The authentic Christian walk is not an easy one, you face challenges, temptation and a whole bunch of other stuff every where you turn, but each and every time you choose to stay in your lane, the more beautiful the journey becomes. Each and every time you say yes to staying true, you are always glad you did. A true and honest Christian walk is so beautiful in the way it changes your outlook to everyday living and makes you realise how each and everyday you get up and either learn something new or relearn something old. Your mind is constantly being renewed. None of us can be righteous by our own work, we would fail miserably, it is our Faith that makes us right.
It amazes me when I stop and look back and see how much I have changed in the last one year. I am just coming out of a 21 day Daniel Fast and it seems appropriate to share because in the said time frame, I have moved from "not my cuppa tea" to " full blown devotee!" because up until last year, I had never ever fasted, or cared about it or its significance.
I am a new believer and I may not know it all, but a year from now I look forward to having deeper depth and revelation on this topic and a year after that even more and on and on it will go till eternity, but regardless, I will share what I have learnt up until this point.
Below is a definition I agree with :
It amazes me when I stop and look back and see how much I have changed in the last one year. I am just coming out of a 21 day Daniel Fast and it seems appropriate to share because in the said time frame, I have moved from "not my cuppa tea" to " full blown devotee!" because up until last year, I had never ever fasted, or cared about it or its significance.
I am a new believer and I may not know it all, but a year from now I look forward to having deeper depth and revelation on this topic and a year after that even more and on and on it will go till eternity, but regardless, I will share what I have learnt up until this point.
Below is a definition I agree with :
Fasting is a sacred time in which Christians abstain from food, or other pleasures, and take the time to focus on God.But personally I have come to say this about it.- Fasting equates my one on one dates with God !!
What on earth am I talking about ? Let's see if I can summon the right vocabulary to help me illustrate what I am trying to explain.
If you have read my First things First post, you know that as much as last year was my big turn around, before this happened, I did not have it together. I was a mess. Interesting fact, before all of this, I participated in my first fast ever, my Daniel Fast January 2014, which I know for certain played a huge role in helping me change for the better and for real this time. Later in the year when I was struggling with the mess of my life I was continuing to make and realising that it is only in God that I can fix me, I felt led to take a 3 day dry fast in August and it is in that moment that I finally understood what fasting meant. Those 3 days led to utter transformation of self, a by-product of that being me writing to you unapologetically about my faith and how it is a part of my everyday living.
My faith rests on a number of things one being this. Human beings were created to worship, that's our default nature. If it isn't Jesus we choose to worship, then we are most definitely worshipping something else. It could be our children, or our spouse, our parents maybe, or a celebrity, friends, jobs, money, sex, sports, politics or even yourself. There is also the possibility that you worship ideologies of fame, success, what life should be . The list is endless and you know what, some of these things are good and could be our blessings, and they are fun and they make life more enjoyable, but when we elevate these things above God, they destroy us. So for me, knowing without a doubt that He is the one true God, I choose to put Him first lest I worship something else.
So I have chosen Jesus, I choose Him to be my everything. I am nothing without Him. I belong to Him. Where would I be without Him? He is my beginning and my end. I do what He says. I follow Him, I listen to Him, He is my truth. I get correction and discipline from Him. I have surrendered my life to Him. His purpose for my life is what I seek after to become the purpose for my life. Jesus is Love, the author of it. If you learn to love like he loves, you will know how to truly love. He is also my first love. I am in love with Him and everything else that I love and will love comes second to Him. Me and Him are in and will forever be in a love relationship.
This is what I have learnt about fasting... Owing to the above, you can then understand when I say I look at what I have with Jesus as a relationship, think about it like you would a typical Christian courtship. In a healthy relationship certain things such as purpose, motivation, interests, dreams, personality, communication, spending time together and getting to know each other are key correct?
My emphasis today will be on communication, hanging out and getting to know each other.
I look at taking time out each and everyday to read God's word and pray like the calling and messaging a courting couple does daily throughout the course of the week. And then going to Bible Study and Church every week is like the hanging out the couple does over the weekend or week nights when they are both off the clock for example at each other's family or friend get together's with everyone else a part of it. And finally owing to the busy lives we live and high demands at work and all, I look at fasting and praying like the one on one dates the couple purposes to have. They both put a deliberate stop at the busyness and make time for the two of them at maybe a restaurant, or a park with no work, phones off, no distractions. How often they do this totally depends on the couple and what works for them.
Just the two of them...talking, sharing, encouraging, challenging, growing together all that good and healthy but most importantly deep relationship stuff. It is in such intimacy that the roots of their bond go deeper and stronger to withstand the storms and challenges that face relationships and marriages or in this case, your relationship with God.
To keep your relationship with God growing and not stagnant or receding, Christians needs to constantly spend time with God daily, fellowship with Him and other Christians and also spend deliberate, special, undivided attention time with him. Growing deeper with God takes work and sacrifice. Same way when you see a happy and successful relationship, you realize it did not just happen, it took and keeps taking time, work, sacrifice to grow and go deeper in love daily. No good thing comes easy.
You want to connect with God deeper? You want to hear him more clearly? You have got to be ready for the sacrifice. The daily, the weekly, the always.
I have since then joined my church and other congregations around the world to take at the very least 21 days at the beginning of each and every year to spend quality time with God in a Daniel Fast and just set the mood of my year with Him. Check out this Daniel Fast website --> here to find out more about it. Other than the 21 days in January, I personally take out one day each month to have a dry fast. Back to the relationship analogy, that is my boo and I have a standing order quality time date arrangement for once a month at the very least without fail. If we feel the need to do more and when we can, we do.
I thought I was a little crazy when I thought about God the way I do now, but It felt right and I was sticking to it, only to come across someone whose walk with God I greatly admire look at it the same way! In the founder of " Pinky Promise" Heather Lindsey's words from her post on How to Spend Time with God which you can --> check out here , I'll share an excerpt that I totally relate with.
Before we get started into the basics..We must put our relationship with God in perspective. It's a marriage. WE are His church and Jesus is the Christ. The body of believers that make up the Church are collectively called bride of Christ. As Bridegroom, Jesus gave His life for His bride, “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:25-26), with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be actualized (Revelation 19:7-9; 21:1-2). (this is Jesus dying for our sins & making us whole. Allah, Buddha, Mary or any other religion didn't save us or die for us. Christ did. Thus, CHRIST is the door--so through CHRIST are your sins forgiven, not anyone or anything else.)
As I've always said before.. make spending time with God fun!! Sometimes, I go to a Coffee Shop with just me & Him & will read & study. When I was single, I would dress up, make reservations and take my bible & have a date night! I would go to the movies with Jesus! I would cook him dinner, brownies AND we'd watch a movie at home alone. We'd go grocery shopping together. At night time, I would talk to Him about what I should wear the next day (sometimes, we would disagree lol) I would ask Him how He wants me to wear my hair. I would go for a jog in the morning to clear my head & just talk to Him about anything and everything. That MAY sound weird to you but if YOU want Jesus to really be your LIFE--you need to start INCLUDING Him into EVERY aspect of your LIFE.
I know this now, you can seek after things and miss God and what a tragedy to your life here and in eternity that will be. But if you seek after God, when you get God you get everything that you ever needed, He makes you whole. He perfects you. He completes you.
The fact of the matter is this. There is no one and nothing in this world capable of pleasing you like God can. And there is no one capable of being pleased by you like God is, all other ground is sinking sand, he is the only solid rock. (Matthew 7:24-27) Other people ... other things will only leave you high and dry and oh so empty.
The greatest and most valuable benefit of fasting is that we can draw nearer to God and learn from Him. Our Father longs to be in an ongoing, consistent and intimate relationship with His children. He is a loving Father who wants to help us and care for us. Allow the Living Word of God to connect with your spirit so you can receive the transformational truth into your spirit. Meditate on His truths by focusing on His precepts throughout the fast. Carry the Word of God in your heart and allow it to bring about the change and renewal you want for your life. - Susan Gregory
Do you want to connect with God deeper? Do you want to hear Him more clearly? Fasting can first of all give you this and then some! For starters there are all these numerous health benefits ( when done right for example maintaining a nutritional balance) then there is also the discipline it instils in you that becomes apparent in other areas of your life. And last but not least, it can get you to developing better and healthier eating habits!
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| Fasting can change your life . (Photo : Google Images) |
Thank you for reading and Happy New Year to you ! I hope your 2015 has started off great and I wish it to be great and fulfilling but above all may the presence of God which makes all things beautiful be the centre of it.
Love, Ree
Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here !
