Christ With Coffee On Ice - why do christians fast

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Hey y'all ! Welcome to another Friday with CWCOI ! In this week's episode our host, Ally Yost, shares more about what the Bible says about fasting and why we are encouraged to fast. The purpose of fasting is so we can take our focus off the things of this world so that we are then able to completely focus on our Father. When we fast in a spirit of humility and joy, we are able to hear the Lord's voice clearer. We hope this episode leaves you encouraged to fast or to pray more about what that might look for you ! Matthew 6:16-18, Exodus 34:28, Joel 2:12 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cwcoi/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I'm your host, Ali Yost, and I am so grateful to be here with you guys. Happy Friday, everyone. How are we feeling today? How are we feeling? I hope that we are filled with the spirit, the one and only, the Holy Spirit. I hope that we are filled with joy today, y'all. I'm feeling joy. I'm feeling gratitude. I'm just so grateful that I get to freaking do this with you guys. So thank you for being here. And yeah, I'm just excited to see what the Lord does with this episode. Season 3 has been so fun.

So far, y'all, like, what the heck? It's been lit. And I'm just grateful. I'm grateful that the Lord is using me as a vessel. I'm just, I really am looking forward to seeing what he has to say today and what he wants y'all to know about. Because I'm going to be honest, I got a list on my phone. Like, I do, I do have ideas. But sometimes I'm kind of just like, Lord, why don't you just do your thing?

I kind of like just letting the spirit just spirit. I love just letting the Holy Spirit just Holy Spirit, just do its thing. So, anyway, I'm excited. I'm excited. And today, we don't have our coffee on ice. We actually have our matcha on ice today. Oh, I dribbled. I dribbled.

It's a strawberry matcha, y'all. I didn't, listen, I didn't know what strawberry macha was until I went out to Los Angeles and everyone was talking about it in California. Also, what the heck? Is this like a thing out here? Obviously, I am familiar with matcha, but I wasn't. wasn't familiar with like strawberry matcha and so I said sign me up because strawberries are low-key like my favorite I love strawberries strawberry anything strawberry decor I got the cutest little

strawberries hanging in my car on my rearview mirror but strawberries are my favorite fruit so I was like oh strawberry anything sign me up strawberry matcha highly recommend it's so yummy and so anyway um there was a coffee shop that uh offered strawberry matcha which I was like so excited about because I haven't seen a whole lot of that yet in Nashville. So anyway, it's grumpidily umptuous and we're having a great day. Okay? We're having such a great day because we got Jesus and our strawberry matcha, bro. Listen.

Okay. Guys, I'm grateful today. I really am. What are we going to talk about? What should we talk about today? All right. Okay, okay, okay. All right, Holy Spirit.

Let's cook. So let me tell you all about something that I did for the first time in my journey. This is what's so fun. This is what's so fun. that I love about just like, I don't know, just my journey is that I get to just share with you guys what the Lord is doing and what, like, I am constantly feeling like I'm leveling up in the spirit because I crave it and I want it. That's the first thing. We've talked about that. But I have heard about fasting in Christianity, right? Because I wasn't sure why Christians would fast. I didn't, I just didn't know. The thing is, is like, I just didn't know. I didn't have the wisdom. I didn't know it would. biblical. I didn't know it was in the Bible. I just didn't know really what the true purpose was, what the benefit, because to me I was like, it just sounds like you're starving yourself, which doesn't sound really fun, which it's not, but that's not what it's about. It's not about the fun.

But I also was like, why would the Lord want us to do that? Why would he want us to starve ourselves? That sounds miserable. And granted, there is a part of it that's miserable, but there's also a part of it that's like so incredible. And so I say this now because the version of me right now has fasted. I was collecting information from my fellow Christian community and my friends. And I was starting to ask people, I was like, all right, y'all, tell me about this fasting thing. Because I felt the Lord nudging me. I felt him nudging me and being like, you got to do this. And at the time, it was, I hadn't been baptized yet. And also, I hadn't fasted yet. And I kind of felt like I was growing with the Lord, but then I like hit a plateau. And I was just kind of like doing this. And then I was, I was,

I was like, I was starting to feel like I needed to go deeper with the Lord, you know? So I'm saying level up, but also just like literally start rooting even deeper with the Lord because that's what we should all crave. We should all crave to go deeper in relationship with God. It's not like you just get to know God and then this is it. Like it shouldn't be at least. It should be like, we get to know God and then it's like, all right, God, teach me more. Okay, God teach me more.

Okay, I want to learn you more. I want to hear from you more. Like, make me wiser. Make me more like Jesus today. like let me hear your voice more, let me see you clearer, you know what I mean? So it's like, I'm always going to want to just go deeper in my faith with the Lord because, duh, we should all want that. You know what I mean? So anyway, I kind of felt like I was hitting like this plateau where I wasn't really like going anywhere. And so two things I felt on my heart from the Lord was getting

baptized and fasting. So I got baptized. And then after that, I was like, all right, next thing I know the Lord wants me to do is to fast. And so obviously there's plenty of different ways to fast. But I was like, food fast, right? Because we can fast in plenty of ways. You can sacrifice things in honor of the Lord. Like some people be fast in like social media or they give up coffee or whatever. But I wanted to legitimately fast, like food fast, not eating for 48 hours, which honestly is kind of intense, I think. I don't know. That was pretty intense for my first fast. I'm going to be so honest. But I wanted it. Like I was like, I just wanted it. I wanted to do it the way that they did it in the Bible. Like, biblically, like, what did we do? We stopped. It was like giving no food, only water for 48 hours is what I

decided to do. And honestly, like, I was a little scared because I was like, bro, I don't know how I'm gonna do this because I low-key can't eat. Like, I can't go four to five hours without eating, without, you know, getting the shakes and feeling starving. You know what I mean? I was like, so how in the world am I going to go two full days without eating any solid food? So the other thing that you should do is obviously talk to the Lord about it because in the beginning I was like, I don't know what kind of fast I should do. Like, should I just do one day? Should I do three days? Should I do two days? Like, I didn't know what kind of fast for how long, like what I was supposed to be doing. And so sometimes it's really good to just literally ask God and just be like, hey, God,

what kind of fast do you want me to do? Like, what should I do? And so I felt him tell me to two days. Because I actually, Loki wanted to try to do three, but I heard him be like, do 48 hours. And I was like, okay. And I also felt him tell me that it was okay for me to, like have juice. You know what I mean? So I didn't just do a water fast where I was only living off water, which is possible, guys. We are capable of living off of just water for like weeks, but I felt him tell me that I could have juice. So I was just drinking like green juices, you know what I mean? Like it's giving veggies and stuff. So I had that, like I had a couple juices a day. But the other thing that made it a little bit easier for me was I did it with a friend. So I did it with Ashley. And we ended up doing this fast together. So not only did I do this fast because I was ready to go deeper with the Lord. in just relationship with him. But I also had a few decisions I had to make. I had some questions.

I needed clarity. Like I needed clarity from the Lord about a couple things in my life, in my personal life, but then also my business. Like I had some serious decisions to make. And so I was like, okay, this is actually the perfect time to fast because one of the best reasons too fast is like if you need clarity on something big. If you do have a big decision, if you're trying to hear the Lord's voice clearly, you better fast.

You know, fasting in prayer together is so powerful. And the reason that we fast and the reason why we deny our flesh, because that's what we're doing when we're starving our flesh, we're denying our flesh. We are crucifying our flesh so that our spirit man, which is just, it's our soul. It's our spirit can grow stronger than our flesh. Because most of the time our flesh really do be screaming louder than our spirit. Does that make sense when we're feeling lazy, when we're feeling tired, when we're feeling all this, that in the next time? It's like our flesh is what gets us in the way of hearing the Lord sometimes. And so when we deny our flesh and we are fasting, you are able to literally grow your spirit stronger.

It's like a veil. It's just like lifted from your eyes when you're fasting. And you do hear the Lord clearer. And it's just really beautiful. And so I'm hearing all these things from all these people. Like this is what people are telling me. And I was like, okay. well, I want to hear the Lord clearer and it's way easier to do it with somebody.

I would have imagined, I don't know, I would like to think I wouldn't have caved, but I think I would have been more tempted to cave if I wasn't doing it with a friend. So I ended up doing it with my friend Ashley, which was really helpful because whenever we felt like we were going to be freaking starving, obviously I would just lean in more on prayer, which is another thing. It teaches you such discipline, y'all, like it really does. So not only is it so good for you spiritually, but it also does teach you just obedience to God and being like, God, I am only leaning on you right now because I don't even have food right now. Like I'm going to need to get my energy from somewhere and it's got to be from you, Jesus.

You know what I mean? So when you go through those moments, which honestly didn't last that long for me, like moments where I got really, really hungry and I was like kind of shaky and I was like, oh my gosh, I feel like I really need food right now. I would just pray. and those moments weren't that long. They would only last for a few minutes, like maybe five to ten minutes. And then it was like all of a sudden I'd get this burst of energy and I'd be fine. And I'd be like sweeping my entire home and doing laundry and like running around cleaning like a freaking mad woman. And honestly, I thought that while I was fasting, I wouldn't be able to be productive.

I thought I wasn't going to be able to have energy to like operate or do anything. So I made sure that I was doing it on days where I didn't have a whole lot of work lined up. I didn't have a whole lot of obligations. But honestly, I was still kicking it. Like, I was like, I mean, yeah, I had my moments where I was really struggling. But for the most part, when that Holy Spirit energy kicked in, I was like, what the heck is this? Like, if you've never done this before, it actually really will blow your mind because it blew mine. I was like, how am I, like, solid right now?

Like, what the heck? It also makes you realize that, like, sometimes we really do be dramatic where it's like, if we don't eat for a few hours. I'm not saying this in an unhealthy way. This shouldn't be something to like be unhealthy about. But I don't know. It gives you confidence in a way too where I really have struggled with like, I don't know. I don't know. There's that fear where if you go too long without eating, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm going to pass out.

And it's like, well, I've lived two full days off of the spirit. So I know I'm going to be good right now. But please, with boundaries, like I know that some people are cautious of doing these types of things because it can trigger like eating disorders. But also I want to say this is a very real thing because. I think I shared that I was, did I share that I was fasting on the internet? And I think I saw some comments where people like, well, I can't fast because, you know, I've, I've had eating disorders before and whatever. Can I say something boldly right now?

I'm not, I don't want to say this to discriminate anybody who's had struggles with that because that is so real. It is a thing that you could definitely, like, fall back into, you know, like, things that we've experienced, things that we've gotten into habits of can obviously reoccur and, like, be triggered. But also, the Lord can deliver you from that. Can I say that boldly right now? The Lord can absolutely deliver you from that.

And also, you can pray into that and be like, Lord Jesus, I pray that this fast that I do for you is used for good and not evil. That it will not, in the name of Jesus right now, it will not trigger any type of eating disorder that I am doing this to honor you, to grow deeper in relation with you, and to hear your voice clearer, God. You know what I mean? I just pray that you don't allow the enemy. Because I just pray that the enemy doesn't have any foothold in your life to keep you from going deeper in relation with your creator. And I'm sorry, but fasting is powerful. And so is prayer, y'all. So when fasting and prayer comes together, it's like wild what ends up like shifting and moving in the spiritual realm when you put those two things together.

Even when Ashley and I were together and we were fasting together and praying together, it was like, whoa. Like you just feel it. And the enemy doesn't want that because it's giving like productivity, but on freaking steroids. Like it's the power of those two things together is crazy. And I can say that because I experienced it. And I thought I was good like just praying and being in the presence of God like I had always been. And you guys like, you've seen. I've had strong faith.

I've been with the Lord and I knew him very well before I fasted. But there was something about fasting that just added a whole other level of intensity. Like I just pray that you don't allow that to keep. you from being in that with God because it's very special. It's super intimate and like you just feel him and you hear him so much clearer. And so if that is something of your past or that's something that you're worried about with fasting, I encourage you to pray against it because the Lord can deliver you from that. He can heal you from that. And if you are like, God, I just want to experience you deeper. I don't want this to be used for evil. I don't want this to turn into something that it was

never supposed to be. So Lord, I ask you for that protection right now through your mighty name, through your blood, God. I am pleading your blood over me to protect me and cover me in this so that I can have this experience with you. It's a beautiful experience to have with God too fast, you know? So anyway, I hope that that encourages y'all because I know that there can be some hesitation with fasting for that reason, especially, you know, for women. Like we, that's a thing and it's awful, but I just pray that it doesn't hinder you from experiencing that level of intensity in the spirit with God. So anyway, yeah, so I did that for two days. And I heard from God a lot. Like, it was crazy. Like, I thought I heard from the Lord a lot before I fasted. But when I tell you,

I was hearing him in my head, like, all the time every second about every little thing, like, I was just talking to him in my head and I was hearing him respond to me immediately. It was wild. Like, it was as if, I don't know, yeah, the best way I can put it is like a veil was lifted and all of a sudden I could just see him clearer and like hear him clearer. But I was hearing from him all the time during my fast. But one thing that I did learn, like before I ended up fasting, when I was asking all of my friends in community, I was asking them for their experiences and their POVs on what fasting was like for them. A lot of people were like, oh yeah, I hear from God all the time during my fast.

But then some people were like, actually, I don't really hear from the Lord until after my fast. Like once I break it is when I hear him just dropping bombs on me and giving me clarity and like all the things that I prayed about and I asked for. The other thing is like you've got to really make sure that during your fast, you're also praying. And we're going to back this up with scripture y'all. I want to bring up some scripture too and just some examples in the Bible that speak to why we need to be fasting. But if you're just fasting and starving yourself and you're not praying, you're just starving yourself. Like if you're not eating and not really priority, praying and being in in the secret place with the Lord like I was spending so much time in my little

closet that I told you all about where I just shut the door and I just have like nice music in the background and I was just in just a really intimate little space with the Lord. I was doing that for hours for both those days like hours on end I was in the quiet space like just in the quiet secret place with God and if you're not doing that during your fast it's not really serving a whole purpose. Like the whole reason you're fasting is to also intensify prayer and communication with God. And so, yeah, just make sure you're really being intentional with your fast and your time with God and being in prayer and reading your Bible. Like also the crazy thing is like scripture will just be clearer to you. Like you're just going to hear God's voice so much clearer even through reading scripture

and reading your Bible. So anyway, some people did tell me though that they didn't even get drops of knowledge and stuff on them until after the fast. So obviously all of our relationships with God are so different. So it's going to look different for everybody. But for me, y'all, I was hearing from him like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And it was nuts. It was like, I'd say I was hearing from the Lord the most on day two. Because, like, day one was pretty tough.

And my flesh was really distracting in the beginning because obviously I was really hungry. I'd say probably after like 4 p.m. was when I was like, oh, this is getting be, it's going to be a little painful. I'd say actually day one was loki worse than day two. Day two was easier and I thought it would be the other way around. But I, yeah, my flesh was really distracting on my first day, which when I say that guys, I'm just saying my body was just hurting. Like, it was really distracting for me to be in the spirit and be with God because I was so hungry. But when you feel those moments of hunger, that's when you know you're like, all right, I need to pray to God. I need to pray for the strength right now. You know what I mean? So yeah, day one was a bit distracting.

but I definitely still heard from him, but I heard from him so much on day two. It was cray cray. It was crazy. I was here from the Lord all the time on day two. And especially, like, loki near the end of my fast. Like, on the last hour or two, God gave me two huge, huge nuggets of wisdom and clarity. I was like, oh my gosh, this is what I've been waiting for, this whole fast. It was like he delivered it, like at the very end of my fast, which was crazy.

And sometimes God does that to just test our faith. you know what I mean? Like see if we will walk out the whole thing. And then he'll be like, all right, her faith is strong. We're going to give it to her now. You know what I mean? Because there were things that I was praying for and I wasn't really receiving clarity on it just yet, but he gave it to me in the last couple hours of my fast. And I was like, whoa, God, that was wild. Like the way that I was brought to my knees, like bawling on this freaking fast, it was awesome. So after my experience, I was like, dang, I wish I did this sooner. I wish that I did this more. And so now I just want to fast. like all the time. I'm like, dang, why do we even eat food? Low key. No, stop it. I know. We need to

eat food. It's good for you. We need to fuel our bodies. The Lord tells us we need to take care of our bodies. Yes, but I'm just like, what the heck? Like, our bodies really are so distracting from just the spirit and just God. Like, our flesh really be annoying and loud. And it was on day for, like day one for me. Hey guys. How's it going? Are we loving this pot episode? Is it our favorite? Is it absolutely blessing us? Thanks God. You're the best. Listen, guys, this is kind of giving mini commercial moment, but I wanted to tell you guys that there is a way to give to the pod and help support it financially, which is so huge. Even if you can only give 99 cents, literally anything is so appreciated. But I wanted to let you guys know that the option is there so that the pod can keep running and keep going. So to find the way to donate, you can go through the link in our bio on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube.

There's a link there that will lead you to give. I can also verbally tell you the link right now, but I'm going to tell you it's kind of lengthy. It's kind of long. Are you ready? Pends and papers are ready. Okay. It is podcasters. dot Spotify.com slash pod slash show slash CWC-O-I slash support.

I love you guys so much. Thank you for your generosity. Now let's get back into the. episode. But also, y'all, the other sweet thing about my fast is that it wasn't even just like, we really shouldn't look at fasting, like, okay, God, I need clarity, I need answers. I also just really craved him. Like, I actually just really craved him. Like, I just craved his presence. I just craved just deeper, yeah, just like a deeper relationship with him. I felt his kindness and like his sweetness, if that makes sense.

Like, during my fast, yes, the Lord delivered answers for me and it was great, but I didn't just treat him like a genie in a bottle, you know, where it's like, all right, God, I'm going to do this thing, so you just give me all the answers. It's also about, like, wanting to just feel that intimacy with him. And, bro, he's a dad. Like, he, he is a father. Oh, my gosh. God is so kind.

He is so kind. and he loves us so much. And it's like, you think you get it, but then you fast. And for me, like, that's what I felt. I just felt his love. I felt his pride for me. Like, I just felt him being like, Allie, I literally love you so much. I'm so freaking proud of you.

You know what I mean? And no matter, like, what baggage, I guess, or guilt that you feel where you're like, God would never say that to me, I am no more special than you. There is no reason for God to talk to me. way and not talk to you that way because he loves you just as much as he loves me. So yeah, I mean, he was telling me how proud he was of me. But like if you really let yourself do something like this and like fast and be in the presence of God, he will also love on you because his love is infinite and he has more than enough to give to all of us. And the cool thing is that I just, I just so

believe this about God. I know it's true. But he really does love us individually so much that it almost feels like you're the only thing that he loves. And when you fast and that veil is like taken from before your eyes, you just see it so much clearer and you feel it and it's like overwhelming. His love is so overwhelming. And so I don't know, even if you've had a hard time feeling those things from the Lord, dude, fast, literally fast. Like sometimes, I mean, this is scripture.

Let me find it. Okay. So this is Matthew 1721 from the new King James. James version, okay? And it reads, then he remembered the Bible story in which Jesus's disciples had been unable to cast out a spirit. When they asked why, Jesus replied, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. So Jesus has literally advised us and told us that sometimes, I'm not saying that some of us Christians are possessed, but there is such thing as oppression. So if you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you have Jesus Christ living in you, there is no

room for a demon to also occupy you and be living in you. But something that we do experience as Christians is we are not possessed necessarily, but we are oppressed. So we can still be oppressed. We can still face spiritual warfare. We can still feel depression, anxiety, like all these things, right? So with that, Jesus has actually told us that some demons cannot be casted out or cast it away with just prayer. Sometimes you also need to fast and pray, which is why prayer is so much more intense. It's like more potent when you are fasting because you are also denying the flesh and starving your flesh so that your spirit man can grow bigger and be stronger. So that when you are praying, it is so much stronger. Like, you get to, like, you have more authority. There's more,

there's just more Holy Spirit. So, yeah, fasting really does just take it to a whole other level. And if you need clarity, if you want to simply just grow closer to the Lord, if you need certain demons or oppression or darkness, like cast it out of your life, fasting and praying and praying in confidence, like praying boldly and praying specifically to God. God. And honestly, that's been something, like praying boldly has actually been something that I just started to step into. I have always prayed in confidence, if that makes sense. Like, I never have prayed something to the Lord and been like, he can't do it. But I also was, I used to pray to God a lot in a way where I was like, God, if it's of your will, like, can you please just make this happen? Like,

I know you're capable, but also, I know that, you know, even if you don't make it happen, like, it's also, for my good because you know what's best for me. And there's nothing wrong with that type of prayer, but also there's something different about praying with like boldness and authority that you get through Jesus. Like it's the authority that you get through the Holy Spirit. But the difference between that type of praying that I've been doing and the type of praying that I've been doing now. And I really do believe that even my fast was what helped me get to this point is now I say, God, I pray that you do this right now. God, I know that you can do this, Lord. I pray that you do. I pray that you do. do this right now. You heal this person right now, Jesus. Like, God, I know you can do it, Lord. Do it right

now. And it's like you're praying an authority, knowing that your God can freaking do it. You know what I mean? And sometimes I feel like I would be afraid to pray like that to God because I'm like, I don't want to be demanding though. I don't want to disrespect God. But it's not a disrespect. It's not like you're like, God, if you don't do this right now, um, like you know, you're not like threatening God. But you're like, God, I know you can do this. Actually, you know what? Listen, I know you're all. almighty and I know you're sovereign and I know that you don't necessarily have to make this happen. But God, I pray that you do. I pray that you do this right now.

I pray that you heal this person. I pray that you deliver this thing. Like, there's such authority in that and God's like, God's like, all right. Like, that's my daughter. That is my son. You know what I mean? Like, that is my daughter or my son that is standing on business and knows the authority that they hold through me.

You know what I mean? Like, it's giving like, let's go, God. I know you can do this. You know what I mean? Do y'all feel the difference in that? Like, it's been so cool because I've been praying in that authority with God. Like, I'm like, God, you can do it. Like, let's freaking do this thing, right?

Like, make it happen right now, Lord. And there are times where he does. Like, there was something I can't give too much about this because I was praying for somebody that I love. But I was like, Lord, do it. Save them. Do it, God. I know you can.

I'm getting on my freaking hands and knees right now. And I'm saying, God, do it. move in their life, freaking wreck them, like, show them who you are, show them how much you love them, Jesus. I know you can do it, God. I pray you deliver it right now. I was like on my freaking knees, but praying, like in confidence that my God can freaking do this, tell me that not even the next day, he goes, boop, and he just gives me like a puzzle piece. He didn't give me exactly what I was praying for, but it was giving like, I heard you and this is a nugget. You know what I mean? Like praying in that authority, babe, here you go. Here's the start of it.

Do you know what I mean? Whoa. Like, he really does love when we pray in that authority because it's giving more belief. It's giving more faith. Like, it's like, no, I'm not going to pray to God. Like, it's like, it's like, it's not giving threatening. It's not like we're threatening our God. It's like, no, I believe you can do this right now, Jesus. Freaking do it, bro. I love you. I love you, Jesus. And I know you can deliver this right now. I don't know where that authority has come from, but I do believe that it was from fasting. Like, I believe that it's a bunch of things, obviously, I mean, I fasted like weeks ago, and I feel like I'm just starting to step into this, like, authority and, like, praying in that confidence in my Lord. But fasting just takes it to a whole.

It just takes your whole journey to another level. If you haven't fasted yet, do it. Let's bring up some scripture to also back this up, and then we'll close out. All right. So there's a whole part in Matthew. This is in Matthew 6. 16, it starts. And it says, when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disembark.

for they disfigure their faces and show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your father who is unseen and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So this is the other thing with fasting, y'all. You can't go running around telling people that you're fasting. That is what the Lord is advising you to do.

When I fasted, I did tell a couple close friends because there were some people. situations where they were like, hey, let's get some food. And I was like, I didn't know how to be like, I can't eat. So I did tell a couple of my friends that I was fasting because I didn't really know how it's to get out of that. And also, of course, Ashley, the person I was fasting with knew, but I wasn't going online. I wasn't telling everybody on the internet while I was fasting. Obviously, I'm telling you guys now, because I'm not fasting right now. But while you are fasting, you are supposed to be doing it in secret because it's also giving the same energy as like we talked about this in season two, I believe we talked about this, where God has also given the hypocrites as an

example where they gloated about knowing the Lord and doing good deeds for the Lord. And God said the same thing. He said, surely they've received their reward, where it's giving like, I'm just here to show people how strong I am in my faith with God. It's giving like their reward is impressing everybody and getting praise from people, right? And so in this, in this verse, God is saying that these hypocrites, they disfigured their faces to show that they are others, that they are fasting. Like, they were probably like, oh, I'm so hungry. Oh, my gosh.

I'm fasting right now. I'm starving. But it's like, all glory to God. Like, it's for him. Like, I'm sacrificing for God. It's giving like, surely they've received their reward. Like, they're just trying to get people to look at them like, wow, you haven't eaten. Like, oh my gosh, you're so strong.

Like, good for you for your obedience. Like, it's giving in genuine. It's not giving like, I want to do this for my relationship with Jesus. which a lot of our relationship should be intimate and private with him. You know what I mean? That's faith. Like that's like, no, God, it's you and me. I'm not doing this for show.

I'm not doing this for anybody else. Like, I am doing this for you and me right now. I am suffering and no one else knows except for you. And so that's when the rest of the scripture says, so that it will be done not to be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only for you and your father who is unseen. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. That's where the true reward comes from.

That's the rewards, y'all. The rewards is God speaking to you in those moments. The rewards is hearing him clearer. The rewards is seeing him clearer. The reward is having a deeper relationship with God now that you've fasted. Where you're just like hearing him all the time or you just go in deeper in relationship with him. That's the reward. Like, surely, yeah, yeah, yeah, the hypocrites got their reward, but this one's better.

Do it in secret with your father so you can have a deeper and more intimate relationship with him. Like, let's go deeper with our creator. Hello? That's the best reward we could ever receive. Exodus 3428 reads, Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights without eating bread or drinking water, and he wrote on the tablets,

the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. Y'all, the literal 10 commandments only came to Moses because he fasted. He got to hear God's voice so much clearer because of the fast. If y'all are really trying to experience some serious breakthrough, If you are trying to experience, whether that is in your relationship with God, whether that's with things that you need to make decisions about in your life. Like, y'all, if you're trying to hear God's voice clearer, please fast.

This was the other thing that I found on the internet. It says fasting serves not as an attempt to get God to say yes to our petitions, but rather as a discipline that helps us draw near to God and discern the divine sovereign will. We should never fast to pressure God into doing our will, but rather to ensure that we are doing God's will. Y'all, that's a really good POV. Can we bring that into this as well? Like, we should go into fasting also being like, hey, God, heart check. Like, check me. Another thing that fasting could be used for is obviously like that conviction, right? If there's anything that you're doing in your life, whether you know it or not, that you know is not of God's will, or maybe we're sinning in a way,

or whatever. Maybe we're just simply disobeying God in a way where we didn't realize, or we do. But I think fasting would help with that conviction. And the thing about that. And the thing about conviction that you get from God is he does it in such a loving way. Like when he shows us the things that we need to clean up in our life, he's not like, how dare you? I'm so embarrassed by you. Like, that's never our God. And if you feel that, that's from the enemy, by the way. Like, if you feel like God is like telling you that he's so embarrassed of you, that's not God's voice. That's the enemy's voice. Like, whenever I feel conviction from the Lord, I'll just speak from my own experience. Whenever I feel convicted by God, it's always in a gentle way. Like, it really is giving.

like a father. It's just always gentle, you know what I mean? So if you hear any voices in your head that's like sounds like it's from God, but he's low-keeping like, I am so disappointed in you. You are this, that, and the next. Like, this was disgusting of you. I can't believe you would do this or just feeling, I don't

know, just like a spirit of anger. Like he's angry with you. Y'all, that ain't the Lord. That ain't the Lord. That is the enemy trying to convince you that that's God. God would never speak to you that way. He is a loving father. Like, he will always guide us and give us conviction, obviously, and telling us when we shouldn't be doing

something or we got to clean up in one area of our life. Like, he will do that, but it's always in a loving way. It's never in like a judgmental spirit where you're like, oh, gosh, God, that was really harsh. Like, that's not God. He'll do it in such a loving way. Like, anytime that I feel like I'm not supposed to be doing something anymore, whether I knew it or not, I would just hear from God and I'd be like, oh, you're right, God. But I never feel embarrassed. You know, I'm I mean. So if you feel those things, that's not from Jesus. Rebuk that in the name of Jesus, because he's a kind, kind father. He's never going to make you feel like he's angry with you. But the cool thing about fasting is obviously there can be conviction where maybe he reveals things to

you that you need to change. So we're coming out of this fast even better than we weren't going into it. But then after conviction comes repentance, where then you can repent from your sins and be like, hey, Lord, I'm really sorry. I didn't realize this was disobedient. Or I'm really sorry for not listening to you in this way or I'm I'm never going to do this anymore or you know what you're right I had a feeling about that and I ignored it and so God thank you for telling me that I should not be doing those things anymore you know and repent from your sins and be like Lord we're going to come out of this better thank you Jesus for your forgiveness thank you for your grace when we repent from individual sin in prayer fasting can accompany our heartfelt repentance it is appropriate for these two

experiences to be presented together before the Lord David expressed his deep remorse with prayer and fasting in Psalm 6910. So anyway, y'all, I don't know. Was that helpful? I just feel like I've gotten a lot of questions on my socials as well about fasting. And honestly, I didn't even know how to answer it at first because I had never experienced it yet. But this was my experience with fasting. I would highly recommend it, y'all. You gotta do it. Like bring it to the Lord, ask him about what kind of fast you should do or for how long. But also, I just want to tell you in confidence, I didn't think I was capable of doing it and I did it. So, if you're afraid that it's like, oh my gosh, how could I do it? Literally same, but that's when

the Holy Spirit comes in. And obviously, there's just so many reasons to fast. Like there's so many, there's so much fruit that can come from fasting. And it's biblical. And people did it in the Bible. And even Jesus said we should be doing it. So we should be doing it. But I love y'all so much. Thank you for tuning in for this episode. I hope that this was good. I don't know. Was this helpful? I love y'all. I'm so proud of you guys for being so hungry. for Jesus. Like if you are this far into the pod in season three, you are hungry for Jesus. So praise God, I am so grateful that you are here. I just want to pray over y'all too real quick right now. I just want to pray that this fire and this hunger never goes away. So Lord Jesus, I just want to pray for every single

listener right now, whether it is in the year 2024, whether it's five years from now. I don't know when they can be listening to this episode. But God, I pray for your child right now, Jesus. I want to thank you for their hunger and their fire and just their curiosity and just wanting to know you, Jesus. Thank you for planting that seed in their heart to know you, God. I pray that this podcast episode and this podcast in general would just help inspire them and nudge them even more to getting to know who you are, Jesus. I just thank you so much for using me as a vessel and using this podcast as a vehicle to speak to your children, Lord.

Thank you for equipping me and giving me tools to grow deeper in my faith so that I can also share that with my brothers and sisters on the other side where they can also go deeper in their relationship with you, Jesus. Thank you for loving us endlessly, God. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. Hello? God, thank you so much for the Holy Spirit. It is the best gift that you could ever give us.

It is the cornerstone. Jesus, you are the cornerstone and the communicator. to our creator. So thank you Jesus. Thank you God for being that for us, Lord. And I just pray that this fire inside my brothers and sisters never go away. God, I pray that you continue to just give them the strength and just the ambition and the wisdom to continue to seek your face, Lord. I pray that every day they wake up, they see it as an opportunity to just learn about who you are even more, that they get to live another day with you, like getting to know you deeper and getting to understand your heart even more, Lord, that we will never actually fully understand how pure your heart is. But God, I thank you that we get

an opportunity every single day to know you more. So Jesus, I pray this and I seal this right now in your mighty name, God. Amen. Y'all, I love you so much. Thank you for tuning in. Hey, can we do something real cool today? And for the rest of this week, can we show somebody why Jesus is so cool? Can we show someone why Jesus is so cool today? for the rest of the week for the rest of our lives but also can you tell someone about jesus no we're getting bold now we're getting bold we're going to start telling people about jesus we're going to start speaking his name because there is power in the name of jesus there isn't just power in sharing his love there isn't just power in wearing jesus merch you know and walk in the streets that says jesus saves on us that's all important but there is some serious power in speaking the name of jesus so if you see

somebody and you feel that discernment and you feel that nudge from the spirit telling you you need to be talking to that person and spreading his love you better do it and i know you guys can do it we're all going to continue to walk more bold in our faith lord we are all going to continue to walk boldly in our faith and we are not going to gate keep jesus because this isn't about our comfortability this is about helping people find peace helping people find the truth right we get to live a life peacefully we get to live a life with Jesus, but also we can't just like let it stop there. We can't just be like, all right, I'm saved.

Thank you, Jesus. I get to go to heaven. It's like, no, we need to also share this with other people. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you. I will see you next Friday. Have a blessed week. Have a blessed Friday.

Have a great weekend. I will see you guys next time. Bye. If you guys can't wait until next Friday for another episode, you are in luck subscribe to our patreon where you will have early access to future episodes and occasional surprise bonus episodes make sure to follow us on instagram and tic talk for more content and if this episode spoke to you please write us a five-star review since it helps the podcast so much we'll see you guys next time