Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
sidekick puppet asked:
I know that it is good for cleansing the body, but what is the spiritual significance?
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I know that it is good for cleansing the body, but what is the spiritual significance?
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Thursday, 1. July 2010
Lack of glucose in the blood.
Sunday, 4. July 2010
I’ve heard that denying the body makes one more open to the spiritual.
Tuesday, 6. July 2010
Dying to self.
Wednesday, 7. July 2010
To trust in God for that which you are giving up.
I know there was a time when my church held an 8-day fast, in preperation for a visit froim a guest eveangilist, & it was the most awesome experience that I ever had!
Friday, 9. July 2010
As you feel the pains of hunger, you are reminded to pray to God. Many Christians do not pray as much as they should, myself included. A fast helps put them in perspective, re-focusing their spirituality, hopefully for the better.
Friday, 9. July 2010
In Christiantiy, fasting is used to signify your dedication and determinance for a better relationship with the Lord your God. In the Bible, Jewish men would disfigure their faces for attention from others to signify that they were fasting to get praise and so the people would think they were more religious, however, God told them to put oil in their heads in wash their faces so only he (God) would know of the fast. Also, i believe it is intended to represent a spiritual cleaning of sin, as you said that it is a natural cleansing of the human body.
Hope this helps! God bless!
Saturday, 10. July 2010
From a Biblical perspective,
fasting is an exercise in
“Denying your fleshly appetites”
and focusing your attention on the LORD.
Feed the your spirit, starve your flesh!
Saturday, 10. July 2010
To fast you must avoid all material desire…be it food, drink, and ***. It helps to see past the material world and desires…hunger and *** drives are apart of the ego or material self and not the spirit. To see truth you must kill the ego and fasting kills it. …mediation and psychedelics also kill the ego
Monday, 12. July 2010
Exactly that……it focuses on the spiritual and not the natural needs of a person. You lay aside any focus on the material/physical aspects of your life and delve into the spiritual through prayer, meditation, and reading scripture.
Wednesday, 14. July 2010
It clears your mind and reminds you of Jesus’ struggle. He did it for years. Also, it helps you focus less on greed in itself. I eat way too much all the time. I can see why people think thats bad. Now, I see I should turn less to food and more to God when I have problems! Thanks for asking this question!
A lot of people fast for different reasons but thats the basics.
Friday, 16. July 2010
You would be tuning into God closer and He would reward you. Fasting is very important to do. God is always listening to us, but fasting moves the hand of God faster I think. Not only does it cleanse the body but you also cleanse the soul. But, it is to be a private thing unless like the whole church does it. You should never tell people ” look at me I’m fasting”
Saturday, 17. July 2010
Fasting is all about God . It’s praying ,meditating ,singing ,praising and thanking GOD.
GB
Tuesday, 20. July 2010
Like sleep deprivation, fasting is a proven technique that makes the brain more susceptible to psychological conditioning. I know I’ll get plenty of thumbs down for this, but all one has to do is look it up. Most countries use these techniques during wartime to get POW’s to talk.
Tuesday, 20. July 2010
Absolutely! It is different for me each time, but it’s very personal, it was overwhelming in an awesome way.
Friday, 23. July 2010
being care to the have not…
Saturday, 24. July 2010
I fasted for sports training once and inadvertently had the most spiritual epiphany as a result.
All I can say to summarize is that it was like an total awakening to God’s presence. Everywhere I looked I saw and heard signs that would lead anyone to believe that God existed if they were in my head.
I will never forget that time. It lasted about two weeks. ( I didn’t starve that long btw) and during that time everything I did and said, every conversation I had was like magic.
What was it?? I am not sure but it was almost like a first hand meeting with God (if he exists).
Sunday, 25. July 2010
The benefit is that one is to do more spiritual practice instead of eating or serving their body. So not taking the time to cook and eat is an austerity. Also it helps on control the tongue and belly. The main purpose is to add more seva or devotional service to ones day instead of eating. No other reason. Unnecessary fasting is not recommended in the Vedas. ( meaning to fast for other reasons than mentioned)But one should observe fast days such as 2 times a month on Ekadasi from grains and beans. Ones Gurus appearance day for half day and certain saints appearance and disappearance days. and the Lords appearance and disappearance days. If one wants to make actual spiritual progress one should be vegetarian. (Fasting from animal flesh) This is a Universal Truth. Without observing this, then all other fasting is useless spiritually. Thanks
Monday, 26. July 2010
The spiritual significance consists of the following:
1) Your focus is no longer on the “natural world” after a certain period of time
Fasting brings release from bondages such as addictions
2) After a certain period of time without food, (not hours, this effect usually takes days, several at least), the spiritual part of our beings moves to the forefront, becoming more dominant
3) This opens our spiritual “eyes” and “ears”
4) Having our spirit become more sensitive through fasting causes us to sometimes “hear” from God, see God, sometimes see angels, get desparately needed direction
5) Fasting intensifies our prayers so that they become like megaphones shouting (not disrespectfully) in God’s ear. In other words – our prayers get His attention, because He realizes we are serious
6) Fasting sometimes causes fast answers to prayer
7) Fasting can release God’s miracles into our lives
and release from what some call “evil spirits”
9) Fasting can turn the tide of battle in your behalf when you are going though great trouble
10) Fasting is actually a spiritual “weapon”, that when used properly and under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, can be compared to an “atomic weapon” in the natural world to solve life’s problems
11) Fasting can affect individuals, families, churches, schools, towns, cities, and nations for good
12) Fasting can turn away God’s judgement when He decides He’s had enough of mankind’s evil. (Read the story of Jonah and the whale in the Bible. Because an entire city decided to fast, call upon God, and turn away from evil, God spared Ninevah, even though He originally planned to destroy it.)
13) Fasting sometimes brings a manifestation of God’s presence and peace if we combine it with praise and prayer
Fasting has been very effective in my life and I truly recommend it to anyone who seeks a deeper experience with the Living God.
Monday, 26. July 2010
>> What happens during fasting to make it a spiritual
>> experience?
It is medically proven that much of what we have in our diet, being highly processed and the type of foods which are “clogging” to the system, do more to cloud the mind. Plus, at least here in America, there is the tendency to each too much and to eat too often. If your body is busy digesting your food, then it takes blood away from the brain to perform increased digestive functions.
Then there is the fact that God communicates with us through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit acts as our conscience. If our mind is dulled from clogging foods and “suffering” from a diminished blood flow, then we will also be out of touch with our conscience and unable to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit very well — if at all. This is also the bigger reason why we should not indulge in mind-clouding drugs, tobacco, or alcohol.
Thus, in the process of fasting, there are several benefits. By not eating, we give our digestive system a rest and increase the blood flow to our mind. Also by not eating, it means the body has a chance to begin eliminating the clogging effects of the wrong kind of food. If we then also leave off the drugs, tobacco, and alcohol, the result is a very clear mind which is free to become fully in tune with the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Now, some people have trouble if they go too long without eating. Those people should be careful; but what they can do is to at least temporarily alter their diet to simpler foods — no dairy, flesh foods, or sweets. For those who can, eat absolutely nothing and drink nothing except water with, perhaps, a little lemon juice in it (but no sugar). I’ve gone four days while eating nary a thing, drinking four quarts of water per day (one tbsp of lemon juice per quart), and felt absolutely no dizziness, weakness, or lightheadedness. Talk about clearheaded — and I lost 20 pounds.
God bless.
Tuesday, 27. July 2010
Prayer (the reason for fast) and meditation with a focus on what you are requesting of the Lord.
Thursday, 29. July 2010
We should first always fast from any and all animal flesh. Ultimately, God is “Love” or the personification of love. God allows the creatures of the earth to have life and what right do we have to give trouble to their lives or anyone’s? All creatures belong to God. All creatures have more intellectual and emotional potential then we want to give them credit. God knows their intellectual and emotional potential. We should be able to talk to the animals.
Otherwise, it helps to always eat frugal. We should always have a strong grip on our dietary habits.
“There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.”
Bhagavad Gita As It Is 6.16
Otherwise, always fast to honor God. Whatever we do with body, mind or words should be done as an offering to God, to Glorify God.
If we can’t keep from having *** only for responsible procreation of a wonderful God conscious child that we are prepared for emotionally and financially, then fasting may really help.
“A saintly person should not think, “This food I will keep to eat tonight and this other food I can save for tomorrow.” In other words, a saintly person should not store foodstuffs acquired by begging. Rather, he should use his own hands as his plate and eat whatever fits on them. His only storage container should be his belly, and whatever conveniently fits into his belly should be his stock of food. Thus one should not imitate the greedy honeybee who eagerly collects more and more honey.”
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.8.11
Eating has a tendency to make us bodily conscious especially when it leads to irresponsible ***. It is therefore, better to eat plain and simple. This bodily consciousness clouds our spiritual awareness.
Friday, 30. July 2010
It is great to fast because the mind is free from frills and the hunger is a reaction
Friday, 30. July 2010
The Bible states to “fast AND pray” we often forget the later part. We are a people that thinks if we skip one meal in a high pace-fastfood diet we are fasting. Not true. We have to “Seek the face of God” while we give in to the flesh. This allows the Spirit man to hear even better from the Lord.