40 day water fast - Part III

This is part 3 of the journey God invited me to in 2013 - a 40 day water only fast.


The 3rd week of the fast went by in a blur, and it was hard to watch but I was right on track for the pound a day I had read about.  I had gotten in a routine of getting in the Word, praising, praying or journaling at the first signs of hunger pains, and I was drinking what seemed like gallons of water.  Amazingly I still had energy, but I could tell my stamina wasn't what it used to be.  Fortunately, my job mostly involves a phone, a computer and the internet, but this month for some funny reason had more lunch meetings scheduled than any of the previous twelve.  You would think sitting there watching someone else eat and smelling the food would almost seem like some cruel punishment, but it wasn't at all.  The smell of food actually started becoming satisfying and filling (I took it as a gift from God!).  At first it would typically be a little awkward for whoever I was meeting, but I would just let them know I was fasting that day and most didn't say another word about it.  The ones that dug deeper I was able to share the story with, and usually gained another prayer warrior.  It was really cool how telling the story would give me new strength and energy to carry on.  God is so incredible how He brings just the right people into your life at the right time - I truly stayed amazed.

The 4th week is where some cool things started to happen.  The morning of the 21st day I woke up wanting to dance - I now had fewer days ahead of me than behind me.  It may not seem like a big deal while reading this, but to me, in my mindset, it was Mount Everest!  In my mind I had come up with this idea that it would be my strength getting me through the first 20 days, and the last 20 on His strength.  I had made it to His time! (of course looking back it was ALL Him of course - I just played an active role.)  Now, just to set the stage a bit, because of all the water I was having to drink I would wake up 5 to 10 times a night to use the bathroom and drink more water.  I knew when I didn't drink enough water, my tongue would get dry and swell - yeah, fun stuff.  On one of those nights I woke up hearing something I had never heard before.  I don't know how to explain it other than what I felt God tell me it was - I was hearing my spirit singing praise songs to God, and the intimacy brought me to tears.  It was like the feeling of waking up with a song on your heart, multiplied by a million.  I wasn't hearing it in my head, but rather it was coming from my chest.  From that night on, every time I woke, I either heard singing or praying.  I can say without hesitation this gift to hear my spirit sing praise songs to my Father God was the most amazing tangible gift I experienced during my fast.  And the closer to day 40 I got the louder it was.  Yet I never had trouble going back to sleep.  I would sing along for a while then realize I better go to sleep, and I'd be out.

Even though I was experiencing this amazing Praise and Worship every night, I still was not having the intimate conversation, encounters and revelations with God during my quiet times I thought I would be having - and this is now 20+ days into it.  As I was discussing this with a friend on day 24, I felt God drop this Word in my heart:

Joey, if you heard Me extra clearly during this time of fasting, you would believe to hear Me this clearly again you would need to do another long fast.  Then you would formulate it into a law and start telling everyone if they wanted to hear Me clearly they would need to do a 40 day fast.  Hearing Me has nothing to do with your works, but everything to do with your desire to know Me, My promises, My character - son, it's all about knowing Jesus. 

Wow, He knows me so well!  I absolutely love the way He protects us from ourselves, and how He shows us it's not about religion and works, but about getting to know Him, His character, His promises from His Word - about how He rolls, so we can't be tricked by the enemy (satan) who loves to try to blame God for the way he steals, kills and destroys our life (John 10:10).  Just like we enjoy spending time with our friends, God longs for us to desire to spend time with Him - I know now it's all about relationship.

On day 26 I got a pain in the back bottom part of my neck, and it really hurt when I would turn my head.  I journaled a prayer giving it totally to Him to heal.  We went to the Saturday service at our church and Communion caught me by surprise.  The thought of not taking communion just seemed wrong, and I thought with my neck hurting, maybe I should take it, maybe the timing was a sign -  so I took communion (in the natural a piece of cracker the size of your thumbnail and a thimble of grape juice shouldn't be a big deal, right?).  Let's just say it made for a very interesting night in the Borden bathroom - how a cracker and swallow of juice that small can cause the what happened still baffles me.  Needless to say, the next morning in my quiet time I realized I didn't ask Holy Spirit if I should take communion, I just thought I should.  Fear had crept in over my neck, and I thought some religious works could barter me some healing - how foolish!  I quickly repented (asked forgiveness, received forgiveness, and changed my mind to ask Him from now on!) and that was that.  On day 27 it was still hurting, but I refused to give in to fear and praised right through the pain.  Day 28 brought an additional pain in my left side and I knew I needed an answer from God about these pains.  As I pressed in I felt like I heard I wasn't drinking enough water.  So I drank even MORE water than normal, and unsurprisingly the pain went away by that evening.  I learned God really does want to guide our steps (Proverbs 16:9), but I had seldom asked, and even less seldom waited for the answer before deciding on my own.  Lord forgive me for not waiting on You! (Isaiah 40:31; 30:18, James 5:11)  Teach us all what it looks like to wait on You!

That last Word I received had sustained me until day 34, but it felt like it's season was coming to an end.  The enemy was coming at me with temptations from so many directions and I was loosing strength.  Shari was on the 2nd day of a 3 day trip, the boys were wearing me out - I needed a new Word Lord to carry me through the last 6 days!

to be continued next week...