Hello and Welcome!
It is a new week and a new day and I’m so glad you could join me as we continue our journey toward renewing our minds and improving our self-discipline. If you’re just joining me, you can read my article, A New Self Discipline Journey to learn more about why I am doing this, and how this may benefit you as well.
This week we are going to focus each day on fasting and prayer. Each day this week I will provide affirmations, scriptures, and daily challenges regarding this topic. Next week will be a new one!
With that said, let’s start our morning together!
BREATHING EXERCISE
Before we begin let us take some deep breaths to calm our mind and prepare us for this mornings discipline.
MUSIC FOR A NEW DAY
I personally like to have some soft music in the background, so if that’s something you like as well below you will find a song you can play for the duration of our time together.
PRAYER For Fasting
Now that we’re calm, let us transition to a time of prayer. Over the next few minutes you can pray on your own or feel free to use the following prayer:
Lord,
As I begin this time of fasting, fill me with your strength. Help me to use this as a time of growth, renewal, and healing. Calm my anxiety about what I might be giving up or times of discomfort that I might face.
Provide me with assurance that You will strengthen me during the difficult times and meet me for sweet moments of spiritual growth and surrender.
Help me focus not on what is being taken away, but what I’m gaining as I use this as a spiritual discipline. With you leading, Holy Spirit, I am ready.
I dedicate this fast to You, Lord, and to Your glory.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen
Prayer Before a Fast Begins | The Holy Mess
AFFIRMATIONS for Fasting
Here are a few affirmations for this morning that you can put in your pocket and carry with you throughout your day.
As you read through them, repeat each one out loud at least three times before moving to the next. Take your time. Close your eyes and say them to yourself as well. Let these words sink into your heart and mind this morning (pulled from charleecassel.com):
- I am in this world but I don’t play by the rules of this world.
- My body needs to be biologically (and spiritually) fed.
- Food is not my enemy.
- The Holy Spirit will guide my self-care.
SCRIPTURES For Fasting
As Christians, our affirmations should be rooted in the strength and power of God who empowers us and strengthens us to face every trial and every day (both good and bad).
Here are some scriptures that further support the affirmations we just spoke to ourselves. Again, repeat each one three times out loud before moving to the next one. Take your time. Maybe try to commit these to memory as well:
- Exodus 34:28, “Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.”
- Ezra 8:21-23, “I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions….So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”
- Joel 2:12, “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'”
- Matthew 6:16-18, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
TODAYS CHALLENGE
Our challenge today is this: choosing your fast.
There are many different ways to do a fast, but a fast is ALWAYS about food. I know some would like to consider fasting from TV, or devices, or computers a “fast” but fasting in its truest form is about abstaining from food.
Now, how abstaining from food looks can absolutely vary.
Some may choose to skip 1 to 2 of the 3 meals in a day.
Some may choose to forego food entirely for several days (3-5 days, or longer in some cases).
Some may choose to only eat certain foods (typically fasting from the normal foods you eat and consume only vegetables for a time).
However you choose to go about it, food is the thing you are fasting from.
For example, on Monday I did a full 24 hour fast from food. I ate nothing for 24 hours.
On Tuesday I had no food until dinner. By this point I had gone almost 48 hours without food.
On Wednesday I skipped breakfast and had lunch and dinner.
So as you can see, in my last 3 days of fasting I varied my approach. I mostly ate dinner on Tuesday because I was beginning to feel very weak and light headed and decided the best approach was to put something in my body at that time.
It’s OK to modify your fasting approach, especially as you take note of what is happening to your body. The concept is refocusing NOT hurting yourself.
So the challenge today is to explore what type of fast you may want to do. Take into consideration your physical health, as this is important to keep in mind.
Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from philosopher and author Dallas Willard:
Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.
Dallas Willard
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