Fasting is a GREAT way to evaluate our lives. I’m on Day 3 now and I’ve chosen to make this Lent a bit more challenging by eliminating Heavy Whipping Cream (HWC) from my coffee. HWC is 34% fat and so a lot of energy is produced when I am consuming it in my coffee.
That dietary source of energy has been removed. My body is therefore adjusting and in the process of getting all of its energy from burning body fat.
While praying today, I realized that fasting is in essence a Lordship issue. And it was an inspirational thought.
We submit our lives to the Lordship of Christ. Or I need to say we “should be” submitted to Christ as Lord as many professing Christians today believe they can be Christians having Jesus as the Savior but not necessarily as their Lord. This is a concept foreign to New Testament, Apostolic Christianity. Many will end up in Hell ultimately because of this false teaching.
Getting back to fasting. As disciples of Christ, we obey Him. Many of the things He taught us require us to “deny ourselves”. We are required to “die to ourselves” as followers of Jesus – in terms of our reactions, our desires, our comfort, our wills.
While praying today, that thought about fasting came to the forefront of my mind. Fasting is one of the ultimate ways we deny ourselves. We stop doing something, eating. In response, we are hungry. We get uncomfortable. We lose energy. We get bored.
All throughout our times of fasting, it becomes a golden time to examine ourselves. To look at our lives. To consider each and every area. 2 Corinthians 13:5 is the verse that comes to mind. Paul exhorts us as Christians to examine ourselves to see if we are even in the faith! A strong challenge. Some consider it a controversial one.
Fasting happens to be one of the best means I’ve discovered of looking at my life. What am I REALLY living for? What is controlling my life?
And WHY is fasting such a good tool? Because food controls many of our lives. And Christians are often entirely out of touch with that reality. We talk about “food addictions” and yet, when and where is that issue being addressed in our churches? It rarely is. Our obscene rates of obesity. The Church is as bad if not worse than the world when it comes to these issues.
Fasting is one of our God-given, God-designed weapons to wage war against this sobering situation.
So even today, in prayer as I was feeling weak while out walking, I could surrender once again to Christ’s Lordship. To ask Him to help me keep going AND to make sure that at the end of this 40-day fast, that whatever ungodly control food has had in my life, will be broken.
For such a time as this…
Keto4Christians / Carnivore4Christians 