Anyone up for a nice long fast?

The season of Lent starts February 18 and ends on Easter Sunday, April 5. As a church, we will be joining together in fasting.  We will choose a type of fast that works for us individually, and we will fast from Monday through Saturday, and break the fast each week on Sunday as we celebrate together. 

For more information on the theology of Fasting, please watch this message called Sermon on the Mount: When you Fast 

Here are two options to choose from for a fast that you can dive into for this season of Lent.

The Daniel Fast

Click here for a helpful article - What is a Daniel Fast

In a Daniel Fast, you cutout certain kinds of foods, so at its core, it is a diet, but In Daniel 10, we see that he employs this kind of fast as he's waiting on an answer from God. If you're concerned about medication or blood sugar issues on a fast, the Daniel Fast could be a great way to fast without upsetting your medication or blood sugar. 

If you read the article, you'll see that Daniel Fasts are up for interpretation, so feel free to tailor it however you need to. Share what you will be doing with at least one other person for accountability, and get going! 

The Sun-up to Sun-down fast

This fast is a bit easier to understand. In a sun-up to sun-down fast, you basically only eat whenever the sun is down. You can wake up early and eat, and you can eat again after the sun goes down. Technically speaking, this would be an example of intermitant fasting. On one hand, there are some great health benefits of doing this kind of fast, so yay! But that's not the main reason we fast. This fast, along with any other fast is meant to help you draw closer to God. 

If you choose this fast, we will do it from Monday through Saturday, and we'll eat normally on Sunday. 

What Ifs

When it comes to fasting, there are a few what ifs that are good to think through. 

What if you have never fasted, and you're not sure you're ready to fast for such a long time? Don't feel bad about it. You can tailor each of these fasting options to make it work for you. You can tailor the sun-up to sun-down fast to do only three days in a row or even two days in a row, then break. You could shorten the fast to only skipping lunch each day. Likewise, you could shorten the Daniel fast to only a few days each week. However, both of these fasting protocols are decently easy for a typical healthy human. 

What if you want to do something MORE intense than the two fasting protocols? Go for it. You can choose to do a full-blown water fast for the full 40 days if you like. I know of at least one person who is doing a fast of this sort... and it ain't me! You could combine the fasts and eat only the Daniel Fast while the sun is down.

What if you end up having to break the fast for some reason before the end time? Fasting is hard. If you can't make it, don't lament or cast yourself headlong out of the church! Let your accountability person know, figure out what caused you to break, fix the issue, and keep going. 

I have had to supplement a fast more than once. I'm still not sure what went wrong in some of those cases, but during a very long, water-only fast last year, I got dehydrated and had to break the fast before it was over. I replenished some needed vitamins and nutrients, and then resumed the fast. In the end, I finished the days but with some supplementation.


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