From June 8th to July 18th I went on one of the greatest
spiritual adventures of my life. Throughout the Bible different people have
been led to do 40-day fasts including Moses, Elijah and even Jesus himself. I
personally have known only one other man who's done it and while he recommended
it highly-he did caution me that it is difficult and can even be dangerous.
There are so many
aspects of this adventure that I could preach on and maybe someday I will, but
for now I want to focus on Jesus’ words how some of my experiences paralleled
His and share 4 key verses that helped me keep going and maybe get you going on
a similar adventure…
Here's your point: Fasting moves you
away from food and closer to God.
Open your Bibles to the book of Matthew Chapter 4. Like
Jesus I too felt I was led by the Holy Spirit not as a start, but as a restart
of my ministry. I was dealing with a food addiction and spiritual fatigue.
Fasting, physically breaks the food addiction and begins to detoxify the body
and soul (all addiction makes the soul sick as well-it’s called idolatry) which
eventually brings not only physical but spiritual energy back.
Let’s look at the first text that I literally wrote on my home
office wall, the very words of Jesus from Matt. 4:4…
“Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that
comes from the mouth of God”
Boom! What do we live on? We’ve been duped into believing
that we live on bread alone. Our culture tells us unless we have 3 meals a day
plus a snack or 3, we will starve! If you buy that lie-like I did-you’ll get
hooked on food before you know it.
Fill in: You need God more than food. Who or what is your god?
When your Dr. looks you in the eye and says you are
obese-when your wife and kids are telling you stop with the extra helpings of
everything and when year after year you see that scale keep creeping or even
jumping up-you realize there is a food idol in your life!
There is good ole commandment #2-what is it? (Give $2 to who
can tell me) MAKE NO IDOLS -Ex.20:4 God is a jealous God-he wants to be the
only God in your life-he is a lot like my wife-if I give her a dozen roses and
say “you know babe-of all my wives you are my favorite”-I would get thorns in
return! She’s not interested in being my favorite-but my only. If you’ve got an
idol in your life-God will want you to get rid of it.
Chances are people in your life have already told you if you
have one. You may have already thought-this is an addiction. In the 21st
century idolatry is often known as addiction. God wants it out of your life.
Someone hearing this message needs to admit they are addicted and need freed-today.
Fasting from whatever you’re addicted to can break the grip-are you ready to
trust God for the freedom he wants to give you? Let me just tell you about my
journey of fasting from food for 40 days.
The first 7 days are rough as your body rebels and says this
doofus is not going to feed me anymore. I did try water only for 4 days and by
day 2 I was sleeping 12 hours /day and had no energy when I was awake. I knew
this was not sustainable.
On day 5 I added a glass of fruit or veggy juices
along with ½ my weight in ounces of water every day. This was sustainable BUT
all of the pleasure and satisfaction I get from eating was gone and I hated
that.
You feel pretty bad but then around day 14 you stop feeling
bad and just feel empty. This is where God started to bring me clarity and
Revelations. 14 distinct ones to be exact that began to fill me up.
Around day 21 there's another change because the body is
reconciled with itself and energy returns. Played frisbee-felt fine! Please
understand I believe much of this is supernatural, as in the Holy Spirit is
giving me what I needed and Jesus said in John 4:32-go there with me…
“I have food to
eat you know nothing about.”
I believe he
discovered that food during his 40-day fast. Both my doctor and nutritionist
marveled not only how I felt but how my labs looked. God was doing something
they couldn't explain but both affirmed it was good.
Fill in: God can fill you with more than you know. Do you
want that food? His food!
Now I want to tell you about being hungry-from a physical
standpoint I can honestly say I never was, in the sense that my stomach was
growling and I had pains of hunger. What I did have was incredible cravings for
every food imaginable. I had invasive dreams that were all about food. I will
share one I call the peanut butter stuffed cheese covered hot dogs dream…
Here's the revelation, I was able to move past my immediate
desire for food and look to the end of my 40 days and imagine how good food
will taste in just a little while. Here is where I found a powerful lesson in
Christian faith. Our lives right now,
are filled with disappointments and delays. We rarely get what we want, when we
want it and even when we do it's often not every thing we thought it would be.
We are all waiting and must remember the best is yet to
come. My question to you is are you hungry for heaven? In Revelation 19:9 we
read about the wedding supper of the Lamb: “Blessed are those who are invited
to the wedding supper of the Lamb” friends there's going to be a feast but we
must wait for it. In my craving for food I dug into that idea and really wanted
to know what would be at this feast and so I found in Isaiah 25:6 this
delightful description…
“6On this mountain
the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet
of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.
I can’t express with words just how good food tasted after
40 days of not eating-in fact it still tastes amazing. This wait is
temporary-the feast is worth it. This is
nothing to what the feast in heaven will be. But we must wait for it.
Fill in: The best is yet to come and it will be worth the
wait! How are you at waiting?
Let me challenge you with a few things: If you have reached
a dry spell or even what may feel like a dead end in your spiritual life- consider
a fast. It can break the grip of idolatry and or addiction. Maybe your
addiction isn’t food-maybe it’s facebook, your work or porn-you need to fast
from what ever has you hooked-before the devil reels you in and kills you! This
is something I’m glad to talk to you about and get the help you need to be
free!
If you would like to try fasting from food even for a
short-term from 1 to 3 days I would love to talk with you about it. If you
would like to do a more extended fast I would like to encourage you with
resources that can help. And if you would like to do a 40-day fast I would be
glad to prayerfully consider being a support for you and potentially and see if
there is a group who would like to do it. I believe great spiritual adventures
are often better when we do them together.
Let me finish with one more verse I wrote on my wall which
gave me hope:
1 Corin. 8:8 But food does not bring us near to God; we
are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.
Food is a blessing-it is the fuel we need to live-but it is
not all we need. And we don’t need nearly as much as we think we do. If you
chose to not eat during a fast God is still there-I would say we are even more
aware of his presence-and this is a powerful thing.
Here’s your fill in: The further I got from food the closer
I got to God.
Here's the application for everyone who loves Jesus: we are
all waiting for the feast! Be assured The Best is yet to come. Whatever you
have been denied, disappointed in or delayed from, whatever you feel you have unwillingly
fasted from, the feast is still coming and it will be fantastic-the last thing
is this: how do you get to this heavenly feast? Jesus is our great and gracious
host, he invites everyone to come even you, right now, he wants you there, but
you must reserve your spot at His wedding table now...
Break the addictions, boot the idols and bring the freedom
we need-help us to know and go, on great
spiritual adventures where we rely on you more each and every day IJNIPA
BONUS VISION: Fast
(from) Food -The anti-restraunt, fasting support spot
The restaurant alternative for those who are fasting but
want a place to “go out” to. Support, water and juices would be offered there.
Hours would be determined by demand. This would also be the result of inviting
people into fasting experiences
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