New Hope Diamond Head 21 Day Fasting Challenge for 2011

Starting on the Sunset of Sunday April 3 until the sunrise of April 24 (Easter Sunday), New Hope Diamond Head will be fasting and praying. Join us as we open doors to a deeper, more intimate, and more powerful relationship with God! Please check our blog archive on the right column and read other blog entries from last year's fast challenge.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

WHAT IS FASTING?

Fasting is the self-imposed omission of all foods, or certain foods, for a certain period of time, in order to engage in a spiritual activity. Think about it as a trade: trading your time and resources to eat and drink, for times of prayer, and offerings to feed the hungry.

Unfortunately, for some people prayer combined with fasting has a bad reputation:

A. Fanatical practice of ultra-religious people that want to validate their spirituality with self-inflicted pain.

Some people move away from fasting because they are afraid to get into a painful religious practice. The point of fasting is not self-infliction. Jesus took care of that in the Cross and there’s no reason to fast as a penance or to walk in a higher spiritual level than those who don’t fast.

B. Fasting has been used as a superstitious practice to force God into something—arm twisting technique.

There is no biblical passage that suggests that we must fast in order to gain some special favor with God. The Lord never says that you fast in order to improve your status with Him. However, the truth is that we must be always open to fast because it does something in us. When we fast we are not asking God to change his mind, we are asking God to change ours.

1 comment:

  1. I've been on a slightly modified Daniel Fast since, March 13. I needed to make some fast personal decisions and I needed the Father's help. So I started the fast early. By the 2nd day, I was able to make my decision. I'm staying on the fast for the 21 day duration. The modifications I've made is due to dietary requirements. I have a tiny bit of chicken breast and plain non fat yogurt. It's good! Join in! (and Pastor, a pita chip has not touched my lips since!!)

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