Our church, each year, encourages us to join in corporate fasting. Last year, we had only been home from China for about 3 weeks…jetlag was only slightly a thing of the past, we were still getting used to being a family of 8, I couldn’t even begin to think of adding something new.
But, when I heard about it this year, something clicked…I felt called to this, as I never had before. But, how? And, what? Fasting isn’t just giving up food for a set time period, but it’s the process of giving up food (or some other “idol” that’s taking your time away from God) for a spiritual purpose. It takes your focus away from worldly comforts, and puts your focus on God…hunger for food is replaced with hunger for God. The bible talks about “when we fast” (Matthew 6), not “if we fast”. My goal is to grow closer to God, be more aware and intent on listening to God, and spend more time with God.
This past Sunday, our pastor talked about having idols in our lives. Not gold covered cow statues, but things that steal time away from the time we would be giving to God in bible study, prayer, etc. TV, internet, hobbies, even other people can be idols in our lives.
When I decided to join in this fast, I prayed and asked for clarity as to WHAT to fast. I came up with these…
Facebook – chocolate – hot tea
Ouch. I’ve felt for a while now that FB absolutely takes up so much time. Even if you’re just “checking it”, you can get sucked into reading the news feed, watching a video, clicking over to an article…and, suddenly you’ve been sitting there an hour. I’m going to miss it, I won’t lie. But, I’m glad I’m doing it.
Chocolate? I mine as well give up breathing. That’s enough about that.
And, I just got a new Keurig and boxes and boxes of lovely new teas to try. Which I can’t drink till January 30th. Hot tea in the morning is as routine for me as coffee is to most. Yep, I’ll miss it. But, that’s part of the point, right? The bible talks about bringing a sacrifice of praise to God. Sometimes we don’t feel like praising…it’s been a rotten day, we’re sad about a situation, etc. We choose to praise, even on the bad days. It’s a sacrifice to make that choice to be joyful when we feel no joy. Sacrificing comforts is a sign of our complete trust and dependence on God, despite how loud our stomach growls or how much we’re craving chocolate.
I’m still in prayer over anything else I might do…a short, 3-day Daniel fast maybe? More on that later, if I go that route. We discussed it with the kids, and they’ve all chosen things to sacrifice, too. I loved Lainey and Dylan’s, which they came up with on their own. Lainey is giving up hot chocolate (she loves it…) and Dylan is giving up whining. Ha!
Expect me to be HERE more than usual, since FB is off limits. Oh, and today is Day 1. In case you’re keeping track along with me. ;)
January 10th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Good luck on the Hot tea…I hear it cold there…I also have my hot tea every morning, but I do not feel that it determs me from thinking or communicating with God. It give me time to ponder him while the tea is steeping, but of course i still have my hot tea the old fashioned way.
January 10th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I’m proud of you for choosing to do this. Yes, we ARE related…one of my routines, now that I’m retired, is to enjoy a cup of hot tea in the AM. Ya know what? I might join you in giving that up each morning and drinking more OJ, which I USED to drink in the mornings as I was getting ready to go to work. Also, believe it or not, I’ve been thinking about drinking more water with meals, instead of sweet tea…so there you go, I’ll give up my hot tea in the AM and try to drink water instead of the usual tea. Oh, yeah, and I’ll also give up “whining” too…your dad will be happy over that!!! lol!!! :)