Our Inspire Fellowship has a small group of people who have committed to the spiritual discipline of fasting every Friday (not just on the last Friday of the month). I am so predictable in my morning routine of mixing my bowl of yogurt with fruit and other healthy tidbits, along with my morning cup of green tea, that I’ve forgotten our fasting day more often than not. There have been many Fridays when I’ve had to post an apology on our group message rather than a testimony.
I finally made myself a sign for the refrigerator that says “Friday is Fast-day” thinking that surely I would see it before fixing my morning meal. Unfortunately, my sign only blended in with all the pictures of grandchildren, old Christmas cards, and appointment reminders. Next, I moved my “Friday is Fast-day” to my bathroom mirror, and so far, I’m one for one on remembering.
This past Tuesday, though, our LORD took my fasting someplace I had never anticipated. A prayer request came in our Inspire Prayer Group that pulled deeply at my heart.
When the LORD speaks to me, it’s not with an audible voice—it’s more like feeling He has planted the words in my heart with a fishing hook that won’t release until I follow through. And the words that grabbed hold of me were “You must fast for _______”. The words played over and over in my heart like a teleprompter until I said, “Okay. This evening and tomorrow until 4p I will fast.”
My fast day this past Wednesday was filled with prayers for the individual mentioned in our Prayer Group. I prayed scripture, I prayed for intervention, and I prayed to know how to pray. When the hunger pains began, the LORD reminded me that the person I was praying for was alone and hungry, and so each rumble of my stomach became a prayer.
I know in my heart that whatever happens will have nothing to do with my prayers and my fast, so why fast—why pray? As someone who previously always needed to know the answer, I’ve now become content with “I don’t know, but I do know it makes a difference. And it delights the LORD.” That’s enough for me.
Friday is another fast day, and I could have said, “Well, I fasted Wednesday, so no need to also fast on Friday.” Now, however, I’m hungry to fast! Isn’t that a bit of an oxymoron? I learned that my fast-day was not so much about giving up food as to what came to feel like entering into a holy place, a thin place, where God had been waiting for me to show up and feast on His presence.
Judy
