In our churches, they taught us about fasting before the Lord in order for us to get closer to Him spiritually. I can remember when I was a young teenager going to school without having eaten anything that morning and how my stomach growled just for a small morsel of food. They taught us that we shouldn't even drink any water, because it would fill our stomachs and satisfy if only for a while the desire to eat.
Yes, they told us we were to Deny ourselves and what we wanted and instead to pray for more of the Lord's spirit to indwell inside of our hearts and to direct us more toward His perfect will for our lives. Once the fast period was over; which for me was immediately after school I would make up for what was lacked earlier that day. Some fast, huh? However, with the help of the Lord I learned fasting was more than a going without food and water.
The scriptures tell us over in the book of Isaiah about this very thing I struggled with in my early years as a young believer. Read Isaiah 58:1-8NLT
So, we're in the Lenten Season and scores of people are now giving up or fasting from some favorite type of food or beverage or something they love to do, for the sake of remembering the Christ's sacrifice. However, more times than not they replace their favorite stuff with more of something else and their attitudes toward their neighbors don't change at all and even some get worse, because they don't have their favorite chocolate.
So, your fasting, huh?
Friday, February 27, 2009
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4 comments:
I did not grow up with the principle of fasting and as a result I have never tried it nor fully understood it.
Very good study and lesson. I am still studying about fasting, but have problems being able to fast (due to poor past choices that have hindered my body from being able to.)
I am giving up some things and SO appreciate what you mean about not replacing with other favorite stuff.
It's not enough to fast, we have to have a new heart, we should have changed attitudes...
(darn, mine was chocolate, you nailed me!)
fasting was never practiced in my family, so i have never tried it either. a couple of years ago, i decided to try writing thank you cards every day during the lent season. i failed in my daily effort, but did manage about four a week. i don't know if it was truly a Biblical practice, but i found it helped me care about others when i practiced being thankful.
the other practice i have never really understood is the idea of fat tuesday. it seems like a big separation of church practice and daily life. but again, it is not part of my growing up, so maybe i'm missing something.
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