Spiritual Formation: Fasting

On today's episode of My Tennessee Table, we're diving into the Spiritual Formation practice of fasting. It may be a spiritual practice you are less familiar with, or maybe practice the least, but WOW it can be so impactful in the life of Christ-follower. Join us for the conversation explaining what fasting is, why we do it, and methods on how to do it. You may just decide it's a spiritual practice you would like to give a try. Thanks for meeting us at the Table! 



https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-exactly-is-fasting-all-about.html

Transcript

juli-_1_01-23-2025_144929: 0:08

Hey, friends, welcome back to my Tennessee table. We are like getting into season three here. We're a few episodes in. I do have a little bit of a cough and I think it's because, um, this morning I went to the Y one of my favorite Y's, but I've been avoiding it because. If you live in this area, you'll probably pick up on this and know what I'm talking about, but it's got like a parking situation that is just really bad. And so I've been avoiding it, even though it's my favorite Y to go work out at. Anyway, I went this morning, I was like, I'm going, I'm going to my strength class. I love this class. You lift weights the whole time. It's really good. So I went, Julie, I got there and I'm setting up. You have, it's a lot of setup because it's a lot of weights. I'm setting up my bench. I'm setting up all my weights because I need, like, 50 sets of weights. I'm so impressed. Setting it up. Good for you. Second, we're about to start. Oh no. The fire alarm went off and we all had to exit the building. Every single person that was in that YMCA. Exited the building. How cold was it yesterday? It was cold. It was so cold. It was cold and I didn't bring my jacket, like my big heavy jacket because I was like, eh, then I've got to like figure out where I'm going to hang it up. Like, yeah, I'm just running in, going to go to my workout and then when I leave I'll be hot and I won't want to wear my coat anyway. So I had to stand outside in the cold. How long? Like it was at least 20 minutes. Oh no. I was like kind of at this point where I was like, do I just want to leave? And I was like, no, I finally, like I'm back at my strength class and I'm super happy to be here. But it was. So cold. And like, there's like, uh, you know, the childcare. So all the people are exiting with the babies. It was just outside for 20 minutes. Well, most of the people with babies left. They were like, give me my child. There was some guy that walked out and he was just cussing. And I was like, dude, like this is out of their control. Saving your life. I know. Well, there was no fire. It was like a water main busted or broke or something, but anyway, they won't let you back in until the fire department comes and clears. So all that to stay. I stood out in the cold this morning because there was a fire alarm at the YMCA. So I'm like a little bit recouping from that. I think maybe that's why there's a little bit of rattle in my voice. But other than that, I'm like, yeah, we're just praying healing. It's just a little. Just a little something. It's your morning out in the freezing long air. Yeah, it's not gonna develop into anything more. No, we don't want it to develop. Anyway, but it was a good class and I'm probably not gonna be able to move tomorrow. Yeah, so I know all your weights. It was a lot and I hadn't done it. In probably a month and I was like, Oh, this is just going to be really painful tomorrow. So the question is a parking situation. Are there certain times of day like certain if you get there by a certain time, you could park so better parking. I would say like if you try to get there between 830 and 1030, which is when most of the classes are going on and just most of the people are trying to get there working out. It's a nightmare. It's a little, they're like, got part of it shut down cause they're doing something to try to make things better in the future. But for now it's bad. It like gives me anxiety. That's why I stopped going. Cause I was like, this parking lot is terrible. I'm driving around. There's a million cars driving around. People are trying to back out. People are trying to grab a spot. You're just like, forget this. I'm out of here. One week, there's a church next door to it. So when we got parked at the church and walked over, well, it's like. People do that apparently because there was this little sign and showed you a little arrow that pointed and walk over this little bridge and you'll be at the Y. So I did that. Well, I walked up and because of where the parking situation is, like, Available or whatever they've got it blocked off So I'm at the back of the YMCA and I can't get around to like the front door So I'm just like looking at somebody's car. Excuse me. I'm getting your car with you Well, I'm at the building the back of the building peeking in windows. Finally some woman was like Can I help you? And I was like, I'm so sorry. I parked at the church because the parking lot is a disaster. She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's okay. Come on in. Please walk to the front desk and check in. I was like, no problem. And I was like, well, I guess I'm not supposed to do that either. I was just trying to make my life better. But geez, this is a lot just to go work out. It's a lot to a lot of hurdles. Oh my gosh. But anyway, I'm fine. It's fine. How are you? How's your week? How's your tummy issues? How are you doing? Everything okay? Yeah, let's see. Lance is, he's he's on travel week. Yeah. And so Miss him rather he be home. Yeah, all the time. Sure. Although the highs are you get to eat when you want to eat? Yeah, what you want to eat? Yeah, like I haven't really had like a formal dinner. Mm hmm. Like I'll eat I don't know. I don't know leftover or I'll have a bowl of cereal, anyway, so love you, babe the week off of like Big meals and prepping and there's nothing in the fridge. It doesn't matter. So he's not here to eat anything and Sleep has been good. My husband's a snorer. Oh, that's right. Yeah, we're working on that. So yeah so that's been my husband snores too. Yeah recently I saw one of those memes or whatever in Instagram and it was this Woman, like basically like slapping her husband in the face cause he was snoring and then he wakes up. She's like, Oh honey, hi. Are you okay? And it was, she was just trying to like stop the snoring, but I will usually kick Eric if I'm trying to fall asleep and he's younger days. It was just, if he had, if he is really tired and I would know that. So I was like, Oh, he's so tired. He's sleeping so good. I'm just, he'll just snore tonight, but now, it's a little more frequent. So does it, does it wake you up? Like if you're asleep? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's so loud. It'll wake you up. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's bad. So I think part of me can sleep through it now just cause it's a little bit more familiar. Yeah. But yeah. It's like a sound machine. Oh my gosh. Okay. I have the sound app thing, my phone, like if you're a hotel, you turn the sound, the noise on. Well, I recorded him one night and then you can add sounds, your own sounds to the app. So you have, so I added him snoring to the app because I just really wanted to show him in the morning. That's hilarious. Like you really do this all night. So I played it and he's like, no, I was like, Oh yeah, that's you bub. Yeah. So anyways, missing him. I would always rather have him home. Yeah. But, you know. Eating whatever and sleeping pretty good. Oh, Julie. I know that's nice My husband's been out of town as well, and it's not the same no because I have three kids So I don't have kids at home. So listen, I'm like, yeah I was telling Julie I was like, when I When Eric's gone, it's fine. I can put my head down and just make it through all the motions and, you know, all the tasks of the day. But what's the hardest part is when I have to discipline a kid and then I'm being talk back to, or whatever it is. And normally I'd be like, Tag team, your turn. You come talk to him or her or whoever it is. And he'll step in and talk to the kid for a second and we can tag team back and forth and there's none of that. It's just me. And then I'm like, Oh gosh, son, I just got to leave the room right now and I have to Take a break, take a time out. So other than that, like I'm kind of like you, like we just kind of eat whatever. Not a big deal. I get to watch a show at night that I want to watch. Oh yeah. That too. It's kind of nice, but then, but then you do miss them and definitely miss them when there's kids. I know. And I wish our week would have aligned better too, because we both were. Free. Yeah. Because we had time and we would have had time, without spending time with our sweeties. But your life is, oh my goodness, I remember those days. I know. The kids. Yep. It's just busy. Schedules are busy. It's just, I'm an Uber driver. Like I say all the time, somebody asked me to do something and I'm like, well, I've got Uber duties that night, so I can't hang out with you or go to Bible study or you can't do anything. I used to. This is talking about like community groups and stuff, but when I worked at the church, I used to get so frustrated with people that were like kind of in their late thirties, early forties, who stopped being a part of a community group. I was like, man, there, they'd be such a great leader. They have such a great house. They'd be so great at hosting and they, and they're not in a group like, man, that really stinks. I wish they'd be a part. And now that I'm in that phase of life, I'm like, yeah, get it. you don't have any extra time. There's no margin. if you have a night off, you're Oh, we've got to just hang out at home with the kids, which you should catch up, which you totally. So yes, there's seasons, there's seasons and it's hard, but you roll with it. And I know Eric and I are currently not in a community group, but I know that But one day my kids are going to be a little bit older, a little bit more self sufficient. I'm going to have a driver here in a year or so. And that, that'll change things. So I know I'll come back to it. It's just, yeah, I get why, why you kind of drop out of the community group. Yeah. When you're in that age and stage of life. We're not talking about community groups at all today. We're not. It's season three. Yeah. So what are we talking about? Spiritual formation. Woop. Woop. The big words. We are. We are. Yep. Last week we did spiritual formation practice of confession. Yeah. so great. we were praying before we started that we learned a lot. I hope that was beneficial to you all. If you didn't get a chance to listen to it, you could sure jump back and have a listen to it and grab what, Grab what grabs you. Yeah, as far as that discipline of confession. So for season three, that's what we're going to talk about It's spiritual formation. And so this week we're talking about Fasting I know I was telling Julie earlier. This is one of those I don't practice As often, and we'll talk about more about this as we go on in this episode, but I, I will fast when there's like something big happening. And I don't know, it's a lot of times it's like a group fast. we're all fasting for. Healing for this person or fasting as a church or stuff like that But personally, I don't partake in it a lot as a spiritual practice in my life like on the regular So yeah, yeah, well and I it's probably one of the spiritual practices or disciplines that I do the least again for me it would be It would be similar but not in a group setting. It would be if I'm praying for someone. Yeah. I can think of times specifically when those happened. Mm hmm. and we'll get more into this. but just like confession, this spiritual practice is an intention to draw us closer to the lord. Yeah. Spend some time with him. Listen to his voice, worship, pray, read his word and so definitely beneficial and I learned a lot while we study. I had known, some, but the other ways of fasting besides food, I didn't really consider. So I'm considering those now that we kind of did a little research on those to maybe add those back in or in because they're not back. I mean, they haven't been so well. So tell us, Julie, what is fasting since you did all this research and kind of have a good, well, most people may have an idea of what fasting is. I don't think it sounds, well, maybe it sounds as heavy as confession, but it doesn't to me. confession seemed like a bigger one to kind of hold on to, but fasting, involves setting aside meals. Or other activities to fully dedicate ourselves to God for a period of time, just to focus on him. So like I had mentioned, oftentimes we'll read the Bible, pray, worship, sometimes just sit with him, we can fast because we're just sometimes desperately in need of just to, just to hear him or experience him in our life over a certain situations, yeah, connection with him. And we see it, very readily Old Testament, New Testament. If you're looking for it, I think if you're not looking for it, you might go, Oh, really? It's there. But it is now that we mentioned it, when you're reading your scriptures, you'll be like, Oh, there it is. So Old Testament, oftentimes it was to, express deep sorrow or even repentance, humble themselves before the Lord, New Testament. It was centering one's mind on him. again, drawing closer to him. I thought the, I think if I know it's in Luke four, oh, and Matthew four, Jesus is fasting in the wilderness before he began his ministry. And I didn't even think of that, in correlation to this until we were doing research for this, that yes, Christ followed fasting practices when he was searching his father's heart to begin ministry. So really, can be formative to us. It's definitely between the Lord and ourselves. So it's focused on our relationship with him. If I, it wouldn't be appropriate, I would say to. Proclaim to all of your neighbors. Yeah. I'm going to fast today. Yeah. so holy, you know, it really is an intimate space that you create with the Lord in that fasting experience. And we'll talk about ways to do it, ideas, of what to fast from, and benefits from it too. so Lili, what about types of fasting since I mentioned that? Yeah. So when Julie and I started talking about fasting earlier, the first thing that comes to mind is fasting for food, which by the way, if you've ever done faster weight of fat loss, which I have done before that you fast, you intermittent fast. So usually I fast from like dinner until I kind of skipped breakfast, which is works for me. I've never been a breakfast eater. But. So it's an intermittent fasting. So it's like a healthy thing seven. What did you say seven like seven or like 10 a. m Okay. Mm hmm or something like that. Whatever works for like your body and your system It just gives your body like a little bit of a break. So this is just like a health reason not a spiritual fasting Yeah, this is just it gives your body a break time to digest your food and those kind of things So that's kind of the thing Food wise, like how I've experienced fasting, which is why whenever fasting has kind of come up for me and I've thought about food, I'm always like, Oh, I don't know. Because if I fast, then I kind of have an ulterior motive. Like as a woman, it's a little difficult to be like, Oh yeah, I'll fast from food. Sure. I'll fast for 48 hours. Can't wait to hop on the scale. I'll lose three pounds. Yeah. And I'm like, no, that's not. That's not the reason, that's not the father's heart behind this. He does not want you to drop a couple pounds to your jeans button better. Not it. So when we talk about types of fasting, obviously food is the first one that comes to mind, but there are other types of fasting. And I told Julie, I'm, I am more likely to partake in the other Places and spaces that you can fast from which social media being a huge one and I found when I have stepped away from Social media and fasted from it for whether it be a week or a month or whatever it is that I am Just my body is so programmed to pick up my phone when there is a lull or a pause in my day and when I I am drawn to do that instead of being like, Oh, I'm going to get on Instagram and scroll mindlessly for a while. I am prompted to pray just like the same way with food. You would be prompted to praise you. You feel those hunger pains. The same goes when you are just drawn to your phone to scroll through social media or tick tock or whatever it is that you like. To scroll through. I know. What did we used to do when we waited in the doctor's office and had nothing to do or waited for an oil change or I think we just sat there and thought, I guess I don't even, did we read magazines? Did they? Magazines. TV. We talked to someone. Huh. Surprise. People actually talk to people. I know. Sitting next to us I'll usually do food, like I said, and you had said, you'd mentioned something that. It prompted a thought that those hunger pains kind of trigger, Oh, instead of going to get something to eat, I'm praying for a, yeah, the thing. or I can go to the fridge. I'm not really like a stress eater. I usually go the other way. Usually I don't eat if I'm stressed out, but, but I can eat. Need a mental timeout and I don't really realize it. So I go to the fridge and I open it, but opening it triggers me to like, Oh yeah, I'm not supposed to be eating. I'm praying for whatever. So anyways, the absence of whatever it is, is the prompter that reminds us to, yeah, sorry for the interruption, but no, that's good. That's really good. And the other things you could also fast from, TV, Netflix, binging a show. Like I said, my husband's out of town lately. And when he is, I might watch three episodes of Gilmore girls before I go to bed, instead of like sitting there spending time with the Lord. And not to say that like. You can watch a show. That's totally fine. But if you have set aside this time as a spiritual practice of fasting from, let's say, TV streaming services, whatever it is, then you are replacing that time with time with the Lord. So those are things that you can fast from. I think to the things that we see for me on social media, I don't even know it that I'm subconsciously measuring myself the whole time because of comparison and I'm not going, Oh, I'm comparing myself, but something about my mind being washed in that same thing with TV. And like you said, watching TV is not bad. It's just, if we're going to fast something and it's an hour of TV every night, then we're not going to do that. We're going to fill that space with something else. But it reminds me of the scripture in Romans that, we transform our mind. It's removing of our mind. And we give ourselves space to do that. If we take a fast from those things that are feeding our mind something else. Oh yeah. And honestly, Julie, as you say that, it reminds me of, there are times when I start to feel more anxious or I start to just really feel bad about myself. I'm like, why am I feeling this way? And I think, Oh, I've spent too much time on Instagram or whatever it is looking at Stuff and I think I need to stop like I need a break from this and I'll go put my phone away like in a different room to stop myself because my body is so Just programmed to pick my phone up pick my phone up when there is that pause in my day or whatever So to have it in a different room is really helpful for me if and this is kind of separate from fasting but when I Feel that trigger of like, Ooh, I'm not feeling great about myself in this moment. Oh, it's because I spent too much time looking at other people's lives on social media. That's curated for, my enjoyment to make me think like, Oh, your life's so great when it's Oftentimes, that's just, uh, yeah, I think that could be a prompt to take a fast from that. Yes, social media like, oh boy, not feeling great. So I need a little time out like you did, like when you're putting your phone up at eight at night. Yeah. So maybe I am fasting. You are. Maybe I am practicing fasting more than I realize it is just more of a Yeah. But we just didn't maybe label it. Or the, the benefit of that, because we'll talk later about when we plan a fast, there's a purpose. Yes. It's not three pounds lost on the pants. No, it's not. there's a purpose. Make them a jeans button. Right. So, there's a purpose behind it. So that would be the purpose behind it. Yeah. But so some other things you could fast from would be sugar, processed foods. I mean, I know my mom often gives up wine every year for Lent. So she fasts from that, uh, for, uh, Six weeks or so you could fast from shopping. I know you could fast from Amazon. Oh my gosh, you're talking right to me That would be a thing because Lance has been gone this week and I don't know what is up with me But I have a confession. It's a confession. Oh, here we are. Here we are doing it. We're doing it. We're practicing I have ordered things And I have gone to UPS, I can't even tell you how many times, because I order them because, I'm scrolling and Lance isn't here to talk to you. I don't know what I'm doing because I'm not typically like this, I guess, I don't know, feeling it. And then I return them and then I thought, those little UPS people would be like, let's have an intervention lady. Here comes the cute little blonde lady again. Let's stop your shopping. So, but I had in reading this for today. I thought, Lord, what am I doing? Like, why am I doing that? There's a reason for it. a fast food shopping maybe can cause me to be grateful for everything I already have in my home. Absolutely. All the clothes I already got. Yes. To remember that he's a provider and he has provided well for me. Already. So again, there's a purpose behind the fast. It's not just there to just something else to do. Another thing on your to do list of spiritual practices. That makes you tired out and worn out, but not necessarily more like Jesus. Yeah. So, and then I know this might be hard for some people too, but you could fast from caffeine. I always like my cup of coffee in the morning, as you fast from caffeine or something like that, you, you develop a dependency on it, but when you take that away, it helps you to rely on God's strength for your energy. And so as you're feeling kind of fatigued throughout the day, or if you're like me and you drink caffeine every day and you have that. caffeine headache. It's a reminder of just taking some time to spend with the father instead of, you know, drinking your caffeine. So do you get a headache with too much caffeine or not enough caffeine or both? I am a one cup of coffee person. Okay. Mostly because of my anxiety. Yeah. And then also I need it because I am a mother. So you were so serious. And because I'm a mother, that's why you need it. It's true. It is. So I drink one cup of coffee in the morning and I found that that is my good, healthy balance space for me. So yes, if I don't drink that cup of coffee in the morning, I do. But if I whatever in board or just I'm like, Oh, I drank my first cup of coffee so quickly. I'll have another. I will get a headache because then I had too much. So yeah, it goes both ways. I think, anything really that takes your time or attention, that could be focused. On the Lord, not the drinking coffee's wrong. I'm not saying any of these things are wrong, but it's whatever it is that is your kind of go to. Cause it, it prompts you to remember to spend that time with the Lord versus whatever it is. It's sometimes it's things that comfort you and you're like, Oh, coffee does. I'm going to that for comfort instead of going to the father. I'm going to Starbucks because I have a day out. And I'm going to go get, and that's not bad either. I'm just saying that there's things like you're saying that bring a comfort versus just remembering. I think it's remembering who is our provider and who's our comfort Now I'm not doing any caffeine because the whole tummy thing. Yeah. And I am not a coffee drinker. I wish I could. I love it. I love the smell of it. I think I've mentioned before Lance travels. I make a pot of coffee because he drinks it, but I love the smell of it. Wait, you make a pot of coffee when Lance is gone? Sometimes, not every day, but I'll do it. And nobody drinks it? Nobody drinks it. Julie. You want me to bring it down? Maybe. I'll bring my pot down. Too much coffee, but yeah, you should just walk through the, walk down the cul de sac and give people. Hello. Hi. My husband's out of town and I just needed the smell. I could get a coffee cart, like on the airplane. I'll just go up and down the cul de sac. Anyways, because it's a comfort to me from my childhood and then from Lance. And so, anywho, I'm not doing caffeine, but I'm a tea drinker. So I'm hot tea in the morning. I'm iced tea at lunch. Love it, but I'm not doing it. And so again thinking oh my goodness I have been a little more sluggish but just relying on the Lord strength. And so I've not used it as a fasting opportunity I'm just saying it's opened my eyes to how much I really love it. Yeah, and I really need it Or thought I need it. Yeah miss it. No, well Again, like I said, can, can be, purposeful in the fast. It's just being mindful in it. I mean, I think there's parameters around all this. We can get really wacky about trying to be maybe legalistic around some things or, but we want the Lord's leading in it just to be mindful and careful. And again, the purpose in it. For what it is, the times that I have fasted that I referenced you before, again, I said we're food. Right. And so our daughter, our second daughter, went to nursing school. That's so hard. You know, this cause Eric was in nursing school prior to what he's doing now. And then he went to more school, big tests that like determine your future. They do. And it, I don't know, maybe it's every nursing school, but it's this, Point system. Mm hmm and quite literally if you don't you're one point short of whatever by whatever marker you they just kick you out Oh like you've paid for all of it. You were it's the worst. So I don't miss stressful Stressful and thank you All of you nurses. Thank you so much. I had no idea just the stress and the pressure of all of that schooling and I appreciate you so much. So watching faith do this faith lived in our home while she did nursing school. we lived in Wyoming. So all the paraphernalia and the studying. So that was, that was my fasting period. We didn't have like a set day when she had a test, but when she had a test, mama was fasting and praying and she knew it. And so, thank you Jesus for getting faith through nursing school, helping her work really hard. Our daughter's name is Faith. and so that was one time of fasting. Was for Faithy and I would wait for the text that she walked out of the exam. A lot, a lot of times we didn't know what her score was. we didn't know if she just, passed with flying colors or she, that was the point she lost and now she's done the whole program. Like we didn't know, but the point was I felt like the Lord. Says we can do it in his word. Yeah. And he said, it's valuable. And I know from his word that, prayer makes a difference and he hears us. We, he gives us that privilege to pray. So I just moved in obedience. I thought, well, this is what I can do. I can't study and take the test for, thank God, I probably would not be a nurse, but I don't do blood and all that. But so anyhow, my purpose was to pray for faith, just for wisdom and recall everything that she could recall. Yeah. And the purpose was to move in obedience of what he gave me the privilege to do for that. So most recently. And I would ask, I'm just going to step out here. I have a wonderful friend, childhood friend named Michelle, who over Christmastime was diagnosed but I fasted during that surgery. Just the, just the, it was not exploratory, but surgery to fully diagnose what's going on. And we were fervently praying and I was fasting for her for that, during that day in her surgery and other, lots of people were praying. And I would ask you to pray for Michelle, but she's still walking through that road. But we didn't necessarily receive answers. Maybe we wanted or really hope that we would get, but still, I feel like it was a, it It was a precious time that the Lord knew that my heart was just begging on her behalf. And I trust his, easy for me to say, his wisdom and his sovereignty and the path that will happen for Michelle. She loves Jesus. So just praying for strength for her, but that was the most recent time of fasting for a reason, for a purpose. So what about you? You know, when I think of fasting, as a spiritual practice, it's not something that I really do on the regular. Like I don't, I don't have it in a weekly rhythm. Some people do. In fact, my, my pastor that I grew up with in Montgomery, he fasted every, and it's weird that I know this, but it's because he talked about it a lot and I think he was encouraging me. Maybe. His congregation to maybe come alongside and do it as well, but he would fast for 24 hours. He would fast from lunch on Thursday until lunch on Friday. And I always thought, huh, that's so cool. Like wonder what he's doing with all of that time. But he was also a walker. He would get up in the morning and walk early in the mornings and pray for people. So I only assume that that was just a special time for him in the Lord. So fasting from food isn't necessarily something I do often. And definitely I'm not like my pastor, Jay Wolf, that would. Fast on the regular is a daily or a weekly practice, but I do, I do fast. Like I said, from social media at times, I will fast from TV and things like that. But I, and when I do it, I don't realize like how much comfort, like we said earlier, it's bringing or how much it's. What the kind of void it's filling in my life until I purposefully fast from them. So when I want to binge a show and I can't, because I'm fasting, I end up replacing it with other things like prayer or especially social media. When, like I said, when I reach for my phone mindlessly and I'm fasting from it, I realize, Oh my gosh, I spent so much time just on my phone. And so it's a prompt to remind me just to pray and spend time with the father. So, yeah, I mean, that's kind of how. I don't know how it works in my life, but, but doing this as we've researched this episode and talking through like spiritual formations and spiritual practices, I think this is something that I need to like pray about and say, Lord, like where do you want this in my life? Yes. Do you want me to fast monthly? Like maybe it's a 24 hour fast once a month or maybe it is a weekly fast for me or one meal on Wednesday because I typically do a food fast if it were something different. But maybe it's. You know, no social media on Friday night till Saturday morning. How should you do a fast? What, have you read anything? Well, like you had said, and I knew this, but I had forgotten it, that people make it as part of a regular rhythm within their life, like your pastor did. And I'm not saying, we're not saying. obviously we're not because we don't do it on a regular basis. I wish I, I hope I do, I don't want to say I wish I did, but to think about, could I do it every, like, I don't have breakfast every Tuesday or so that I can make that kind of rhythm. And so I know within my week that on Tuesdays, that's my extended time with the Lord in prayer or, Bible study or worship. I keep saying there's a purpose behind it. It's not just to do it, to do it, like you said, that there's time with the Lord for something. Yeah. So that's either a prayer for someone else, a petition for someone else or for yourself. So there's a, there's lots of ways actually do it. You had mentioned, sometimes A group of you would fast for, you know, maybe you're praying for something, Healing for someone or for a nation in the world or for a missionary. Yeah, you do see that a lot. You do. Yeah. So you can do it churchwide. You can do it in small groups. You and I could do it like down the street. I'm here. You're down there and we don't do whatever we're not going to do on a certain day of the week. there have been, longer fasts. That you can do too. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say do that first. I mean, unless it's not a food fast. I mean, I wouldn't do a three day food fast, drink your water if you're going to do that, but I would sure step into that slowly. there's some discomfort when you don't eat so, but other kinds of fasts, you know, certainly could be longer than a day or an hour. Like a social media fast. You could do that for however long the Lord calls you to. Yes. I have a friend who does it. Well, she do it on Saturday. Like you just knew I'm not gonna, I mean, actually from her phone. So there was no, no communication on Friday or excuse me on Saturday. Yeah. Just to give herself a little space, to do her Bible study. To be with our family, just to reflect on real relationships and spend some time. So I had a few little notes about, or tips I should say on fasting. One of them just straight away is on the food fast. Like if please no guilt, no nothing. Like if there's medical reasons, obviously you're not going to do it. Yeah. Of food fast, you know, diabetic or hypoglycemic, or I don't even know what they are, but all of you know. You know, you, you know, you listeners know. Yeah. So hear us, please. We're not, you know, we're not being stringent or legalistic in that. So because there's so many other options, right? Have a fast to take. So that's number one, just consider your health. if it's not a food fast, do something else. So also just kind of start small. I talked about that. I wouldn't jump into a three day fast of whatever I just do, don't have breakfast. Tomorrow and cut that time out just to sit with the Lord about something to pray about that. Maybe it's just Lord I just want to hear you or I just want to spend time with you I don't know what I'm going to pray about or who for, maybe you'll show me if not, I just want to be in your presence for an hour or however long that is. again, define your purpose. I think that's important. Otherwise, we're just fasting to fast, which is, pointless in itself. So plan your time together. What will you do? Will you meditate on the word? Will you pray, worship? And then if it has been a food fast, of course, If it's been an extended period of time, not eat like a whole pizza. Yeah, please don't. Don't really upset your tummy. Yeah. Don't do that. Go slow on that, So pick your times and periods that work and, and that it's private again, just that it's, it's between you and the Lord again, just that sweet space to spend time with him. Not advertised to the world that you're trying to be super holy or something. No, totally. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of benefits to fasting and the things that it does for our spiritual life. And as I've listened to you talk and as we've like, kind of talked this out today and talking about confession last week, and I know we have other spiritual practices that are coming up. So many of them overlap. Have you thought about that? as you're talking about, fasting for on a Saturday, well, that could line up with your Sabbath and rest and prayer and prayer is a spiritual, it's all, they all like, they all line up kind of. Together in a way which is confession while you're praying and you're fasting. Yeah, it's, it's just a really beautiful thing. And even as you're fasting, maybe like we talked about last week with confession, maybe there's some areas in your life that you don't see. And maybe as you are fasting and you're spending that intentional time away from food or social media or other just things that just distract you, it could bring some things to the surface. So I love that. And also, like I said, it opens up our hearts to hear God's voice more clearly. It can reveal, hidden areas of sin in our life and strengthen our relationship with God and just deepens our faith and our trust in Him. And obviously it transforms us in the whole point of spiritual practices and spiritual formation is to help form us. More into the likeness and the image of Jesus. Yes. So yes, which reflects him to the world You know, there's a purpose in it's a refinement of our hearts But that will be manifested within our lifestyle because we're to reflect his love to the world so it's evangelistic in nature and If we spend time forming ourselves to grow in a deeper relationship with him and to look more like him. Yeah. So fasting as a spiritual practice, is rich and meaningful. And again, There's purpose behind it so that we can grow closer to the Lord and hear his voice and be empowered by his spirit Yeah, I think we just like we talked about Confession, there's freedom. We find freedom in the peace of Christ as we spend time with him. So yeah, it's been a good episode Y'all so we just want to encourage you to try try fasting in whatever way pray about it Ask God just to help you figure out what's going on What areas of life you may want to fast from, or if you want to make it a day, daily, weekly, monthly rhythm, start slow, start slow. we just want to encourage y'all to do that. And we're going to encourage ourselves to do that as well. We're going to do it. Yeah. Cause like we said, we are not currently, let's do it this week and then we'll talk about it. We'll, we'll hit y'all up next week at the beginning. We'll let you know how it goes. Yes. We love that. Yeah. Let's do it. Y'all. We're so happy you chose to meet with us today at the table. 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