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Monday, March 2, 2009

[CBS] Fasting from food, fastening to Christ: Wed 3/4

03/02/2009 02:13:00 PM
Posted by Henry Wen

Hello Family,

Fasting is the voluntary giving up of food for a special purpose. In the Bible examples of fasting include:

• Moses, who fasted 40 days and 40 nights before God gave him the 10 Commandments (Ex 34)
• David, who fasted while his baby son lay dying (II Sam 12)
• The Ninevites, in repentance when Jonah preached to them (Johah)
• Jesus, while he was tempted in the wilderness by Satan (Matt 4)

And while Jesus was tempted by Satan to turn stones to bread to relieve his hunger, he quoted Deut 8:3 which says:

" And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. "

This past Friday we invited everyone to fast together this Wednesday (March 4th). We will essentially be skipping breakfast and lunch on that day and the breaking the fast at North Dinner together. We recommend a clear fluids fast. This means that we will not consume any solid food or fluids that are opaque such as milk and OJ. We'd also recommend avoiding sodas. Clear fuilds: water, apple juice are OK.

It important that we don't just spend our meals times doing work. Please consider finding a quiet place and spending that time alone with God in prayer and in the word. We can also go to Sage Chapel during our meal times either praying by ourselves or praying with each other.

If you have any health concerns please do no participate.

We see that God leads us into times of hunger and feds us all so that we might know that we are in total dependence on him. We'd like to do this together so that 1) we will know God better as God reveals himself to us in new ways and 2) so that we can seek God's special guidance and blessing for Coffeehouse and the seeds that will be planted.

fasting to Christ with you,

Henry and Mandy


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Below are some Q/A and thoughts about fasting:

What is Fasting: Fasting is the voluntary giving up of food in particular, and other luxuries/necessities in general, in order to bring our heart and our mind into state of spiritual clarity and submission to the Holy Spirit. God calls his people to "physical manifestations" of spiritual disciplines because we are physical beings, and our spiritual posture is deeply connected to our physical state. God has also set aside the discipline of fasting as an avenue through which he reveals himself and his will in special ways. He calls us to fast when we have special challenges in our life, when we need special wisdom and discernment to know his will, when we have a battle that we cannot fight.

How to go about it: We're essentially skipping Breakfast and lunch. We will do a clear fluids fast, meaning that we fast all solid food and any drinks that are not clear (i.e. milk, OJ, coffee, odwalla's etc...). Sugared waters are still ok (gatorade, apple juice). It is important that we do it intentionally. There are times when I've fasted that simply turned into a "so busy working, forgot to eat" type of day. Let's set aside those meal times as holy and spend the time in prayer, bible reading. It may be good to dwelll on the hunger and really ask God to turn that physical hunger into a deep spiritual hunger. If it's convenient for you, we can spend our meal time in sage. We don't have to try to match times, if people end up meeting and praying together...all the better. Break fast at with dinner.

What to pray for: Let's be praying for 1) ourselves that God would gives us a greater knowledge of him and a greater passion to know him more 2) for our team that he would unite our hearts, heal hurts, lead us to love, a common passion for God 3) the fellowship, that God would ignite people's hearts to know him, to love the Cross and the gospel, to set our hearts aflame for unsaved people and evangelism 4) for coffeehouse, that God would give us his vision, that he would be arranging what we need, that he would be fighting our battles.

What good does being hungry do?:

1. Humbles us. Reveals our weakness and constant dependence on God's providence. Our dependence don't understand until we take just the littlest things away. Fasting helps to remind us an essential truth.

2. Reveals sin in our hearts. When I am hungry I tend to have less self control, more easily agitated, feel my unmet desires more vibrantly. The state of our heart becomes more evident and gives opportunity to repent.

3. Gives us no meal to look forward to. I often comfort my self during a hard day by reminding my self that I'll be able to have lunch soon. Eating is a relaxing and pleasurable experience. Not having a meal to look forward to really causes to see where our satisfaction lie.

4. Give us the opportunity to delight in God more than in food. Going back to that verse in Deut. It says that God let them hunger, then fed them with Manna to show them that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. God knows that we need food to survive. But while we hunger we have the opportunity to saw: God is better that a trillium noodle bowl, better than a statler wrap, better than a peace box!

5. Allows us to delight in God's word: While we fast we can dwell on God word. In doing so we may come to the place where our hearts are fully satisfied in God's word, to be surprised at how the "discomfort" that came with being hungry has disappeared as we become engrossed with how righteous and loving God is and wonderful his words are in the Scriptures.

6. Creates spiritual hunger: The fact that we are bodily being means that our spirit and bodies are connected. Intentionally putting our bodies in a state of need and desperation also leads our spirit in the same direction.

7. Allows the Spirit to speak, to lead. God loves the humble and loves to reveal himself to the humble. Intentionally fasting We can really expect God to speak to us collectively and with greater clarity and specificity about his will for us and challenges we face. Let us really seek in will tomorrow concerning coffeehouse and for him to ignite in our hearts a passion for his name and compassion for unsaved people.

8. Mirrors the Christian life. The Christian in many ways is about giving up good things for better things.