Fasting "The WHY and The HOW"

I thought I would document my fast since this is truly my first REAL ONE.  We were asked at church to do a corporate fast and to pray for cycles to be reversed in our lives.  I anxiously accepted  because of where I'm at in my walk.  I have been doing research prior because I know fasting is good and bring s you closer to God if done correctly.

I'm reading Fasting Made Simple by my pastor Paula White  www.paulawhite.org which is helping me along my journey.

I started off my morning with a shake which i blended 8 oz. of unsweetened almond milk, a whole banana and a cup of frozen pineapples and a few cubes of ice.  I'm going to do this for the first few days just to get my body used to not eating the rest of the day.  I didn't want to send my body into shock being that I have low blood sugar.

After, I finished my shake I got into the word reading Isaiah 58, which is the preface to the book I'm reading.     Some people think it's just the fast which God wants, but that is so not the truth.  He is really watching our motives.  Are we doing it to brag on doing it or really coming to him  in deep prayer for change in a certain area(s)?  For me it is just the need to move into a deeper spiritual place with The Lord.  I'm praying for the cycles of depression, addiction, my family, my friends, my companies.  Just a radical and supernatural move of God to enter into my life right now.  You have to be ready for this and I pray if you take the journey with me you're just as blessed as I know I will be.

Oh yeah don't forget to take your vitamins.  Some may make you a little weezy being that we're doing this on an empty stomach though.  I'm using what is good for me. I'm not a doctor so consult your own before you start.

Blessing in Bundles,

Dana Marie

True and False Worship

58 

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.

    Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.

Tell my people Israel^[a] of their sins!

² 

    Yet they act so pious!

They come to the Temple every day

    and seem delighted to learn all about me.

They act like a righteous nation

    that would never abandon the laws of its God.

They ask me to take action on their behalf,

    pretending they want to be near me.

³ 

‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.

    ‘Why aren’t you impressed?

We have been very hard on ourselves,

    and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond.

    “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.

Even while you fast,

    you keep oppressing your workers.

⁴ 

What good is fasting

    when you keep on fighting and quarreling?

This kind of fasting

    will never get you anywhere with me.

⁵ 

You humble yourselves

    by going through the motions of penance,

bowing your heads

    like reeds bending in the wind.

You dress in burlap

    and cover yourselves with ashes.

Is this what you call fasting?

    Do you really think this will please the Lord?

⁶ 

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want:

Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;

    lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free,

    and remove the chains that bind people.

⁷ 

Share your food with the hungry,

    and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them,

    and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸ 

“Then your salvation will come like the dawn,

    and your wounds will quickly heal.

Your godliness will lead you forward,

    and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

⁹ 

Then when you call, the Lord will answer.

    ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

    Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

¹⁰ 

Feed the hungry,

    and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

    and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

¹¹ 

The Lord will guide you continually,

    giving you water when you are dry

    and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

    like an ever-flowing spring.

¹² 

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

    Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

    and a restorer of homes.

¹³ 

“Keep the Sabbath day holy.

    Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,

but enjoy the Sabbath

    and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day.

Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,

    and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

¹⁴ 

Then the Lord will be your delight.

    I will give you great honor

and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.

    I, the Lord, have spoken!”