Fasting? Bless your heart..

The “bless your heart” thing is a Southern expression that precedes something less than desirable that must be pointed out to another person. For example, this has been heard on more than one occasion, 

“Fasting? Well. Bless your heart. Are you insane?”…

Few things provoke others to think that you have lost your mind more than fasting. It just is not natural. Our lives revolve around food. In our house, the food issue proves even more problematic because of Mathias’ Prader Willi Syndrome. But, even if you do not have a perpetually hungry kid in your house, the emphasis on food is everywhere.

So, you tell a co-worker that you are not eating lunch because you are voluntarily fasting, and they look at you with pity. I am not sure if they feel sorry for my hunger of they feel sorry that I have finally lost my last thread of sanity. “Experts” come out of the wood work and tell me fasting is bad for my health (but all the cheeseburgers I have consumed over the years are BETTER?). After they have exhausted their pity and health lectures and have determined I may not be insane, they all want to know, “Why?”

That is a legitimate question. I have studied various authors on the subject and I have done my Biblical research (although I am not a scholar) and have come up with a mnemonic device to explain my insanity.

F- Facing challenges or obstacles

A-Attention focused towards God                                                                                

S-Submission of the flesh

T-Times of repentance

I-Increase receptivity to Divine Intervention

N-No, NO and NO to temptation

G- Gain humility

FACING CHALLENGES

I have mentioned Paul Finck in the past. He does not see roadblocks, but rather sees challenges that one needs to conquer. Goodness knows I have a lot of challenges in my life and I make a boat load of obstacles that get in my own way. I know that, if left up to me, I am going to make a mess of things. Ask my wife. I need help facing these challenges so fasting allows me to lean on Jesus and less on myself.

ATTENTION TOWARDS GOD

I love this one. I discovered this during a 40 day fast and I sadly allowed the chaos of life to get in the way of this. Food is symbolic of life clutter. There are a few things in which to choose from of solid value and lots of junk available. With each hunger pain, take a deep breath and draw closer to God.

SUBMISSION OF THE FLESH

I have always been a pretty strong guy. This has been problematic as I tend to think I can handle many things by myself. When I get in a bind, I usually try harder and that is not smart. Flesh is weak. Period. I may do a whole blog entry on weakness of the flesh.

TIMES OF REPENTANCE

Repentant fasts are common in the Bible. To be truly repentant means to feel so sorrowfully remorse that it hurts. Too many times we feel sorry for a sin but lack that deep remorse necessary to impact one’s life. Repentance causes so much pain that committing the same sin goes against sound judgment. When we hurt that badly, we should turn to Jesus for comfort. Fasting helps us focus on not only the repentance but also the healing that follows.

INCREASED RECEPTIVITY

When you are fasting and leaning on God, you find yourself able to listen to that still small voice better. As a fast continues, one gives up more and more control and trusts God more every day. I know, this does not make any sense and I would not have believed it either if it had not happened to me.

NO, NO and NO!

Fasting helps us deal with temptation in so many ways. First, you overcome that tempting candy bar. Then, you overcome the urge to sneak a little supper. But the lessons you learn from food can then be applied to bigger and more dominant temptations in your life. The thing is, God will help you through ALL of the temptations. But you must be willing to trust Him and really want to avoid the temptation.

GAIN HUMILITY

I have not experienced anything more humbling than a fast. The most obvious to me was the physical effect of a fast. I exercised throughout my previous fast as I found that it helped me build psychological, emotional and spiritual strength but I can tell you my physical strength plummeted, which I found humbling. Endurance, speed and strength vanished. I cannot emphasize enough to newbie fasters to expect some serious weakness, especially at the beginning.

There you have it. If you can spell “fasting” you can come up with reasons for those you encounter. I have also found it useful to set the end date, look at it, and then focus on each minute of each day. Lean on Him to get you to the end.