Volume 09, Issue 35: Seeking God Through Fasting (Part V)

Breaking your fast successfully

Every fast gets broken at some point. If you mess up on your fast and you eat the thing you were giving up, that's one kind of "breaking your fast." But, if you finish the entire time period you planned to fast without eating or doing the thing you gave up, you still have to "break your fast." So how do you do that? Here are some keys Jamie gave to successfully breaking a fast:

If you break your fast early:

If you find yourself breaking your fast before you planned to, don't beat yourself up. However, if God called you to fast for that original time period, jump right back onto your fast. Repent and rededicate yourself and your fast back to the Lord and get right back on that fast! The Bible continually reminds us to pay our vows to the Lord. So, go ahead and finish all the days you originally promised God. You will be glad you did.

If you finish your fast:

But if you finish all your fasting days successfully, you still must be careful breaking your fast. If you have abstained from all food, take great care when you begin eating again. Eat only light foods that are easy on your stomach - nothing heavy or fatty at first. Eating heavy foods too soon can hurt you and send your body into a tailspin.

It's good to bring your fast to a spiritual conclusion as well. When your fast is over, sit down with the Lord and talk to Him about how it went. Talk with Him (pray) about what you learned, what He did, and what He taught you during the fast. Additionally, don't be like the lepers who got healed but never turned around to thank Jesus. Be sure to thank the Lord for everything you can think of, and write down what He did on your journal as a memorial to His work!

Jamie concludes the study by reiterating that fasting can be easy, fun and glorious. It doesn't have to be hard. She reminds us that the keys to victorious fasting are simply to:

• Keep our minds on Jesus at all times
• Seek God first
• Prepare for our fast in advance, and
• Cast all our cares upon the Lord - even our cares about the fast itself

If we will do these things, we will see the Lord use our fasts to take us into a whole new experience with Him! I am grateful to Jamie Rohrbaugh for providing this study in the YouVersion Bible App. I hope that you too are inspired as I am to take your fasting to the next level.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi