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Fast Day 7: Fast as a Delight
God promises to satisfy the desires of your heart. Really? But what if my desires are a little off His path? What if my desires are selfish? What if the desires of my heart are not clear to me? What if the desires of my heart aren’t necessarily good for other people in my life?…
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Fast Day 6: Soul Rest
Who doesn’t feel weary and overburdened at times? Spending time fasting and praying can feel like a rest, a respite, an intimate sojourn with the Lord of the Universe. Come to Me, all who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I…
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Fast Day 5: Don’t Fast Like This
Isaiah 58 outlines the kind of fast or response that God wants from us. He doesn’t want what the Israelites had been giving Him: a stolid, pious, self-righteous, cold, calculating, look-at-me, tit-for-tat, complaining, religious attitude. You say, “Why have we fasted and You have not been impressed? Why have we been hard on ourselves and…
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Fast Day 4: Pick It Up
Learning to cope with our circumstances sounds like the thing we should do. So we often rely on coping mechanisms to face the chains we feel because we CAN rely on them. Our favorite coping strategies feel constant, consistent and familiar. We always call our mom and she makes us feel good about whatever stumped…
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Fast Day 3: True Thirst
When we fast, we want to pay less attention to what we are giving up and more attention to God. We want our hunger and thirst for something physical to be replaced with a renewed hunger and thirst for something spiritual. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me…
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Fast Day 2: True Hunger
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that you might not have tried before. I have done a forty day sugar fast every January for three years. I can’t say it’s easy, but it does get easier. In this fast I still eat meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts. I still eat. So there is really no…
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Fast Day 1: Fasting and Prayer
Because the Bible consistently connects spiritual fasting with prayer, we must, too. If we fast without praying, there is, of course, not really a spiritual element. Fasting is a discipline that people from many places have practiced over many generations and is connected to many different faiths. You don’t even have to have any specific…
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Fast Prep Day 7: Get Ready to Fast!
Tomorrow will be your first day to fast. Successfully entering into your time of fasting will come from paying attention to the details mentioned above, so make sure you are prepared. This preparation time is also an opportunity for you to seek God and make sure He is on board. Your time of fasting, as…
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Fast Prep Day 6: How Not to Fast
You say, “Why have we fasted and You have not been impressed? Why have we been hard on ourselves and You have not even noticed?” I, the LORD, say, “Because you are fasting to please yourselves and even while you are fasting, you oppress your workers. What good is fasting if it ends in quarreling…
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Fast Prep Day 5: A Simple Fasting Plan
Write down a simple plan in a journal you will use for your 30 Day Fast. Take into account all of the preparation work you have done and ask God to help you capture it more clearly and succinctly. What will I fast from, exactly? (note if there will be an accepted replacement) Which hours…
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HABITS OF JESUS, MARCH 12 – APRIL 4
Daily posts to learn more about how Jesus modeled His life for us. For 21 days leading up to Easter, explore the habits of Jesus that kept Him hungering for His Father and continuing His mission. Even though He was separated from Him on earth and about to be separated in a different way by His death on the cross, He was faithful and believed in His resurrection.
Coming Next: FASTING IN THE BIBLE, APRIL 8 – MAY 29
Posts every Wednesday and Friday to learn about fasting in the Bible. We will review the whole Bible, exploring what happened when fasting was a special focus for the people of Israel, in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Keeping in mind the way that Jesus taught us to fast, we will find new ways for us to enact a spiritual habit of fasting in our modern lives.
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