Four letter words
I didn’t grow up in a home filled with curse words. It makes me uncomfortable when I hear those four letter words. Mind you, I went through a rebellious time in Grade Eight and tried it out for two weeks. I decided it didn’t make me feel the way I thought it would... I thought it might make me feel more a part of my peers. It didn’t. I cringe whenever I hear curse words; they carry death, curses and spiritual darkness. As followers of Jesus, we are encouraged to watch our tongues and keep our mouths pure. “Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” Four letter words would be part of the evil that we should refrain from. However, there is another four letter word I would cringe at when it was mentioned. It was the word fast. “Fasting” was a word I would avoid at all costs. In fact, it scared me. Sad to say, it hasn’t been mentioned much in the Christian world... probably more so in the health and wellness world.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that I started to explore eight years ago. Once I understood the importance of prayer and fasting, I started to implement it when each calendar year turned over. I have seen God move on my behalf in real and manifest ways. “If you seek a closer walk with God, consider fasting. If you are in desperate need of a breakthrough, fast. If you desire an access and an intimacy with God like you have never known, fast.” –Jentezen Franklin.
There are many reasons to fast: freedom from addictions to sin, help with financial troubles, for national revival, humanitarian needs of others, major life decisions, health and healing, influence on others, protection against danger, and to break negative emotional feelings and habits. The course of the year is set by giving God your first through fasting, prayer and giving.
Jentezen Franklin hosts a corporate fast with his church (that I also participate in) at the start of each New Year. He has a few great books on the subject of fasting as well as many sermons on Youtube. He says “...we need to cultivate a genuine hunger and thirst for the Lord. Fasting makes you hungry for what really matters in life. You realize that nothing else will satisfy. I want the Bread of Life more than anything else because everything else leaves me hungry. If that is not true in your life, then it is time to fast and pray until that hunger arises. One of the biggest problems in the church today is that we are so full of everything that the world has to offer that we have nothing to offer a spiritually starving world.”
Not only can we see spiritual breakthroughs through fasting, we can see help for our health. Dr. Don Colbert suggests that not only do we see that fasting prevents sickness, it also can offer healing benefits to those who suffer with illness and disease. It slows our aging process, increases our mental acuity, and aids in sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. It can also help to break addictions to junk food as well as an uncontrollable appetite.
Do you need to see change this year? I encourage you to be open to fasting and set aside your selfish desires for more of God. More of God and Less of Me. Scripture references: Psalm 34:13, 14