Fasting
Tips, advice and more
What to fast
You may be wondering what to fast during the 10 days, so here are some ideas:
1. Full food fast – nothing to eat for a designated time within the 10 days.
2. Partial fast – don’t eat any ‘pleasant thing’ that you would normally enjoy – stick to food that is very plain/basic (a Daniel-type fast).
3. Social media or television – these days fasting things like social media can be as effective for some as fasting food. This is especially good for those with dietary or health concerns.
4. Anything else that has an important part in your daily life that you would feel the absence of by laying it aside for a time. We all know ourselves well so choose to fast the thing that causes that resistance within our soul when we think about laying it aside for a time.
We are all made so wonderfully different and what one person gives up may not mean anything to another person. This is why it’s good to look at your life and ask what would mean something personally to you.
Fast And Pray
This time of fasting is not just about removing things from your life, it’s about adding prayer to it! One of the purposes of fasting is to create space to pray and seek the Lord during the time that would normally be used on what is being fasted. During your time of fasting make sure you increase your praying as well. Set aside time to seek God’s face and hear Him speak.
Prayer can take place on your own or with others. Maybe find a small group of friends and take time to pray together at different times during these 10 days.
Silencing the Soul to hear God
Fasting does not twist God’s arm to make Him do things. If we could persuade God to do something by ceasing to eat for a while, that would not make Him very dependable! Fasting is actually about what happens in us. As we lay aside food (or other things that normally take our time and feed certain enjoyments in the soul) we will be able to tune in spiritually to hear what the Lord is saying. Our spirit man will become more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
So our goal isn’t to make God do anything – rather to hear him, to see what He is wanting to do, and to humble ourselves in order to pray and seek His face.
Harnessing the power of agreement
Something powerful happens when the church comes together with a common cause. We harness the power of agreement, which is a powerful thing indeed. There is power in praying together. In Deuteronomy 32:30 we read, regarding God’s army, that ‘one man can chase a thousand, or two can put ten thousand to flight’. There is a multiplied effect in being united together before God. It was the corporate prayer of Acts 1:14 that produced the corporate power of Acts 2:42-47. Corporate prayer brings corporate power (Acts 4:14-31).