Hi there,
So I did a little stint, where I tried to fast and found I could only stand it, for about three days. Then I discovered I could fast much longer, if I just allowed myself to have a little amount of sustenance on the side. Then I realised I was addicted to junk food and that I would have to fast until I broke the addiction. What I discovered at that point, was that it wasn't necessary to fast so long that I couldn't remember the addiction, I merely needed to fast until my taste for the addiction waned. All good thoughts, right?
What I realised next was that if I was determined cleanse my conscience and knew that it would take far longer (8 years, by my estimation), in reality I would receive the benefits of the longer fast (no temptation to eat McDonald's, for example) even before the fast was finished. I call this the "fasting second wind". Now bear in mind this works, no matter what it is your are fasting; you could be fasting coffee, and the benefits of fasting coffee would be to free you from addiction (to coffee) at first, but also freedom from a taste for coffee, in anticipation of the much longer fast. You could even say "I am going to fast from coffee for eight years, after I break the addiction", and even if you stopped fasting in the fourth year, you would still reap the benefits of having fasted coffee beyond addiction, as though for eight years, but in reality on for four.
Why does it work like this? I would say, it's because you are training your flesh to respond, to the Lord. If the Lord sees that you are prepared to unshackle the flesh from wordly desires, He is not going to rule over you and say "Ah! But you did not fast to the nth degree!" No, the benefits of a second wind, brings faith together - your faith with God and God's faith with you. Even if you only fast for four years and not eight, you will still desire the relationship of God to rule your flesh from within and will remain in the best possible position, to bring that about (in as much as it is your responsibility). It's about the quality of the relationship, not the quantity; the quality of the fasting, not the quantity.
Ultimately, when you die, you enter a state of a permanent fast (in a manner of speaking), so it is good to think about these things!
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
So I did a little stint, where I tried to fast and found I could only stand it, for about three days. Then I discovered I could fast much longer, if I just allowed myself to have a little amount of sustenance on the side. Then I realised I was addicted to junk food and that I would have to fast until I broke the addiction. What I discovered at that point, was that it wasn't necessary to fast so long that I couldn't remember the addiction, I merely needed to fast until my taste for the addiction waned. All good thoughts, right?
What I realised next was that if I was determined cleanse my conscience and knew that it would take far longer (8 years, by my estimation), in reality I would receive the benefits of the longer fast (no temptation to eat McDonald's, for example) even before the fast was finished. I call this the "fasting second wind". Now bear in mind this works, no matter what it is your are fasting; you could be fasting coffee, and the benefits of fasting coffee would be to free you from addiction (to coffee) at first, but also freedom from a taste for coffee, in anticipation of the much longer fast. You could even say "I am going to fast from coffee for eight years, after I break the addiction", and even if you stopped fasting in the fourth year, you would still reap the benefits of having fasted coffee beyond addiction, as though for eight years, but in reality on for four.
Why does it work like this? I would say, it's because you are training your flesh to respond, to the Lord. If the Lord sees that you are prepared to unshackle the flesh from wordly desires, He is not going to rule over you and say "Ah! But you did not fast to the nth degree!" No, the benefits of a second wind, brings faith together - your faith with God and God's faith with you. Even if you only fast for four years and not eight, you will still desire the relationship of God to rule your flesh from within and will remain in the best possible position, to bring that about (in as much as it is your responsibility). It's about the quality of the relationship, not the quantity; the quality of the fasting, not the quantity.
Ultimately, when you die, you enter a state of a permanent fast (in a manner of speaking), so it is good to think about these things!
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless.
