New lessons learned again this week. In an effort to have an understanding of the business challenges I’m going through right now, I was reminded about fasting. My God friend, Kimberly, recommended I listen to a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley on the subject. It was good. I got a deeper perspective.
I did not realize that fasting meant to abstain from something to give that time to seek the Lord. And it is not just about abstaining from eating food. It also includes fasting activities, sleep, or even sex with your spouse. Its intention is to help gain clarity and bring you closer to God. Dr. Stanley explains that it is like a spiritual bath.
What is interesting to me is that it’s not just about food; it is also about the time. Imagine that in Biblical times, preparing and eating food probably took hours. Today in the microwave, one-minute dinner world, I wonder how that works.
Kimberly told me that to her fasting meant skipping one meal. When I asked my pastor for his perspective, he said it can be anything from a single meal to an entire day to several days. Legalistic Darren had to let go of requiring a specific answer! LOL. Yes, I know, pray about it.
My current understanding is that this is what you do when you need clarity from God about your situation. I also understand that we are not supposed to fast to be seen or have it known by anyone else. To do so is to be a hypocrite like the Pharisees. Their intention was not to get closer to God, but to look good and show suffering to other men and women.
It’s cool when ideas come up, and I need to learn more. It’s often exciting to learn more as I walk my journey. I’m thankful for all of my God friends and my small group who are there for me and not judging. Yeah, that’s next on my list, to learn how to be less judgmental. Sometimes I need to plank my own eye! Yikes, I have miles to go before I’m called.
Hope somehow my journey helps you with yours.
Thank you, God for Grace, Truth, Love, and Laughter,
Darren
(Reminder, this is just a journal of my mistakes, experiences, and thoughts along with my journey to having a closer relationship to God. I do not claim to be an authority on the subject. If you want to know The Way, read The Bible.)
What church do I attend? Verve Church in Las Vegas
http://vivalaverve.org
P.S. Thank you, especially, for grace.
Want to see more God Blog posts?:
https://darrenlacroix.com/category/godblog/
Glad to hear you’re glorifying God with an example of how He blessed you. There are some fantastic preachers with great gifts for sharing the gospel. And some make might you root for the other team. That’s a direction I don’t think many people would think of or even consider trying but clearly there are ministers who as you relayed received lots of Biblical knowledge but not so much on oratorical skills.
Hi Darren,
I actually clicked this out of curiously but it resonated with me as a challenge. I remember when I first started watching your videos when you got started on YouTube. I eventually opted out of your emails and unsubscribe from your YouTube channel because it was a lot. Then recently, I saw something that made me curious. It was a video of you promoting Stage Time University where you had over 10k subscribers. My exact thoughts were, “wow, his business has taken off!”
I appreciate this blog because I am at that place similar to what you described in the blog. Student loans and credit card bills up the wazoo while trying to engage my strong desire and dream to be professional speaker. This blog has definitely challenged me to demonstrate my trust in Him by giving…10%
Thanks for sharing Darren
You are welcome, Lynn. Go for it. I’m just sharing my journey as I go. I don’t have all of the answers. He does.
God Bless,
Darren