My church Eaglepoint was having this prayer and fast for a week so that we could get back in line with God and start the new year right. as everyone was going to fast about something., i too wanted to fast and pray for a year aligned with God. first i was going to pray to get more spiritual as i really did not feel like praying or reading the bible at all for the past few months. plus i thought that a little more direction and quiet time with God would do my soul some good. for fasting, there are many types: full fast, partial fast, daniel fast, fast from certain foods or things or emotions and etc. i decided to fast from 2 things that really occupied my mind, that were food and computer games(LoL and starcraft2)
fasting from food is really hard. you feel hungry in the morning when you wake up, throughout the morning, past lunch, hungrier after lunch, rumble rumble, still hungry through the evening and at last its time to eat at 6pm. !!!! oh yeah. i end up eating a tonne of food. and when i'm done, i feel so full and bloated. fasting throughout the day leaves you realy tired, even more so when your body is digesting the food.
My church Eaglepoint was having this prayer and fast for a week so that we could get back in line with God and start the new year right. as everyone was going to fast about something., i too wanted to fast and pray for a year aligned with God. first i was going to pray to get more spiritual as i really did not feel like praying or reading the bible at all for the past few months. plus i thought that a little more direction and quiet time with God would do my soul some good. for fasting, there are many types: full fast, partial fast, daniel fast, fast from certain foods or things or emotions and etc. i decided to fast from 2 things that really occupied my mind, that were food and computer games(LoL and starcraft2)
fasting from food is really hard. you feel hungry in the morning when you wake up, throughout the morning, past lunch, hungrier after lunch, rumble rumble, still hungry through the evening and at last its time to eat at 6pm. !!!! oh yeah. i end up eating a tonne of food. and when i'm done, i feel so full and bloated. Fasting throughout the day leaves you really tired, even more so when your body is digesting the food. The body starts shutting off, feeling sleepy. . . .
but that is what the flesh feels like. I had my friend nelson to keep me accountable of me during my fast and prayer, to give me some advice and company during this week. We agreed on this fast and prayer together and we would see it through.
On the first day, I was hungry. I was advised to seek God in this time, instead of concentrating on what my body felt. So I followed his advice and kept thinking of my situation with God. One of my reasons for fasting was that I get good grades in my Bmed science program. Hence at those times, I focused on my research work or rather my thesis which I really have not gotten to writing. This attitude really becomes productive with a sweet taste in your mouth of satisfaction. I cannot boast that it was all that productive, but everyone needs their first steps to slowly progress to running. In other words, I did quite little but at least I start getting momentum to use my time effectively for writing my thesis. So God has answered my prayer in that aspect.
In the morning, I would try to consistently do my devotion. I needed to read what our Lord says so that I can get closer to him. So brings me back to the churches original purpose for the fasting, to get aligned with God once again. Through the devotions, I learnt lessons to be humble or drop my pride, to acknowledge that everything I have I from God (lessons from Job); and that if I can accept good things from God, I should also acknowledge that I can get bad things from God.
Many lessons of life from proverbs 21, such as the hardworking and the lazy, the proud and the humble, the wife that we marry, the words that we use, the things that the Lord looks in a man’s heart, the righteous and the wicked, are what can be garnered from these words of wisdom.
One more lesson that I learnt though praying is that I should be totally honest with God. Even though I doubt and question him and his words sometimes, these should be raised up so that we are actually more aware of ourselves and our spiritual state. But as long as I know that God is in control and he is mighty along with my own resolve to stay with him, I know that even all this doubt and questioning will not waver me but provide me more wisdom in this walk with God.
As I went further into the fast and prayer, fasting becomes easier as the body gets used to it. But even better than that, the mind is cleared and the body feels like its getting purged or purified. In all aspects, the desires of the flesh become smaller. Indeed in the body, there are 2 sides, that is the spirit and body. Whichever we feed becomes stronger and the other weaker.
Well now that the fast and prayer has passed, it’s quite a relief to eat again. But be warned that once we eat again, the stomach needs to adjust again. Every post meal is followed with a bloated feeling, and drowsiness. Well on the other hand, I am aligned better in my spiritual walk and am doing my devotions. J
