Ep 030 Getting Spiritually and Physically Ready for a Christian Fast
Are you ready to start a Christian fast? In episode 30, we talk about being mentally ready, spiritually prepared, and physically adjusted to begin your fast with a wholehearted focus on the Lord.
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Note: Podcast transcripts are automatically generated and may contain some errors. The transcript below has been lightly edited for grammar and readability, so may not match the podcast audio verbatim.
How to Prepare for a Christian Fast
[00:00:00] Hey everybody today, we're going to talk about how to prepare for a Christian fast. And it's not just a fast for health reasons for physical health or for weight loss But this is a fast that you're purposely going into because you feel God has called you to do it. Or you want to spiritually seek the Lord.
And we're going to talk a little bit about both the mindset. how to prepare yourself spiritually and how to prepare yourself physically for a time 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.
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[00:00:48] We're putting this podcast out at the beginning of the fall, because fall is actually a time that I love to fast personally. And I know that it's popular for us to fast in January, maybe to fast during the time of lent. But for me, fasting has become a regular spiritual discipline, not something that's just a once a year thing.
But we have a group at danielfastjourney.com that fast together the first Wednesday of every month. And then we do longer, fast together in January and September. And this is a virtual group. So we just get on a zoom call. A quick 15 minute zoom call, first thing in the morning. So everybody can start their day with some powerful prayer together.
We usually do a theme around whatever fast that is. It's something I pray about and just see where the Lord leads, as far as the direction and the topic and what specific passage from scripture to study, whether that's a principle or whether it's a specific story. And going into this fall, the story that God highlighted to me was first Samuel 17, which is a story of David and Goliath. And I thought that was interesting at first, because it feels like it's a story I've heard so many times
And so every single children's Bible and VeggieTales and devotionals, they always bring up this David and Goliath story Because David was so young and he was up against something so huge, so big, so scary and intimidating. And that really speaks to a child's heart because there's so many things in the world they're navigating that seems so much bigger than they are. And it's about having courage, trusting God. Not listening to other voices. Showing up boldly, even when it looks like the odds are stacked against you. But that's not just a great message for children. It's a great message for all of us. And as I dug more into that story, I was really moved by what was going on, probably mentally for David, because he had a lot of people speaking negatively into his life. He had his brother who was questioning his motives why he was even there. He had, of course the taunts from Goliath himself, and the whole army around him in a state of fear and terror.
And so that's very catching when you're in an environment that's so fear-based, and everybody's repeating the story and using language like this is impossible. Look at this guy, look at the situation
and it does not look like the odds are stacked in your favor. Then he has Saul who looks at him and says, well, you're just a boy in the sky has been fighting and been a warrior since he was a youth, basically like he's been fighting longer than you've been alive. What do you think you're going to do?
But in spite of all of those voices, all that criticism, all that doubt. David stepped out in confidence. the one thing we don't see a lot of is what was he thinking and feeling at this time? Like we have Psalms from David where he's pouring out his heart and he's seems so emotional and so expressive, but in this story, We're only seeing his actions. Yet he chose to take action.
He chose to do it anyway. He chose to step out boldly. And so I just think there are so many layers to that story that speak to us. As adults that really are speaking to me and then something crazy happened. So I had decided that this September 10 day fast, that we're doing in the community was going to be on this particular passage. Then I went to church Sunday and my pastor said, Hey, we're starting a new series in September and it's going to be on David. And I said that was just so crazy and such a confirmation that I believe the holy spirit has something to tell us through this story. Right now, right at this point in time
It's living and active. It's a word that no matter how many times you've heard the same story, you can go into it and get something fresh and something new.
I'll read my Bible sometimes and be shocked. Like I've read this story or this passage.
So many times I feel like was that always in there? I never saw that before. You may be listening to this podcast once this is all over and done with. And in that case, you can go to Daniel fast journey.com and we have various devotionals, some free, some are for a small cost that helps to support the ministry and support keeping the website and podcast going. So you can see that link in the show notes. It's danielfast journey.com.
So next, I want to jump a little bit more into why we fast, because maybe you are searching specifically for this information, how to prepare for a Christian fast, because you've never done it before. Or maybe you've done it in the past and it's been a really awful experience for you. And I want to say that the first thing is that we need to let go of our expectations and we need to let go of our mindset that this is all up to us, or this is somehow about a test of our willpower and a test of our discipline, because that puts so much pressure on everything.
And it gets people caught up in a very perfectionist mindset about how they're going to fast because. Then, if it's all up to you and you have to be so strong to do it by yourself, then you're going to need to wait for the perfect time, the perfect circumstances, feeling like everything is perfectly ready.
And guess what? That time has never coming. And one of the greatest things that you discover in a fast is humility. It really humbles you. And the Bible even says that that David actually in the Psalms, I humble myself with prayer and fasting. So this is yes. Going to require some effort and discipline on your part. But it's primarily about humbling ourselves before the Lord.
It's about worshiping him. It's about going to him in the secret place.
[00:06:14] Matthew chapter six talks about praying giving and fasting. And in chapter six, verse 16 through 18, it says now whenever you fast do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for, they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they're fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full, but as for you, when you fast anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by people, but by your father who is in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So the first. Thing when you're Preparing yourself to Fast. Is go directly to the Lord. This is not about what other people say you should do, how they say you should do it, you know?
Yes. Getting wise counsel and advice is wonderful, but first and foremost, you need to just spend some time alone with the Lord. Spend some time in his word.
We have a blog post with over 50 verses on fasting that we can link to in the show notes.
What does the Bible say about fasting? What does God say to me about fasting and what is he saying to me about fasting right now? Because maybe I fasted last January or maybe I tried to fast once, five years ago, but what is it about right now and fasting that God wants to show me?
The first step is posturing or heart humbly before the Lord and being open to how he wants to direct us. So spend some time in prayer. You want to pray before you fast pray while you fast, pray after you fast, just keep on praying. But first and foremost with this. Direction that we're supposed to go into our closet, into our private place and deal directly with the Lord. That will take you so far.
Like how should I fast? How long should I fast? What should I fast from? And you're going to find so many different opinions. But at the end of the day, we're not doing this to conform to other people's opinions about it. We're doing it to honor the Lord. And he will not lead you wrong.
So see what he has to say. And be led by peace.
Now the second thing, like we talked about before. Is to focus on the Lord. And not have an expectation for perfection for ourselves. So that means if the Lord says, Hey, Your time to start fasting is tomorrow. We may not feel ready at all, but that's okay. Because if he's calling us to do it, he's going to give us a grace for it. So trust him.
No fasting is not going to be easy. Fasting. As they say, crucifies our flesh. And that sounds pretty ugly. That sounds pretty painful. And you know what? It can be. But it's all for our good, because we don't want to be run by our appetites by our cravings. Food is meant to nourish our bodies and food is one component of this, but there's a lot attached to and around food from just our social perspective.
Maybe what caffeine serves in our life as this like bandaid, when we're really overtired, overstressed. And we just keep pumping the caffeine to keep going when our body is crying out for us to stop and rest. What happens when we cut those things away? What happens when we take out the sugar? This is where we can really get to the root of how we're feeling. And how our body is operating.
So when it comes to fasting, there is a physical side to it.
Like we said at the first it's about praying and seeking God for how you are to fast. But then you have to know that it is going to be challenging. mentally and emotionally, and it is going to challenge your body.
[00:09:39] So to recap, first, we want to pray about it. Seek the Lord's will see what his word says about fasting. Then second is we want to commit. We want to decide what we're going to abstain from and the times or dates we're going to be fasting. So there are different types of fast you can do, an absolute fast, which should only be done for a very short amount of time. You can do a water only fast.
Some people will do like a liquid fast that contains smoothies, shakes, protein, powders, things like that. But then there's also an in-between where some people do like a water fast, but also include coffee, bone broth tea. Then there are partial fast.
There are fast like the Daniel fast to which you cut out. All meat, all animal products, alcohol and caffeine, and processed and packaged foods and fried foods. You're basically just eating. Whole grains. Vegetables fruits. And nuts and seeds, beans, and legumes. So it's a pretty basic, some people compare it to a vegan diet, but on a vegan diet, you can still have like vegan desserts and vegan packaged snacks, and a lot more things where when we're doing a Daniel fast, we want it to be just pure food that came straight out of the ground.
But that's one form of fasting in our day and age. when it comes to abstaining from food, it may be that you just feel really called that you're supposed to abstain from certain things. Sometimes people will even bring in social media or Netflix TV, something about their phone. Things that are just occupying so much of their time. And also causing them to ignore other things that they should be doing. So when it comes to abstaining, Yes. A biblical fast when the fastest talking. When the Bible is talking about. People fasting is talking about people not eating, like not eating at all. Or being extremely limited in what they eat. However, there are many ways that fasting can help you to grow spiritually.
And so if you know that that for you means to just abstain from certain key food items. Then again, that's up to you to decide that. Follow the Lord's leading avoid comparing yourself with others. Remember that second Corinthians 12, nine. The Lord told Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. So you do want to challenge yourself in this.
Make it something that will cause you to stop in your tracks.
It should be something that makes you feel a little weak and hungry. There should be a pinch to it. Whatever you're giving up.
So next, I want to talk some about the physical body and the physical preparation, and this is in particular.
And I'm particularly interested in prioritize this because I am a health and wellness coach. So I do look at the body as well as the spirit in the soul. And I know that there are certain things about our society today that are so different from how they were thousands of years ago when people were truly living off the land pasture, raised meat, fruits, and vegetables, and some bread.
Now we have so many packaged foods they're full of preservatives. They're full of chemicals. They're really hyper palatable. So crunchy crispy chips and very sweet things. And even beyond candy and soda, and those things are sugar in so many of the packaged foods that we eat, that we don't even think of them as being a sweet food. But there's a lot of salt and sugar added to them.
So our body chemistry is just really different because of everything that it's used to absorbing all the time and digesting. there are 38 million Americans with diabetes and 90 to 95% of that is type two diabetes. So that's one in 10 people in the us have type two diabetes. 30% of adults in the us have metabolic syndrome
and metabolic syndrome is a number of conditions that occur simultaneously.
They increase your risk of heart disease, stroke type two diabetes and other health conditions. A large majority of people in the west are not in good health. They might be on medications. They might be eating the standard Western diet that has all that stuff I talked about earlier.
And it's the fact that completely cutting out food and doing so very quickly is going to impact their body. So this is really important if you're someone who you're on a lot of different medications. You want to take that time to prepare your body for eating very differently. If you're abstaining from many foods or water, only fast for sure. Now one rule of thumb for water only fasting is however long your fast is going to be.
You need to spend at least that same amount of time leading up to it, and then also leading yourself out of it. So, if you're going to do a three-day water fast for the three days prior, you need to be eating a super clean diet. You know, you need to be already have cut out. Alcohol, caffeine, sugar, all of those things.
And then once you're done, you don't go straight to the drive-thru to get a big Mac value meal. You're going to need to repopulate your gut microbiome. And so having some foods that are rich sources of probiotics, prebiotics, polyphenols. So those are things like bone broth, OLIVES. Sauerkraut is one yogurt and Kiefer and then fresh fruits and vegetables.
And then over that course of the next three days slowly increasing what you're eating. But even if you're choosing to do a Daniel fast or you're just abstaining from certain things. If you can work your way into it gradually, you're going to prevent a lot of unnecessary side effects.
And this isn't about trying to make fasting easy, but trust me, fasting is not going to be easy, but it does help you to avoid feeling so awful with, because of withdrawal from certain things that then you feel like you can't think you can't function. And it could get in the way of your fast. I want to go through a couple of bullet points and these are actually in my, Firm Foundation devotional and some other things, but first speak to your doctor.
Okay. Especially if you're in one of those categories where you have medical conditions or you're on medication to make sure that nothing that you're planning to do will interfere with any of that. Next the week before you fast decrease your intake of caffeine, sugar, processed foods and whatever it is that you're going to be abstaining from.
So if it's meat, try to reduce the amount of meat and animal products that you're having. Another point is instead of having large meals daily, try to eat smaller meals and reduce snacking to adjust your body to consuming less food. That's really helpful if you're doing a water only or liquid fast, but even with something like the Daniel fast, that will also help you because. Because fasting is about reducing your food.next we're going to stay hydrated, drinking plenty of water throughout the days. Leading up to your fast. You want to go into it very well. Hydrated 64 ounces of water is kind of a bare minimum for people. Most people need more than that. You might want to aim for 96 to a hundred ounces of water, especially going into a fast.
It will help you to flush things out. It'll help you to be more regular. And if you're doing a Daniel fast and you're going to be increasing your fiber, then you want to help all that water in there too, to be pushing things through your digestive system. If you're doing a Daniel fast or liquid fast, where you're going to be doing smoothies and other things, make sure that you plan your meals, you get your recipes organized and you go grocery shopping before day one. You don't want to go grocery shopping when you're starving and you're in the very beginning when you're most vulnerable state.
So do it before, have your food ready to go. Another point along with, I did mention this. If you're doing a Daniel fast, then you're probably going to be eating lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, some beans and legumes more than you're probably used to having. So you want to be eating those foods leading up so you can increase your fiber intake. And I would suggest at least. A serving of beans and legumes daily in the week before your fast.
So your body can be adjusting to that. And you can just also see if those foods agree with your body. And if they don't, you might want to be looking at some other plant-based sources of protein. Maybe you'll lean a little bit more heavily on nuts and seeds or edamame or other options like that.
Next let's get into spiritual as well as physical preparation. So as you're going into your fast, you do want to be very intentional in your prayer. Thinking about what Bible study will you be doing during that time? What will that look like? Is it going to just be sitting before the Lord getting in his presence and seeing where he leads you? Or do you have a specific topic in mind of study?
Do you have a specific devotional? Have that plan, not just for your meals, but also for your spiritual food, what is your spiritual intake going to be during that time? Because otherwise it's just going to turn into a diet. You're going to be thinking only about your food and about what you're eating or not eating and how hungry you are when really the intention and the focus is meant to be on the spiritual aspect. The next is I would ask trusted friends and spiritual mentors to pray for you as you fast.
And you might want to talk to your family. I know we read the verse that said it's about going into your room and praying in the secret place. But making it private doesn't mean it has to be a complete secret, especially from those who are living with you. They kind of need to know what you're doing and why you're eating differently from them. And then having a prayer covering during this time is very important. Because the enemy does love to attack us when we're feeling weak and vulnerable.
It's not something to be afraid of because we have all authority in Christ and we have spiritual weapons. But it is something to be ready. We want to be prepared. We want to be ready for battle. Should it come our way.
So I want to do a part two of this, where we're going to talk about during and after your fasting.
But this first one, it's really about preparing yourself for fasting. And making sure that you're taking all components of your being into account, as you prepare yourself to fast. It might be an urge to be trying to jam in as much food and things that you like up until the very last minute, but that is not the way to go.
It is much better if you can gradually work your way into it. And we mentioned caffeine a couple of times in some of the worst side effects that people experience when they go into fasting are actually due to caffeine withdrawal. It's like very sharp headaches, major. Fatigue feeling lethargic, and then it can also affect your mood, just making you really irritable.
So if you're used to drinking a lot of caffeine, I cannot encourage you enough to taper down and actually cut that out maybe a day or two, even before you start so that your body will be acclimated to that. And it won't be such a shock to your system. And my feeling on that is that does not make you less spiritual, that you are still going to be delighting yourself in the Lord and spending so much time with him.
And you're going to learn a lot through fasting. The number one thing that people say, and my fasting group or people that I talked to about fasting is that I feel so close to the Lord when I fast. And that's a lot because our attention, our mind and our focus are directed on him at all times when we're fasting more than other times.
And we might get by in a normal day by single yeah. I listened to praise and worship music in the background. And I'm always praying. I'm always talking to God throughout my day. And that's good, but there is something about fasting and feeling the hunger and. Actually affecting your physical body that really raises the intensity of your focus on the Lord.
And that's really what fasting is about. So I hope that this helped you feel a little bit more prepared for Christian fast. And if you're looking for more resources again, Daniel fast journey.com. There's a lot more there. Take care.
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 holywelljourney. 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.
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