a woman's guide to fasting

8/6/2019 A Woman's Guide to Fasting

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CHApteR 1

Wha Is Fasing?

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it

more abundantly.

John 10:10nkjv

Fasting is amazingly powerul. It is simple, but not easy. Most

people can ast successully with just a little inormation andencouragement. Lets not make asting into some impossibly

dicult practice reserved or a select ew.

The aim o this book is to equip you with practical inorma-

tion about the physical and spiritual aspects o asting. Why?

Because asting satises the desire o our hearts: to know and

walk intimately with God.

I was raised Catholic. Because o my strong Catholic aith, Iknew that Jesus was the Savior; I just didnt understand that He

was mySavior. When I was in college, I was invited to an Inter-

Varsity Christian Fellowship Bible study on my dorm foor. As


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I studied the Bible, my eyes were opened and I came to a saving

aith in Jesus Christ.

Catholics ast. While I was Catholic, I asted on Ash Wednes-day and Good Friday, and I asted rom meat on every Friday

during Lent. When I stopped worshiping in the Catholic Church,

I stopped asting.

Fiteen years went by and I was steadily growing in aith. I

was teaching womens Bible studies and leading prayer. I was a

stay-at-home mom with two small children. One day I received

a letter rom my old boss. We had served together as army JAG

ocers. I thought the world o him: great leader, good man,

excellent ocer. He wrote that he had just been diagnosed with

stage-4 lung cancer. Forty-eight years old, he had retired only

two years previously and had never smoked a day in his lie. He

knew I was a Christian and asked me to pray or him. He was a

lapsed Catholic.I was getting ready to eat lunch when I got that letter. I was so

shocked by the news that I had to read it twice. Tears lled my

eyes. Immediately the Lord impressed upon my mind, Fast and

pray. I let the table and walked to my bedroom and started to

pray. I understood the Lord was asking me to ast and pray or

the rest o that day. I asted rom lunch and dinner. I prayed. I

emailed other Christians and asked them to pray. I put him on

every prayer chain I knew.

I wrote back and told him I was praying. A ew months later

he wrote again and thanked me or praying. He said he had rec-

onciled himsel with God and regretted neglecting the church.

He had surrendered his lie to Christ. He especially regretted that

his children were not raised in aith and asked me to pray orthem. As much as I had prayed or his physical healing, I desired

his souls salvation most o all. I was overjoyed and praised God

over and over.


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He died a ew months later. When I attended his uneral Mass,

I elt the Holy Spirit wash over me, assuring me, again, that my

boss was now in glory. Outwardly I was calm; inwardly I wasfoating with joy.

Q

When I could look back and analyze that whole experience,

I realized:

God initiated the ast.

God empowered my prayer in that ast.

The ast was or only two meals, yet it was powerul and

eective.

My aith in God exploded.

I began searching or more inormation on asting. I sensed

the Lord was leading me to incorporate asting into my lie, butI wasnt sure how. Should I wait or another clear invitation rom

Him? Should I set up a certain day to ast? I was at a loss. I ound

Richard Fosters Celebration of Disciplineand read the chapter on

asting. He wrote about asting regularly or twenty-our hours

each week. Then I came across a passage that has been a useul

guide to me ever since: I our asting is not unto God, we have

ailed. Physical benets, success in prayer, the enduing o power,

spiritual insightsthese must never replace God as the center

o our asting.1

I began to ast once a week over a three-month period. My

aith grew. And all these years later, asting is a vital part o my

aith walk with Jesus.

This may sound weird, but asting is a joy. It reveals my motivesand the true condition o my heart. The Word o God nearly leaps

o the page when Im asting. I hear God so clearly and know

His will so plainly that my prayers are powerul and eective. I


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orgive others and ask or orgiveness. But as useul as asting is,

I dont orget it is merely a tool. I dont love asting; I love God.

Since that rst ast in 1997, God has invited me to ast repeat-edly. He has used this simple practice to mature me, to grow me

in grace and truth. I have learned to ast or anywhere rom a

ew meals to orty days. I have made mistakes in asting, and I

have had amazing victories in asting.

I am convinced the Holy Spirit is calling us to a holy and

deeper walk o aith. He is inviting us to ast.

Fasting isaDiscipline

Many o us have come to salvation through Jesus Christ by aith,

and we know were supposed to walk out this salvation by aith.

Yet many o us are wondering exactly how to do that. We may

have been taught that aith in action is believing in and obeyingGod, but were just not sure what that looks like in real lie. We

soon realize we cant overcome sin in our own strength, and at

the same time we know that we cant just sit back and wait or

God to wave a magic wand, and poo! all our sinul desires are

gone. How do we live and walk by aith and not by guilt, weary-

ing works, and ailed sel-control?

Unsure o what to do, we try a lot o everything: teach Sunday

school, help with hospitality, attend prayer services . . . the list

grows with our busy Christian activities. We keep hearing that

were set ree rom the law and that we live by grace, but it doesnt

seem to match our busy reality.

Ater a ew years o this, its easy to question whether that aith-

ul, abundant, overcoming lie we read about in Scripture is evenpossible in our lives. Heres where the Christian disciplines come

in. By disciplines, I mean spiritual practices such as prayer, medita-

tion, asting, Bible study, tithing, and worship.2 These disciplines


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are the spiritual tools that God uses to transorm us, to bring us

to maturity, victory, and reedom in Christ. The disciplines dont

accomplish the transormed, abundant lie; God does.These disciplines are not the end in themselves; they are merely

the means to the end. The end is the abundant lie. Only Jesus

provides the abundant lie. We cant ast our way into abundance

or pray ourselves into reedom. The reason to practice any o

these disciplines is that, amazingly, they put us in the position

to cooperate with Gods internal and eternal work in our souls.

Prayer and asting (and all the other disciplines) are the tools we

need to walk out our aith. Faith is a matter o the heart, not a

matter o actions. Somehow we get conused and think we can

work our way into aith. But its the opposite; our works must

be as a result o our aith (Show me your aith without deeds,

and I will show you my aith by my deeds, James 2:18). The

disciplines help strengthen our aith.

its like this

Think o it this way. Lets say its time to get your hair cut, or

worse, its past due and you are thinking o doing something

drastic. You are ready or change. You are desperate or change.

And its time to put your hair in the hands o a true proessional.

This stylist knows exactly whats best or your hair texture and

ace shape. She may tell you that you need to let those bangs grow

outa months-long process. She may tell you that you need to

cut several inches o hair o. Or that your hair color is wrong,

and worse, it is making you look old and tired.

She starts her work. Once in that chair, you may need to leanback or a shampoo. You may need to lean orward to get a short

haircut in the back. You may need to close your eyes while bangs

are trimmed or hair spray is applied. You may need to sit under


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the dryer while the color sets. You may even need to hold the

little permanent rods and hand them up as the stylist rolls your

hair and squirts ice-cold, smelly goop all over your head. You mayneed to hold a towel over your ace to protect your eyes rom

the relaxing chemicals. You may need to sit still while extensions

are weaved in. For hours. Sometimes you need to hold on tight

to the chair while the stylist is blow-drying your hair straight up

rom the roots. And then, nally, youre twirled around to ace

the mirror. You love it! The stylist has completely transormed

your hair. You are beautiul.

Did she do this without your cooperation? Did she wave her

magic scissors over your head and transorm your hair while

you just sat there?

The disciplines are your way o cooperating with God while

He transorms your eternal soul.

What is Fasting?

First, what asting is not: Its not giving up all ood or certain

oods or a certain length o time. Merely not eating is dieting,

or worse, starvationit is not asting. Fasting is a spiritual tool

or spiritual growth. It is a wholehearted desire to know God and

to seek Him. Fasting is giving up something perectly good and

acceptable because you want God more. It is a spiritual discipline

with a physical act.

The traditional biblical ast is twenty-our hours with no

oodliquids onlystarting at sundown and ending the ol-

lowing sundown. The Greek word or asting in the New Testa-

ment is nesteuo: to abstain rom ood. The Hebrew word in theOld Testament is tsoom:to cover over the mouth, to ast. You

can ast rom things such as TV, the Internet, or shopping, and

i a ood ast wont work or you, these may be great options.


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This book is ocused on asting rom ood. However, the point

is less about what youre giving up and more about why youre

giving it up.Fasting is declaring that God is more important than the good

ood you eat, your routines and schedules, your very lie. Fast-

ing is a path to authentic humility beore God, a time o Spirit-

led sel-examination. It is a discipline o grace. Sadly, rom Old

Testament times until today, the practice o asting has oten

been misused as a duty, or an obligation, instead o the spiritual

discipline that it is. A clear example o this is seen in Isaiah 58.

When the Israelites practiced asting as a duty, God spoke His

disappointment through the prophet Isaiah:

For day ater day they seek me out; they seem eager to know

my ways, as i they were a nation that does what is right and

has not orsaken the commands o its God. They ask me orjust decisions and seem eager or God to come near them.

Why have we asted, they say, and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?

Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you pleaseand exploit all

your workers. Your asting ends in quarreling and strie, and

in striking each other with wicked sts. You cannot ast as you

do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this thekind o ast I have chosen, only a day or a people to humble

themselves? Is it only or bowing ones head like a reed and

or lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a ast,

a day acceptable to the Lord? (vv. 25)

True biblical asting is not about the external act o not eating;

it is about the internal work o the heart seeking hard ater God.In this passage, God reveals that asting while doing what you

please (and exploiting others) is no ast at all. Yet God does not

leave the Israelites without counsel. He denes an acceptable ast:


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Is not this the kind o asting I have chosen: to loose the

chains o injustice and untie the cords o the yoke, to set the

oppressed ree and break every yoke? Is it not to share yourood with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with

shelterwhen you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to

turn away rom your own fesh and blood? Then your light

will break orth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly

appear; then your righteousness will go beore you, and the

glory o the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call,

and the Lord will answer; you will cry or help, and he will say:Here am I. . . . Your light will rise in the darkness, and your

night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you

always; he will satisy your needs in a sun-scorched land and

will strengthen your rame. (vv. 611)

Again, as diligent as the Israelites were about observing the

appointed ast days, it was worthless in Gods eyes. They hadturned asting into a mere ritual, a selsh act. Acceptable asting

to the Lord is when there is true personal humility and others-

oriented living. Then, with a contrite and humble heart, we can

call out to the Lord and He will answer, He will guide, He will

strengthen.

This idea o asting out o duty was still alive and well in

Jesus time. When Jesus chastised the Pharisees and the hypo-

crites or their asting practices, it was or the same root o

legalism:

When you ast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do,for

they disfgure their aces to show others they are asting. I tell you the truth,

they have received their reward in full. But when you ast, put oil on

your head and wash your ace, so that it will not be obvious

to others that you are asting, but only to your Father, who

is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret,

will reward you. (Matthew 6:1618)


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The Pharisees, like the Israelites in Isaiahs day, had taken a

powerul discipline o grace and made it into a legal obligation.

The reward or true asting is the transormational work o God,not a sel-satised check-in-the-box or ollowing a rule perectly.

The reason to ast is to be changed rom our normal state o

selshness that desires the praise o men, into a godly servant,

concerned with the things that concern God.

Fastingin grace

True astingthat is, asting acceptable to the Lordalways

requires humility. Humility is the submission o the heart. It is

kicking sel o o the throne o our lives and choosing God

to be the King and Master over sel.

Lets say we have the right heart attitude. Now what? What do

we do during a ast? How is asting under grace dierent rom

asting under law?

I mentioned beore that the traditional biblical ast is twenty-

our hours, liquids only, rom sundown to sundown. In grace,

a ast might be one meal, two meals, twenty-our hours, juices

only, certain oods only, weekly, monthly, or yearly. Because we

ast not under a legal obligation but under a hearts cry or God,God directs our asts in individual and personal ways.

Liquids-Only Fast

What does a liquids-only ast consist o? How much should I

drink? Does liquid mean water only? Can it mean coee? Diet Coke?

Fasting under grace is dened by the heart, not by the liquid.I will discuss the details o good liquids in chapters 4 and 5, but

or those who are eager or details, here is a quick overview o

a twenty-our-hour, liquids-only ast.


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I spent a year asting or twenty-our hours each week. I rarely

ever had water only. Im a tea drinker, so while asting I drank

teathat is, hot tea with milk. Sometimes I put honey in mytea. I also drank ruit juices, especially cranberry juice. Usually I

would dilute the cranberry juice with water or seltzer water and

drink a large twenty-ounce glass o it. I I were a coee drinker,

I would have had coee. I recognize that coee is a diuretic, so

i you drink coee, please be especially careul to drink other,

non-diuretic liquids. For serious coee drinkers, going without

caeine will result in a horrible headacheand may make ast-

ing eel too painul. I like a Diet Coke once in a while, and i I

wanted a Diet Coke, I drank it. Sometimes I had broth.

Drink more than you think youll need. Because youre not

getting the liquids ound in oods, youll need to be vigilant about

drinking liquids. Dont wait until you are thirsty. Drink when you

would be having a meal and drink in between. Your urine shouldbe light colored. I it is dark, youre not getting enough liquid. I

your stomach is rumbling, drink. Also, dont gulp. Drink slowly

to avoid hiccups.

I have nothing against a twenty-our-hour water-only liquid

ast. My concern with asting only with water is twoold. First,

because I can nd no biblical requirement or water only, why

should we make such a requirement? Since asting is not about

the liquid or the ood but about the heart, how does requiring

water as the only acceptable liquid result in asting under grace?

And worse, i we make water the only acceptable liquid, couldnt

we then all into the trap o judging anothers ast by what she

drinks? Or maybe pu ourselves up with our superior water-

only asting? We would then reduce asting to a physical act to bemeasured and compared, just as the hypocritical Pharisees did.

Second, water-only asting provides no energy. The reality o

our busy lives makes ollowing the discipline o asting dicult.


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Adding rules, and subtracting energy, makes it nearly impossible

or the woman who desires to incorporate this discipline into

her lie. A little honey, sugar, caeine, or ruit juice may spell thedierence between pursuing God and His righteousness and

giving up in exhaustion.

Fasting is hard enough, why make it even harder with rules and

regulations about what is an acceptable liquid? I I drank water

only and had a heart like God describes in the previous Isaiah

and Matthew passages, what would I have gained? Its not theorm o liquid you drink, its whats in your heart that matters. I

have asted or orty days, liquids only, three times. Yet the one

year o weekly asting was as powerul as any orty-day ast. I

remember going to social unctions during that year and drinking

punch, soda, sweetened iced teawhatever liquid was available.

It was an amazing season o asting that strengthened my soul

and, I believe, was acceptable in the Lords sight.

Partial Fasts

In asting, we are submitting our hearts to God as ully as

we possibly can. Were holding nothing back in our desire to be

changed into overcomers, women who walk by aith and who

love deeply. We want to be like Jesus. In asting under grace, there

is no less reedom regarding ood than there is regarding liquids.

A standard biblical ast is liquids only; a partial ast is liquids

and certain oods only; and an absolute ast is swallowing ab-

solutely nothing. I only mention the absolute ast because it is

mentioned in the Bible; I do not recommend it. It is potentially

dangerous and not necessary in the normal discipline o asting.I have sought the Lord in prayer, meditation, study, worship, and

asting or many years. I have asted or twenty-our hours, two

days, three days, seven days, nine days, ourteen days, twenty-one


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days, thirty days, and orty days. I have asted liquids-only and

partial asts. I have been transormed and I have seen prayers

answered. I have never been called to an absolute ast.The best known example o a partial ast is described in Daniel

10:3. Daniel writes, I ate no choice ood; no meat or wine touched

my lips . . . until the three weeks were over. I like to call this the

No Meats, Sweets, or Treats Fast. Maybe youre thinking,Finally!

Heres a fast thats just right for me . . . not so hard. Dont be ooled.

All asting is hard. Remember, its not about eating or drinking,

but about submitting yoursel wholeheartedly to God. As long

as were here on earth, our fesh nature always desires to rule and

reign. Any time you are submitting the fesh to the Spirit, its hard.

No meats, sweets, or treats sounds pretty straightorward,

right? Not exactly. Is sh meat? Is pizza a treat? Is Jell-O salad

with ruit and mini marshmallows a sweet? The only answer to

these questions comes through prayer. Ask the Lord about thesesorts o decisions beforeyou start any ast. Your treat might be

my acceptable ood. My sweet might be your acceptable ood.

My riend Deb was in charge o planning a large Christian

womens conerence. The our-day event was a huge responsibil-

ityall done as a volunteer. As the conerence date approached,

Deb elt a call to ast and pray or the conerence. As she sought

the Lord about how she could ast and seek His will and His avor

or the conerence while not neglecting her husband and two

boys, she heard an unusual solution. She would ast during the

day or the thirty days leading up to the conerence while joining

her amily or dinner each night and meals on the weekend. There

were no other restrictions. She could eat whatever they were eating

at dinner and on the weekends. In the end, Deb was amazed atthe power o the ast. Her prayers were especially eective, and

she elt a renewed closeness to God and an amazing peace. The

conerence itsel was nothing less than anointed.


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Debs ast was its own type o partial ast. It wasnt in the mold

o Daniels ast, but it is a perect example o asting under grace:

You will seek me and nd me when you seek me with all yourheart (Jeremiah 29:13). I you desire to ast, whether partial or

liquids only, God will show you how to ast. He may design a

ast just or you. Trust Him.

Twenty-Four-Hour Fasts

In Bible times, the Pharisees asted or twenty-our hours twiceeach week, traditionally on Mondays and Thursdays. Jesus was

not impressed with their amount o asting. Look at His parable

in Luke 18:914:

To some who were condent o their own righteousness and

looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two

men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the othera tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himsel and prayed:

God, I thank you that I am not like other peoplerobbers,

evildoers, adulterersor even like this tax collector. I ast twice

a week and give a tenth o all I get. But the tax collector stood

at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat

his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell

you that this man, rather than the other, went home justiedbeore God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

There is no evidence that this tax collector asted at all. Yet he

went away justied beore God.

This is an important lesson or us. As asting becomes more

popular with todays Christians, we must watch out or the sel-righteousness and pride that so easily slips into our lives. Its

tempting to think, If fasting for twenty-four hours is good, then fasting

for forty-eight hours or seventy-two hours or three weeks must be better!Or,


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worse, I am a better Christian because I fast. Dearest sisters in Christ,

Ill say it again: Its not the amount o asting that matters, its the

heart. A Christian who never asts but has a humble and contriteheart is more pleasing to God than a Christian who asts or orty

days out o sel-righteousness.

I believe that asting is an amazingly eective discipline to in-

corporate into our walk o aith. All true asting, whether partial

asting or liquids-only asting, is powerul. A twenty-our-hour

ast is intense. Really. Its good enough. I am convinced that

asting or more than twenty-our hours at a time should be only

as a result o a clear calling rom the Lord (more about this in

the next chapter).

FastinganD prayer

When we think o asting, our rst thought is usually aboutgiving up eating. The reality is, there is no asting apart rom

prayer. As I mentioned beore, simply not eating is not asting.

Fasting is abstaining rom ood, or certain oods, in order to

devote ourselves to God more ully. Spending time with God

in prayer not abstaining rom eatingis the ocus o asting.

One way to spend time in prayer during a ast is to replace

mealtimes with prayer times. You might start a standard twenty-

our-hour ast ater a light dinner and then, beore bed, spend time

in prayer. The next morning, start your day with prayer and then

pray at what would normally be lunchtime. Finally, just beore

you end the ast with your dinner meal, pray again.

There are many prayer models and ways to help ocus your

prayer times. I was taught the ACTS method: Start with Adora-tion, then Conession, then Thanksgiving, and nally praying or

others through Supplication. Another prayer model Ive learned is

PRAY, which has an additional element not in the ACTS model.


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In the PRAY model, we start with Praise, then Repent, then Ask,

and nally Yield. I love the Thanksgiving part o ACTS and the

Yield part o PRAY. I I could gure out a catchy acronym thatincluded both, I would make a new prayer model! Instead, I use

ACTS+Y.

A great way to start every prayer is with adoration and praise.

For as many years as Ive been praying and interceding, I still

catch mysel rushing right into the supplication and ask part

or maybe, on a good day, the thanksgiving part. Starting with

praise and adoration ocuses our minds on God, not on our

request or concern. Honestly, its not like were ever going to

utter one prayer request or cry o the heart that He does not

already know (Psalm 139:14). Start by inviting Gods presence

with praising Him or who He is. I have ound that praying the

Psalms is a great way to ocus my praise (and my mind). One

o my avorites is Psalm 96. My other avorite praise verse isRevelation 5:12: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive

power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory

and praise! I also nd it helpul to pray these Scriptures out

loud. Then, my eyes, my mind, and my ears are all engaged in

the praise o God.

Ater weve reminded ourselves about His power, holiness, and

glory, its time to examine ourselves. I oten ask God to search

me, to reveal my thoughts and show me any oense Ive com-

mitted (Psalm 139:2324). I theres something to coness, it will

immediately come to mind. Theres no need or us to go rooting

around, looking or something to coness. Conession is agree-

ing with God that weve sinned. Repentance is oten described

as turning rom the sin weve just conessed, but thats only halo the story. We must turnfromthe sin and to God.

The reason we coness and repent is to grow in aith, not

to beat ourselves up with guilt. As Paul wrote, Godly sorrow


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brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,

but worldly sorrow brings death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Ater

we coness and repent, we have this glorious assurance: Iwe coness our sins, he is aithul and just and will orgive us

our sins and puriy us rom all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Praying this Scripture, out loud, is another powerul act. I make

this truth my own and pray something like, Heavenly Father,

I have conessed my sin beore you. I repent. I am turning to

you wholeheartedly. You are aithul. You are just. Thank you

or orgiving my sin. Thank you or puriying me rom all un-

righteousness. In Jesus name, amen.

Ater weve been reminded o our sin and Gods aithul-

ness and orgiveness, how can we not thank Him? The thanks-

giving part o the ACTS prayer model is a natural next step.

Even i I had nothing to coness (ha!), Gods Word commands

thanksgiving: Be joyul always; pray continually, give thanks inall circumstances, or this is Gods will or you in Christ Jesus

(1 Thessalonians 5:1618). This passage does not ask us to be

thankulforeach circumstance. You may be suering under a

very dicult circumstance. The Scripture states that we are to

be thankul in all circumstances, trusting that God is worthy o

thanksgiving in spite o our circumstances (Romans 8:28).

Ater praise and conession and thanksgiving our hearts are

tender. Any wrong motives have been exposed and conessed.

Now were invited to asknot timidly, but with aith, remember-

ing that Jesus, who is seated at the right hand o God, lives to

intercede or us: Let us thereore come boldly to the throne o

grace, that we may obtain mercy and nd grace to help in time

o need (Hebrews 4:16 nkjv). Now is not the time or prettywords and pious-sounding prayers. Ask. Lay bare your hearts

desires. Cry out with condence. Be brutally honest with God.

And then yield.


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Yielding is the most important part o praying. It might seem

like its the complete opposite o the bold asking we just did.

Its not. Its an even more bold and condent asking. When weyield, we are actually asking or Gods will to be done, even i its

not what we want. Powerul pray-ers are powerul because they

have learned the secret o yielding. Our best example o yielding

is Jesus. Matthew records Jesus yielded prayer in Gethsemane

beore His arrest and crucixion:

Going a little arther, he ell with his ace to the ground and

prayed, My Father, i it is possible, may this cup be taken

rom me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.. . . He went away

a second time and prayed, My Father, i it is not possible

or this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will

be done (Matthew 26:39, 42).

Jesus prayed specically and boldly. He told God exactly what

He wanted; He wanted the cup o suering and crucixion to be

taken rom Him. He was prostrate, on his ace, humbled beore

God. He was without sin. He asked and trusted God or the

answer. The answer was no.

Sometimes yieldedness starts in the asking part o our prayer.

We may be so overwhelmed by a situation that we dont even

know what to ask. We dont know how to pray. Were at a loss or

words. Were grieved beyond what we can express. Were broken.

Yet when we yield in our brokenness,

the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what

we ought to pray or, but the Spirit himsel intercedes or usthrough wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts

knows the mind o the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes orGods

people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:2627)


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Our entire prayer may just be sobbing beore the Lord. Or cry-

ing out or help.

Prayer is not a monologue; it is a dialogue. Prayer with ast-ing is a deep dialogue. When we ast and pray, we are openly

surrendering to the trustworthiness o God, simply because we

know He is trustworthy. We are declaring, on earth and in the

heavenlies, that He is good and His will is good. When we ast

and pray, we know that God himsel is our very great reward!

(Genesis 15:1).

FastingWith humility

Humility is both a basis or asting and a result o asting. We

have to be humble enough to ast in the rst place. Then asting

makes us more humble.

Ill just coness that in my normal sinul state, I resist beinghumble. To humble onesel means to lower in importance, to

destroy the independence, power, or will o; to make meek.

Many o my ellow sisters have told me they share the same

struggle with humility. Oh, we all say that God is in control

and trustworthy. But deep down, sometimes we really believe

that we alone know whats best or us. The truth is, many o

our (my) prayers have been ineective because we are so busy

trying to convince God to see things our way. Why doesnt He

just give us what we want?!

Here is the importance o humility. It is the yielded portion

o prayer lived out. It is the intentional dependence on God. It is

dying to selsel-will, sel importance. Theres nothing harder

on this earth. It goes against everything in our sin nature. WithoutJesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, it is impossible. The

good news is that we can choose to be humble. We can change

our sel-reliant, proud attitude and be like Jesus.


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What Is Fasting?

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In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-

set as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not

consider equality with God something to be used to his ownadvantage; rather, he made himsel nothing by taking the

very nature o a servant, being made in human likeness. And

being ound in appearance as a man, he humbled himsel by

becoming obedient to deatheven death on a cross! (Philip-

pians 2:58)

At its very essence, asting is about selfessness. Selfessness isthe critical component to humility, and humility is the means

to being Christlike. And isnt being Christlike the goal o every

ollower o Jesus Christ? Here is the meansastingto reach

that end, being transormed into the image and likeness o our

Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Humbling ourselves through the discipline o asting is hard

and joyul at the same time. It is hard because humility is theopposite o our innate me-centeredness. It is joyul because

we begin to see our sinul nature just when we are perectly

equipped to repent. While we are asting, our eyes are opened

more clearly than ever beore. We coness and repent, oten

with tears, and we are transormed. It is a glorious eeling to

overcome a sinul habit. This is the goal o all the disciplines,

but asting is particularly eective at this transormational,

overcoming work.

Why is the discipline o asting so eective? I believe it is the

combination o sacrice, plus devoted prayer, plus humility. It

requires more o us physically (not eating), mentally (mindul,

ocused prayer), and spiritually (others-centered, selfessness,

and humility) than any other discipline. This potent combinationo intentional physical, mental, and spiritual devotion to God

allows an amazing work o the Spirit in our souls. The rewards

o asting are even greater than its sacrices.


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Fastingto Win

The army requires all soldiers (even its lawyer soldiers) to runtwo miles and do push-ups and sit-ups. There was a test on all

three events every six months. I am not a runner. I dont like to

run. As the physical tness training (PT) test time approached,

I would make mysel run so I knew I could pass. I had a riend,

Robin, who was also a JAG ocer. She would run with me and

encourage me to keep running when I wanted to stop and walk.

She told me the best running advice she got was rom a mara-thon runner who said he started each marathon slowly and then

tapered. In other words, he started slow and then slowed down,

but never stopped running. Its good advice or asting, as well.

The important thing is to start and then keep going.

We are running a race that God has laid out or us. Lets run

it to win the prize. Lets train ourselves with the discipline o

asting so that we can join Paul and say,

I have ought the good ght, I have nished the race, I have

kept the aith. Now there is in store or me the crown o righ-

teousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to

me on that dayand not only to me, but also to all who have

longed or his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:78)

a woman's guide to fasting

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