You Can do it! Seriously, you can.

If you start out saying you can’t do it then of course you will never do it, but if you start out by telling yourself that you can do it, then guess what…You can do it!  

 

YOU CAN FAST

Fasting is NOT for the super spiritual, our the super Christian.  Fasting is a spiritual discipline that is for everyone.  Yes, I did say everyone.  Maybe you have never fasted before because it scares you – get over it!  Don’t be a wuss.  In Matthew Jesus said, “When you fast…”  Thus we should all have a time in our lives when we fast, so let me give you some helpful insights into fasting.

Fasting is the act of voluntarily laying aside food, or certain types of food for a period of time.  Fasting can also encompass laying down other things as well that we might feel has side tracked us, gotten in the path of the flow of the spirit, or simply a temporary distraction.  This Sunday SouthPoint Church will embark on its annual 21 day fast.  We are doing what has traditionally been called the “Daniel Fast” which is derived from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament.  

WHAT TO FAST

There are 2 passages that speak about this type of fast.  The first, is in Daniel chapter 1 and the second, is in Daniel chapter 10.  From these 2 passages we discover that this “Partial-Fast” (partial because you are still eating food.  A complete fast would obviously be no food, liquid only) says to eat only fruits and vegetables, no sweeteners, no Alcohol, and no bread.  Now what some people like to do is go all Pharisaical on us and start adding to this list.  They say things like, “You can have no processed foods!” “No Yeast!” “No artificial flavors!” “No Chemicals!”  That’s all fine and dandy if that is what you are fasting, all I’m saying is what the Bible says.  If you choose to fast other things then that is wonderful and great, however those things are not listed in the scriptures in Daniel and so adding them into this fast is acceptable but not mandatory.  You can fast whatever you want, but insinuating that others have to jump on your bandwagon is not very productive.   

WHEN TO FAST

January 13 – February 3 

WHY FAST

So what are you fasting for?  Before you should fast you should always have a reason.  Doing it to lose weight is a reason, you could very well be physically unhealthy.  Possibly one of your reasons to do the Daniel fast is to get your physical body healthy and realigned again and to lose weight.  That’s fine, but there is more.  What spiritual, mental, or emotional thing are you fasting for?  Maybe it’s a relationship you want or need?  A couple of years ago a lady in our church fasted for a husband.  Now she’s married to an awesome Christian man that started coming to our churchthe Sunday the fast ended.  (Yep, God’s pretty cool like that.)  Be specific.  Write it down if you need to, put it in your phone, make it a desktop picture, do whatever it takes to keep it in the forefront of your mind over the next 21 days.  There is even an example in the book of Nehemiah where he took a piece of paper into prayer and laid it out on the floor and said, “God do you see this?”  Of course God saw it.  God knew it was there and knew what was on it, but that act of physically laying it out there caused Nehemiah to be that much more passionate about it.  Passionately write your needs out.  Be specific, and the when those needs are met, specifically thank God for them.

If you have Fasting Questions simply comment here and We’ll answer them together.

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