How do Christians exercise self-control in the abstinence of food during fasting?
Upvote:3
First, and foremost, fasting is a wonderful discipline which teaches you to subject your flesh to the desires of your heart. It is an exercise in which you will struggle. The truth is is, our flesh may have been sacrificed (Rom 12:1) and crucified (Gal 2:20), but it is still with us! (Rom 7).
As an exercise, it is primarily an exercise in willpower. It is the conscious decision, for a set period of time, to force your body to do what your mind and spirit know is best. In way, it is much as Douglas Adams described flying -
Flying is the art of attempting to hit the ground and missing!
In the case of fasting, it means that every time you are tempted to eat during the prescribed period, you take that thought captive (2 Cor 10:5), consciously decide to not act on the impulse, and instead turn to God. Fasting for more than a few hours means repeating this a lot. In the same way that jumping jacks and pushups are hard work, so too is fasting!
For a more thorough treatment of the topic, the classic book on the subject is Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline. He'll give many more practical applications of how to do this. (What to eat, what you'll your experience, how to deal with the hunger pains, etc...)
As one example (and I forget if this Foster or someone else), your first 24-hour fast should be from lunch of day one, skip dinner, sleep (when you'll be most hungry), and skip breakfast. Eat a light lunch. Also, be sure to drink lots and lots of water during the day.
More post
- 📝 What is the meaning of the strange fire in Leviticus 10:1?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying that Aquinas accepted the Immaculate Conception?
- 📝 Are there any examples of Jesus praying publicly?
- 📝 Did any of the Church Fathers believe in natural theology?
- 📝 Sons of Belial in 1 Kings 21-10
- 📝 What evidence is there that the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic?
- 📝 Is the English translation of "Book of Mormon" ever revised or updated, and if so, on what basis given that the golden plates have disappeared?
- 📝 Why do we have to go to organized institutions to practice our beliefs?
- 📝 Why is the Catholic Church called "The Roman Catholic Church"?
- 📝 For Biblical Unitarians, are there divine attributes that the Father has but the Son doesn't?
- 📝 Did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for using fake 'vaccine passes'?
- 📝 When was it first said in Christianity by a Church Father that heretics must be tortured physically?
- 📝 Did Aquinas believe that church bells ward off bad weather?
- 📝 How are John 18:36 and Matthew 13:41 reconciled according to Protestants?
- 📝 What is a Friar and what do they do?
- 📝 How should we dress when attending church?
- 📝 What is meant by "God is Omnipotent"?
- 📝 Do angels pray for us?
- 📝 What is the biblical argument for eating meat, or that vegetarianism is possible but not commanded?
- 📝 According to Evangelicalism when did Jesus become the High Priest?
- 📝 According to Jehovah's Witnesses what does the Bible say about Easter?
- 📝 Why did people stop worshipping God after experiencing the flood?
- 📝 What is the difference between "called" and "chosen"?
- 📝 If a person undergoes an emergency baptism, then recovers, do they need a "non-emergency" baptism?
- 📝 Is it true that Martin Luther never considered the works of the early Church Fathers?
- 📝 Are there philosophical explanations for why God would allow animals to suffer due to non-human causes?
- 📝 Hand Picked Bible Applications
- 📝 When were Gentiles under Law?
- 📝 An Original Source Containing the Sermon of St. Leonard of Port Maurice: The Little Number of Those Who are Saved
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How do Christians exercise self-control in the abstinence of food during fasting?
- 📝 How widespread was the observance of the Jewish Sabbath among Christians during Early Christianity (A.D. 30–324)?
- 📝 How did the fasting and abstinence requirements of Lenten Ember Days differ from other days of Lent in the United States?
- 📝 How do Christians understand the omniscience of God in relation to the Uncertainty Principle?
- 📝 How do traditional Christians defend the teaching that Paul is an authentic apostle?
- 📝 How could Jesus be born during the reign of Herod, and when Quirinius was governor of Syria, if those periods were not contemporary?
- 📝 According to the Bible, how should Christians meditate?
- 📝 For how long did the early Christians share all their possessions?
- 📝 How common were blasphemy accusations and trials among the Jews during the time of Jesus?
- 📝 How do Christians reconcile archeology with the Bible in the account of the Battle of Jericho?
- 📝 How did Christians cultivate their knowledge of the Bible before mass-printing of the Bible?
- 📝 How do Christians who reject pre-fall death reconcile their views with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (66 million years ago)?
- 📝 How do Christians respond to the criticism that Jesus of Nazareth did not bring world peace?
- 📝 How does 1 John 2:19 fit with the teaching that Christians can lose their salvation
- 📝 How can Christians reconcile the request to prohibit same-sex marriage and the lawfulness of h*m*sexuality itself?
- 📝 How is the belief that Christians are both adopted and begotten sons of God reconciled?
- 📝 How do Theistic Evolutionists who are Christians reconcile these Scriptures with the adoption of evolutionary theory?
- 📝 How did Christians respond to abortion in the early Church?
- 📝 How do Christians that do not believe in inerrancy interpret the Bible?
- 📝 How do Continuationists explain the fact that the vast majority of Christians have never personally experienced "overtly miraculous" spiritual gifts?
- 📝 How do Christians understand the existence of God in relation to the scientific concept of energy?
- 📝 How many Christians have actually read the whole Bible?
- 📝 How did Christians of WW1/WW2 view the book of Revelation?
- 📝 How do Eastern Christians explain Jesus "sending" the Holy Spirit in John 15:26?
- 📝 How does the Hebrew Roots movement handle Paul's statements which imply Christians should not be enslaved to the Jewish Law?
- 📝 How is the new anti-conversion law going to affect Christians in India?
- 📝 How widespread was Marian devotion during the first two centuries of Christianity?
- 📝 How do Christians rebut Matt Dillahunty's objection that the resurrection of Jesus is untestable, unfalsifiable and thus unreasonable to believe?
- 📝 How do Christians who insist upon keeping the 7th day Sabbath explain Acts 15?
- 📝 How do Christians who adhere to the maxim “in essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; and in all things charity” determine what is essential?