If I'm being 100% transparent with you guys, fasting is one thing I lean heavily on the Holy Spirit to help me do. I've never been the girl who could or even wanted to fast because I like what I like and want to do what I like when I want so whenever it came time to fast, I found ways to avoid doing it. Anyone else like me? Comment below!
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Learning to fast for me did not start until last year. In 2021, the Holy Spirit asked me to do the Daniel Fast for the first time. I had never done it before and was scared to take it on. The idea of abstaining from food for 21 days made me physically ill but I reminded myself that my obedience was more important than my comfort level and God was not expecting perfection from me.
I knew very little about the Daniel fast at the time or how to go about it so I did a quick Google Bible search and set to work. Not to bore you with all of the details but I knew I did not do it perfectly. Once I started however, as expected God began to speak and tell me things particularly in my dreams. By the way, when you commit to any kind of fast sincerely, God always shows you things in dreams and I found that to be true for me. 21 Days and several dreams, details and promises later, I knew I had entered into a new realm of my relationship with the Father.
Fast forward to 2022 and I did the Daniel Fast along with Transformation Church in January, following the daily topics and nightly prayers and again, God spoke even clearer to me than He had the first time. That was when I committed to fasting at the start of every new month for 7 days just so I could hear from God and talk to Him about everything on my heart. The Holy Spirit helped me with what to focus on each day and as I spent time in prayer, bible study and worship, I got answers to everything I brought before God. That was this month! I'm excited for what He will tell and show me in April!!
I know a lot of spiritual leaders and churches preach about fasting and often times we think it's just abstaining from food. But it is literally committing to stay away from anything that has the tendency to distract you, control you and feed the desires of your flesh. It could be food, social media, sex, watching television etc. There are so many scriptures on fasting in the Bible but a few you can read are in Esther 4:16, Exodus 34:28 and Matthew 6: 16-18.
If you have never fasted before or don't even have a clue on how to embark on one. Below is just an example of what to do and where to start. It's where I started and where the Holy Spirit has been helping me learn how to live a fasted life in 2022. See below:
- Praise & Pray before anything. Talk to God about your desire to fast. Ask for His help to show you how to seek His face above all else and where you need Him the most. (Matthew 6:33)
- Write down every question, vision, goal, desire you have in your heart that you want to bring before God. (Habbakuk 2: 2-3)
- Whatever God shows you or speaks to you in relation to what you have asked, write it all down as well. In other words, listen for God's response. I recommend getting a journal for this. (Revelations 1:11-14)
- Ask God to confirm whatever you believe He is saying to you either through scripture, from the mouth of another, through a sermon etc so you are sure that what you hear is truly from Him. (Judges 6:36-40)
- Finally give thanks and praise to God at the end of each day.
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