Day2
Biblical Fasting
5 Steps For Success
Step2
Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.”
Proverbs 16:3 TPT
“Delight yourself in the Lord, And He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; Trust in Him also and He will do it.”
Psalms 37:4-5 AMP
Cross references
Psalm 55:22;
1Peter 5:7;
Isaiah 30:29;
Psalm 62:8
Prepare For The Process
I picked a verse from Proverbs and a passage from Psalms to remind us
that we are working on trusting God instead of ourselves and pushing past distractions as we prepare for the process of Biblical fasting and spending special time with our Savior.
“If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives.”
Galatians 5:25 TPT
As we continue our study on fasting, it is important to understand that prayer is a vital part of the process. We need to engage with God through prayer in order to prepare for the process of Biblical fasting.
Jesus begged His disciples to keep watch and pray so that they would not enter in to temptation. He reminded them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Mark14:37
We must keep watch and pray lest we fall into self preservation or decide to break our fast and simply be comfortable.
Jesus called us to be bold!
How do we do that?
Jesus warned Peter that he would be weak. Jesus also told Peter to pray so that he would not fall into temptation.
Click these links to review our study on preparation in prayer from a year ago or continue past them for todays lesson.
P.R.A.Y.
P-is for:
PREPARE through prayer for the grace to endure in the areas that you are weak ahead of time. You know your weakness and if you don’t, the Holy Spirit will show you. ( don’t wait until you are standing in front of the buffet to ask for strength to resist stuffing yourself)
Fix the roof before the rain comes.
Step 2.
Plan What You Will Consume.
Rather than thinking about what you will give up, decide what you will be consuming and prepare for the process by having your choices on hand.
Will you drink water, tea or broth?
What types? Tap or bottled water? A certain type of tea, juice or broth?
Make sure you have on hand what you will consume.
I am sure we can agree that a sudden trip to the grocery in the middle of a fast is setting ourselves up for disaster.
Types of Biblical Fasting
You may participate in a corporate fast or an individual fast.
A regular fast involves abstaining from all food and only drinking water.
A juice, tea or broth fast ( also known as a liquid fast) includes abstaining from all food, but allows for drinking fruit juices, vegetable or bone broth and herbal tea.
A partial fast involves fasting particular items, such as coffee and desserts, or restricting your eating to vegetables only, for example or cutting out sweets.
A social or material fast involves giving up social media, shopping, Tv or radio for example, for a certain period of time.
Don't let Satan condemn you for what or how you fast. Take it to God in prayer and trust His guidance.
How long will your fast be?
Pray and ask God.
If you have never fasted before, start small.
IF YOU HAVE HEALTH ISSUES, concerns or are pregnant; consult your physician.
Commit to fasting your morning coffee or no soda for the day. Consider fasting dessert or candy for the day if you normally eat it.
You may increase the length of time on your next fast and gradually abstain longer. Work your way up to a meal a day or 1 day with only water. The things of God are a process and your fasting journey will be also.
Action Step
Begin to pray and ask God which type of fast you should choose.
Prepare your schedule making allowance to read your Bible, pray and journal.
If you choose a liquid fast other than water, you should create a schedule for when you allow yourself to consume your beverage of choice.
Example:
Drink only water except for breakfast, lunch and dinner at which times I will have a serving of broth , juice or tea.
A schedule helps keep your flesh from demanding a constant supply.
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