When Pastor Duane Vander Klok first suggested this fast, my first reaction was to let everyone else do it. I'm very busy, and besides, fasting is not pleasant. I began to warm up to it over this past week as I've come to understand what this fast would be like. As Pastor Duane has said, the first three days of January the church will fast completely and only drink water. After that, the remaining eighteen days will be for the Daniel fast, in which participants eat only fruits, vegetables, and water. The way I understand it, each person's fast will vary depending on how much each one wants to gain from it. I have never fasted for more than a day a time, so for me this seems intense. I intend to start out with a less strict version of it by fasting for three days and then going vegan for the rest of the way. I'll eat bread (as it's plant based), but what I'm really going to miss is dairy products. I figure, going vegan will allow me to concentrate throughout the week because some food will give the energy to think with. I work a very physical job, so I'm going to start my three days fast on Monday or Tuesday. This game plan should ensure that I make it through to day twenty-one.
As for being busy, I now understand that I am to pray when I get hungry, not all day. I will still have time to do other things in these three weeks. These things helped me be open to the idea, but the next question was: what does one gain from fasting like this?
There are a lot of reasons to fast. Pastor Duane's most recent sermon on fasting gave a handful of them. You can listen to it by going to Reslife's website under media and looking for the sermon on Sun, Dec 19th AM.
* Fasting disconnects you from the world and connects you to God
* If you need direction from God
* If you want to know who you are in Christ
* If you want to reconnect with God because you feel spiritually dry
* If you need a breakthrough
* If you have family members who do not know Jesus
There are other reasons to fast, but this is a short list of them. Although I like all of them, I'm especially looking forward to the first four. Life has pulled at my attention so strongly that I really need to just draw back for a little while and just listen. In doing so, I hope to come out spiritually recharged, focused, and ready to love the world with God's love.
