The world race stretches you in many facets. Just in the nature of the race of going to 11 different countries in 11 months you know you are going to learn a ton in building relationships as you change ministry contacts and with that you have to learn how to say good-bye; through team changes you learn how to love on people daily whom you might not “click” with naturally; each country means vastly different diet so your body is constantly going through physical changes; and through all of these changes you have to adapt to how you connect with God and the use of your personal times, some months you have ample time and others you have to fight for that hour of God time.
One of the greatest things the race teaches you is greater dependence in God.
This is obvious right out of the gates as you leave 99% of your possessions at home while you travel with only 2 bags. He comes through financially too since most people between the ages of 21-35 years old don’t have a spare 16 grand laying on the nightstand, so you depend on God’s provision. You surrender daily your plan because things are always changing and you trust in God to provide ministry opportunities and appreciate every encounter you have with locals and rejoice when someone speaks English!
Fasting to me up until the race seemed like a genie in a bottle sort of act like Christians do when something bad happens in their life or they were seeking a tremendous blessing. Everything goes awry and the first thing people did was stop eating and started praying more. Or a big fundraising campaign for a new building is underway and the best thing to do is stop eating and begin praying. Then there are others that do it for personal health benefits and think by putting a spiritual twist to it they will be more disciplined in dieting. Almost seemed to me that people thought you could manipulate the creator of the universe by just not eating for a couple days.
A couple months before the race I started to fast from food every Thursday. Yes my prayer life increased significantly because hunger pains came often and the temptation of office food was always around. It was a growing and interesting time to say the least but throughout it I remained mostly unsure of what I was learning through the process other than I did not mind missing meals throughout the week here and there. I thought, “hey, I don’t eat on Thursday so why not just skip Monday dinner because I don’t feel like cooking.”
To say the least I was thoroughly confused on the when, why, and how on fasting.
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster came into my life and shined much needed light on the topic of fasting. (Side note this book is a must have and breaks down all sorts of spiritual disciplines and will help you grow spiritually!) Fasting is all about motive, and Jesus addresses that first when talking about fasting in Matthew 6:16-18.
1. Must center on God, be God-initiated and God-ordained. It is all about glorifying God. To grow closer to Him.
2. Fasting reveals things that control us. So often we are quick to turn to food to sustain us rather than turning to the ultimate provider. We excuse away anger, bitterness, jealousy, etc due to being hungry when in reality there is something deeper inside of you that should be dealt with. It just happens to surface once you remove a level of comfort.
I have dived headfirst back into fasting since being on the race and after being enlightened on the subject. Many blessing and insights have followed….that is why this part one with several to follow. Overall God has been teaching me about a greater dependence in Him. Continuing to strip away things that distract me or things I turn to for comfort and pushing into a greater dependence upon my heavenly Father.
Prepare for the journey of when you solely focus on God, strip away comforts, and depend on Him in new ways!
