Temptations Today, When Fasting

Food is the first temptation we all face in our fasting journeys. As we grow however, that ceases to be a hindrance. Other temptations of the flesh emerge.

Yes, Jesus answered the devil with scripture while being tempted in the wilderness… but in James 1:14, it’s written that a man is tempted by his own lust. The word lust means a general want or longing for something or a cause of pleasure.

What do you lust for?

This is a blog about one responding by not just quoting a scripture, but by LIVING one that talks about a cause of temptation.

During my last fasting, I found myself falling for the notion of sleep. My upper eyelids slowly succumbed to the weight of gravity, and it had to be God to snap me out of it!

Fasting and prayer are supposed to rhyme and go hand in hand. Fasting alone is just keeping hungry all day. We lose the boons and advantages of that discipline when we think that simply not eating all day will evoke the holy innervation we expect to encounter when we fast!

When you choose a day to fast and pray… Ensure that you are not in your comfortable zone. The last time, I had to get as far away from my room as possible, for since I’d been there from the rest of the family, my bed soon started seducing me…

One time I slept on a day I’d chosen to fast and pray. I woke up about 3 hours later. In those precious hours, God and I could have had a 6 course meal in His word. I had this mindset that I needed to just get through the day and so, I could hardly wait for it to clock 6pm.

“YOU’RE CONDUCTING THIS THE WRONG WAY!” God had to say.

To make matters worse, in a millennial’s life today, or a Generation Z recipient’s…we suffer from the syndrome of busyness! We are so busy. The lie then that we fasted keeps us from fully receiving the benefits hidden!

A day ends, you claim you’d been fasting, and all you’d been doing is work, work woooork! You forgot about God. You forgot you’d to pray too! It was all in vain!

When the bible in Philippians says ‘Work out your salvation…‘, it means, when it comes to fasting… Literally, FLEE from places that are cooking food. The aromas from rosemary-scented kitchens will trigger your body to try to override your spirit.

Your mind will either switch off or you’ll long to break the fast there and then or earlier than you had anticipated!

If you’re at home, perhaps do a prayer walk around the neighborhood to keep the blood flowing and the bed unserved. At work, find time to runaway between the breaks… Are you a stay at home mother…or a student? Amidst the study, you can find a chore…and pray as you do it… For example doing the dishes while praying in tongues.

Don’t be in your flesh’s comfortable zone. Rather find the Spirit’s comfortable zone, and you’ll have 100 fold results whenever you fast and pray!