Thanks so much for listening to Middays of Sissy Larson podcast. This is a little bit of bonus content

because we as a team are walking through the Gospel of Luke this month each day reading a chapter.

Today I want to talk about what it means to fast and pray. You know, I did a show on fasting, I don't know,

a couple of months ago and so many people benefited from it in one

person in particular on Facebook said the Bible is very clear that fasting can only be

about food I didn't see that I haven't found that I don't actually agree with that

but you sure can correct me if you think differently but the Bible says a lot

about self-restraint, practicing self-control.

In fact, that's a fruit of the spirit. Paul himself says, I buff it my body. I make it my slave.

Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself will be disqualified.

Here's the thing is we, as Christians, I believe so strongly, we need to be practicing self-restraint on a

regular basis. We need to say no to our flesh and make our flesh deal with it. Well, discipline

and self-restraint isn't the same as fasting. You can practice self-restraint without fasting,

but you cannot fast without practicing self-restraint. So we do need to train, I think, to enter into a good fast because otherwise we'll be full of

starts and stops.

We will feel frustrated.

I hear so many stories about that.

When people set out to fast, they fail.

They come under condemnation.

Well, guess what?

There's no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ, Jesus.

But you don't want to deal with that constant sense of I can't win at this.

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