“Pastor, my church has started fasting and prayer today, but how do I fast when I go to work everyday?”
Firstly, fasting is work on its own, and mixing it with any other form of work may render it ineffective. Have you ever tried to do two jobs at the same time? Most of the references on fasting we’d find in scriptures are mostly described as a season of seperation, especially from anything that distracts.
However, considering the fact that we live in a very busy world – where needs pile up every moment, one may not have the liberty to seperate himself from his job, especially if he’s under someone else’s employment. Don’t get me wrong, seperate yourself or take a leave if you can, but in cases where you can not, there are quite a number of things you can do to maximize the fasting season.
One of the greatest hindrance to the operation of man’s spirit is physical food. The more you feed your flesh, the less operational or the less active your spirit man will be. We’re told from scriptures that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God; in other words, our manifestations as sons of God can only be possible through our spirit. Unfortunately, many Christians haven’t felt their spirit in a long time. And that’s because they are more alive in their body than in their spirit.
This is one of the benefits that fasting brings; even if you don’t have time to pray or study the word as you fast, your abstainance from food will make your spirit man more alive. Perhaps you may have noticed that anytime you don’t attend to hunger, once that hunger phase passes, your spirit man becomes alive. You may find yourself singing worship songs from deep within your heart. Hunger is the border between the physical man and the spirit man. If you can overcome hunger, then your spirit man will come alive in you. Unfortunately, many Christians rush to attend to their hunger the moment the feeling of hunger sets in. I don’t blame them though, we all know how difficult it is to cross a border.
We have to be deliberate about developing our Christian life, and we can’t develop our Christian life without the operation of our spirit man. Fasting does not start in the morning, it starts after we have overcome hunger. Our spirit man becomes active after we have overcome hunger, and that’s when we become more sensitive to receive from God. So if you fast till 12 noon and it happens that the hunger just set in, then you may have to endure till the hunger releases you. It’s at that moment that your spirit man becomes active. This is one of the most powerful secrets you’d probably learn about fasting.
Once you’ve overcome hunger, your body would naturally become light, which literally means that you’d be sustained by your spirit. At that moment, take out time to pray extensively. And if you work in a bank, then use your break time to pray. If you have extra time, study books or the Bible – focusing on areas that addresses the issues you’re fasting for. Remember the last article I wrote on fasting, the revelation you get during your study time would make your prayer time more enjoyable.
Generally, for those who work while they engage in a fast, the night time would be a great time to acquire as many revelations that would be needed for your prayer time. I’ve said this over and again, don’t go into prayers without a scriptural revelation that addresses what you want to pray about. God only does according to His will, not our will.
Except for those who have been practicing, not many people can still study after they’ve crossed the hunger border, so the advise would be to pray as much as you can at that moment. One of the advantages of praying with an active spirit is that you can tell when your prayer is answered.
Most workers make excuses that their job would easily make them hungry, and that they may not be able to fast. The truth is, hunger has symptoms. When you get hungry, you may begin to feel ache on your head, you may feel tired, you may feel dizzy, and just anything can happen just so you attend to that hunger, but I tell you, if you can endure a little longer, that hunger will pass and those symptoms will disappear. Hunger comes like a visitor that wants urgent attention, but just like other visitors, it can leave when not attended to.
In all, a congregational season of fasting is an opportunity to enliven your spirit man. Even if all you were able to do is worship God – which is something that comes automatically when your spirit is operational, it would do your Christian life some good.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
#EmekaAnslem
