Are you hungry?

Only God satisfies.

I fasted today and honestly, fasting is a great spiritual discipline. I'm always humbled at how difficult it is. How no matter how many times you've fasted in the past, each fast weakens you. How it reveals my dependence on food, how it exposes my cravings and the things I fill my time with instead of turning to God. Fasting shows me the power that my flesh wields over me. It exposes my true appetites and shows me my real self.

It is humbling. Truly, by strength no man shall prevail.

When I fast, I am thankful that fasting does not make me accepted by Jesus. Only His sacrifice and His blood does. I am thankful that my fasting does not make me righteous because if I'm being honest, I don't think I've ever done a fast that's good enough, or done a perfect fast.

I'm thankful that it is not my fasts that cause God to show me mercy or answer my prayers. He shows me mercy because He is merciful and answers my prayers because I come not in my own name of righteousness, but I entreat Him according to his will and word in the perfect name of Jesus.

I am thankful about how my physical hunger pangs show me what true hunger for God should look like. I'm ashamed that sometimes my hunger for God is so mild that it's easy to ignore. Ashamed that when I feel the pangs and the stirrings of my soul I sometimes fill it with the noise of this world instead of nourishing myself in his presence.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

I'm thankful for the gift of fasting and how it reveals my deep need for God. I need God more than I need food. Yet do I seek him as often as I eat everyday? Do I prepare to spend time with Him as much as I cook?

Am I as satisfied with him as when I eat a meal I enjoy or satisfy a craving? Is He my deepest joy?

You can ask yourself these questions too and if like me you are unsatisfied with your answers, don't fall into despair. Just choose to be intentional. You can't eat to make up for a meal you skipped yesterday or undo a bad meal you ate, but you can choose to be intentional about your nourishment moving forward.

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Job 23:12

My dear friend Mazino Malaka. wrote a fasting guide that I refer to often. It is one of the best guides I’ve seen. You can check it out here

Today’s song is Everlasting God.

Apologies for any typing or formatting errors, I wrote this on my phone.