Intermittent Fasting–For all Embodied Souls

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 by Bev Friedlander in BLOG | Tags: 

March 9, 2023

In a diet culture of striving for the perfect body, we miss the essential power of perfecting the soul. Our bodies are the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor 6: 19) A healthy physique, internally and externally, is only one aspect of approaching our capacity for well-being. How are you nurturing your soul?

Lent is a season to remind us of this essential component. Fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines of Lent. It is not the intermittent fasting of a weight-management plan. It is an ancient practice of a burden management plan. Fasting is meant to help us release the weight of pleasures that obscure the joy of faith.

Have you created a Lenten fast? Would you for the last few weeks of Lent? A daily prayer, 20 minutes, in which you refraining from your usual routine everyday until Easter morning. Our SAPC Facebook page is providing daily reflections from A Sanctified Art, and our website has a link to a daily devotional.

There are five (5) Fridays left in the Lenten season, including Good Friday. What might you fast from beginning sundown Thursday (or bedtime) until sundown Friday (or noon as some customs suggest)? Some may choose to eat a particular way, even restricting your meals to water and limited types of food. (DO NOT risk your health by limiting your food intake if you have medical needs—and you can discuss options with your doctor.) A meal fast would be accompanied by regular prayer, and might include recitation of a scripture, such as,
Or you may limit your indulgence in using your phone, tablet, computer to do anything other than work or prayer. A scripture reference could include,
“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 
but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” ( Heb 1: 1-2a)
Or,
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” (Isa 52: 7)

May this Lenten season provide you a path to unburdening your life of the heavy weights that keep you from attending your soul. Be freed to discover the power of daily or weekly personal worship that reveals the one thing necessary:

 I keep the Lord always before me;

    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;

    my body also rests secure. (Ps 16: 8-9)


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