Day Thirteen: The Mixed Bag of Outcomes

My friend Cathi wrote this today as an encouragement to the team she leads who are all fasting. I really thought she did a great job capturing the completely different experiences many people may be having with fasting. Even people who fast regularly get different outcomes each time so it should be expected. So without further ado, please read her thoughts:

One of the things I’m really sensing now, at the mid-point of this fast is the presence of the enemy and an increase in spiritual attack. Are you experiencing the same things? This is what Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, had to say:

As you enter this time of heightened spiritual devotion, be aware that Satan will do everything he can to pull you away from your prayer and Bible reading time. When you feel the enemy trying to discourage you, immediately go to God in prayer and ask Him to strengthen your resolve in the face of difficulties and temptations. The enemy makes you a target because he knows that fasting is the most powerful of all Christian disciplines and that God may have something very special to show you as you wait upon Him and seek His face. Satan does not want you to grow in your faith, and will do anything from making you hungry and grumpy to bringing up trouble in your family or at work to stop you. Make prayer your shield against such attacks.

My encouragement to you, if you’re experiencing this, is that you’re not alone! Remember to bring all your defenses to bear, and “put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” http://read.ly/Eph6.10.NIV

Also, I know that some of you are learning great things during your fast, and God is showing himself to you in new and fantastic ways – praise God for that! But I also know that some of you probably aren’t having an earthshaking experience, and I wanted to encourage you as well:

A renewed closeness with God and a greater sensitivity to spiritual things are usually the results of a fast. Do not be disappointed if you do not have a "mountaintop experience," as some do. Many people who have successfully completed extended fasts tell of feeling a nearness to God that they have never before known, but others who have honestly sought His face report no particular outward results at all. For others, their fast was physically, emotionally, and spiritually grueling, but they knew they had been called by God to fast, and they completed the fast unto Him as an act of worship; God honored that commitment. 

My encouragement to you is to press into God even more, continue to practice your disciplines of prayer, worship, and time in scripture, and know that God is working in you, even if you don’t see it!