In light of Robin’s comment I wanted to use the survey this weekend to de-mistify some of our fears about fasting.
Your fear may be legit or it may be goofy, but just get them out there. Often, just admitting the fear helps us realize how odd it is.
18 Comments »
Dem's fightin' words...
Ruth said:
my biggest fear about fasting is that I do it..just because I’m used to. I mean, I don’t want it to be a thing where people ask me “why are you fasting?” and I’m like “well, it’s good you know…you should try it…” and then they go “yeah, but why??” and I’m like..”i’m not sure..”.
Ever since I came back from IHOP I fast regularly and I enjoy it..sometimes
But I guess I’m in a season where it’s hard for me to focus on my fasting day and I tend to forget why i’m doing it. On my fasting day there are so many things to distract me lately.
The thing is, I don’t wanna stop. I don’t wanna fast from fasting.
But I do want to be able to love God more. He can’t love me more than He does right now, but I can. And in that I see fasting is a great help. Also fasting helps me to not love the things of the world, it helps me to see how temporary things are. I love Phillipians 3 where Paul says “Everything else is rubbish”. That’s what fasting does!
Well, yeah..so here you go..that’s my fear
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 6:07 am
nathan said:
I’m afraid that I will focus more on fasting than on God. That I will weigh myself twice a day, looking to see if I’ve lost weight as a side-effect. I’m afraid that I will not be able to go without food for that long, that my craving for the taste will be overwhelming.
I pray for the grace to fast. I know I cannot do it on my own.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 8:40 am
Theresa said:
I am a group exercise instructor and am concerned about getting sick when I am teaching. This has happened to me when fasting before, dizziness and being disorientated. (more than usual - ha ha) This really has been difficult for me, wanting to fast, but needing to do my job. I usually do liquids and a little protein. Any suggestions for someone with a physically active job?
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 8:54 am
Jason Kerr said:
I struggled at first with fasting because I had symptoms of Hypoglycemia. This was not just when fasting but went without certain foods and was physically active. I solved this by mixing real maple syrup and lemon juice in a glass of water. It really helps.
Theresa, this might help you!
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 10:22 am
David said:
1)People will judge me.
2)No one else does it regularly
3)I hate drawing attention to myself.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 10:26 am
David said:
Oops, accidentally hit the enter key in the wrong place.
What I’ve found though, is that I often feel that something should happen later in time, and God makes it happen alot sooner.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 10:28 am
Fears of Fasting? « Extravagant Waste of Love said:
[...] of Fasting? I was reading Shawn Blanc’s blog today, and he asked what everyone’s fears are of fasting. My first thought was that I [...]
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 11:43 am
natasha said:
My fear is that most girls my age(18) go on crazy diets for weight loss and i don’t want someone to accidentally think i am fasting for vanity. I’ve also done the crazy diets myself a few years ago, and worry about getting sucked back into that trap.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Esther said:
Hi, my name is Esther and I have these fears of fasting:
1. that everyone will find out and think I’m nuts. Actually this already happened this year when I went on a 40 day fast and ask 3 people (one being the pastor) to pray for me during this 40 day time period. I told them I wasn’t broadcasting this to a lot of people, but I wanted some prayer support; would they be that for me? Well, they did pray for me - at the home groups, etc so that the whole church (around 100 people)found out and were whispering about my 40 day fast… I could have let that affect what I was doing, but I chose to ignore it. This wasn’t a fast to be weird, it was a true calling of God for that time period and it was what I wanted to do b/c He called me to it.
2. That I’m only doing it to lose weight…One of the things I did on this last fast was to discipline myself to only weigh once a week. I recorded it on my daily journal and forgot about it. It wasn’t easy, but I did it.
3. My husband really dislikes it when I fast b/c I tend to forget a lot of things and he has to repeat things several times. So a big fear is that I will forget some really important things. I’m not physically active (read desk job) so my mind is important to my work. I don’t have a solution for this except to ask for God’s grace. My list taking has helped and actively listening when people talk helps, but in the end it’s just the mercy and grace of God that keeps me going. Four years ago when I was fasting I forgot to push the final button when I was paying payroll tax and the IRD reminded me with a penalty a few months later, but I wasn’t thrown in jail.
4. And finally (sorry this is long) I fear that I’m doing this and it really won’t count for anything. Doubts and fears about wasting my time in this exercise of fasting assail me whenever I want to fast. What if what I’m doing is really a fraud? Does Jesus really want me to fast or is it brainwashing? That’s when I love the Bible the most - when it renews my mind, especially reminding me of the love my Saviour has for me and who I am in Him.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 5:30 pm
sean said:
That I’m going to get religious, or do it with the wrong motivation
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 6:41 pm
JoAnna said:
That if I can’t dedicate 100% of my time and energy to worship/prayer/study it is all for nothing. I have actually started to fast and then stopped because kids were sick and I had to spend every waking moment (and even moments I was supposed to be asleep) tending to their needs. I felt that I was fasting to be nearer to God and I wasn’t doing anything to that effect, so I quit.
Posted on May 19, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Idhrendur said:
1. That I’ll be unable to do what I need to during the day (I tend to experience high levels of dizziness both when starting and ending a fast). Working in a grocery store (on my feet all day and needing to be sharp and fast) makes it all the more critical to be in good shape.
2. For extended fasts, that I’ll ruin my health. I’m extremely skinny, so I don’t have much in the way of fat reserves to burn. I fasted for a week once and everyone thought I was deathly ill.
3. Not really a fear, but until recently, I would fast out of obedience, but could never trace any spiritual growth (or any spiritual effect) to the fast. I was just hungry for a day or three. That’s been changing recently, though.
And actually, this last week, I fasted on a day I worked eight hours. I was chugging down Gatoraid all day, and it seemed to mostly resolve fear #1.
Posted on May 20, 2007 at 12:31 am
Sharon said:
Sometimes I get really moody when I fast and that’s kind of depressing.
Posted on May 20, 2007 at 2:19 pm
What are Your Questions About Fasting | The Fight Spot said:
[...] weekend I asked about any fears you have towards fasting and I saw quite a few common fears that I would suspect many more people have. So to add to what we [...]
Posted on May 21, 2007 at 5:02 am
Randy said:
My fears r/t fasting are that 1) I will be fasting and this will cause problems with pride. I know that many of us begin a fast with the best intentions and wind up thinking, perhaps unconciously, “Wow I have been on this fast for a week and none of the other Christians I know are even fasting at all.”
My second fear is that I will not spend the time I gain from not eating doing something that does nothing to further my spiriual walk. In this country, we have so much, many of us are not even aware of God’s abundant provision toward us.
Maybe I can focus on what the Lord has provided and dedicate a portion of what I have to furthering His Kingdom.
Posted on May 21, 2007 at 8:48 am
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Posted on May 21, 2007 at 1:06 pm
5 Quick Tips for Fasting | The Fight Spot said:
[...] was wrong and so over the next week (and then-some) I want to answer & address some of your fears and questions about fasting as well as give some basic teaching on how and why to [...]
Posted on May 22, 2007 at 11:16 pm
yiayiarocks said:
In my religion we fast by going without food and water. So we usually only fast for a day or so because going without food and water for too long is dangerous. I’m just surprised at discovering that there are people who actually go without food for weeks. Do you all have fasting rules? Can you drink anything you want?
My fear of fasting is getting sick. Sometimes when I get hungry I physically get ill. I feel shaky and weak, like I might faint. And those physical symptoms make me afraid to fast.
Posted on November 27, 2007 at 1:31 pm