Fasting is a knife that cuts away superficiality, getting to the bone. Effective, because it is able to break up daily patterns upon which you have become so dependent. When those patterns of pleasure are removed, you are left with your own internal resources. If those resources are bankrupt, then during fasting, you will come face to face with a vacuum that only God can fill.
Fasting also applies pressure to the flesh, and, you may be appalled at how much the flesh will squirm. But it is high time that the flesh is removed from the role of God, dethroned and placed under the foot of your will. It is the creativity of a freed will which lifts us above animal instincts and releases us from the cages of empty routine.
Fasting accomplishes two purposes. First, it will reveal how much the flesh has taken control of your emotions. And secondly, it will serve in breaking the flesh’s hold upon the will.
Fasting will invariably bring to the surface deep seated fears which affect thinking and decision-making. It does this by challenging that complex human instinct called self-preservation. This instinct has been created in every living thing on earth, including man. But you are a New Creation in Christ, recreated not to be controlled by instincts. Because of your rebirth, you have been recreated into a creature of a higher and more grand design than that of your former life.
Fasting forces us to face the chaos of addictions, compulsive behaviors, depression and internal pain. It’s like pressing the pause button of life, and quietly observing how crazy and detached we have become to who we are.
Want to get off the conveyer belt of life? Smash those meaningless patterns—the ones you hated in your youth when you had passion, a sparkle for living, when you really believed in something—promising never to get trapped in the horrible mundane in which mom and dad lived as you grew up. Do you want to live a life with meaning, driven by conviction, even willing to take a chance—becoming the best you can before God? Do you want to be empowered by the Master of your destiny? His desire is for you to be decisive, powerful, self-controlled and free.
But first we must come to grips with those hidden, subtle demons of our character: fear, hopelessness, worry, doubt and selfishness. Beat the bushes, flush them out, expose them for what they are and destroy them with the power of the Word.
They don’t die quietly, because their tentacles can reach into your emotions. They taint everything they touch, no matter how pure. Their presence will rise up against you with great force when you try to fast before the Lord.
When you begin to face them, you set yourself up for failure. There is a risk of pain, especially if you are willing to go deep. It takes courage to go down to the bottom. Who knows what you may find? Faces from the past. Forgotten horrors in the root cellar of your soul. But God is there too. There is no part of you which He does not see, no matter how well you hide. And He loves you and longs to see you set free.
During fasting, patterns of living are broken. Fasting can be an oasis of spiritual refreshment in a life that has become a desert of uselessness. A spiritual desert that has been left in the wake of selfish materialism.
We have been warned not to conform to the patterns of this world, but if you are honest, very little of your lifestyle is different from that of your neighbor’s.
Quite frankly, for Christ to become front-and-center in your life, things will have to be sacrificed. And at the start, it is going to hurt.
True, spiritual fasting smashes religion and draws a distinguishable line in the sand. It is a magnifying glass that allows us to examine our unconscious patterns of living. The driving force of where our life is going. That is why Satan has invested so much energy towards controlling the subconscious patterns of mankind. He will be appalled if you attempt a fast because fasting exposes how much he has been able to infiltrate the destiny of your life.
Ron Lagerquist
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