40 Day water fast

[HintofAsian]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food. I have identified that beginning in my youth, probably around the age of 14, I started developing an unhealthy dependence on food, as a way to comfort. Food has essentially become the substance through which I self-medicate/sooth myself. Over the years it grew into a full-blown eating disorder, and now is just my "best friend," but in reality, my worst enemy. I believe that God wants to give me freedom from the bondage and sin in my life, and humbly submit to this call to fast.

I am here to ask for your prayers and support. I have completed numerous fasts, so I am not starting a 40 day journey cold turkey. Through this fast, it is my hope to renew my relationship with God, divorce my relationship with food and unburry the person I have dug into a very deep pit. I miss the person that I once was, and want to be the woman that God created me to be. If I continue down the path that I am currently going, depression and instability will rule over me and I will never experience the abundant life that God intended me to live. Not to mention, I have three little ones who depend greatly on me, and I am not the Mommy I desire to be.

So, please, if you happen to come across my post, I am asking for your prayers. For a miracle. I will try to post my progress, as a way of keeping myself accountable, and hope that it will bring you encouragement. If you feel God is calling you to fast, please feel free to join me and we can encourage one another.

God bless you~

 

[Angeldove97]

Just wanted to check in. I'm dealing with this "best friend" too, as well as, some other "friends" I can do without. I guess that's the point of life though - bettering yourself and thankfully we have Christ here to help us.

I hope you're doing well!

 

[Pink Spider]

.
.
My prayers and support
for you!

Hope all goes well!.
.

 

[steve2219]

keep us posted... I am trying to do a 9 day... hard to get started..

 

[DimEyesOpenHeart]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food. I have identified that beginning in my youth, probably around the age of 14, I started developing an unhealthy dependence on food, as a way to comfort. Food has essentially become the substance through which I self-medicate/sooth myself. Over the years it grew into a full-blown eating disorder, and now is just my "best friend," but in reality, my worst enemy. I believe that God wants to give me freedom from the bondage and sin in my life, and humbly submit to this call to fast.

I am here to ask for your prayers and support. I have completed numerous fasts, so I am not starting a 40 day journey cold turkey. Through this fast, it is my hope to renew my relationship with God, divorce my relationship with food and unburry the person I have dug into a very deep pit. I miss the person that I once was, and want to be the woman that God created me to be. If I continue down the path that I am currently going, depression and instability will rule over me and I will never experience the abundant life that God intended me to live. Not to mention, I have three little ones who depend greatly on me, and I am not the Mommy I desire to be.

So, please, if you happen to come across my post, I am asking for your prayers. For a miracle. I will try to post my progress, as a way of keeping myself accountable, and hope that it will bring you encouragement. If you feel God is calling you to fast, please feel free to join me and we can encourage one another.

God bless you~

I have faith in you and will keep you in my prayers, having suffered similarly you have inspired me I may join you after discussing it with my family for support. WE CAN DO THIS IF IT BE HIS WILL.

 

[2KnightDad]

28 days in! Praying that you are receiving healing.

 

[katerinah1947]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food. I have identified that beginning in my youth, probably around the age of 14, I started developing an unhealthy dependence on food, as a way to comfort. Food has essentially become the substance through which I self-medicate/sooth myself. Over the years it grew into a full-blown eating disorder, and now is just my "best friend," but in reality, my worst enemy. I believe that God wants to give me freedom from the bondage and sin in my life, and humbly submit to this call to fast.

I am here to ask for your prayers and support. I have completed numerous fasts, so I am not starting a 40 day journey cold turkey. Through this fast, it is my hope to renew my relationship with God, divorce my relationship with food and unburry the person I have dug into a very deep pit. I miss the person that I once was, and want to be the woman that God created me to be. If I continue down the path that I am currently going, depression and instability will rule over me and I will never experience the abundant life that God intended me to live. Not to mention, I have three little ones who depend greatly on me, and I am not the Mommy I desire to be.

So, please, if you happen to come across my post, I am asking for your prayers. For a miracle. I will try to post my progress, as a way of keeping myself accountable, and hope that it will bring you encouragement. If you feel God is calling you to fast, please feel free to join me and we can encourage one another.

God bless you~

Hi,
Wow. Nice.
By accident a returning, through the Bible way, Catholic, did this one year, a meal a day was given up for forty days, straight.
This was done for Easter preparation, and offered to God, which made it possible to get through that. No. No, not every day was perfect. Yes. Yes adjustments were made with experience, as to which meal could be given up, successfully.
Time passed. Of course Easter came and went. Around November this person hit a weight scale for the fist time. Twelve pounds were gone.
In all diets this person has been on, the lost weight was always gained back, and an additional 10%, of the old weight total, was added also.
This person refused to go on another diet for that reason. As the next weight gain, would be catastrophic, there were already breathing problems from the weight gains. and going to over 200 pounds on a 145 pound person when thinner, is a lot for this person.
Time passes though, and the lost weight never came back.
Less total weight came off next year with this fast for God, this way. It also never came back.
Less total weight came off the year after that. It too never came back.

A female, me, heard of this. I use this. Only for me it is 50 days straight, and is monstrously almost cruely hard.
I did hit the scales. You've heard about females having a variable metabolism, haven't you? Well forty days later, no weight was gone, and that is not the point, as this is a fast before Easter.
45 days later still no weight loss. I remembered the routine. It is much later that the weight mysteriously goes away, seemingly permanently.
47 days passed, and the first signs appeared.
When fifty days were gone, still there was not much weight loss, but I was done. This seems to work great on males. I did it anyway, but your God seems to have made female type bodies react differently.
As I aged, this was not possible for me. My weight shot up, and I felt less close to God. So, I tried a modified version of this. Every day, I don't eat from 5PM till 10PM. My weight is better now, and I hope I am closer to God. He does seem to want me to fast, so I do.
LOVE,
...Mary., .... .

 

[TheoNewstoss]

Fasting is great for both the body and the soul. I used to have horrible acid reflux. For me, fasting for a couple days can knock it out for months. The longest I've ever water fasted was about fifteen days or so. Some months ago, I was water fasting and on day three, I had to go to the hospital because my heart rate was sustained at about 140-180 BPM for several hours. My doctor said it was likely the result of dehydration and a lack of electrolytes. I don't know that I'll ever strictly water fast like that again. I'll probably take some vitamins with an omega-3 supplement or something.

I would just encourage others to be careful and drink plenty of water on their fasts.

 

[CowWarrior]

wow, this is very interesting!! I will pray for your success!!

I actually wanted to try this, but the last time I tried it didn't went well.... I only lasted for 2 days...

How do you guys do it? Do you guys just drink water for the 40 days?

 

[Vicomte13]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food. I have identified that beginning in my youth, probably around the age of 14, I started developing an unhealthy dependence on food, as a way to comfort. Food has essentially become the substance through which I self-medicate/sooth myself. Over the years it grew into a full-blown eating disorder, and now is just my "best friend," but in reality, my worst enemy. I believe that God wants to give me freedom from the bondage and sin in my life, and humbly submit to this call to fast.

I am here to ask for your prayers and support. I have completed numerous fasts, so I am not starting a 40 day journey cold turkey. Through this fast, it is my hope to renew my relationship with God, divorce my relationship with food and unburry the person I have dug into a very deep pit. I miss the person that I once was, and want to be the woman that God created me to be. If I continue down the path that I am currently going, depression and instability will rule over me and I will never experience the abundant life that God intended me to live. Not to mention, I have three little ones who depend greatly on me, and I am not the Mommy I desire to be.

So, please, if you happen to come across my post, I am asking for your prayers. For a miracle. I will try to post my progress, as a way of keeping myself accountable, and hope that it will bring you encouragement. If you feel God is calling you to fast, please feel free to join me and we can encourage one another.

God bless you~

 

[Vicomte13]

I myself have done two 40 day water fasts (by that I mean that I consumed nothing but water (and air, obviously) for 40 days and 40 nights) - no food, no juice, no vitamins, no medicines.

I did it once one summer when my family was away on a long trip, and once for Lent the following year.

In both cases, my purpose was primarily spiritual. Jesus and Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. I wanted to emulate them.

The spiritual rewards were very rich.

Physically, it was demanding at the beginning: the first three days were terrible (caffeine withdrawal and gnawing hunger), but by the fourth day things stabilized and I was fine - if relatively low energy - for about the next 32 days. The last three days were painful. By then, some vital nutrient was probably running out, and the body was literally starving.

I broke the fast both times with a lot of cooked spinach and collard greens (which I was craving the last few days of both fasts).

I lost about 55 lbs of body weight both times, which was a lot. As my purpose was not weight loss I didn't use it as a "stepping stone" to a diet.

The spiritual purpose was fulfilled, and certainly when I fasted I came to appreciate time, sleep, rest and prayer. I spent a lot of time with God.

I won't do it again, though, because to do it again would be a grandiose and vain gesture. The first time was spiritual, and the second time was out of a desire to recapture that spirituality and reconnect with God. But the second time there was also some vanity creeping in - that I was "tough" and could do this.

The first time I kept secret, but the second time I did not. My motivations embarrassed me by the middle of the second fast, and I curbed them.

I would say that if your purposes are pure then a 40-day water fast is the longest holy prayer that you could make.

I would also say that EXCEEDING 40 days would be exceeding what even Christ and Moses did, and would be a vanity. By that point, your body is out of water soluble vitamins, and you're courting a health breakdown. 40 days is the limit that even God imposed on himself, so do not go longer - even if you can.

And don't fast at all if a reason is weight loss, because that is vanity. Fast as a prayer, and there is nothing more healing. Bind up fasting with secret temporal desires, and it will convert itself into a period of discomfort.

 

[Vicomte13]

wow, this is very interesting!! I will pray for your success!!

I actually wanted to try this, but the last time I tried it didn't went well.... I only lasted for 2 days...

How do you guys do it? Do you guys just drink water for the 40 days?

The first three days are hardest, because your body crashes for want of sugar and caffeine. On day four, though, it settles out, the pain departs, and you become calm. But you never forget that you haven't eaten in a long time. You have more energy than you'd expect, but not enough to, say, go running or anything.

If you make it through the fourth day, it's not hard to make it through the fourteenth and then the 30th.

From day 36 on it gets hard again (assuming you were well-nourished before the fast) because your body is running out of stored water-soluble vitamins.

Don't do a long fast for any reason other than spiritual (healing is spiritual - you are asking God to heal you, and helping the process by having all of your energy available for repair of the body - normally a third of your energy is going to digestion and excretion).

 

[SkyWriting]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food. I have identified that beginning in my youth, probably around the age of 14, I started developing an unhealthy dependence on food, as a way to comfort. Food has essentially become the substance through which I self-medicate/sooth myself. Over the years it grew into a full-blown eating disorder, and now is just my "best friend," but in reality, my worst enemy. I believe that God wants to give me freedom from the bondage and sin in my life, and humbly submit to this call to fast.

I am here to ask for your prayers and support. I have completed numerous fasts, so I am not starting a 40 day journey cold turkey. Through this fast, it is my hope to renew my relationship with God, divorce my relationship with food and unburry the person I have dug into a very deep pit. I miss the person that I once was, and want to be the woman that God created me to be. If I continue down the path that I am currently going, depression and instability will rule over me and I will never experience the abundant life that God intended me to live. Not to mention, I have three little ones who depend greatly on me, and I am not the Mommy I desire to be.

So, please, if you happen to come across my post, I am asking for your prayers. For a miracle. I will try to post my progress, as a way of keeping myself accountable, and hope that it will bring you encouragement. If you feel God is calling you to fast, please feel free to join me and we can encourage one another.

God bless you~

Only 2 posts? You can dry fast about 3 days before you damage your organs.

 

[Newtheran]

Hello friends,

It is my hope to begin a 40 day water fast tomorrow. I have felt called to do this for a while, however, have really struggled to obey the call. The purpose of the fast is for deliverance and freedom from spiritual bondage and strongholds in my life, particularly in the area of food.

"Abba Joseph asked Abba Poemen, 'How should one fast?' Abba Poemen said to him, 'For my part, I think it is better that one should eat every day, but only a little, so as not to be satisfied.' Abba Joseph said to him, 'When you were younger, did you not fast two days at a time, Abba? The old man said: 'Yes, even for three days and four and the whole week. The Fathers tried all this out as they were able, and they found it preferable to eat every day, but just a small amount. They have left us this royal way, which is light.'"

The Desert Fathers on Fasting

I think you've correctly identified the power of fasting, but I think you're attempting to go about it the wrong way.

 

[EzekielsWheels]

"Abba Joseph asked Abba Poemen, 'How should one fast?' Abba Poemen said to him, 'For my part, I think it is better that one should eat every day, but only a little, so as not to be satisfied.' Abba Joseph said to him, 'When you were younger, did you not fast two days at a time, Abba? The old man said: 'Yes, even for three days and four and the whole week. The Fathers tried all this out as they were able, and they found it preferable to eat every day, but just a small amount. They have left us this royal way, which is light.'"

The Desert Fathers on Fasting

I think you've correctly identified the power of fasting, but I think you're attempting to go about it the wrong way.

This is an interesting way to do it. I also see it as about the self denial first and foremost over the "purity" of the fast.