CHRISTIAN FASTING GUIDELINES

Foreword

This book was born out of sheer frustration and a desire to discover what it feels like to live in freedom and not in bondage to food.

Like a lot of people food has had too much of an important role in my life and after many years of liking and hating food and the effects that it has had on me, I felt the time had come for me to break free from it’s control over me in order to live in total freedom as God meant it to be. I have always believed that there is nothing too big for God to show me and that he has an answer and a plan for everything in my life and that it is up to us to ask for the answers to our problems and apply them to our lives the way he says we should to get to where he wants us to be. He gave his word to us to be applied at times of need and therefore we are meant to try and test it, because when we are weak He is strong. That in itself is a journey and a fight our flesh will not give up on easily.

As I delved deeper and deeper into this journey I came to the realisation that “Fasting the Behaviour” could apply to every other aspect of our lives where a specific behaviour is having a negative impact on the quality of our lives as well as the lives of our loved ones and people we interact with. It also applies to those who have eliminated things that are good for us and are meant to be a part of our lives by justifying not doing them with “I am very busy” “I don’t enjoy it” “there is not enough time” and lots more excuses and so the acceptance of not applying the positive behaviour can be fasted and replaced by the specific positive behaviour needed. The reason we will be able to achieve the fasting of a negative behaviour as unto the Lord will be because we have a personal relationship with him and want to please him, but it also allows us to realise that we don’t have that personal relationship or we need to get that personal relationship back to a place where our priority is to please our loving Father.

My prayer is that as you read this book you will grasp the revelation of what total freedom is and be able to go on with the rest of your lives enjoying Christ’s freedom in every aspect of your life.

There had been countless times where I had planned one programme or another, written it down signed it believed it and not seen it through…I did not believe me anymore and though I could not release myself to give up and settle for the feelings of frustration, I could not come up with anything that I could see myself completing.

The thoughts of my past failures haunted me and the most recent failure was the biggest of all especially as I enjoyed telling people how I had succeeded in loosing so much weight, and the buzz I got from it all. The saddest part of it all was that I was still in bondage to food and from the minute I got close to my target weight I was starting to gain weight again, I constantly lived in fear of people noticing that I was once again failing. The feast and fast mentality was running rife in my life and my clothes were a range of various sizes, I was never able to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction because no matter where I went food was lurking.

One thing I knew for sure was that my way was not working and was very temporary, God had heard my cry and a wave of revelations was about to hit me like never before. Through the battle of leaving Egypt to the pain in the wilderness my eyes were being opened, revelations, impressions, words kept coming to me in waves, who would have thought that through the most painful journey, amidst the storms and the darkness that crowded me, Gods whisper, as clear and precise would come through to me like never before, He had heard my cry and the desire of my heart, and had come through with his answers, it was now up to me to apply them.

One thing I strongly believe now is that there is a lesson to be learned in every trial we go through. If we do not get “it” and God knows we need “it”, we will go round in circles till we get “it” or forever be unsettled. So next time you go through a trial, ask God “what am I supposed to learn from this?” I do now. The biggest thing I could not reconcile with was the fact that I chose food as my comfort and not God. Why?

That was what I probably was the most ashamed of. I am hoping that as my journey to the Promised Land progresses I will unravel things that point out the reasons I have been in this battle for what seems like a lifetime, and by unraveling the reasons and answers I pray someone else who reads this book gets to arrive at their promised land.

I Surrender

To surrender…. What does it actually mean? I would say it is where we hand over our lives to someone, - no questions asked- just handing over the reigns of our life usually in exchange for something. In this case I am referring to surrendering to God.

In the past, I believed that I had surrendered my life or areas of my life to God. Looking back however, it has not been a total surrender, because total surrendering is a complete hand over to God no questions asked whilst expecting God to do what He feels is best for you because you trust him. By making half hearted surrenders in the past, I was not able to activate the full benefits of total surrendering to God. how frustrating for God because of the freewill he has given us we need to operate here on earth in the way he has asked us to in order for all his bountiful blessings to be enjoyed but we regularly fall short by doubting, fear, anxiety, impatience, deadlines and a lot more hindrances that block what is rightfully ours.

We tend to surrender when we reach rock bottom, when we feel like there is no option or when we are forced to do it, but what does it actually entail? If we understand the true meaning of surrendering it would enable us to act it out literally and so reap the rewards. We can only totally surrender by ignoring fear or the “what ifs”?

This is achieved by totally trusting the person you are surrendering to. When at war with an enemy, surrendering is normally done under gunpoint, after there has been a lot of resistance. The fact that you know the enemy you are surrendering to does not have your interest at heart, you outwardly surrender but still continue to scheme and plan a way out. You have been forced into the situation and will come out of it as soon as you see an opportunity. In your mind you are not in agreement with the enemy, but on the outside you show signs of surrender so you can extend your life or gain some favours for obeying.

When dealing with a God we trust, to surrender to Him means to stop second guessing, it also means we are trusting Him wholeheartedly and taking His word literally. We do not, for one second, think He is going to harm us; and because we know He created us, we believe He knows and wants what’s right for us and He is the only one who can fix us.

As Christians, we surrender all to God when we get saved but do our attitudes say otherwise? We will never enjoy the joy of total dependence on God if we do not completely surrender and allow God to decide how and where our journey starts and finishes. Even though at the beginning of this journey we may not love ourselves, this is an opportunity to at last let God have free reign in every aspect of our lives so we can be used as His canvas in order for Him to demonstrate what complete restoration looks like when we surrender. I believe we all have to come to a place where we give our all to God, not half, not a quarter, not three quarters but all and we can do that by weighing all our options and freely surrendering; what a privilege!

Giving Up the Control

Some things you give up as a comfort or an idol (bingeing), some you put on hold till maturity (junk food). When you trip and fall it’s not the end of the world or a time to be a recluse or even time to do some kind of “works” to try to make up for your mess. Confess, repent and move on.

As I found myself in my car waiting for my daughter to finish her Spanish lesson on morning of the 11^th of March 2006, it dawned on me that the things I was scribbling down bore a resemblance to the journey we begin when we get saved. Giving up the old for the new, leaving some friends and environments for a while or completely because those things could stagnate us and prevent us from passionately following Christ.

When a binge episode occurs (binge being a representative of any negative behaviour in your life) i.e. you eat, say or do something that has been your intention to put on hold or give up, like sin, at first the thought of doing it may seem exciting and the act itself may be enjoyed. However, the guilt, shame and the ugly feeling you experience sometimes whilst still in the act or immediately afterwards completely outweighs the fleeting pleasure. The tendency is to want to start your life all over again and try to be perfect this time, but that is never going to happen.

If you compare that situation to the Christian cycle of falling and repenting, nowhere in the cycle do you have to give your life to God again, you simply repent and move on more aware of the pitfalls. By trying to control the way God works and what he has put in place for us when we fall we show a lack of faith and trust in God by rejecting His grace which should be sufficient for us.

Typically after a binge episode, the normal next step would be to try to fast in order to make up for the damage done during the binge. That spirals out of control and causes the “binge- fast” cycle to start all over again.

As crazy as it may seem in the complexity of the binge, the best way to break the horrible cycle is to eat normally like nothing had happened. In the beginning this might be quite difficult to do, but as time goes on it will become easier. You will find that the binges will occur less frequently because it is loosing its grip or hold on you. So it is with accepting Gods grace. Initially it will be difficult and you will still feel dirty and sinful. However as you continue to totally surrender to Gods programme, it will get easier to repent and move on and the grip of sin on you will be reduced. As a result, you will find that the occurrence of the “sin-repent-move on” cycle will be few and far between because the devil will know that you have grasped God’s principles and he has lost the battle though he will never give up trying to make you fall.

Until we fully apply God’s principles in our lives we will never be at peace and we will not be confident about our salvation or healing from the eating disorder or whatever negative behaviour. This will make us lose confidence in whom we are and thus open the door for more deception and failure.

When we receive Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour, we are taking a step of faith and we believe that there is a prize or reward at the end. We assume the journey would be enjoyable so when we come up against a tough time in our life we are supposed to keep our focus on the end. So it should be with regards to being on the journey to beat the eating disorder or negative behaviour. Firstly to be free from the bondage is in itself a wonderful prize. The joy of not being ill, obese, unhappy, etc is an incentive for us to surrender to the healing process.

Remember that the impact and consequences of sin are great and they do affect the way we feel or perceive ourselves. That is why God wants us to come to the place where we are far away from sin as possible so we can continue to walk boldly as Christians who are confident in who we are. This would enable us to be effective and do the work we have been called to do. God does not want us to be beaten, down trodden, unproductive weary Christians but rather vibrant, positive and effective children of God. So in regard to the behaviours,When we have Christ in our lives, to do wrong does not sit well with us unlike an unbeliever whose conscience will freely allow them to continue on the wrong path. Negative behaviours do have its consequences, they slow down the healing process, impacts our relationships and daily lives and is a burden that we need not carry.

It is up to us to accept Gods insurance plan in total surrender without “ifs” and “buts”. He had this plan well before we were born and knew we would need it. Who are we to question or even think we know better than God the one who created us? He knew we could not save ourselves, so He sent His Son to save us. Our only “duty” is to accept and not reject His plan for our lives. We may not always feel the physical effects of his grace immediately, but the miracle of grace is “believing without feeling”. That is the opportunity to be blessed. It is that little gap through which we let God know by our actions that we trust Him even though we haven’t seen, can’t feel, etc. In the same way with the “binge-fast” cycle, it is when we go straight back to normal eating after a binge, even though we feel like starving or purging ourselves, that the greatest miracle is happening.

We have to see that point as an opportunity to grow as opposed to our breaking point. This same point can be a point of growth or a point of giving up. I call it the painful but necessary place for growth, faith, trust, strength or failure. It can also be a time of separation to take stock, reflect and regroup or a downward spiral of desperation, self harm and giving up.

We usually want to know how long it will take to be healed, to get to our target weight, to get that job, to have that baby, and so on. With reference to our Christian walk, learning and growing is a life long process, there is no deadline. Once we become Christians we begin a journey and we need to progress steadily, there is no deadline by which we will completely know everything. So it is with this journey to complete healing. In our old life, we thought we were in control. We wanted to know the whole time what we would eat, what they would serve at the party, etc but that didn’t work for us.

We have to let go of the reigns of our lives and hand them over to God in order to be in control. He is the only one who knows what we need. Our need for control comes back to bite us again and again. We need to totally surrender to our creator in order to enjoy this journey called life. We have to completely remove the “time restrains”, deadlines, fitting into the wedding dress, opinions of the in-laws, “summers just round the corner”, from our vocabulary and make our priority to get well and be whole, and all the good things like getting to the right size, toned body, healthy insides and outsides, being confident, will be added to us.

If we allow God to work in our lives He will make up for lost time and victory will be sweeter this time around, we have to focus on pleasing God and not people. The bathroom scales can become a “judge” and should therefore be used only occasionally or even discarded. Just like people who judge us from a distance without knowing what is inside of us, so does the scale. It does not take into account how much muscle we have gained or how much water we are holding. No matter how we think we can cope with the “judgements” it offers, it can affect us in a negative way and can hurt us and eventually send us to the old habits which should have no place in our new lives. We should neither measure ourselves by the scales of the world’s standards, but by the scales of Gods word and His standards.

After we get born again as children of God, we have access to healing of our past and current wounds; however we need faith to actually access complete healing and restoration. The same applies to us as we start to gain our freedom from the bondage of addictions and behaviours, and surrender to God’s programme. He will heal us of the scars that were caused by the effects of the binge purge cycle and He will restore your body because He is the creator of it. God does not want your scars to hold you back. Keep your eyes on the prize always, He can restore us to where we were before bingeing and food issues ever became a part of our lives. Just like how He restores us when we give our lives to him after surrendering.

By exchanging our control for His Grace, we become more in control. Psalm 71 verse 20 is a clear indication of what God intends to do with our broken lives and how (from the trials we have been through) we can be brought back into a place of total healing and be better than we were before.

Embracing the Wilderness

Our problems, afflictions or addictions are our Egypt and God is trying to get us out of bondage to Egypt. The journey is necessary and can be tough and requires trusting God totally. It may be filled with setbacks and also highs and lows. The problems faced when leaving the wilderness are more or less the same as the Israelites faced when they were on their journey. Their trip, I believe, was documented for us to be able to take courage and get to our promised land in the time that God intends for us to get there and not make the same mistakes the Israelites made. Thank God for a God who can see the end from the beginning!

In order for us to get out of Egypt, God has strategies in place to “punish” Egypt and force her to relinquish the hold she has on us. She does not let go easily and doesn’t give up without a fierce fight therefore we are in a battle for our lives. The hold she has on us can vary from person to person in its intensity, but it bears the same name; EGYPT! When we seem to be making progress and winning the war, our enemies realise that they are loosing the battle and come against us with a more addictive strategy.

At this stage, the process requires spiritual warfare and the Word of God. The saying “it gets worse before it gets better” rings true in many cases. This is because in the spiritual realm, a battle for ones life is going on. That was the same for the Israelites who were told they could go, but Pharaoh changed his mind several times, therefore God had to bring in new sanctions. Every time He raised the bar in order to squeeze the enemy and free His people. The more the enemy gets squeezed, the more gripping the behaviour will get. God will do that for us today, so no matter how hot the temperature gets in your battle, know that God is working hard on your behalf and that you will win in the end if you persevere.

When God finally gets us out of Egypt, we will be at a place where we can start looking forward to the Promised Land. It can be an uncomfortable time, a place where we seem stagnated because we are neither here nor there and can not actually see the end result of our deliverance. However the chains are off us, we are at a place where although we are not at the promised land yet, we have to start living like we are already there. Unbelievable as it sounds some of us want to go back to the familiarity of slavery with its rules and regulations as supposed to a freedom we might never have known or one that we can’t remember or comprehend. This is a place of reflection and an opportunity to have a new life. We actually forget what bondage felt like because the memories have begun to fade away. Egypt suddenly feels safe, comfortable and predictable.

Our new found freedom is scary with no deadlines and new things to learn. Experiencing God's freedom is giving us responsibility like we have never known and the pain of disciplining ourselves is too much for us to handle, we can actually think for ourselves now and make decisions as well as becoming accountable for our choices. Negative and positive tales of the Promised Land are rife as the wilderness journey is coming to a close, but because of our inferiority complex that comes from slavery to the past behaviours, we choose to believe we will not fit into the Promised Land because we accept that those there are better than us and refuse to acknowledge the fact that those who reside there were once like us but were able to make the transition by accepting Gods Grace, thus becoming stronger people. Those who give in and go back to Egypt realise once they are back in bondage that the hold their past had on them has become twice as hard to break from. The enemy has learned new ways to punish them for leaving and will try to ensure that they can never leave again. In order to leave again you will need to dig deeper.

The effort of reopening the Red Sea is harder than accepting the Grace of freedom. Thank God for the blood of Jesus. The Passover worked for the Israelites, God has given us the blood of Jesus and if we accept what He has done for us, we can move on into what he has in store for us. When affliction comes, we have the blood of Jesus to plead over our lives to strengthen us, to empower us to deal with any thing that we might face.

By surrendering ourselves to the wilderness journey God is able to allow us to grow, learn and trust. Until the lessons of the wilderness are learnt, we will not move forward. He will guide us through the journey both day and night with enough manna for each day and opportunities to learn in joy and pain. Grumbling, murmuring and rebelling will only slow us down and lengthen the journey.

The next phase can be referred to as the desert phase where although we have accepted our fate and chosen to go forward, we are simply going through the motions. Nothing brings us joy, nothing tastes nice, we wish we could just binge, swear, smoke, etc. It is a place where rebellion can flourish if allowed, a place where we realise that although we are on the right track, it still feels foreign and uncomfortable, so we refuse to accept it gracefully. A place where new friends will have to be made, babying days draw to a close and maturity has to set in. A place of being grateful to God for keeping his word, and now the responsibility switches to you to do your part. Where you know right from wrong on your new journey, so turning a blind eye is no longer acceptable. A place of ownership, where behavioural boundaries exist.

We have reached the mountain top where all that can be ours is in full view both good and bad. Freewill has arrived and is here to stay but to get to the Promised Land we have to present our bodies to God as our living sacrifice.

No Going Back

When Lots wife looked back she turned into a pillar of salt. A pillar of salt can only stay in one spot, there is no progress. You can’t move forward or backwards, imagine how frustrating that can be? When we become dissatisfied with the pace God is taking us on the journey, we will look back or think we can go forward faster… big mistake! All past attempts to get to the Promised Land in our strength have failed for various reasons. We took short cuts and did not learn the lessons we were supposed to learn, which would help us remain well grounded in the Promised Land. God needs to equip us with a lot more important lessons so we get used to making the journey on our own. Thank God that this time we are allowing the Creator to take us through the proper way and so we should continue to remind ourselves that He knows what He is doing and He knows exactly what we need to learn on the way.

The excitement of being on the top of the mountain is still with you, you have started rewarding yourself for how far you have come. The compliments for how far you have come are still rolling in. Some people are even discouraging you from trying to get any further, some suggest that you are getting hooked on pushing forward. Remember you did not go through all you’ve been through not to taste the feeling of triumph in the Promised Land.

Unfortunately some people will die on the mountain top, some will go back into the wilderness but some will taste of the Promised Land, which one will you be? At the moment the Promised Land lies ahead of you and the wilderness with all its trials and tribulations is behind you; you can take time to ponder on the lessons learnt and how you need to apply them in the Promised Land to survive. This is a point where you hopefully realise that you have come too far to take any backward steps. With the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired ahead, you will have to ignore the “horror” stories and experience the Promised Land yourself.

The quest for perfection can actually send people back to the wilderness, especially those with obsessive compulsion tendencies. We want to be perfect in the Promised Land; the desire for perfection can trigger the feelings of failure. Failing again feels worse than the last time especially because we feel we did it the right way this time. We give up and miss the opportunity to acknowledge the fact that now we have surrendered our journey to God, He is the captain of the ship it is His agenda, not ours. He is holding His hand out to pick us up. All we need to do is take Him up on His offer and enjoy the trip. We need to set our goals and put into place the knowledge and experience gained and then slot them into the reality of everyday living. However the biggest decision on the mountain top should be that no matter what, we will not go back!

Freedom in the Promised Land

Walking in total freedom in the promised land means giving up the dos and don’ts, the rules and regulations the idolatry in whatever way it presents itself because the Holy Spirit resides in you. He will help us with discerning right from wrong, good from evil and daily decisions we have to make in every area of our lives. We need to reawaken our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. In the beginning it might appear like trial and error because we have not really exercised the gift. However as we mature in our freedom walk we will come to a place where we will enjoy having our special helper helping us make the right choices.

Thank God we are better off than the Israelites who had to carry a physical Ark to know that God was with them. We should be thankful for the privilege we have knowing that our bodies are the physical embodiment of the Holy Spirit. God has trusted us with Himself and so that should actually make us want to daily present our bodies as a living sacrifice onto Him. If the Ark was the most sacred thing at that time, we must see our bodies as sacred and therefore wherever we go we are to be shining examples so to set bad examples is to tarnish His Word.

In the beginning you may have to fast the things that trigger off the negative behaviours. These could be friends, food, environments, but as time goes on and we have become more established in our new way of life, and we fully know who we are, we can incorporate some of the old things back into our lives, although some things will have to be given up for good. This can be seen as your daily sacrifice to the Lord.

You can compare the scenario of the sinner who accepts Christ but because he is still new to the things of God, falls a few times and is wracked with guilt and shame. One day he receives a clearer understanding of Grace and jumps at the opportunity to apply it to his life. He still can’t get over how much God loves him, and as time goes by sin has less of an impact on his life because he understands his new relationship with God better and does not want to “hurt” God, even though he knows he will be forgiven if he falls. We will never be able to walk in Gods Grace if we continue to have the mindset or mentality of all or nothing, feast and fast, because Gods Grace can never work in conjunction with works, it is only activated by repentance, acceptance and surrender.

Lasting Freedom

At last! To taste of lasting freedom we need to establish what it needs to feel like. It should be a life journey where our lives are not put on hold “till we are perfect” but enjoyed as we aspire to be Christ like in all areas of our lives. Where there is no more second guessing or double mindedness but we posses an air of self assurance because of the journey we have been through and the knowledge of whom we are in Christ. We no longer tremble at the thought of failing and when we trip and fall, getting up and dusting ourselves down is instinctive, and no longer affects us for longer than necessary.

The devil sends spies to see what the people who dwell in the Promised Land are like. These spies come back with either a negative report or positive report about the people. It could be that the people are not very certain of who they are and still a bit shaky, not believing wholly that they deserve to be there and therefore still very vulnerable or easier prey for the devil, or it could be that they are very powerful people who know who they are and are confident, positive and outgoing with good self esteem. The spies report that they would be difficult to attack. When we enter our Promised Land, the devil and demons need to know that we know who we are in Christ. They are aware that the knowledge and experience that we have gained will mean they have their work cut out for them if they try to attack us. The old downtrodden victim will have been replaced by a strong bold victor in the Promised Land.

Caleb and Joshua were confident that they could achieve their plan to claim the Promised Land with God’s help, but a lot more people did not believe they were strong enough to cope with what the Promised Land offered. A single minded person whose yes was a yes and no was a no, a God pleaser not a people pleaser, someone ready to do as God commands and stands for something, and also someone who was ready to leave the old behind and press on with the new.

In the beginning you may have to fast the old things that trigger the behaviours that were causing you so much pain, and that in itself will cause you more pain. Some of the friends will have to be left behind even though their company will be missed but you can reacquaint with some of them at a later date provided you have become strong enough for them not to pull you back into a downward spiral.

Due to the void and loneliness that will be felt at this point in your journey, new positive friends can be a useful tool. Remembering that there were a lot of consequences which involved pain, abuse and hurt that came with old friendships. We all know who those “friends” in our lives are, and for those who plead innocence, now is the time to reflect and work out who they are in order to eliminate them. Deep down we also know that they are not really friends, however due to old habits, convenience, boredom and lack of self esteem we keep their company. They appear to make you feel special, offer you what you want, or make false promises. When you fall, they are the first to put you down and tell you how disgusting you are. You feel used and abused and that makes you feel worthless and the cycle continues. They continue to have you in their grip, but by making the fast your daily sacrifice to the Lord, it will get easier and more fulfilling.

With all the miracles, favour and daily blessings these people still wouldn’t believe in His promises so they would never enter the land of promise. They would wander around the wilderness for the rest of their days. Therefore, we need to be bold enough to wrench ourselves from the old patterns, disobedience, impatience, peer pressure and lack of faith as well as reliance on the old comfort zone, because they will force us to return to our old ways and deny us the chance of experiencing God’s freedom and the fulfillment that comes from achieving it.