of me and so I didn't think about food. 

By day 2, my housemate had joined me! She had never fasted in her life, but now she felt God was leading her to a 3 day fast. This made things much easier! 

Day 3 was a struggle. I felt tired and lethargic. We had to take things easy in terms of activity level this week, to make sure we could sustain the fast. Incredibly, after day 3, I really did stop feeling hungry. I drank a lot of water and sometimes diluted fruit juice, and I felt almost completely normal!

For my housemate, the motivation was spiritual refreshment. She got more than she bargained for! During her fast, God gave a word of knowledge to a pastor at church about some inner healing issues in my friend's heart. She was able to receive freedom from years of pain, and newness of life in place of wounds and scars.

As for me, not only did 3 others start fasting as a result of my decision (and got blessed beyond their wildest expectations), but I saw God move on my behalf in a miraculous way. He orchestrated events around me to lead me in ways I had not known. Just as in Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." 

And so as I draw to the end of my fast, I wonder why this incredible gift is so ignored in most of our lives. Even secular wisdom says fasting does miracles for the body. Not to mention fasting being a theme throughout the Bible and Jesus teaching us what do when we fast, not if (Matthew 6). Given the physical benefits of fasting and the spiritual breakthroughs it can bring accompanied by prayer (Matthew 17:21 ~ some kinds of deliverance only come through prayer and fasting), why has fasting become an optional extra in Christian circles? 

I challenge you to try it. Be wise in how you fast, how long and what purpose you choose to fast for. Read up on how you prepare for it and come out of it, and try it. You will not be disappointed. As of now, I want to make fasting a regular discipline in my life. I'm impatient - and it gets me wonderful results in a short time! If you try it, let me know in the comments. And may God blow the roof off your spiritual life.