During the Prayer fellowship meeting last week, the Prayer group leader spoke on "Fasting". The talk was too good to keep it to myself and I am sure as I have gained from this talk you all would too.
The speaker beagn with a narration of a true incident. He said that once a Christian lady was travelling in the flight and she found her neighbour in prayer. When the hostess in the flight arrived with food, she rejected the same saying that she was fasting. This Christian woman thought that her neighbour was a Christian as she was fasting so she started speaking to her and asked her whether she was a Christian. The neighbouring woman said that she is not a Christian but she belongs to the satanic church. Being questioned further the reason for fast, her neighbour mentioned that they were fasting with a purpose to break Christian marraiges. This narration of a true incident is not to scare us but to make us alert about the enemy. If we check the records of breaking of Christian marraiges and compare the same 5 years back, we will find that it has increased to 120%. In such a situation, what are we the people of God suppose to do? We too should start fasting because the treasures of fasting are immense. Yes no doubt it is difficult........but then the result of it is worthwhile.........we know so many saints who fasted. In the Gospel of Matthew 6, the Bible speaks of 3 important things : 1) Praying 2) Fasting & 3) Almsgiving. The Church calls all Catholics to follow Fasting and Almsgiving during the Holy season of Lent which is not made compulsory. What happens if we don't fast...........we would not receive the graces attached to it and that is a tremendous loss. Fasting is abstaining from food for some period of time and it has to be done for a particular purpose. St. John Marie Vianney who was just an ordinary man like us started fasting and prayed for the parishioners of the Church he was called to serve and we know how God used Hima and later exalted him. Importance of fasting 1) Release of the power of the Holy Spirit. All Christians surely have Holy Spirit in us which we have recieved during Baptism but we are not filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit. Let us understand this better by focussing on the Life of Jesus. In Luke 4:1, we read that the Holy Spirit led Jesus in the desert to fast and pray for 40 days. Then Luke 4:14 says that Jesus returned in Galilee with the power of the Holy Spirit. So also we all have the Holy Spirit in us but if want to experience the Power of the Holy Spirit, we need to fast because fasting helps us to break our Selves (flesh) and God's Spirit rises in Power. And when we pray as we are fasting, the power of the Holy Spirit overcomes all our weaknesses. If we need to get rid of our sins specially those which we keep doing again and again.......we need to fast and pray. When we need to seek the will of God, we should fast. We need to fast in order to get the annointing on the gifts and talents we have. The very first step for fasting is the desire but it should not end there our desire should be set in action. How can we prepare ourselves for fasting? 1) Psychological (a) Always expect that during fasting we would get across good and tasty food and thats why prepare yourself to be faced with this temptation (b) Expect that on the day of fast we would feel more hungry. The best thing to do in this situation is to drink a lot of water. Water is beneficial in two ways : 1) It cleanses our system & 2) We won't feel weak and tired. (c) Give up food in the mind on the day of fast. (d) Keep telling ourselves that we are not going to die. 2) Spiritual. (a) Have a good time of repentance. (b) Forgive all those who have hurt us & pray for them. (c) Surrender ourselves completely to the Lord. (d) Believe that God will guide us and give us victory. (e) Offer your fast. Blessings one gets due to Fasting (Isiah 58:8-11) 1) Enlightenement & inner healing 2) We would be able to seek an answer to our prayers. 3) Guidance of our Lord in everything we do. 4) Renewed strenght spiritually. 5) Dues will be rebuild 6) We will become the repairers and restorers. Just 2 days back I was talking to a friend about fasting and I got a very good revelation which I would like to share with you all. I told her "What is difficult for you will remove your difficulty". If you have a lot of difficult situations in your life and you are still struggling with it........then try fasting (which u may find difficult to do). Decide a day for fasting...........make a good confession and yes your fast should have a purpose otherwise it would be like dieting. Maybe we can have testimonies from JYs regarding how fasting has helped them in needful situations. Love & Prayers Jennifer Fernandes Mumbai **************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ****************************************************************
