Fasting #2

Fasting says that my soul is more hungry for God than my body is for food. My soul wants God more than my body wants food.

 As with most lumberjack lore, one tale has circulated for years about two lumberjacks having a tree-cutting competition.

As the story goes, a strong, young lumberjack challenged a respected veteran lumberjack to a contest. The young man wanted to prove himself, believing that he could cut more trees in one day than the older man.

The contest began early one morning. Relying on his own strength and stamina, the young man began swinging his ax through first one tree and then another. As the day progressed, he was certain he was winning because he could see that the old man was taking several breaks. All the while the young man just kept swinging his ax, felling one tree after another. At day’s end, the young man stood confidently by, waiting for the official count from the other lumberjacks.

To his shock and dismay, the old lumberjack had cut down at least a third more trees than the younger man. In frustration the young lumberjack conceded victory to his veteran competitor, but he wanted to know the man’s secret. He wanted to know how he managed to beat him considering his age and the number of breaks he took throughout the day. The older, wiser man kindly replied, “Son, what you don’t understand is that every time I sat down for what you call a break, I was sharpening my ax. A well-sharpened ax makes for a lot less work, so trees fall faster.”

The problem for so many of us is our ax is dull. We have lost the spiritual sharpness in our lives, our homes, our marriages, and our commitment to the Lord.

The disciples lost their sharpness in Matt 17:

Matthew 17:14–21 NASB95

14 When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” 17 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Matthew 2. Jesus Easily Casts the Demon out (17–21)

“He that would overcome the devil in certain instances must first overcome heaven by prayer, and conquer himself by self-denial.” (Spurgeon)

Like the disciples doesn't it seem like some mountains in our life are not moving? Then we go on a fast and begin to mix it with faith for what we are believing for. But nothing happens. Nothing that we can see anyway.

Bible likens Faith to a seed being planted.

The soil and the heart.

We put it underground and cover it. It begins to sprout but we can’t see it sprout.

Before long, impatience sets in. The mountains seem even bigger than they were before, and your seed isn’t showing any sprouts—no matter what you do. You begin to think, “

Did I really get that word from God?”You end up getting discouraged. You dig your fingers in and pull your seed out too early, destroying the promise.

Sometimes we can’t make it past a day or so on a fast because we get discouraged. We listen to our flesh instead of continuing in faith and feel worse than when we started. What happened to walking by faith and not by sight? Faith and patience must go together.

In need of Patience which girds our faith. Constancy .