Fasting for Soulfood

When I don't have much to say myself I enjoy posting what things have made an impact on my heart instead. Joni seems to always point me straight to Christ and so I frequent her daily devotional. During the season of lent many of us are fasting from certain foods like meats and what not, but being pregnant makes it impossible for me to do so. So I sort of went around for a while feeling like YES I got out of that one this year...not a very good attitude to have. But since then I've come to see areas of my life where it was necessary for me to fast from. Maybe your pregnant too or can't fast from food ( I know like half of my friends are with child ) so what is it that you have decided to let go of during this season of lent?

On a side note I love the last bit of this devotional where Joni says "Fasting is a way of reminding ourselves just how essential God is. It's a way of putting our love for God to the test; not so much to show him, but to prove to ourselves the extent of our love for the Lord. Carve out a day this week and... say "no" to food and "yes" to more soulful, powerful praying and deeper intimacy with your Savior."


Joni and Friends Daily Devotional
March 8, 2010
Dear Aimee,
Fasting's Purpose
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.
-- Matthew 6:16
You've heard Bible teachers say it before: Jesus doesn't say if you fast, but when you fast. For the Christian, fasting is not an option. It is a spiritual discipline our Lord expects us to observe. It seems Jesus is always getting us to do "physical" things to make a spiritual point.

Fasting reveals the stuff inside of us. It shows us what we are made of, what we prize and prefer. When we abstain from food (or some other "fast" in which we refuse ourselves physical fulfillment) the stuff of which we're made will show itself up. You will see it, be confronted by it, and have to deal with it. When mid-afternoon comes and you want a Burger King Whopper so bad you can taste it, you'll have to stop and think, Am I going to cave in or am I going to let these urges drive me to the Lord in prayer?

It's irritating. It's stressful. Often the Whopper wins. God notes, "Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife...you cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high" (Isaiah 58:4). Food is basic to our existence (little wonder we get irritated) and when we remove ourselves from food, it's a way of getting down to the real basics of our existence - God himself.

Fasting is a way of reminding ourselves just how essential God is. It's a way of putting our love for God to the test; not so much to show him, but to prove to ourselves the extent of our love for the Lord. Carve out a day this week and... say "no" to food and "yes" to more soulful, powerful praying and deeper intimacy with your Savior.

* * * * *

When I fast this month (not if), please reveal yourself to me in a fresh way. Thank you that I don't live by bread alone, but the Bread of Life.

Blessings,

Joni and Friends
www.joniandfriends.org