Fasting Experiences

[David_AB]

Has anyone tried fasting to get closer to God, to hear him or to get something e.g. healing for a loved one.
What are your expeiences?

I have been fasting because I want to hear from God, but also some healing from my daughter for her OCD. Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The maximum I have managed to fast is just short of 48 hours.
I have had no success at all. No closer to God, no word from him, no healing or sign of healing for my daughter.

Then I came across Isaiah chapter 58, True and False Fasting.
Verse 3:
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please.

This struck a chord with me. Yes I fast but I continue to use the internet, watch TV, use my phone, WhatsApp, Twitter and so on.

Verse 4-5:
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?

Finally Verses 6-11:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

What are the thoughts of those in particular who have fasted. Have you had success?

 

[Pilgrim]

Might have better member feedback on the "Fasting" forum.

Link: Fasting

God bless.

 

[Solomons Porch]

I did for 3 days, nothing but water. If anything it quieted my flesh, but I know in the Spirit threw faith much was accomplished. It was my faith, I showed myself I could cause my flesh to come into the obedience of Christ. Press in

 

[David_AB]

Might have better member feedback on the "Fasting" forum.

Link: Fasting

God bless.

Thank you!

 

[Greg J.]

@David_AB, note the "healing will quickly appear" in your citation. You are insightful to note that a lifestyle change may be a part of what God seeks from us. He is looking for people devoted to him, and fasting twice a week is a powerful and priceless component of that. It is a part of what we can do to express our will that God's will be done on earth (ala Ephesians 6:10-18). All other kinds of obedience do the same thing. God's presence is life and healing. Getting more God is a great blessing for anyone, the results of which are up to God. (None of the the things you mentioned are inherently bad by themselves, but you and everyone would be best off if all your daily activities stem from devotion to the Lord.)

Fasting as a way to get God to do something reveals an element that may (or may not) be present in an attitude that could use some adjustment. God is not a machine. There is no such thing as, if I do A, B, C, then God will do D. God already wants to grant your request. Fasting is a way of humbling yourself before God and choosing to experience the recognition that you need God for all your needs (such as food). A better attitude will have a person being obedient to God as a way of expressing their decision to be devoted to him (and accept whatever the Lord gives or doesn't give), of which fasting is one method. Building your life on the rock (Luke 6:46-49) is the more general form of what we need to do for (many of) God's blessings. Along with the other spiritual disciplines, this is drawing closer to God, as in:

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:6-8, 1984 NIV)

But of course, also:

Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7, AMP). Also read through verse 12.

 

[David_AB]

God is not a machine. There is no such thing as, if I do A, B, C, then God will do D. God already wants to grant your request.

This is the one thing that I have questioned myself on. Am I being insincere. I genuinely want to walk much closer to God but am I testing him regarding following a fast in order to get healing for my daughter. Or testing to see if the process works.
I've taken it a step further and offered my time to a local charity for the homeless, so intend to fast on the days I do voluntary work. In other words, not doing as I please but helping the oppressed, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry whilst fasting.
I want to show God my seriousness but at the same time not want to be trying to manipulate.

 

[Hidden In Him]

Fasting is a way of humbling yourself before God and choosing to experience the recognition that you need God for all your needs (such as food).

Correct.

David, God was not condemning fasting in Isaiah 58, He was condemning their motives, and the fact that they were not fulfilling the primary purpose of fasting: humbling themselves, which should have been their primary motivation. The passage includes these words also:

If you fast for quarreling and strife, and to smite the lowly with your fists, why do you fast to Me as you do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying?... If you turn your foot away because of the Sabbath, so as not to do your pleasure on the holy days, and shall call the Sabbaths delightful, holy unto God, if you shall not lift up your foot to do work, nor speak a word in anger out of your mouth, then shall you trust upon the Lord. (Isaiah 58:4, Isaiah 58:13 LXX)

Instead of letting fasting move them towards greater devotion to God and simultaneously distance themselves from their sins, they were just... fasting, thinking this would somehow move God to bless them. But no character change was happening. They were still beating and abusing servants, still getting ugly during religious debates, still going about pursuing their own earthly pleasures and working to make more money on the sabbaths instead of honoring God.

If you let fasting humble you, it is the humbling process that puts you in position to receive the blessings of God, in particular the spiritual blessings of wisdom, revelation, the gifts of the Spirit, authority in the word of God, etc. The object is to become a more righteous man, and get closer to God. Then, when you pray, your prayers get answered more frequently because you bring yourself in line more with His will, by becoming more perceptive to it.

Fast for the power to heal. That would be a good, godly objective (though don't expect it to come overnight. It may be years in coming, and only after extensive, consistent prayer, with great perseverance). But just fasting for the immediate healing of a loved one is kind of a misunderstanding and abuse if you will of fasting's true purpose (though I know you certainly didn't mean it to be that way. No condemnation intended).

For now, just keep praying for your daughter. As for getting closer to God, don't expect to receive the rewards during the fast. They usually come later, when God determines you're ready for it to be honored.

 

[Greg J.]

This is the one thing that I have questioned myself on. Am I being insincere. I genuinely want to walk much closer to God but am I testing him regarding following a fast in order to get healing for my daughter. Or testing to see if the process works.
I've taken it a step further and offered my time to a local charity for the homeless, so intend to fast on the days I do voluntary work. In other words, not doing as I please but helping the oppressed, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry whilst fasting.
I want to show God my seriousness but at the same time not want to be trying to manipulate.

Based on where you seem to be with your relationship with God, you don't have to worry about any of this stuff. I believe he is OVERJOYED at your efforts. Keep asking for what you want, but also seek to be accepting of whatever he decides, because this is what builds the right kind of relationship with God—and the right kind of relationship will make all the difference in your prayers.

 

[LoricaLady]

I have experienced fasting. I have done 24 hour water only fasting and juice fasting for longer than that. Fasting has definitely helped me in spiritual ways. BUT if you over do it - and I did more than once - you can harm yourself. Strenuous fasting is hard on your adrenals. You won't even know, at the time, that you are weakening them - and getting them back to normal can be almost impossible.

Also, juice fasting with things like broccoli and spinach can be harmful to the thyroid as those foods are what are called goitrogens and juicing gives them to you in concentrated forms.

Remember, fasting is a form of starvation. We are not like Moses and the Savior who fasted for 40 days and nights. Don't try that, please!
Go with caution. A once a week 24 water only fast will be just fine.

 

[longwait]

My fasting experience is very similar to yours. I too could manage only 48 hours of a food fast and I felt the same. No different.

 

[David_AB]

I have experienced fasting. I have done 24 hour water only fasting and juice fasting for longer than that. Fasting has definitely helped me in spiritual ways. BUT if you over do it - and I did more than once - you can harm yourself. Strenuous fasting is hard on your adrenals. You won't even know, at the time, that you are weakening them - and getting them back to normal can be almost impossible.

Also, juice fasting with things like broccoli and spinach can be harmful to the thyroid as those foods are what are called goitrogens and juicing gives them to you in concentrated forms.

Remember, fasting is a form of starvation. We are not like Moses and the Savior who fasted for 40 days and nights. Don't try that, please!
Go with caution. A once a week 24 water only fast will be just fine.

Thank you for the advice.
I have read several warnings about fasting.
I've been doing 24 hour water fasts. My 45 hour fast was also water only.
I head read that salt can be depleted by this type of fact which can affect the rythym of the heart.

 

[NothingIsImpossible]

I only faster for about 6 hours before I got sick (health issues). I felt a bit better after but thats about it.

 

[David_AB]

I have found that the more I practice the less the side effects are.
I started off just missing one meal e.g. Breakfast.
Then two meals breakfast and lunch.
The first time I did a full one day water fast I ended up with a headache and so ended up eating in the evening.
When I managed to go a whole day when I awoke the next morning I felt very weak.
Now when I attempt a whole day fast which normally means eating dinner Monday night and not eating again until breakfast on Wednesday I no
longer feel weak.
I think my body has become acclimatised to this.
I think when we fast our body removes the junk from our bodies and the initial toxins are cleared out hence why we feel so rough.
Once that initial stage is done, it is easier to fast without feeling ill, although it is no easier to not eat as our flesh is used to being fed and it craves food.

If someone has medical issues I would not recommend any fast without consulting a doctor.
I would never encourage a parent to let their children fast. Children need food to grow and fasting will stunt a childs growth.

From a spiritual standpoint, I am feeling a bit discouraged as I have felt no closer to God and will trying putting into practice Isaiah 58 to see if this makes any difference.