Okay, first thing’s first today.

I want you to know I have the Grace Police on these blog posts.  I don’t trust myself to not slip into legalism, especially in this category.

Second, I don’t know who you are.  I don’t know what you’ve been through or if you have any sort of stronghold in this area of food/body image, etc.  If you do, may I tenderly suggest this topic may not be for you?  This will be coming from someone who couldn’t have handled it not long ago.  God and I are now in a place where I can take some more steps of obedience.

If you start to feel anxious or guilty (different than convicted) or fearful from what you read, please stop!  I would then suggest the “Overcoming Food Related Strongholds” chapter in Praying God’s Word.  And I have heard good things from trusted people about Made to Crave.  And, depending on the severity, professional help could be your thing.

I’m very, very serious.

Okay, let’s dive in.  Most of this is going to be from The 7 Experiment. 

(It might also help you to know the person writing this ate several desserts yesterday, including a green doughnut, with my seniors at a St. Patty’s potluck.  A green doughnut.)

Anyway, to begin the whole fast, we started with Food.  Jen began by counting how many food items she had in her pantry, refrigerator and freezer. 

It was 240.

Have you ever counted yours?

Have you ever exclaimed there was nothing to eat?

Have you ever thrown out perfectly good food because there were so many other choices?

In addition, have you ever fasted from food?  What has it looked like?  What were your motives and challenges?

Isaiah 58 is a must if you’re thinking about fasting from any excess – food, money, possessions, media. 

Why?

Because, as Jen says,

“We are not the first culture to follow God’s rules but miss His heart.  We’ve long been good on the outside.  We can see in Isaiah 58 that it drives Him mad. 

God put the rules in place to help us find Him, help us worship, and help transform our stubborn hearts, but in a twist of irony, we perfect the mechanics and skip the pesky transformation part. 

It’s a complicated skill set to circumvent the point altogether, but we manage to do it.”

The point is the “heart of abstinence that leads to communion” with Him. 

Okay, more details soon.  Bite-sized chunks, friends. 

But we can’t finish without the full beauty of Isaiah 58 on here, can we?

Listen to our Father’s heart:

“‘Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

And to the house of Jacob their sins.

For day after day they seek me out;

They seem eager to know my ways,

As if they were a nation that does what is right

And has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

And seem eager for God to come near them.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,

‘And you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

And you have not noticed?’

Yet on the day of your fasting,

You do as you please

And exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,

And in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

And expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

Only a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed

And for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

A day acceptable to the LORD?

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

To loose the chains of injustice

And untie the cords of the yoke,

To set the oppressed free

And break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

And to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –

When you see the naked, to clothe him,

And not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn

And your healing will quickly appear;

Then your righteousness will

Go before you,

And the glory of the LORD will

Be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

You will cry for help, and he will say:

Here am I.

If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

With the pointing finger and malicious talk,

And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

And satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

Then your light will rise in the darkness,

And your night will become like the noonday.

The LORD will guide you always;

He will satisfy your needs in a

Sun-scorched land

And will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

Like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

And will raise up the age-old foundations;

You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

And from doing as you please on my holy day,

If you call the Sabbath a delight

And the LORD’s holy day honorable,

And if you honor it by not going your own way

And not doing as you please

Or speaking idle words,

Then you will find your joy in the LORD,

And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land

And to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.’

The mouth of the LORD has spoken.