I haven’t been living this consistently myself, but I am heading in this direction. Fasting is powerful, as I have pointed out on this website in other places, but a “fasted lifestyle” is also very powerful. To live a fasted lifestyle means never eating all you want, but only what you need. It helps you stay connected and tuned in with God all the time. And that is what we need in this hour.
There is a self-indulgence in food which is common to many Christians today. Its not considered as sinful as something like smoking, but it could be argued that it is just as harmful. After all, a lot of the food people eat today is actually quite unhealthy. You can research the subject on the internet – plenty has been said about it. The reality is that a lot of Christian people are loading their bodies with toxins, and becoming weak, sluggish and ineffective as a result. Fasting and healthy eating will go a long way to improving our performance in every area of life.
How many hours would you like to lose every day? How many hours a day would you like to find it hard to pray? If the answer is ZERO hours, then I recommend cutting back on the amount of food you eat. This especially applies to those of us in Western nations that live a fairly sedentary lifestyle and can afford to buy lots of food. Hard manual workers definitely need to eat more. There is no use starving yourself if it makes you physically weak. But its amazing how much energy there is in our food anyway. And the body can be trained to use the energy more efficiently. Just give it less to work with and it will work more efficiently.
The Bible says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:30). The challenge for us all is not to eat those extra mouthfuls of food if they have a negative impact on our capacity to demonstrate God’s Spirit and glorify God by receiving promises from God.
Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says “Be temperate in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). This means controlling our natural appetites.
In our battle with Satanic forces, we need to take hold of every advantage we can get. When we give up fleshly indulgence in the area of food, we are rewarded with a greater spiritual richness in our consciousness of the power and goodness of God.
John Wesley commented on 1 Corinthians 9:25 saying “And every one that there contendeth is temperate in all things – To an almost incredible degree; using the most rigorous self denial in food, sleep, and every other sensual indulgence. A corruptible crown – A garland of leaves, which must soon wither. The moderns only have discovered that it is legal to do all this and more for an eternal crown than they did for a corruptible!”
There is power in saying “No” to excessive sleep as well as excessive food. These are the things that good soldiers have to do if they are going to be able to fight with maximum effectiveness. We are called to this. Don’t say you don’t have enough time to pray, if you are wasting hours every day by intemperate living. The reality is, most of us can improve in this area. If many of us do, we are going to see a big difference in results.
Please let me know if this article has spoken to you and what issues it raises in your life. I would like to encourage you to be the best you can be in God!