Charisma Magazine

What is fasting? Since there are so many misconceptions about it, I first want to clarify what fasting—biblical fasting—is not. Fasting is not merely going without food for a period of time. That is dieting—maybe even starving—but fasting it is not. Nor is fasting something done only by fanatics. I really want to drive that point home. Fasting is not to be done only by religious monks alone in a cave somewhere. The practice of fasting is not limited to ministers or to special occasions.

Stated simply, biblical fasting is refraining from food for a spiritual purpose. Fasting has always been a normal part of a relationship with God. As expressed by the impassioned plea of David in Psalm 42, fasting brings one into a deeper, more intimate and powerful relationship with the Lord.

When you eliminate food from your diet for a number of days, your spirit becomes uncluttered by the things of this world and amazingly sensitive to the things of God. As David stated, “Deep calls unto deep” (Ps. 42:7). David was fasting. His hunger and thirst for God were greater than his natural desire for food. As a result, he reached a place where he could cry out from the depths of his spirit to the depths of God, even in the midst of his trial. Once you’ve experienced even a glimpse of that kind of intimacy with our God—our Father, the holy Creator of the universe—and the countless rewards and blessings that follow, your whole perspective will change. You will soon realize that fasting is a secret source of power this is overlooked by many.

When God called Abraham to follow Him, He called him in Genesis 12 to leave everything behind: his country, his father’s house and his kindred. Sometimes you have to choose to leave things behind to pursue a personal relationship with God.

Can we ever really be free from painful memories? Yes, God can heal you completely.

The small, south Texas town where I grew up has Spanish moss drooping from the trees, winding narrow streets and stifling humidity to which in time I became accustomed. The lazy days of summer brought us a good game of baseball, fishing at the lake or swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Children filled the placid streets with bikes and roller skates. It was a simpler time, and our town—population 5,000—was a simpler place.

The closeness we shared as friends and family gave us a sense of security. Most everyone knew one another, so there was little need to lock our doors at night or fear walking the streets alone. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1956, I encountered a reason for insecurity: sexual abuse…mine. I was 6 years old.

The abuse ended after several months, but the gates of my soul were flung open to life-altering trauma and pain. I had become a victim, and at age 12, I experienced victimization once again. This time it was a stalker, who made obscene phone calls to our home when he knew I was alone.

Even if God’s ways are hard to fathom, get a grip on His promises and hold on.

Are you having a hard day? A hard week? A hard life? Are you facing difficult circumstances that seem to have no solution?

If so, I have good news for you: God is thinking about you right now as you read this article. He knows what kind of day you are having. He knows your greatest burdens and your deepest dreams. He cares.

And He provided a solution for your problems before they ever existed through the promises in His Word. All 7,487 of these promises were given to guarantee your victory. All you have to do is lay hold of them, as the Bible encourages us to do:

"Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His Word" (Heb. 10:23, The Message). We know we will not be disappointed, for "all the promises of God in [Christ] are Yes, and in [Christ] Amen" (2 Cor. 1:20, NKJV).

What a solemn thought, that our love for God will be measured by our everyday contact with men and the love it displays; and that our love for God will be found to be a delusion except as its truth is proved in standing the test of daily life with our fellow men!

It is even so with our humility. It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God, but humility toward men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real—that humility has taken up residence in us and become our very nature—that we actually, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation. When in the presence of God lowliness of heart has become not a posture in which we pray to Him but the very spirit of our life, it will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others.