We're on a Mission from God
Serving Your Soul: Challenge One "God Before Apple Pie"
Watch Video Below
Summer Fast Challenge:
As Pastor John Piper stated in his book, A Hunger for God, sometimes "God's greatest adversaries are his gifts". This all stems from man's temptation to worship the created things instead of the creator. This is why God gave us the first two commandments, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make before me any graven image". These commandments were first because God knew he had pre-wired our brains to worship and he designed our souls to be attracted to him, but in our brokenness we look for shortcuts to our worship of God and allow our souls to be satisfied with substitutes for God.
This is why the spiritual practice of fasting is good for your soul. It helps you retrain or realign the desires of your soul towards their rightful place, God.
Now as I stated in the video, technically, fasting is supposed to be from food. To deprive yourself of anything else is considered an ascetic practice, like the yearly practice of Lent. But for our purposes, we will consider abstaining from any of God's gifts as a fast for this summer.
DIRECTIONS FOR FASTING:
Fasting from food: If you have never fasted before, I don't recommend going more than a day to begin with. In fact, just fasting for one meal a day is completely fine. For example, you could fast at breakfast or lunch every day for a week. Remember, the goal of fasting is not to make yourself feel better because you can check something off your religious checklist. The goal is retrain and redirect the desires of your soul towards God. The fruit of continued practice for fasting is that you will begin to learn how to enjoy God's blessing even more than you do now.
During your fasting time, one will typically pray. You don't have to sit in a corner and do this. Go for a walk with God and talk about your desires. If you like writing consider using a journal to write about your experience when you fast. I want to encourage you to experiment with different times and rhythms of fasting. If fasting from food is not option, consider the list of good things that John Piper mentioned in his book : Coffee, TV, Social Media, Desserts (Apple Pie), etc... The idea is to abstain from something you love to focus on whom you love more, GOD!
Scripture to Meditate on while you fast: Matthew 6:16-17; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14
Warnings and Suggestions:
1) If you would like to fast longer than a day, and you have never fasted before, beware...you might get "hangry". If you find yourself getting stressed, eat something and call off the fast and try it again another time. Your stress might defeat the purpose and focus of the fast.
2) If you have health concerns please consult your doctor before attempting to fast from food. Keep in mind you can still drink water, juice, coffee, etc... (You can set your own rules, but going crazy with sugary drinks and lattes full of calories kind of defeats the purpose).
3) And most important, don't fast from something you are really addicted to. For example, if you have a unhealthy habit like smoking, not smoking for a day is NOT A FAST. When I fast, I still have coffee, if I don't I'll get a headache or be grumpy. Now, if I do a fast that is longer than one day, by day two or three I can go without coffee.
4) Plan accordingly: summer is supposed to be fun. Don't plan to fast around family cookouts and other summer events. Enjoy your summer.
Contact me if you questions at Jason@adventurecommunity.org. Below is a snap shot of John Piper's book I quoted in the video. You can pick it up on Amazon, its a good read.
I'm a Soul Man,
Pastor Jason
Watch Video Below
Summer Fast Challenge:
As Pastor John Piper stated in his book, A Hunger for God, sometimes "God's greatest adversaries are his gifts". This all stems from man's temptation to worship the created things instead of the creator. This is why God gave us the first two commandments, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make before me any graven image". These commandments were first because God knew he had pre-wired our brains to worship and he designed our souls to be attracted to him, but in our brokenness we look for shortcuts to our worship of God and allow our souls to be satisfied with substitutes for God.
This is why the spiritual practice of fasting is good for your soul. It helps you retrain or realign the desires of your soul towards their rightful place, God.
Now as I stated in the video, technically, fasting is supposed to be from food. To deprive yourself of anything else is considered an ascetic practice, like the yearly practice of Lent. But for our purposes, we will consider abstaining from any of God's gifts as a fast for this summer.
DIRECTIONS FOR FASTING:
Fasting from food: If you have never fasted before, I don't recommend going more than a day to begin with. In fact, just fasting for one meal a day is completely fine. For example, you could fast at breakfast or lunch every day for a week. Remember, the goal of fasting is not to make yourself feel better because you can check something off your religious checklist. The goal is retrain and redirect the desires of your soul towards God. The fruit of continued practice for fasting is that you will begin to learn how to enjoy God's blessing even more than you do now.
During your fasting time, one will typically pray. You don't have to sit in a corner and do this. Go for a walk with God and talk about your desires. If you like writing consider using a journal to write about your experience when you fast. I want to encourage you to experiment with different times and rhythms of fasting. If fasting from food is not option, consider the list of good things that John Piper mentioned in his book : Coffee, TV, Social Media, Desserts (Apple Pie), etc... The idea is to abstain from something you love to focus on whom you love more, GOD!
Scripture to Meditate on while you fast: Matthew 6:16-17; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14
Warnings and Suggestions:
1) If you would like to fast longer than a day, and you have never fasted before, beware...you might get "hangry". If you find yourself getting stressed, eat something and call off the fast and try it again another time. Your stress might defeat the purpose and focus of the fast.
2) If you have health concerns please consult your doctor before attempting to fast from food. Keep in mind you can still drink water, juice, coffee, etc... (You can set your own rules, but going crazy with sugary drinks and lattes full of calories kind of defeats the purpose).
3) And most important, don't fast from something you are really addicted to. For example, if you have a unhealthy habit like smoking, not smoking for a day is NOT A FAST. When I fast, I still have coffee, if I don't I'll get a headache or be grumpy. Now, if I do a fast that is longer than one day, by day two or three I can go without coffee.
4) Plan accordingly: summer is supposed to be fun. Don't plan to fast around family cookouts and other summer events. Enjoy your summer.
Contact me if you questions at Jason@adventurecommunity.org. Below is a snap shot of John Piper's book I quoted in the video. You can pick it up on Amazon, its a good read.
I'm a Soul Man,
Pastor Jason
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