What I Learned from Fasting

About three months ago, I did a fast. It was a liquid fast so I was fasting food. I had never done a fast before but I had some specific things I wanted to seek the Lord and pray about, so I decided that there was no better time than the present. I'm not sure why I didn't write about my fast earlier, but I was recently reading some of my journal entries about it and I remembered how valuable that time I spent with the Lord was. I'd like to share some things with you I learned, but first, if you have felt a pull from the Lord to fast, do it. I know it seems extreme but we are told to fast and pray in the Bible. I have never heard from the Lord more clearly and consistently in my entire life than those two weeks. Each day, I'd open my Bible and the Holy Spirit would show me exactly what I needed. Anyway, here are three things I learned while fasting.

First, I learned that I don't have to be comfortable to be content. In fact, it is in my times that I am my weakest that I feel the power of God more present in my life. I was hungry. I was weak. But the Lord continued to come through every day and give me the strength and joy I needed to persevere. As Christians, we aren't victims to our circumstances. The situations we endure don't dictate the quality of our life. We have Christ who has saved us and made us victors. My favorite Bible verse in 2 Corinthians 12: 9-12. "But he said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' So I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Second, I learned to examine my heart regularly. Yes, we have been saved and made into new creations in Christ. My old self and her wicked heart is gone. But, we are still human. And our hearts are very complicated things. During this sweet time of intimacy, the Lord reminded me to check my heart for any underlying motives and bitterness hidden in there. And guess what I found. A whole lot of bitterness, unforgiveness, and doubt that I didn't even realize was there. Hebrews 3:12 says "So search your hearts every day my brothers and sisters, and make sure that none of you has evil and unbelief hiding within you. For it will lead you astray and make you unresponsive to the living God."

Lastly, and I think most powerfully, God revealed to me the importance of faith. I did this fast because I boldly asked God in faith for something and I thought I heard from Him. But I needed confirmation. So I sought Him to find if I was actually hearing from Him or if it was something else. During the fast, I did receive confirmation from the Holy Spirit through the Word, but I kept doubting. I read through Hebrews during the first week and I learned something pretty convicting. There's a passage in Hebrews that talks about the Israelites when they were delivered from captivity in Egypt. They saw all these miracles and signs from God. Their prayers were miraculously answered! But once they stepped into the desert, they longed to be back in the familiarity of captivity and began to doubt God. Even after all they had seen.

When I heard from God, I immediately began to doubt, just like the Israelites. But not only was God gracious enough to continue to destroy my doubts with His Word, but also He gave me the faith I needed to persevere. If God calls us to something, He is going to give us the grace we need -- because we won't be perfect in it-- and the provision that's required -- because if something requires faith, that means there is a piece of the puzzle that is missing in our worldly understanding.

Faith is a lot more powerful than we think. In the gospels, when Jesus healed the sick, He told them their faith healed them. Hebrews 4:3 tell us "for those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest!" Chapter 6:18-19 says "and now we have run into His heart to hide ourselves in His faithfulness. This is where we find His strength and comfort, for He empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time -- an unshakable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself."

I think it's easy for us to sterilize God and confine His presence to only the times when we open our Bible. But in those two weeks, I experienced the power and faithfulness of God. When we have faith in Him and believe boldly, we invite His power to show up in our lives. God answers prayers. I can tell you that one for sure. Even the prayers I forgot I prayed, I'm starting to see God faithfully answer. He truly is all-powerful, and not just in the ways that we can use logic to understand. He is powerful in miraculous ways. In ways that without Him would otherwise be impossible.

I'd like to challenge you to stop confining God to your understanding of your life. Step our boldly in faith and invite Him to show up. I promise you, He'll blow you away.