It's like this, isn't it?
Just like what we talked about last night at care group.
When you start fasting to believe God for something and to train yourself in discipline by abstaining from something that is otherwise a big part of your life and could possibly even take your attention away from God and important things (even though it's something neutral on its own), you are often immediately faced with temptations.
(Side note: When you abstain, you are also meant to shift your focus onto God and the more important things and to take the time to work on your attitudes and character and to basically seek God and press into His presence and let Him speak to you about whatever it is He places upon your heart or you specifically ask about. Yes, it's something along those lines without getting too complicated)
So anyway, back to what to abstain. In my case, it's food.
I am big on food. Like huge. I love it, I really do.
We're starting our full fast as of Sunday and we're ending on Wednesday night. As we won't be eating any solids and will certainly not be cheating by replacing our meals with really thick milkshakes and other such goodies, it can be a bit of a shock to the system so Fab and I are trying to ease into it by fasting two meals a day from today (breakfast and lunch).
Problem is the food that I sometimes get surrounded with at work. Today is the perfect example. My colleague, who has a habit of blessing the rest of us with cinnamon donuts, spotted more on special at his local Coles last night and so we all got the usual email informing us that the donuts were waiting for us in the tea room. I have a weakness for plain cinnamon donuts by the way. If they were the ones with icing, that would be a different story as I don't fancy those.
I caved when another colleague came round to ask if I would like to take a walk with her a couple of others to go get some juice. Was going to be thrifty and just not buy anything but I gave in and bought a regular freshly squeezed fruit blend of orange, pineapple, passion fruit and apple. While on our way, one of them said, "Hey, I won't be bringing in lunch tomorrow. Suddenly felt to join everyone else to get something. (His mum packs extras from their scrumptious dinner the night before for him everyday) So, shall we go out for lunch tomorrow with some of the others? Oh, I feel like ice cream now...how about I get you one too?" I was like, "Jason! Your timing is "impeccable" (notice inverted commas)!" Aah!". I eventually blurted out that I was fasting and so he agreed we could wait to organise this some other time. When we returned to the office, I avoided sitting with them in the tea room altogether.
And then (as if it couldn't get worse), I kept getting people come round to tell me that a whole tray of great food had been brought to the tea room as someone had catered for a work function and there were plenty of leftovers. Argh! Gourmet sandwiches and cakes and fruit and a whole selection of other delectable bits.
Oh, and did I mention that when we ordered our juice, the lady took forever to make mine though I went first? She even made the orders of people who came after us...I got a bit cranky but then God reminded me that in times like this He looks at our responses as they tell a lot about what is really inside our hearts. Yes, my response certainly revealed a huge character flaw.
Oh man, I am wondering how I am going to get through this until Thursday. Have to really try and focus on God and spend time with Him to get myself right in the heart. Haven't started really praying yet and to be honest, personal devotional time with Him has been pretty non existent since way back when (I confess). I've been battling with Him in terms of what I would like Him to tell me and what I would rather not hear. It's terrible as I often try to call the shots with things even though He is God and I am not.
There is so much work to be done in terms of getting myself sorted before the coming Presbytery starting Tuesday night (which is kind of why we are fasting in the first place). Lots of preparation to be carried out. Hopefully I will be all soft and responsive by the time we get to Tuesday. As opposed to resistant and full of complaints and demands.
Just like what we talked about last night at care group.
When you start fasting to believe God for something and to train yourself in discipline by abstaining from something that is otherwise a big part of your life and could possibly even take your attention away from God and important things (even though it's something neutral on its own), you are often immediately faced with temptations.
(Side note: When you abstain, you are also meant to shift your focus onto God and the more important things and to take the time to work on your attitudes and character and to basically seek God and press into His presence and let Him speak to you about whatever it is He places upon your heart or you specifically ask about. Yes, it's something along those lines without getting too complicated)
So anyway, back to what to abstain. In my case, it's food.
I am big on food. Like huge. I love it, I really do.
We're starting our full fast as of Sunday and we're ending on Wednesday night. As we won't be eating any solids and will certainly not be cheating by replacing our meals with really thick milkshakes and other such goodies, it can be a bit of a shock to the system so Fab and I are trying to ease into it by fasting two meals a day from today (breakfast and lunch).
Problem is the food that I sometimes get surrounded with at work. Today is the perfect example. My colleague, who has a habit of blessing the rest of us with cinnamon donuts, spotted more on special at his local Coles last night and so we all got the usual email informing us that the donuts were waiting for us in the tea room. I have a weakness for plain cinnamon donuts by the way. If they were the ones with icing, that would be a different story as I don't fancy those.
I caved when another colleague came round to ask if I would like to take a walk with her a couple of others to go get some juice. Was going to be thrifty and just not buy anything but I gave in and bought a regular freshly squeezed fruit blend of orange, pineapple, passion fruit and apple. While on our way, one of them said, "Hey, I won't be bringing in lunch tomorrow. Suddenly felt to join everyone else to get something. (His mum packs extras from their scrumptious dinner the night before for him everyday) So, shall we go out for lunch tomorrow with some of the others? Oh, I feel like ice cream now...how about I get you one too?" I was like, "Jason! Your timing is "impeccable" (notice inverted commas)!" Aah!". I eventually blurted out that I was fasting and so he agreed we could wait to organise this some other time. When we returned to the office, I avoided sitting with them in the tea room altogether.
And then (as if it couldn't get worse), I kept getting people come round to tell me that a whole tray of great food had been brought to the tea room as someone had catered for a work function and there were plenty of leftovers. Argh! Gourmet sandwiches and cakes and fruit and a whole selection of other delectable bits.
Oh, and did I mention that when we ordered our juice, the lady took forever to make mine though I went first? She even made the orders of people who came after us...I got a bit cranky but then God reminded me that in times like this He looks at our responses as they tell a lot about what is really inside our hearts. Yes, my response certainly revealed a huge character flaw.
Oh man, I am wondering how I am going to get through this until Thursday. Have to really try and focus on God and spend time with Him to get myself right in the heart. Haven't started really praying yet and to be honest, personal devotional time with Him has been pretty non existent since way back when (I confess). I've been battling with Him in terms of what I would like Him to tell me and what I would rather not hear. It's terrible as I often try to call the shots with things even though He is God and I am not.
There is so much work to be done in terms of getting myself sorted before the coming Presbytery starting Tuesday night (which is kind of why we are fasting in the first place). Lots of preparation to be carried out. Hopefully I will be all soft and responsive by the time we get to Tuesday. As opposed to resistant and full of complaints and demands.
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