Day Four

Type of fast (if following the Breakthrough schedule): "Daniel fast"; water, vegetables, fruits.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Psalm 63:1-5

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

Psalm 16:8

                     I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not
           be shaken.

Prayer emphasis: Work in me, giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases You!

Preparing for Change

-Marge Montgomery

As I look to our time of fasting on March 1st to March 8^th I am preparing for a change in my life.  I want more of God and less of this world.

Since I had never fasted before I decided to try one day and see how it would be.  I have to take some medicine so I thought the best thing to do was take the medicine with some oatmeal for breakfast.  I would then skip lunch and dinner.  I forgot to prepare for a couple of days before the fast by not eating so much sugar and not eating between meals.  The morning went by with no problems but then it was time to prepare for the noon meal.  "Oh, I forgot I was fasting, no food."  I went to prayer and enjoyed the company of the Lord.  All afternoon I would think, “What I should have for dinner? No need, I am fasting.”  Going without food was not my biggest problem, instead, it was what to do with all the time I always spent on preparation, cooking, eating and cleaning up.  More time for prayer.  Dave and I prayed together.  We had no trouble knowing what to pray.  God seems to go before us and show us what to pray for.

One thing God has taught me is that I go through the kitchen too often.  Every time I go through I grab something to eat, maybe a cookie, a piece of candy, an apple or anything else in sight. 

I intend to fast again and listen for the Lord’s leading.  I feel He has something great in store for Dave and me as we live out our lives for Him.  I can’t wait for the outcome.

The verse that was on my lips for the day of fasting is “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory according to Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).    

Day Three

Type of fast (If following the Breakthrough fast schedule): Water and juice only.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

James 4:6

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Prayer emphasis: Lord, empty me of all pride and selfishness and put in me a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The Strength To Sustain

-John Brydon

Hopefully you will be encouraged, repeatedly, to make sure that your fast doesn’t consist simply of not eating or restricted eating.  That is not really a fast.  We are encouraging everyone (including ourselves) to deliberately modify our schedules to fit in specific times for Bible reading, prayer, and meditation.  If that doesn’t happen, then the primary purpose of the fast isn’t achieved. 

Turning to Bible reading, Jack Hayford (from Spirit Filled, with Jack Hayford) provided the idea that follows.  It certainly applies to me and perhaps will be of use to you.  I will read my Bible and a day or two later not be able to remember what I read.  That has bothered me, but Hayford related a story of someone who made the same complaint.  That person’s mother asked them, “Do you remember what you had for supper three weeks ago Tuesday?”  Of course, the person couldn’t remember.  Her mother then asked, “Did you get nourishment from that food, even if you can't remember what you ate?”   Of course, the answer was yes.  The same is true of our Bible reading.  It nourishes us as we read; we grow from it as we read.  Hayford says, “Just keep reading the Bible.  You may not remember everything, but the Word is flowing into your spirit, and as it does, it is giving abiding strength to sustain you as you simply obey – and read.” 

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)

That is truly our “daily bread”. 

Day Two

Type of fast (if following Breakthrough schedule): Water and juice only.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Luke 6:21

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

John 6:32-35

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Prayer emphasis: Oh, Lord, take away all desires that are not of Your will for me or that are not pleasing to You and replace them with Your desires.

What If I "Fail?"

 -Pastor Bob Klecan

I suspect that more than a few of us are approaching this upcoming fast with one particular fear:  "What If I start it and can't make it?" Or, "What if I can't make three days without food," or "what if I mess up and eat the wrong things in the final four days"..."what if I...fail?"

I like the answer John Brydon gave Sunday in his message.  He compared it to learning to ride a bike.  When you're learning to ride, you will fall. You will fail. Get up, get back on, and keep riding! Truth is, there is actually no"fail" in this fast. We're not doing it to prove anything to anybody or get anything from anybody, including the Lord. We've been suggesting all along that some of us will not be able to fast food for health reasons, or that you might want to modify the fast and do just part of it.  That is great!  That's not failure!  Fast for part of it, fast something other than food, those are not failures but successes!  What if I only make it one day, or even just part of a day?  Did you spend that time in fellowship with the Lord?  Then great!  What if I alternate days, fast one day, skip a day then fast again?  Yay! What if I just fast lunch every day?  You rock! What if I fast only one day in the next week but make it an ongoing practice from now on?  You go girl (or guy)!  That would be best of all! 

One of the most common testmonies people give after fasts is that they are more aware than ever of their weaknesses, more aware of their failures,  and less attached to worldly distractions.  I don't know about you, but normally the Lord shows me my weaknesses through failures.  So... if I "fail" to fast as long as I had planned... that might be one of His teaching tools.  When I used to fast on Thursdays there were times I got impatient and cranky because I was hungry.  Those were failures, and they were teaching times.  There were days when I would not succeed in fasting the whole day, for a particular reason. Once again, these were teaching times.  Sometimes the lesson was as simple as "know thyself."  Sometimes it was more like, "Use the brain I gave you and don't try to fast a whole day when it's 95 degrees out or when you're doing especially heavy labor."

One more thing:  What if you don't seem to experience anything, or what if you have a bad experience with this fast?  It will likely happen to some of us.  Know that up front.   The goal of fasting is to grow our relationship with our Heavenly Father, to detach from things of earth, including false expectations.  

Sometimes we think that if we fast really well there is some great God-candy reward at the end.  Not so.  That is worldly thinking, anti-gospel thinking, one of the very things that the Lord wants to clean out of my life.  Lesson learned!  God wants to use our physical hunger to make us hungry for Jesus, the Bread of Life.  That isn't always easy to experience or define, and it isn't always pretty!

What if I fail?  The only failure in the next week will be to not seek to know our Heavenly Father in a more intimate way.  To not pray for breakthrough for our church family.

Day One

Type of Fast (If following the Breakthrough fast schedule): Water only.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Romans 14:6
Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Luke 12:23 For life is more than food, and the body 
            more than clothes.

Psalm 62:2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Prayer emphasis: Forgive my lack of desire for you, my God.  I want to want You; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.  Help me to hunger and thirst for You, Lord.  May hunger for all else fall away.