Day 3 Jentezen Franklin Fasting - Answers Are Waiting in His Presence

Private disciplines - public rewards. The story of the American Indian chief who tested his warriors to see if they had climbed the hill or not was interesting. Asking God for divine instructions and having a goal for the fast -these are things that I am applying this time that are not always a part of a day fast.

I have seen fasting this week especially as a time for cleansing (health value), but spiritually from my flesh. I have seen how much time we spend around preparing and eating food. I have seen how much I feed my flesh in food. Last week, I would not have said that food controlled me. But through these few days of purposefully setting aside of eating food, I've seen how much it influences me. I do want to have more desire for God than food right now.

We are also realizing how much time we spend shopping, preparing, eating and cleaning up. This is something we enjoy and usually do together, so not a bad thing in itself. But we notice a lot of extra time this week to spend praying, reading, and other good things.

(Reminds me of an animated film, Over the Hedge, where the forest animals are remarking about humans and their focus on food....in which they also included the time we spend exercising to make up for overeating, and working to make the money to buy it....)

As an aside....growing up, the church would also take an alms offering after the fast where people were asked to give the money "saved" from the fast to help the poor.