Tips for fasting: practicing denial
“then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted…”
The Practice of Purposeful Self-Denial
Living into the new life we have been given in our unity with Christ is the is the ever present challenge for the Christian. We have been made alive in Him, yet our habits and our lives are often more shaped by the life of the flesh (Romans 8:5-6). When the moment of opportunity comes, the chance to love God and love my neighbor as myself, the chance to manifest the Kingdom of God into a situation, I often fall short.
Frozen and overly analytical or reactionary and moving without concern to Christlikeness at all, I can find myself stumbling from moment to moment in life, wondering why I can’t seem to see the kind of transformation of my character and attitudes that I desire. Wondering why I do not naturally behave like Jesus when put to the test of my day. Wondering why I am often looking back to dissect what went wrong rather than forward to the next opportunity to be the kind of man Jesus was.
The chance to change comes not from some vague hope that it will become a reality but through the intentional pursuit of a Spirit-shaped Life. Fasting is just one of the many tools given to the church to practice inhabiting the kingdom of God in an environment that is controlled and purposeful. It is a tool that exercises the muscle of no in your life. An exercise that gives your reps in self denial.
“It's only through more familiarity and practice saying "No" to the desires of my heart, that I can begin to more fully grab hold of the ability to live into the life of the Spirit.
Practice speeds change.
Fasting can take many shapes and sizes. From skipping a meal with thoughtful intention to week long endurance tests. It is not necessarily the length of the practice that is important but the prayerful mindset in which one approaches the fast.
Beginning a fast with a short time of prayer in regard to your intentions and desires for the practice is helpful. It allows you to focus the direction of your time toward God and wrestle with the reasons you are approaching the fast.
“God, I really want to be transformed to be like Jesus. He loved the world and carried the kingdom of God wherever He went. I know I’m nothing like him on my own. I also know you have given me the Holy Spirit so I can change and become more of who you have designed me to be. I pray you would use this fast to help me live into the world as it really is.”
THE HOW OF THE FAST. 36 HOURS LATER.
I hope you are looking forward to your fasting experience and what you have to learn from it. If this is something that is not something you have done in the past, I know it can be a very foreign experience. Not only in that it is unfamiliar but in that it is physically unusual.
Maybe you are confused about how to begin with your first fasting experience. I would recommend starting with a 36 hour fast. It is lengthy enough to experience some of the more impactful lessons from fasting while not being so long that it seems unattainable. 36 hours is the fancy way of saying, “Don’t eat for a whole day.” In other words, after dinner on Monday evening, you would not eat again until breakfast on Wednesday morning.
What are some helpful tips about the actual experience from a spiritual perspective?
Remember that the whole of your life is lived before the face of God. Each time you have the instinct or desire to eat, remember that your God is with you, available and near.
“Man shall not live by bread alone...” The consistent and nagging reminders of your want of food allows you a consistent and nagging opportunity to remind yourself that it is through the life of the Spirit found in Jesus that we truly find life.
Practice thinking, “I can say no.” Everyone knows that you won’t die from not eating for one day. We can (relatively) easily survive an extended period of refraining from food, yet how often do we forget that we have freedom to not immediately satisfy other desires when they pop into our hearts and heads.
Prayer is good but not required. Often, prayer and fasting are seen as inseparable pairs and it is true that they are often practiced in concert but there can be a temptation to emphasize the wrong ideas if we see denial of a physical activity as only a benefit if it allows for a spiritual one. The physical practice is a spiritual practice because we are physically spiritual beings.
How about some tips for your physical experience?
1. Reduce food intake in the day or two before your fast. This one can be counter intuitive as the common thought may be to take in a large amount of food in preparation for restricting intake for a fast. Remember, you aren't running a marathon so carb loading in preparation is actually going to work against you. I would suggest reducing your food intake by 25% or so the day or two before you attempt your fast to prepare yourself and your body for a temporary suspension of eating.
2. Make sure your last meal before your fast is high protein, higher fat and lower carb. You want to attempt to reduce the blood sugar swing that is going to come from not eating for the day. If you intake a large, carb loaded meal before you begin, you will cause a large swing in your blood sugars which will make your fast more difficult. Don’t follow Michael Scott’s lead and eat a tub of fettuccine alfredo for your last meal. Think of a small rib eye steak.
3. Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water. You are fasting from food, not liquid. Don’t make it hard on yourself by being dehydrated.
4. Drink your coffee. If you have a normal caffeine habit, stick with it. Nothing makes a fast harder than trying to do it alongside a caffeine headache. If you want to fast from coffee someday, great. But don’t try to do them all at the same time.
5. Electrolytes are your friend. Sugar-free Gatorade or Powerade, Salt Tablets, Table salt in your water. All can help with lethargy and headaches if you are struggling. If you are feeling wiped out at all, drink a glass of water with a healthy pinch of table salt and you have a great chance of feeling much better.
6. Don’t make it a bigger deal than it is. You are just not eating for a day. That’s it. You got this.