Ep 007: Camille McIntyre on the Power of Fasting for Breakthrough

What does it mean to mentor and disciple the next generation of women? Camille McIntyre has been called to do this very thing! Women from all stages of life come to her for guidance and spiritual counsel through her ministry Because She Chose.

Camille has also led women in corporate fasting and shares some amazing stories and advice on how to go about this spiritual discipline and why Christians should consider fasting to strengthen their relationship with the Lord.

Camille McIntyre, alongside her husband, are founding pastors of Oasis Church NYC for the past 20 years and have 3 adult children. She began an online community for busy and overwhelmed women where she shows the importance of making faith-filled choices that lead to change. She enjoys mentoring women in prioritizing the areas of their life. The Because She Chose community is where members learn how to make room to grow in their spiritual journey. Camille is passionate about leading worship, speaking and helping women through her podcast.

Listen in on all platforms and she loves interacting on Instagram: @camille_mcintyre and @becauseshechose

Her Ebook ”Focus” is available on Amazon.

More Resources

Health and Wellness Coaching
Daniel Fast Journey Info
Wholly Well Journey on Instagram
Daniel Fast Journey Book on Amazon

Show Transcript

Please note, the following transcript is AI-generated and therefore may contain grammar, formatting, and spelling errors.

007 Camille McIntyre

Ep 007: Camille McIntyre on Fasting for Breakthrough

Camille McIntyre: A lot of women come to me and say, I, I need a financial breakthrough. There's all these kinds of things. While those are all well and good, I started to realize that fasting is, is so much less about what you can get from it and so much more about being in his presence and being able to hear clearly and and to experience.

What he has for you in that moment, , in those days of, of fasting.

Welcome to the Wholly Well Journey podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Hodges. Join us for weekly faith based conversations on holistic health to uncover practical tips for how to thrive and apply biblical wisdom to our busy modern lives. From fitness to food to fasting, we're here to discover what it means to have a healthy spirit, soul, and body.

Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

Stephanie Hodges: Well, thank you for joining us today, and I'm so excited to welcome my friend Camille McIntyre to the Wholly Well Journey podcast. And Camille is somebody that I've connected with online and following her ministries, and I wanna hear directly from her. So Camille, can you just start off by introducing a little bit yourself and your current season of life and share about your ministry?

Camille McIntyre: Sure. Of course. Camille McIntyre here. I am so, so pleased to be on with you today. Stephanie, thanks for inviting me. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure speaking with you, especially about the topics that you like to cover. They are my heartbeat. Um. We were talking a little bit before about spiritual disciplines and I love all things spiritual disciplines.

So my husband and I are pastors of our church here in New York City. We've been pastors for 20 years now of Oasis Church, NYC, and I am a worship leader and we have three kids, adults, kids, and you know, we do all the things. We do all the things, worship and preaching, and we love our congregation. Our congregation is so sweet.

I mean, the people. When I look back on who has really stayed with us throughout the years, I mean, we have people that are . Still with us from when we first planted. I mean, that's pretty unheard of. We just love our people. We love on them and we love ministering to them. But one of the things that I kind of branched off about five years ago from just doing ministry with my husband, we started something called because she chose, and it's a ministry for women and especially for, for young moms.

I started to realize that moms were coming to me and asking me questions, being that we are getting up there in age, I guess. And we've been around for a long time and some ladies just were asking me like, how, how do you pray? And, you know, what does fasting look like? And you know, how did you raise your children to still want to be in the faith?

all of these questions were coming up and they were coming from young moms. So one of the things that God was just tugging on my heart was, you need to speak to. Into that and speak into the lives of, of these mamas that are struggling, in certain areas, especially in the areas of like time management.

I'd started to realize that a lot of mamas were, you know, first of all, they didn't know what spiritual disciplines really were. That was number one and number two, trying to fit. Things into their schedules. I mean, I remember what it was like having three babies. We were church planting when my, my youngest was a year old.

So I know what it's like to be super busy and then feeling like you were not able to. to pray or to read the word or to get any kind of quality time with God. So that's really where, because she chose came from and God just, you know, started drawing some of these sweet, sweet girls to me just to be mentored a little bit.

And then we, started a podcast about a year and a half ago. So that's where we're at.

Stephanie Hodges: That's so great and I think it's something that so many women are looking for. I actually have a spiritual mentor as well, who's starting a ministry called Bridge to Legacy with the idea of connecting the older women to the younger women. I'd be curious if you see with these new moms and these young women that are coming to you today. You talked about some of what you can relate to and what you see in common. Do you think in this time they're facing new challenges and what would those be? I.

Camille McIntyre: Yeah, for sure. I think the way, um, the girls are coming to me and the, the different problems that they're encountering are so different than what I. I was encountering, society has changed so much in the last 20 years. , my husband and I talk about it a lot. the younger generations, how do we reach them?

, and the one thing that we keep coming back to is, is just loving on them because I think a lot of times they become, what's the word? Just disillusioned with church. They become disillusioned with, are people real Christians, like, that's like a question that I'm getting asked a lot is how is it that you are able to love unconditionally?

They, they go to churches. I'm telling you the, the churches that I, I hear and the ministries that I hear them talking about, there's a lot of spiritual abuse out there. so they become disillusioned. So one of the things, especially with motherhood in particular, they, what they say is, what these ladies say to me is, if I don't feel I have the time or I'm not hearing God properly, or I don't even know what that looks like or I don't understand scripture when I read it, they're simple.

Basic questions. They're like, well, how am I supposed to raise my child if I don't feel like I'm grow? I'm able to grow in the faith. What does that even look like? So a lot of times just giving them those, those basics on, well here are the basics of, of prayer, I'll give them a list of things that they can do just to pray.

What? 'cause they, some girls don't even know how to pray out loud. Or they feel intimidated to, to pray out loud or in a group. And, and it, it amazes me. And I think that we, as the church as a whole, we are not doing our job properly in discipling. So one of the things my husband and I have, in our church is it's a whole discipleship program.

And my husband had developed it and it's really the basics on what the spiritual disciplines look like. so I think for me, I. What I actually come in contact with these girls. They're constantly asking about these very basic questions and that they feel disillusioned with the church and they just don't know where to even start.

So if you're busy, if you're a busy young mom, you have a lot of kids and you have your kids and all kinds of activities, and you are and church in it in and of itself, just a church attendance. Falls on the bottom of the list. A lot of times I notice these girls are not bringing their families to church, so their kids are not really growing up in any kind of environment where they're being taught the basics.

You know, disciplines of, of, you know, Christian, life. And they're like, well, I can't even get myself to church. So a lot of times what, what I teach them is, like I said, with the basic disciplines, but also time management. What are your priorities? So if you notice , if you go on my, anything that has to do with, because she chose you're gonna see priorities is really what I'm always talking about.

How, how do you prioritize your life? You know, for me it's God first, right? Your spouse is next on that list. If you're not, um, meeting your spouse's needs, forget about everything else. And then your children come next for me. Children come after the husband. Hey, I know that's . It's kinda hard to, for some girls to really

Um, grasp, but it's, that's, that's the way God wants you to look at your life when you're prioritizing. And then, you know, where does your, your spiritual growth fall within those three? If it's, if you're saying God first, that's really what you're saying about your own spiritual growth and then your husband, you know, a lot of girls tell me, I, I don't even pray with my husband.

You know, my husband, maybe my husband is, isn't even on the same page as where I'm at, you know? Women are like, how do you even get your husband to read the Bible with you or have, you know, a devotional life with you? These are all questions that are, I think for the most part, are not answered in, in the wide, you know, body in, in church.

if they don't even go to church on a Sunday morning, where, where are they being taught? So I think for you, like what you said about mentorship, it's really important. I think , we do not have, uh, spiritual moms and dads. I mean, I grew up with, with that being a thing, you know, spiritual parents.

Um, but I don't think we're carrying on. The next generation is carrying that on and there's such a need for it. And I think that's why these girls are coming to me and saying, you know, they call it a mentor now, but we called it spiritual moms and dads back. You know, back in the day, , when I was coming up.

So, yeah, it's tough.

Stephanie Hodges: Yeah, it's family, right? And what you're saying, and what I see, and I can even see this in my own life, is that rather than having this, , strong church community, now we're going to YouTube or we're going to social media, and we're getting all this information and all these great sermons and all these great soundbites, and so we have all the information. but then like what you're saying is, well, we don't know how to apply it or we know how to consume information from other people, but then there's still a lack sometimes, and I see this in in my ministry as well, of people not even knowing like, well, how do I read the Bible? Or I'm reading the Bible, I'm not understanding what I'm reading. I can't be silent and still with God because my mind's racing all the time, or I don't know how to pray. And so it is so common that even though We have more information than ever before. On one hand, that can just be overwhelming to sort through it. But then the second is truly having someone like you're talking about, it's the biblical model of discipleship, which is through relationship. Somebody talking you, walking you through it.

Camille McIntyre: 100%. 100%. I, I know that for a long time and when I was young, when my babies were little, I did not have, I mean, I had, we had pastors. Yeah. But my own pastors were young, and as well, and had young children, so they really did not have a lot of time. To be a mentor. And, later on in life, to be honest, we had the same pastors for 17 years before we started our church.

And my pastor's wife, sweetest, sweetest woman, I remember her apologizing to me and saying like, I wish I had been there for you in, in a, you know, greater degree and. I really appreciated that, that she acknowledged that. And it was something that I brought into ministry as we started to church plant. And I said, Lord, you know, how do I become more available when I myself am very busy with my own children and my own life?

You know? And, it was always in the forefront of my mind, you know, how do I minister well and how, how do I mentor young women? Well. And, it's, it's always, it's something I'm always praying about and saying, Lord, show me, you know, the proper steps. You know who needs me. You know, I, I had to actually really do a lot of work with boundaries too, because when I realized priorities were important, but so were boundaries, like learning how to say no, because I was always spreading myself thin and I'm the type where I will take everyone's burdens on my own shoulder and the Lord had to show me, hey.

This is not your problem or this is not your problem or what you are, what you are to do is to bring these burdens and these needs to me and lay them at my feet. You can't do anything in and of yourself. You have to intercede for them. So that's one of the things that I started to realize was part of my ministry, that I am more of an intercessor.

 I, I will pray down fire from heaven for you, , but I may not be able to be there for you in the capacity of, , close friendship. . You know, I, I may not be able to get on the phone with you every day or once a week even. Like, that's something that I had to come to grips with was, you know, what are my, what are my priorities?

Camille McIntyre: What does that look like for me? And also, how can I show you that I have these boundaries, but in a way that I. Still, you will still understand that you will be cared for. Um, so yeah, that's, there's, there's a lot there. , there's a lot there, especially for young moms that are, are in or, or trying to get into ministry or maybe God is calling them into ministry.

That's, it's hard, it's hard to, I think, balance all of that and, you know, keep the plate spinning. I always say , you know, so there's a plate that's gonna break. It's gonna fall and it's gonna break because you cannot do it all. You really can't, but you can prioritize well. And when you have those boundaries in place and you say, okay, well, you know, I had something in the last three months I was taking, um, just a rest and a break, um, from some ministry, especially with, because she chose I have a podcast and I decided it was time to just take a little bit of, of a rest.

And that was hard. That's hard for me because I know that, that the need is great. And also if you deal with people, being a people pleaser, , sometimes I can be that. And like I was saying to God, but these women really need, they need me to be there as a spiritual mom. And he was like, but they need me more.

So if you cannot rest. Well, and if you cannot be getting what you need and filling your cup, how are you going to pour into the lives of others? So that was another little lesson the Lord was showing me even after 20 years of ministry, , he's like You, you cannot be a broken cistern because I'm trying to pour into you.

I. You're just leaking. You are leaking all over people, . So I said, okay, Lord, let me take a little bit of time. And over the last three months, I've missed being with people. But yet, oh my goodness, what God has been pouring into me. I, I just, I finished, a 40 day fast, I'd say, uh, maybe three weeks ago. I. It was, um, it was a Daniel Fast and it was just me and I, had told a couple of girls if they wanted to join me and some did.

I just didn't want it to be something that it was, you know, spread out there and everyone knew. And it was just between me and the Lord. I called it just Jesus in me time. And, another sister in the faith, she, she was doing it with me too. And it was, it was phenomenal. I think what God started to speak to me about future ministry, and then just be able to fill me and then deal with

Issues in my life. That was, it was a, a huge topic, for the Lord to speak to me on over the last 40 days was that 40 day fast was areas of my own life were popping up and I, things that I thought that I had dealt with, throughout the years. And God was like, no, I wanna touch on that. There's, there's still something there that you're, you're holding, you know, from me.

And I, it was a little bit of a, some heart surgery , spiritual heart surgery going on. but it was all for my, for my good. Because if, like I said, if I can't, if I can't, go forward with speaking into the lives of women and from a place of, of wholeness, then what's the point, 

Stephanie Hodges: That's so good. And I think that boundary setting, that allowing yourself, giving yourself the permission to take a break, to spend that time with the Lord is so important because what you said was so good about the people pleasing and God telling you. They need me more. And that has to be our initiative is, is pointing people to the Lord, not making them dependent on us. , but the boundaries part is a little tricky. And I'd like to touch on that just a little more for women in ministry because I think in today with our technology, it's harder for us to know how to navigate relationships. Like how much is too much? Should I be texting? Should I be calling? What does that look like? Like just this morning I was texting a mom about, Basketball practice and dropping off the kids. And it was funny 'cause when I first texted her, she, she texted me back about two hours later and she said, I'm so sorry for the delay. And I'm thinking that's not a delay. Like you don't have to answer text messages immediately.

It's okay if it take you two hours or more hours, but now with all of this technology and all of this access, like I can dmm you on Instagram on Saturday night, but that doesn't mean that you have to reply to me. And so navigating this world of technology, and all of these competing voices, like what has allowed you to set those boundaries in those areas?

Camille McIntyre: Mm. Yeah. I think for me, because I'm an introvert, we were talking a little bit about it before we, started the podcast. I, I'm very introverted, so if you're an introvert, the way you rest is that you need to be alone. And that's really hard when you have, you know, a family and a ministry. We have a whole church, you know, I have another, you know, ministry because she chose and I started to realize that I was overtaxing myself.

I was, I was not listening to my own body and I was just so tired. I deal with a lot of issues with, um, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, and I have since I was in my early twenties. So I started to realize that I was not taking care of myself properly. And like I said, I the Lord was like, Hey, you know, if you're sick.

If you're depressed, how are you supposed to do what I'm asking you to do? You are, you're not allowing yourself to recharge. So that's one of the things I started to realize was how do I, how do I recharge? how do I refill my, my, my tank? Um, so I started to say, okay, this is taking so much of my time.

And there were several areas that I started to realize that God had really not called me. To do, but I was doing out of obligation and out of people pleasing and, and it's not so much from a place of, like low self-esteem. It was from a place of needing. I always have this need to, to minister. It's a, it's a call of, you know, that God has placed, but it's also a burden that I started to take.

Like I said, I took, I took upon myself and the Lord's. I didn't call you to do that. You need to put that down. So I started to realize, okay. Here. this is an area that I have to say no to. Um, in order to say yes to the better thing, sometimes you have to say no to something that's good in order to do the better thing, to have time to do the better thing.

So I had to weigh, so some of those, um, opportunities, I started to realize also that there were people in my life that although they were, might've been well-intentioned or, or good people, um, God was there, . Sucking the life out of you . I know that sounds awful, but I realize that, I spoke a little bit a few minutes ago about that broken cistern.

The Bible talks about that, that there are certain people that are these women in those scriptures where it's always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of truth, but kind of like constantly going from place to place and doing, you know, all of the things, but not making change in their lives. So I started to realize, okay, nothing I could ever say or do is really going to

 help this person. So I had to also look at that, sort of the people that were in my life. So not only ministry opportunities, if he was saying no to, I had to say no to. and also the people I, I was taking on everyone because I have a heart of compassion and I wanna see people, you know. Succeed in their faith and succeed in growing in their, you know, in their spiritual growth.

And God was like, but I didn't call you to work with that person. Or maybe a season, had ended with a person and I was continuing. I. To, you know, walk with this person. And I was probably supposed to graduate, they were supposed to graduate from me, so to speak, as a mentor. and I had done all that I could do in their life or, you know, kind of sow into their life and they, they needed someone else.

 I had to start saying no to my heart of flesh. I had a, a minister speak into my life and he said, you have a gift, a prophetic gift, and. That prophetic gift is at war with your flesh. So my mind will say one thing like, but this person really needs me. This person really needs to hear the wisdom and this and that.

And then the spirit would be saying, yes, but that's all well and good, but I'm, I'm not telling you to do that. So I was always going between this heart of flesh and this and, and the spirit trying to tell me for my own good. I. And for the good of the, the other person, to be honest. because when you go too far with someone, you could actually be a detriment to that person also. I, I've started to realize that person was becoming a detriment to me, having them in my life for, for as long as I had. So yeah, it's, it's tough. But I started to realize the Lord was saying, and I was ignoring him . I was like, okay Lord. and it's sometimes it's just hard things to do. You have to say, you know, I think maybe we need to part ways now.

Um, it's hard. Um, but God, God makes a way and he's like, this is for the best. So let's, you know, let me, let me speak to the heart, you know, of that person. So, yeah.

Stephanie Hodges: Yeah, I think there's a place in spiritual parenting, just like natural parenting, you know, where if your 3-year-old falls and they hurt themselves, you're gonna run to them, you're gonna take care of them, you're gonna bandage them up. But as they grow older, In a similar way, it's like if your son is 40 years old and you still are making breakfast for him every day, 'cause he's living in your house, you are gonna say, there's something wrong with this picture.

You were supposed to bring him into maturity so that he could go out on his own. And it can be the same way in spiritual mentoring and discipleship and parenting, where if you get stuck in one of those loops. Where there's, a lopsided need and dependency on another person rather than the Lord. That's when that can really become a drain, like you were saying, that draining of your energy.

Camille McIntyre: 100%. It's absolutely on the mark. I, I think that, you know, we'll know, and if you obey and you obey the spirit's leading, you know it will go well. But, when you kind of silence the voice of, of a spirit who's trying to lead you and guide you, you're not, you're only going to fall into problems. It's like, it's better to obey quickly.

You know, what, what does it say? It's better to obey than . You know, sacrifice, you know, like, okay, I'm not gonna sacrifice my time anymore and I'm gonna be obedient because it's for your best. 

Stephanie Hodges: Yeah. Well, I would love to hear some more about, you mentioned your fasting experience, this recent 40 day fast, and I know that you have fasted a lot over the years, and so for that spiritual discipline in particular, what does fasting mean for you and what has it done in your life?

Camille McIntyre: Yeah, I with the, because she chose ladies even with our group. , I had run a couple of fasts with your book, actually with the 21 Day Daniel Fast. and I would just invite ladies in and say, Hey, you know, if you feel like the Lord is calling you, , to a fast, a lot of women need breakthrough in their lives, to be honest, even praying for certain things, cycles of, of even sin in their lives.

A lot of women come to me and say, I, I need a financial breakthrough. There's all these kinds of things. While those are all well and good, I started to realize that fasting is, is so much less about what you can get from it and so much more about being in his presence and being able to hear clearly and and to experience.

What he has for you in that moment, , in those days of, of fasting. And it looks so different for me today than it was, you know, I'd even say 10 years ago when I would fast, I would be like, okay, this is going to help break spiritual strongholds, which I agree with, but more so now for me, it's, I just need to be in his presence.

I need to, I need to feel him sometimes. I don't, I, I feel far or distance from him. I. And I'm like, okay, I, I need to, I think I need to get with the Lord and get closer with him. and that's really where my fasting focuses on now as opposed to what can I get from him? . It's like, Lord, what can I, what can I give you through this fast?

You know, what is do you that is lacking? You know? Am I not focusing on you? Am I, you know, so a lot of times I started to realize that my, my private time, my devotional life was . Really not even there, to be honest. I would read, I'd take a five minute, you know, prayer time quick and you know, a little quickie and, and, and get out of there and say, all right, Lord, I did my, I ticked the box off, you know, I checked it off.

, and he is like, well, that's, that's fine. Like, you know, for certain seasons of your life, maybe that's where you're at. But he was calling me over this last 40, the last 40 day fast to just getting closer with him. And like I said, break through some areas of my life that I. Were, I believe, were strongholds that the enemy had in, in my mindset and different things like that.

And, I was like, okay, Lord, I, I hear what you're saying. But it was more about, getting closer, closer with the Lord. I spoken with someone, I, I can't remember who it was, but I had written down this really great, quote and it says that the only authentic fasting is fasting that includes. A spiritual attack against your own sin. When I heard that, I was like, wow. I had never heard that before. I said, what, what do you mean by that? And there was a, a book I had read that had talked about dethroning areas of iniquity in your life. And I had never heard that, that, uh, phrase either, that sometimes we have areas of our life, idols that we've built up in our lives.

I. That we think may even be Godly, but it has become an idol in your life. And honestly, I hadn't seen those areas that I had built up in my life and had become an idol until I was fasting and the Lord was showing me. That's an area that you have. You have what is an idol? An idol is anything that is more important than God.

Your time with him and doing his will, you know, worshiping him. we were talking a little bit earlier about worship, and I had for about three years, had a group where I would go live every Wednesday afternoon and I would just sing and pray. it was just my worship to the Lord, and, and others came and joined me and I would pray for their needs if they needed.

And the Lord told me specifically to do that. And three years had gone by and I really felt like it was time that God was saying, okay, you're done in with that season. Um, but I miss it. I missed that time and I really stopped doing that. I would come into our sanctuary and I would just get on my piano and just begin to worship and, and praise him even alone, completely alone.

And, I started doing that again through the fast, and the Lord was like, yes, I did say to stop that for a certain amount of time, and that season was over, but that didn't mean that your time with me was done. And I had realized I had made that even an idol in my life that that was just so very important that I got on with the girls and, and I ministered to them and he's like, okay, that time is over.

But. What about us? so I kind of have come back to this kind of audience of one with my, with my worship time. And, you know, again, worship is different for everybody. It's not the same. I mean, I, I love to sing. I love to use my voice. I love to play the piano when I'm worshiping him. But a heart of worship is so much more than that.

It's not just, you know, singing a lovely song. There are times when I don't even sing. When I will just, I will just pray. And sometimes there are moments when I'm even just groaning , like I feel like the spirit inside of me is just groaning. 'cause the Bible says like, sometimes that's what prayer is. It's just groanings that you don't even understand.

The spirit is, is praying through you, assisting you. So yeah, I, I started to realize that. Idols were a big deal. And I think it's, they're a big deal for anyone in anyone's life. You know, what can be an idol in your life? These mamas are coming and telling me that, they can't spend time with God because they're so spread thin with their children.

They've got them in soccer and baseball and basketball and dance, and, and their time is so spread thin that that has become an idol in their life. And sometimes that doesn't happen unless you are fasting that God does not make that clear to you, and you're like, oh. And God's trying to put his finger on it, so, yeah.

 And when you were leading these fast for your groups, what were some things that you saw in the ladies? Like what were challenges that they experienced with fasting? What were the questions that they

Stephanie Hodges: had coming into fasting?

Camille McIntyre: Yeah. A lot of ladies didn't know what the purpose even was to fast. They didn't understand like, well, I've never fasted before. The questions were. Well, how do I, and that's why I loved your book, because it was so . It was like, all right, get this book. This is the best book you can read on how to go about practically how to do a, a fast, a Daniel fast.

And that was the first question. The second one was, well, why, why should we fast? And, while I said that there were, you know, I just said that spiritual warfare is, is a big deal and, and God's opening up your eyes to possibly having idols in your life, but. The reason that I would tell them is, you know, we have to humble ourselves before God because we have to be obedient to his word, to what he's trying to tell us to do.

Like I would tell him, you know, sometimes your body just needs a cleanse. Maybe you're , maybe you're just running on empty and you don't realize that you're putting so much garbage in it for so long. God's like this is, Hey, you're, you're my temple. Let's clean it out. I would also tell 'em that there, there's like such power to overcome.

Flesh tendencies and temptations in your life. And sometimes what is, what did Jesus say? You know, when he talked about spiritual warfare, he said, sometimes this only comes out by prayer and fasting, you know, that, that spiritual war is, is it's a real thing. seeking God's guidance and his direction.

Some people don't hear clearly to gain just a greater understanding. And some divine revelation comes in fasting some things that answers to prayer. You've been asking the Lord about for a really long time. Sometimes it doesn't come unless you are fasting. I've had breakthroughs, um, especially, uh, the 1 21 day fast that I did with my, because she chose group of women, right?

I'd say almost day 20 I had been praying specifically for finances. That was what, that was the reason I was, one reason I was fasting. I said, Lord, you know . what our needs are before we even ask. But sometimes you say to just, you need to ask and you need to press in, and you need to be like that woman that's come, come coming to the judge and saying over and, and wearying.

Not that he wants you to, you know, constantly be we yourself and, and begging. But sometimes he's like, okay, what is it that you really need? And bring it before me. So . During that time, I was like, Lord, that was the top thing on my list was finances. Lord, we need a breakthrough in our finances, in our church, and in our personal finances.

You know my need, but I'm bringing it before you. Day 21, I can't even tell you , the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me in fasting, wall fasting was God had laid on someone's heart to bring me a check for $10,000. Now that sounds crazy. And it doesn't always happen. I will not guarantee those kinds of things, but God was trying to show me in that moment I can and I, I will absolutely provide for you.

And it's not, it wasn't about, um, the fact that I was starving myself or it was just that he was like, okay, you are serious and I'm serious about meeting your need and you have taken that time and let me show you what I can do. So, uh, it blew my mind. It blew my husband's mind because we were always, you know, kidding around and teasing one another about, I would always pray about checks in the mail.

A lot of our eldership group, we would say, oh, we're praying for checks in the mail for you . And God would do funny things like that. We would get like, uh, you know, a refund about something that we weren't, like IRS gave us something and we weren't expecting it, and we would always, you know, kit, kit each other, um, in our, our eldership team and say, what checks in the mail have you been getting lately?

but it was just God saying, don't joke. This is, this is real. Don't kid around. I mean, what I say, and let me show you how much. So that's, I believe that when we're fasting and if God has put something specifically on your heart, he just wants to show you how faithful he really is and how, how the miraculous is still a thing, 

Stephanie Hodges: that's so good. Yeah. God is serious about what he says and he will do those things to build our faith. And I think what you said, you know about the practical piece of it, and I get some pushback on the Daniel Fast because some people will say, Hey, true biblical fasting, it's water only fasting. Not this like partial fasting and this dieting thing. But for me, one of the big things is that so many people are so intimidated to start fasting that they just won't do it at all. And once you start, once you start to get that experience, it's, there are some things you have to experience them for yourself. It's like somebody saying, oh, I wanna run a marathon and I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna read all these books about marathons.

I'm gonna watch YouTube videos about running. I'm gonna learn all about running. That is not going to help you. Finish that marathon until you get out there and you start actually taking the steps. You start actually running and you confront the fact that it's not always gonna go perfectly or you're gonna learn something new and unexpected along the way.

But with these, all these spiritual disciplines, prayer, fasting. Reading the word, it's doing it for yourself that allows you to get that understanding. Because if you're listening to this and you're like, I don't even really understand this, you know, Christian languaging about taking down idols and, and sometimes there are things that people are like, I don't know what that means, or I don't know what it means to just say, oh, well you should just, you know, trust God and it's gonna be a work from the inside out. Well, that may sound abstract in the beginning, but the more you step into it, the more it's gonna make sense. The more you're gonna understand. And it was just like what you were saying about, god meeting people where they are and God speaking to the you in the way that you need to hear him, he's gonna do that for you. 'cause he's a personal God. And so when we sit back and wait and wanna get it all perfect and exactly right,

we're never .Start. But when you do start to take those steps, you're gonna know him better and better, and you're gonna understand him and you're gonna see how, exactly what you were saying, that transformation, it happened from the inside out.

But you only get to that internal transformation when you start doing the thing.

Camille McIntyre: Yeah. Absolutely. And I, I think, like I said about o obedience, sometimes you don't have, I, a lot of times I like to te say how we want the path to be shown to us before we take a step. And I understand that if you are a planner or you are very organized, you wanna know every step of the way, but sometimes God hides the path.

Sometimes he only shows you the first couple of steps. And then when you take that step. Towards, I mean, maybe it's just, , Hey, a three day fast. Let's not even talk about 21 day or 40 day fast. That seems pretty lofty. Maybe it's a three day fast. Maybe it's a 24 hour fast, and you're like, okay, well maybe I can do that.

Just take the first step, start making preparations. If you're gonna do a Daniel Fast, let's say it's a Daniel. Just go shopping for those things and see what God lays on your heart as you are taking those first steps to getting your, your grocery list together. And then, then, you know, before you're gonna start your fast pray and ask him like, okay, Lord, I feel like I'm supposed to be doing a fast.

Why would you ha be having me do this fast? And he is really faithful. He will illuminate something. If you read a scripture, there might be something in the scriptures that he, he opens up to you and you start to realize, oh, maybe this is the direction that you want me to start praying through when I do this fast.

You know, like, so I, like I said, sometimes you don't have the clear cut answers before you do something, but while you're doing it as you go, scripture says a lot of times, people were healed as they went. so just, just make a plan and say, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this and I'm going to believe that you are gonna give me more clarity as I'm going.

Stephanie Hodges: Oh, that's really great advice. Now, if you were talking to some people listening who are leaders themselves, maybe they're, maybe they're pastors or ministry leaders, or maybe they're someone that's just saying, you know what I, I know about prayer, I know about fasting, but the people around me don't, and I feel like God might be calling me to lead a group or to disciple other women like Camille does or to lead a fasting group. What kind of advice would you give them for getting started in taking that leadership step in mentoring other people?

Camille McIntyre: Um, I think for me, I am so into resources. I mean, that's why, like I said, I can't remember referring to your book. I love resources. there are quite a few books that I like on fasting that I will . I recommend people. there's some podcasts. There are, uh, there's some websites, some great websites that I really love and I will recommend them before they even start to plan.

Just take a look at what fasting looks like, why you should fast, and get your hands on some great resources. Research it first. Don't just throw yourself into it because the, the one thing I have to say for leaders is. Make sure that you are hearing God and he's calling you to a fast 'cause I have actually fasted or agreed to fast, at times a couple of times and I found it was the hardest thing to do.

It was because I really feel like God probably was not calling me to do that fast, but I told someone or I said I would do, and you know, or it's the beginning of the year, everyone does the beginning of the year fast, right? And years fast. So I started to realize, all right, I'm not going to fast unless I hear God saying to me to do that.

So for me, when you are leading a congregation, so to speak, sometimes I feel a little guilty 'cause we don't do that enough. And within our congregation I'm like, okay, but that's not right. It's just that you're just making, you're going through the motions. Then if you're just gonna say, alright, we need to fast and we should be fasting at least three times a year as a congregation or as a leadership team.

And I started to realize, wait, no, no. Maybe we should wait on the Lord and and wait for his timing and for his leading. I think that's the best piece of advice I could give someone is wait for him to tell you when, because there's a purpose. If he's leading you, if you feel it's hug and your heart's saying, okay, maybe I should be fasting or Here, here's the other side of that coin, if you feel God is, is

Telling you to fast and you're not doing it, ooh, things are not gonna go well with you. For you, my friends, don't ignore the tug to go and fast because there's a reason why he's saying to do it. on the other side of it, there's always something, some thing, some special thing that he has either for you, whether it's a physical need or, meeting you in a supernatural way in your spiritual life.

Maybe he's, he's showing you some area, like I said before, about maybe there's some spiritual warfare. You know, um, there's a, a, a face that I like to do for specifically prodigals calling Prodigals home, is what I call it. So, you know, a lot of these ladies come to me and say, you know, I'm praying for my child, adult, adult child or, or teen child, and I'm struggling with them.

And I'm like, okay, well pray and ask the Lord to. Maybe he's asking you to fast. Maybe he's leading you in something in some way to fast for that child. And again, it might not be boom, poof. It's, you know, God grants you your request. He's not a ma, he's not a genie in a bottle. what it is, is maybe he's just calling you to a higher level of intercession over your child.

 ANd I, you know, I'll testify to that myself. You know, I have a child that's wayward and I'm like, Lord, my children were raised as pks. They were raised in the faith. While they will absolutely say they believe in their faith is still in Jesus, you know? Saying that, and then actually living your life to reflect that are two different things.

So even still, I, I will do a fast every once in a while when the Lord calls me to do that for that child. And I know one day something is going to happen in the life of that child. I know it for a fact. I, I know that God has shown me, things that that child is supposed to do with their life. And I'm like, okay, Lord, I will continue to do that and I'm still waiting.

It's not like it's a, you know, it's not a magic fix, but know that God is doing something, whether he is softening the ground. You know, I, I don't, I don't know, he always has something up his sleeve. I say , he always has something, something coming. 

Stephanie Hodges: Yeah, I love the two stories that you shared with us. They are so perfect as bookends in what it means to fast. Like there have been fast that I hear about and it really builds my faith, hearing testimonies of other people who've fasted who said, Hey, on this particular fast I. I got a really clear answer to prayer from the Lord, or he gave me a really clear direction, or he healed something or broke through something really specific in my life. But then there are a lot of other fasts that we are sowing in faith, and it says in Matthew chapter six, Jesus is telling us to go fast in private, in the secret place, and our father who sees us in the secret place has a reward for us.

It doesn't say when that reward is coming. It doesn't say where that reward is coming, but we are sowing in faith that he's hearing all of our prayers

at all times. And so we can just trust him in the timing of things, but also in the meantime, fasting builds us up. It, it transforms us. Despite the results that we may see or not see in it tangibly, and that's something I love about it. Um, and I can totally relate to what what you were saying is being a person that blogs about fasting, I sometimes fall into this place where I'm like, I need to be fasting more.

I write about fasting. People expect me to have all these fasting experiences. And there I can't tell you, there have been a number of times I have tried to fast and the Lord completely shut it down. He was like, Nope, you have no grace for this fast. You are not gonna do this because you're doing it 'cause you're worried about what other people think.

Or you're trying to please people or just trying to rack up more experiences. And

he's like, absolutely not

That is not what we're supposed to do.

And, and so I do think there's a side of fasting. Where do I ever like really feel like it? Well, no. My flesh would always rather eat whatever it wants to eat.

So I don't feel like it in that sense.

Camille McIntyre: 100%.

Stephanie Hodges: But there's that knowing of knowing when you're called to do it or not. And so it's listening to that and not feeling like you're doing things out of obligation. 'cause the Bible is so clear that that's not what the Lord is calling us to do.

Camille McIntyre: Yeah, for sure. You know that the strength that comes as you fast really does . Hinge on the fact that if he's calling you to do it, it does 'cause the call is not coming from your, from you. Sometimes God just wants you to be obedient. I'll be honest, my husband and I, every once in a while when I'm like, I, I really feel like God's, you know, saying to fast, you know, you want, do you wanna join me?

And my husband's like, good luck with that . I mean, I, it's, it's just a funny chuckle, but there are moments where I'm like, I really think God is calling you to fast with me. I'm not gonna force you to do that. And then he'll be like, okay, I'll do it. And, and God will give him that grace. 'cause my husband does not like to fast, I'll be honest.

 Who does? But I, I love fasting 'cause I know what's going to come. I know that there are so many different things that can happen. But the most important is, like I said, that closeness that comes, in being in his presence. I just, I hear him clearly. I feel his presence. It just opens up kind of like this heaven.

And I'm like, okay. I. So it might, it might be hard, but sometimes he is just asking you to trust him. You know what I mean? Just, just trust me. Trust me that, you know, I have you. I'm gonna strengthen you through it. you're not gonna die , you're not gonna die. That these are good things.

There's, there's a reason why I'm calling you to do it, but make sure he is calling you to do it

Stephanie Hodges: Yeah. That's so good. Well, as we close out here today, uh, our two final questions that we like to ask everybody, the first one is, what is a favorite book or podcast that you like to recommend to people? I.

Camille McIntyre: I just finished, going through the, one of the last fasts that I did was, a book called Prayer, the Timeless Secret of High Impact Leaders by Dave Early, but he also has a 21 day effective prayers of the Bible. Ooh. I mean, when I read through that every day as I was fasting. 

, and I have this book and I, I go through it every year, at least once a year. it was the 21 Effective Prayers of the Bible by Dave early, E-A-R-L-Y. Such a great book. Um, heart, just Easy Reading. It's, you know, a couple of pages, two, three pages. But every instance he gives of the different prayers that were prayed through the Bible.

Ooh. So good.

Stephanie Hodges: We'll definitely link to that. That sounds awesome. And this next question, this may even be regarding a lot of the advice that you're currently giving to others, but if you could go back and talk to 25-year-old Camille, what would you tell her? I.

Camille McIntyre: Ooh. Yeah. That's, that's interesting. I, I see that face in my mind. I know exactly where she's at. And I. I, I would love to tell her that God has everything under control to just trust him. You don't have to have so much anxiety over every aspect of life that he is faithful and he will show himself faithful in whatever way he sees fit, but just you have to trust him.

And that's really hard. That's hard to do, especially . Looking back when I, I'm on Camille of 25, 20 5-year-old Camille, , 25-year-old. Camille liked having all of her ducks in a row. She wanted to know everything that was going to happen, ahead of time. She didn't feel comfortable with, not being in control.

And I'm like, oh, give God the control because he does things so much better than you could ever imagine, right? Ephesians 3, 2, 1. I mean, come on. He will do all exceedingly, abundantly, above all right. What we can ask or think. And, and he, he has proven that in the past 30 years, from who I was and who I am today.

Yeah. He has proven himself so faithful, and he's surprised me where I've, I've realized that, oh, I wanted something, a certain way to go a certain way. And he is like, no, I'm not gonna go that way. I have a surprise up ahead, . Just trust me and be in the waiting 

Stephanie Hodges: Very, very good and wise advice. Well, thank you so much for being with us, Camille. I've really enjoyed this conversation and we're gonna . Gonna be sure to put all the links in the show notes to your podcast and your social media and the, because she chose ministry and we just Pray a Blessing over you and all that you do.

Your ministry, your church, your family. Thank you so much for what you do.

Camille McIntyre: Amen. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Wholly Well Journey podcast. Please be sure to subscribe and you can also head over to whollywelljourney. com to check out the show notes and the whole podcast library. That's also where you'll find information about our health and wellness coaching, which you can participate in online from wherever you are in the world.

Just a reminder and disclaimer that this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice or professional counseling. Please be sure to consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise plan or starting to fast. If you're interested in more information about fasting and spiritual disciplines, check out danielfastjourney.com. Thanks for joining us on this journey to becoming wholly well.