Fasting & Feeling Pointless.

[rita727]

In short, recently I felt led to fast and pray for 30 days. I've broken the fast early 2 or 3 times already. At around day 3.

My issue is that I feel so pointless on this fast. Whether listening to the Word, praying, journaling, meditating.... I don't feel like I hear Him. I know others say that they become more sensitive to His voice. I'm not having that experience right now. I feel like I'm checking boxes and not getting anywhere.

 

[Pop D.]

What about sermons? Have you tried listening to some during your fast?

 

[rita727]

What about sermons? Have you tried listening to some during your fast?

Yes. I do.

 

[Carl Emerson]

What motivated the fast ?

Are you sure you have the right timing for it ?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

In short, recently I felt led to fast and pray for 30 days. I've broken the fast early 2 or 3 times already. At around day 3.

My issue is that I feel so pointless on this fast. Whether listening to the Word, praying, journaling, meditating.... I don't feel like I hear Him. I know others say that they become more sensitive to His voice. I'm not having that experience right now. I feel like I'm checking boxes and not getting anywhere.

Have you received His Holy Spirit?

 

[Daniel9v9]

Dear friend in Christ: Get the guilt out. It can be easy to overcomplicate fasting, but here are a couple of things that are good to bear in mind:

1. God commanded His people to fast only once a year! On the Day of Atonement (cf. Leviticus 16:29. All other fasts were practised either out of free will, eg. Daniel 9:3, or by public prescription. eg. Jonah 3:5) And what's more, this has been fulfilled in Christ, and that means we don't have any obligation to fast on set days. So if you break a fast, you're not breaking God's Law but your own rule. That is no sin. We have freedom in Christ to fast whenever we think it's necessary. And this brings me to the purpose of fasting:

2. The purpose of fasting is not to give up arbitrary things for an arbitrary time which doesn't benefit anyone, but to deny ourselves luxury or even necessities in order to receive God's help through His Word and our prayers.

Let me draw a sharp contrast:
Consider one person who really likes coffee but decides to give it up for a month. At best, we can say that it's an expression of faith in that the person recognises God as Lord. But what does it profit? What function does the fast have? Now consider another person who decides to give up one meal a week. Instead of eating, he spends his time in prayer and meditation on God's Word. God has promised to change our minds and hearts through His Word, and He has promised to hear our prayers, so this fast is profitable, it has a real, practical function that's God-pleasing. And we could even take it one step further: The money that would normally be spent on the meal could be given to the poor and the needy, a good charity. This way, your fast is free of guilt, spiritually profitable in that you receive God's Word and spend time with Him in prayer and thanksgiving for yourself and others, and you even have the opportunity to care for the physical wellbeing of your neighbour, even if it's a small offering.

I'm glad you recognise that fasting and prayer go together, but I would encourage you to get the guilt out! God loves you on account of Christ, and your prayers are received by Him. If you break your fast, you don't sin.

God's love, peace, and blessings to you!

 

[Richard T]

You might read Kenneth Hagin's "commonsense guide to fasting" You can find a free pdf for it, though some sites charge. He suggests that there are very few times when one goes over 3 days as three are few examples of this in the bible. On the more extreme side though Pastor Culberson of Knoxville Christian Center who has fasted 40 days several times and the church does a 21 day fast every year. If you google their website you should be able to find some sermons on fasting.

My own avenue to hearing from God is often through praise and worship. Books too or even scripture lists that you can google on how to hear from God will build your faith to expect more. Lastly, God can give anyone a season where He seems silent. regardless fo the reason for the silence, the word and past conversations can guide you. Just make it a point to push through.

 

[rita727]

What motivated the fast ?

Are you sure you have the right timing for it ?

I was getting frustrated regarding my spiritual growth. So I prayed about. And I heard Him speak to me about prayer and fasting. Which isn't something I would've considered otherwise. So I tried starting the fasting/prayers soon after I received that answer.

 

[rita727]

Have you received His Holy Spirit?

I think so. I believe in Jesus and His Spirit does speak to me. But I want to be more passionate and this is something I'm trying to address.

 

[rita727]

You might read Kenneth Hagin's "commonsense guide to fasting" You can find a free pdf for it, though some sites charge. He suggests that there are very few times when one goes over 3 days as three are few examples of this in the bible. On the more extreme side though Pastor Culberson of Knoxville Christian Center who has fasted 40 days several times and the church does a 21 day fast every year. If you google their website you should be able to find some sermons on fasting.

My own avenue to hearing from God is often through praise and worship. Books too or even scripture lists that you can google on how to hear from God will build your faith to expect more. Lastly, God can give anyone a season where He seems silent. regardless fo the reason for the silence, the word and past conversations can guide you. Just make it a point to push through.

Thank you. I will look into that later.

Pushing through is something I feel I'm learning through this experience if nothing else.

 

[Carl Emerson]

I was getting frustrated regarding my spiritual growth. So I prayed about. And I heard Him speak to me about prayer and fasting. Which isn't something I would've considered otherwise. So I tried starting the fasting/prayers soon after I received that answer.

Can you describe what sort of fast you embarked on ???

 

[timewerx]

I don't remember reading anything from the Bible that fasting will make us more "attuned" to listening to God's voice.

I fast daily via intermittent "dry" fasting with a 16 hr fasting window at most. Ironically, it helped improved my memory and I can remember my dreams better when I sleep at night.

Some of the dreams have Jesus in it. Still I don't believe 100% that's the purpose of fasting but it did improved my memory to remember my dreams better. If you ever try to do it to try to improve your memory, you may have to fast more often to bring about these physical adaptations to the brain. I think traditionally / religiously, the Israelites in the Bible fasted two days every week.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

I think so. I believe in Jesus and His Spirit does speak to me. But I want to be more passionate and this is something I'm trying to address.

When you can answer yes then He will take on the burden of your pain that fasting can never do. Be blessed.

 

[Lord I Believe]

In short, recently I felt led to fast and pray for 30 days. I've broken the fast early 2 or 3 times already. At around day 3.

My issue is that I feel so pointless on this fast. Whether listening to the Word, praying, journaling, meditating.... I don't feel like I hear Him. I know others say that they become more sensitive to His voice. I'm not having that experience right now. I feel like I'm checking boxes and not getting anywhere.

Hello,

I just fasted for the first time last week and wanted to share with you about how it went for me so that maybe it will help encourage you a little.

My wife and I needed an answer to something that has to do with her future job.

My wife was having a tough day. The night before we went to sleep we prayed hard for about an hour and read a few scriptures.

The next morning while I was driving to work I thought about the idea of fasting. I have never done it before so I reached out to my friend who is a pastor about how to do it. I also reached out to one of my mentors who sent me a few videos about fasting in the past.

I start work at 7AM and carry a prayer journal.
In my prayer journal I meditated and prayed about

Mark 11:23
"I tell you THE TRUTH, you can say to this mountain,
'may you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and IT WILL HAPPEN.
But you MUST REALLY BEALIVE IT WILL HAPPEN and have NO DOUBT IN YOUR HEART".

The rules I had was no water until 3PM and no meal until 7PM.

I wrote down that I will not stop this fast until we get a response about her job.

I was ready to go as long as I had to.

I didn't tell my wife or anyone about this fast. I kept walking around work and repeating this in my head and out loud.

By around 6PM that same day my wife texted me that she got an email response about her job.

This was my first fast and it lasted less than 12 hours!!! I could not believe this and before this fast I asked for clarity of a couple other things and they were all answered the following days/week.

Just wanted to share this with you so that it may help give you a better idea.

Miracles happen today.

 

[Richard T]

Thank you. I will look into that later.

Pushing through is something I feel I'm learning through this experience if nothing else.

I pray you do find balance. God leads with peace and fasting can become like a "work" that you have to use to earn God's love. Sensitive people can especially feel like they have not done enough but in reality, the work is done, we just rest and through God's grace we can learn to serve where the yoke is easy and the burden in light. That you even care to try and do things that you feel are correct shows a heart turned to God. God bless!

 

[linux.poet]

In short, recently I felt led to fast and pray for 30 days. I've broken the fast early 2 or 3 times already. At around day 3.

My issue is that I feel so pointless on this fast.

I mean, why are you fasting? What is the point?

If you can't tell me, maybe it's time to lay off the fasting for right now and find another spiritual discipline to do that has meaning for your life right now.

Fasting helps you grow new brain cells and perform neurogenesis, so it's useful when you're learning something new spiritually or taking on a new task. If your life is fairly stable and predictable, you may want to go for a different set of spiritual tools to increase your spiritual passion. You may want to look around to take on a new spiritual challenge first, then go for fasting.