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Fasting Journal Day 5 – February 27, 2010

I started this book last night and man I just wanted to stay up all night and read but I was really tired so I picked it back up this morning. I recommended another little book yesterday and I can already recommend this one and I haven’t finished it yet. Great teaching from the heart of Pastor Ronnie Floyd who has completed 5 forty day fasts at the time of the book in 2009.

I slept less last night and from what I have experienced in previous fasts, the hours of sleep will become less as I go along. It is my understanding that I will need less sleep after a time of extended fasting. Today has been a great day. I have spent most of the day reading this book as well as working on my Sunday Night Live Sermon. I was able to take a short nap this afternoon. Tonight we went to dinner with my mom and dad, I only had my water and even though I wanted to eat, I still have not been hungry.

I have an overall feeling of wellness. As we were driving to town it dawned on me that my body felt at rest. It was a great feeling. As I have said in previous fasts, I hope to eat better when I do return to regular eating.

I am starting to see things in scripture that I have not seen before. In my time of study it just seems that my mind is more clear. I love the way I am feeling and I am still amazed at the power food has over us. I read a couple of days ago that a healthy adult man could live 50 to 75 days on nothing but water without any physical damage, wow.

My prayers haven’t changed, I am praying and fasting for the souls of 3000 people. My prayer is that between February 23rd, 2010 and Pentecost Sunday May 23rd, 2010 that 3000 people will be saved and baptized in Holston Conference.

I have been encouraged by quite a few people who are fasting in some way with me. I know of one other pastor in Holston that is fasting the entire 40 days with me. There are some adults in Hillsville that started when I did and will fast an entire week and then others who plan to do their week during my fast so that someone is nearby fasting the entire 40 days along with me. One of the amazing things is the number of youth who are fasting in different ways with me over the 40 days. Some are fasting 2 meals a day and then the final week and others are doing fasts from 1 to 3 days.

I believe this is a fast that God has called me to and my desire to see 3000 saved by Pentecost May 23rd is greater than my desire to eat. I appreciate your prayers for me but most of all for the 3000.

This is my 5th day of fasting, 35 to go.

Ronnie

PS, there have been many people asking questions about my fast and a friend sent me this video. As I go through the 40 days I will blog about what God is showing me in scripture as well as answering questions that people may have.

Enjoy the video.

The Skinny on Fasting

February 27, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | 40 Day Fasting Journal, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fasting Journal Day 4 – February 26, 2010

This is almost the conclusion of my fourth day of fasting for 3000 souls. Today has been a great day with absolutely no hunger. I am again amazed the power our stomachs have over us because I still want to eat. It is my desire, not my need and not even what is necessarily good for me.

I have read the little book, “The Miracle Results of Fasting” by Dave Williams today. It is just under 90 pages and a small book. I recommend it highly.I posted a book review here on the blog of this book, take a look. You can order it from amazon.com for about 5 dollars.

I walked 2.2 miles today and it felt great to be outside. Afterward I was very sleepy but the grandkids came over to spend the night and there was no chance of sleeping so I snapped out of it.

I have had lots of water today, some mixed with fresh lemons. I have found that hot water with fresh squeezed lemon is a nice drink to warm the body and replaces the usual coffee. It makes for a nice change to just plain water.

It has been a great day. By the way, if we didn’t do so much of our life around food, fasting would not be near as difficult.

Ronnie

February 26, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | 40 Day Fasting Journal, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fasting Journal Day 3 – February 25, 2010

This is my 3rd day of fasting. I will say again as yesterday, I have not been hungry. The desire to eat is pretty strong, especially when I am around the smell of food. I actually had a meeting over lunch at Fats Cafe in Dublin today with District Youth Leaders and I didn’t really struggle all that much, although the food looked GREAT!

Last night I dreamed about my dog Esau who died 20 months ago. Esau would have been 16 years old if he had lived until December 5th 2008. He was one of the best friends I ever had and God taught me so much through Esau. He was a little Pomeranian and lots of people said that I looked odd as a big man with a little dog but that didn’t matter. Esau is like one of my children and by the way, I believe that Esau and I will be together again in heaven when I die.

I am not sure what God may have been saying to me through the dream and I do believe that God speaks in this way. I know there was a feeling of peace when I found Esau. In the dream I knew that he had died and when I found him I wondered why he was back alive again. He wasn’t any different, still the way he was at 15 years of age, not a puppy or anything. It was a great dream. The reason I mention this is because I don’t dream very much unless I am fasting, I expect God to speak to me through dreams in these 40 days.

I am reminded again today how much our stomachs have control over us. We plan so many things around eating. It has become a way of life to the point that we live to eat rather than eating to live. I don’t think it was ever meant to be that way.

I have been really sleepy and have slept great the last 2 nights. I am hoping that this period will leave me soon, although I hope to keep sleeping good at night.

I am reading through the New Testament and you will see blog posts here over the next few days where God is revealing things to me.

There are several people who are fasting the entire 40 days with me and many others who are fasting 1 week of the 40 days and still others who are fasting one day each week. One of my youth @ Out Of The Box has chosen to fast 2 meals a day and then the final week of my fast. He has made this decision in conjunction with his family and I am just amazed at his commitment.

Still some people believe what I am doing is unattainable but I relate it to running a Marathon. You do 26.2 miles 1 step at a time and you fast 40 days each moment. Each moment I am looking for that insight or that nugget that God is showing me on this Marathon Journey.

God is awesome!

Ronnie

February 25, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | 40 Day Fasting Journal, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fasting Journal Day 2 – February 24, 2010

Wow, it is simply amazing to live out a fast. It is amazing to find out just how much control the stomach and our desires have over us. If you have never fasted then you just simply need to do so. Jesus fasted, Moses fasted, Elijah fasted, and Daniel, as did many people in the scriptures and many people have done since the time the bible was written.

Fasting gives new understanding to the verse which says in Matthew 26: 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

I can honestly say almost 2 days into this fast that I am not nor have I been hungry. However, I have wanted to eat. I want to eat because of good and bad reasons. I want to eat because I know to some degree we need food for energy and I want to eat for bad reasons, because I love sweets and even though I know they are bad for me I eat them anyway.

I will soon talk about scripture and the fact that Jesus expects us to fast just as he expects us to give and to pray, check out Matthew chapter 6 for details on that. But for now I am just thinking about the sad fact that so many of us are controlled by our desires in this life. So many of us have desires that are wrong and we act on them because we like it or it feels good.

I can understand why God would have us fast. It is a means of taming the flesh, a way of saying to our wants and desires, this may feel good, this may taste good but it is not what is best for you. As a matter of fact what we eat can have damaging effects on us and cause us to live a shorter period of time than we were meant to live. The substances, foods, etc, that we put into our bodies often times are causing us to commit what I once heard termed “successive suicide”. We eat things that are killing us little by little, we drink things that are successively killing us and even before they kill us they are making us less than we really should be.

These are things we must think about. Have you ever fasted? Did you know that the average healthy person can live 50 to 75 days with nothing but water? It will not kill us to go without food for a few days and as a matter of fact it would be good for our physical health and especially good for our spiritual health.

I hope you will join me. Start with missing a couple of meals, turn it into a day and eventually God may lead you to do an extended fast. I am thankful for the lessons I am learning.

Ronnie

February 24, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | 40 Day Fasting Journal, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fasting Journal Day 1 – February 23, 2010

I began my fast actually last night around 930pm. I am coming up on the completion of the first 24 hours and I feel just fine. I do have a slight headache and that is likely from not having the coffee that I have become so accustomed to.

I have had some thoughts today that could be life changing if I follow through and I fully intend to do just that.

If a person fasts for 40 days, it could easily be the greatest opportunity for a total life change. For a person who drinks coffee or soda, it could be that you will feel so much better you will never pick them up again. For a person who is addicted to any food, such as chocolate, sweets in general, whatever it may be, if you can put it down for 40 days, you could put it away forever.

I have had a busy day and have felt great except for being sleepy. I read earlier that when you fast, your body is resting and you should even come to the place that you need less sleep. I don’t sleep a lot as it is but I could use more. It would be great to be able to sleep 5 hours a night and do well on that amount.

Spiritually, I can honestly say that my thoughts have been more focused on God and scripture today. I attribute this to the fact that I am excited about what God is going to do during the next 40/50/90 days. I have committed to a 40 Day Fast in order to seek Gods Face and to  be able to hear His voice. I am asking God to give us 3000 souls for our labor in Holston Conference.

There is no room for legalism in the fast. It is from my heart and I intend to do whatever it takes to honor God in these 40 days. I am planning to eat no food during these 40 days, however if I become weak and need the nutrition I will have a bowl of soup, or a glass of juice, just something that will sustain me and allow me to go on. I am drinking plenty of water and may have a diet soda occasionally to have some taste in my mouth.

Many people are excited, they are praying, and many are fasting from different things in order to draw closer to God. It has been too long, people are hungry to see revival break out in this Country and in this World. It has been a long time since we have seen a move of God where people are saved and truly changed.

I believe this is the time.

Ronnie`

February 23, 2010 Posted by imagebearer | 40 Day Fasting Journal, Uncategorized | 1 Comment