My dad established a tradition in my home when I was in High School that we'd fast for the entire month of February, giving up the things we loved the most, in an effort to truly hear from God. Now, when I was younger fasting was the last thing I wanted to do because I would be forced to give up my only true indulgence which was social media. When I moved out of the house and went to College the thought of fasting with my family again never crossed my mind, probably because I was living a life of sin.
Fast forward to now, I've been redeemed and have been working to build my faith. This year I chose to fast all by my self from something I truly enjoy which is music. When I made the decision to fast this year I didn't dread my fast, I didn't binge on secular music because I wouldn't be listening to it for a month I simply committed my mind, spirit and ears to God and my fast. I chose to give up secular music because our ears are gates to our soul. What we hear can easily turn into what we speak, what we think, and what we live. Because I want to live for God and because I wanted to begin to retrain my mind from all of the negative things I'd put into my spirit, I gave up any form of music that was not uplifting to my spirit.
During my fast I also read the entire book of Proverbs which is a task I've been trying to accomplish for at least two or three years but never could. Every time I would open the either my bible or my bible app I'd all of a sudden get so incredibly sleepy. Now I could do what a lot of Christian folk do and blame it on the devil but really and truly I was just being lazy. I read the entire Twilight series in a week so there was no legit reasoning behind me not finishing the book of Proverbs. However this time around was a bit different. I realized that studying my word is something I needed to do in order to build my relationship with Christ and it's something I wanted to do. So I committed and finally finished! What I learned in reading Proverbs is that God hates fools which our world has a lot of, one of the most important things I learned is that it's really not okay to be lazy and that even the wisest seek to further increase their wisdom. I am not going to pretend that I was able to grab every key that King Solomon was dropping but I did catch a few and will be reading it again after I finish Psalms.
Fasting is about sacrifice. Sacrificing the things we "love" for our God who loved us enough to send his son to die for our sins.
I've been trying to figure out how am I suppose to know if I am hearing from God. One of my hopes and prayers during this fast was that God would reveal himself to me through prayer and that I would begin to receive confirmation about my direction in life. Can I honestly say that I know for a fact if I am hearing from God now that I’ve completed my fast? No. But I can say that after completing my fast I do feel at peace, closer to God and and more spiritually grounded.
Until next time.
Also in Faith
