Fasting - My Son

Every year, I will put my son through a fast. He is not allowed to touch anything with sugar. No candies, no sugared drinks, no cold drinks, no desserts, no snacks, etc.

Today is day 2 and he is grumbling and complaining. I told him, "You either do this simple fast or you follow mine."

I'm his father. I'm not here to please him. I'm here to train him. If we let a child constantly have his desires, he will grow up looking for instant gratification, which will get him in trouble.

In the New Covenant, fasting doesn't move God. You can fast throughout the Lent season all the way to Resurrection Sunday and it won't move God a single inch. God is not moved by your performance and your effort. He is moved by Grace (through Jesus) through faith.

There is nothing paid on the Cross that has not been given to us. If we have to fast to get something from God, then Jesus died in vain. That would be mocking the Cross and denying the Gospel of Christ.

Whenever someone tells me that he's fasting for God to move in this area or that area, I know that he's still into religion. And this statement can get the religious ones upset.

Fasting cannot bend the hand of God to do your will. It bends yours to do His. It kills the desire to resurrect the crucified, old self, who is not who you really are.

When you can de-throne your stomach's desires, you are master over your body. For you are not under law, but under grace.

I'm privileged to be J's father. And as a father, I can train him to be master over his body.