Has God called you to a fast?

I have been fasting for over twenty years. Not straight of course! I have done the three-day water fast, three-day Esther dry fast (no water), seven-day liquid fast, forty-day 6am to 6pm fast, and both the ten-day and twenty-one-day Daniel fasts, multiple times throughout the years. Not quite as accomplished as some, but I have experience in fasting. There are two things I want to highlight in this blog. The first is that there is a difference between deciding to go on a fast, and God calling you to a fast. I have found that both are good, but when God calls you to the fast there is more grace to accomplish it. The second is that fasting goes hand in hand with prayer and the spiritual things of God. This is my story of how God taught me the proper way to do a ten-day Daniel fast. The good, bad and the ugly!

I have been in a season of examination and testing, and it is coming to a close. During such critical times and seasons in our lives, God will call us to a fast. I found one main reason is it enables us to endure the attacks of the enemy in a Christlike manner. Fasting at these crucial times also enables God to propel us into what is next in our lives. For this particular fast, God kept showing me in the Scriptures when I would sit down to spend time with Him that He wanted me to fast. When I asked Him, "what kind of fast Lord?" He led me to Daniel chapter one. The ten-day Daniel fast. I had done this fast previously and ate just vegetables and drank only water. Ok, I can do this. However, God led me to look up what pulse is (because Daniel ate only pulse) and I found it is bean, peas and lentils. Yum. NOT! Well, these are delicious foods when coupled with other delicacies, but God was telling me to eat only these foods for ten-days. He told me this would be the hardest fast I have ever done.

So, the first three days I ate pea pod chips and red pepper hummus. (Hummus is made out of chickpeas). It was actually very tasty and the fast wasn't so bad. I was working at Walmart at the time, and on my break on the third day of the fast, I was heading to the check-out with three bags of pea pod chips and a container of hummus in my hand, and as I turned down the frozen section of the store, there was a whole bag of frozen peas scattered on the floor. The Holy Spirit said, "these are peas." Of course, I acted like I didn't hear that because there was no way I could eat frozen peas for 10-days. I purchased the chips and hummus.

When I got to the break room, I ate half the bag and felt so convicted by the Holy Spirit that I returned the other two bags didn't eat that again. Before I left for the night, I walked down the bean isle and bought a 5-bean soup to prepare. When I got home, I asked God if I would have to re-start the fast. He said yes, so I ate a couple of egg sandwiches and my favorite desert, peanut butter with apples, and started fresh the next day. Sigh. The beans for the soup had to soak overnight. So, the next day I went to work without eating anything. I hadn't had caffeine in four days, and I was feeling the effects. Headache, stomach cramps, fatigue, frustration, and aggravation. But I pressed through. That night I cooked the bean soup, and it wasn't bad. It made fifteen servings, so that is what I ate for the next few nights. It was agony. Not because it tasted bad, but because it was bean soup. See, I had been indulging my emotions with food previous to this fast. I couldn't wait to get home to eat my favorite foods. It was something to look forward to that brought me joy. It had taken the place of the Lord being my joy.

After a few days of bean soup, people started coming through my check-out lane with different bean, pea and lentil items. I became familiar with Edamame, which are frozen soybeans in pods, to snack on, and red lentils that cook up rather quickly and can be seasoned to taste. For the next few days of the fast, that's what I ate. Then I thought of baked beans! I love baked beans! So, on my break on about the sixth day of the fast I went and purchased the vegetarian baked beans and ate them. I thought about how there is sugar in them, so I went and bought two big cans without sugar. This was great! I could eat a food I enjoy on this fast. Until I got back to my register and after checking out my first customer, what do I see? You guessed it, one frozen green pea sitting right there. Sigh. So much for that. I returned the two cans of baked beans. Thankfully I didn't have to restart the fast, but it was definitely the most difficult fast I have ever done. There was food all around me. Everywhere I went! But God's Grace sustained me. And He accomplished so much through it. It drew me closer to Him once again, delivered me of the gluttony spirit, and prepared me to launch into what He has for me to do. Starting with this blog.

It is important to note once again that prayer should accompany fasting. God woke me up in the middle of the night most nights of this fast to pray. Sometimes I did, and sometimes I just cried in agony. It hurts to crucify the flesh. But by the eighth day, I was strong, and my spirit was strong. And still is!

If God has called you to a fast, don't keep putting it off. There is a reason He needs you to do it. It is in denying ourselves that we find God. Fasting silences the flesh so that we can hear God more clearly. It will be painful, but He will help you. His Grace will sustain you, and it will be worth it!