Day two: one cup of cocoa in the late morning, one bowl of sweet potato soup in the late afternoon with 2 thin slices of steam carrot mashed in rice paste, a bowl of vegetable soup in the evening, and a small bowl of red bean soup at night.
Day three: one slice of whole meal bread (as he thought he heard the wife say to take it in his dream), one hard-boil egg, and one cup of cocoa for breakfast, one cup of warm drink in the afternoon, one bowl of vegetable soup with a small slice of fish in the evening. For supper he took one cookie and one cup of soymilk.
Difficulties encountered: 1. His mind was on food all the time. He felt tired and sleepy. He slept early and long hours. 2. By the third day morning he dreamed that his wife asked him to take breakfast so he got up and went to take one slice of bread thereby breaking the fast. 3. For the first time of his life he felt cold in normal temperature. So he was tempted to take warm sweet drink. The proper fasting advice is that he should avoid taking sweet drink. 4. He tried to stretch his cocoa drink to last two hours by taking small sips and it became quite horrible to drink after the first half hour.
Lessons learned and benefits gained:
1. He learned to feel how a starving man felt (so he thought) as he wanted to stretch the cup of cocoa.
2. Prayer has improved: instead of praying the usual repeated parochial issues (family, own church, own city etc), he was led by the Holy Spirit to see the whole earth as a tiny globe, and it looked so pitiful heading towards destruction without knowing its true direction and destiny. So he interceded from his new vision, seeing how big and vast God is and acknowledging how insignificant humans are and how ridiculous the things that we spend so much time worrying and bickering about.
3. He also acknowledged more readily his biggest sin, that is, “unbelief” in many areas of his life, not wanting to trust God fully, like the nine disciples who could not handle the epileptic boy with a mute demon.
4. He learned from reading more about fasting prayer. The following are excerpts of his reading of Ezra 8:21-23 from the New Spirit Filled Life Bible on “fasting for spiritual breakthrough”
a. For guidance: they petitioned God to lead them in a right way. b. For assistance: they petitioned God for protecting their little ones. c. For substance: petitioned God to guard their possessions (for God’s temple).
“Fasting is a sacrificial form of prayer warfare that produces results available in no other way.” (especially in demonic deliverance). “It is a sacrificial denial of necessary nourishment which turns one’s attention to seeking God during that denial.”
5. He also learned from a teaching that when he fasts his body will manifest symptoms of sickness and discomfort. He is not to panic. Headaches and other bodily pains may be signs of his being delivered and cleansed.
6. He experienced the assurance that the presence of the Lord (Jesus) actually refreshes the believer. (Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”)
7. During worship service at night, he was more focused and not distracted like before. He spent most of the time praying in the spirit. When he asked the Holy Spirit to show him something to intercede for he suddenly saw in his mind a vast country covered by muddy flood water. People were bobbing up and down in the water. So he interceded fervently for that country.
Overall: He learned that he was not really fasting the way he should be. There was hardly any sacrificial denial of the body. He was not fully seeking God and spending time in God’s presence. So he decided to start again the three days fast in the coming weekend. Meanwhile he continued to fast one-two meals a day and taking light meals or liquid and praying daily.
There was one other breakthrough. Today he was woken at 4am and he got up without hesitation as he felt a terrible feeling inside and knew that he had to intercede as instructed. He obeyed the call (something which he had stopped doing for a long time). After this experience he is again looking forward to such daily encounter in future.
23-9-09
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