1 Chronicles 21:24
As we step into day 2 of fasting, let me issue this challenge: are you fasting sacrificially? Are you truly giving up food that is causing pangs of hunger? Are you giving time to the Lord? If you have given up some foods, or in some cases all foods, but you are not devoting more time to praying to God, then you are just starving. You are hungry for no reason. David isn't credited as being the wisest of men in the Bible, but he does have a heart after God's own. And I see his heart reflected beautifully in this passage of scripture. David doesn't want to offer a gift to God, he wants to offer a sacrifice. A sacrifice always costs something. Are you sacrificing during this fast? Last night, I was hungry. I wanted to eat. Not even 24 hours in, and I was in deep prayer to not bend to my own will. Then my husband, who works nights, stopped by home to get something to eat at 11pm. And I had a choice. I could cook him some potatoes (he is doing the Daniel fast) or I could run and hide from the smell of cooking food. I remembered sacrificial love, and I remembered that Jesus Himself didn't flee temptation, but withstood it by the power of God's Holy Word. So I cooked him potatoes. And I prayed. Boy, did I pray!
Day 2 is going to get hard. Fasting is not meant to be easy. It is meant to cost us something, that we can then offer to God. Use your hunger to propel you deeper in your prayer time with the Lord. Make your requests known, praise Him for His Holy Spirit at work in you, and believe Him for that breakthrough. Trust me, as days 3 and 4 approach, you are going to need Him like never before. If you lay the groundwork now for deep relationship, you will reap the benefits of hearing His voice more clearly when it gets harder to withstand the temptations of food.
--Julie--
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