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Relational Intelligence

Wouldn’t it be great if we had signs for people like we have signs for roads? You approach a person and they hold up a sign that says “I just had a big fight with my spouse this morning, proceed with caution”, or “Feeling highly stressed, may explode”.

Maybe at work your boss could have a sign saying “Under Pressure” or a co-worker “Having trouble with my child, Hard to Focus”

We could go on and on describing different signs people could wear. The point is that we don’t get that clear of a message in our relationships. We all have to go through drivers education in order to get a license to drive. We don’t go to relationship training to learn how to relate to people better. A lot of us should get pulled over for not reading relational signs correctly. We often run red lights, don’t merge properly and ignore many signs people are giving us relationally.

Jesus was a master at reading people, noticing people that others ignored. Of course He had the advantage of being God and knowing their thoughts, but we can learn from Jesus’ example. He paid attention to the outward signs from people and could quickly read the motives behind the actions. The problem for many of us is that we are far to engrossed in our own lives that we fail to notice the people around us. We lead busy, preoccupied lives and often miss the bright neon signs someone is flashing in front of us.

This happens a lot in marriage. One spouse is holding up all kinds of signs that are saying we are in trouble, we need help, we are heading in the wrong direction. The other spouse ignores those signs and maybe puts up others sign like things are OK, full speed ahead, we can do this on our own.

God shows us in Genesis 4:6 how to read signs “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?” God sees that Cain is upset because of his facial expression. We can also know if someone is angry, frustrated, unsure, scared, disappointed etc from the facial and body expression that people use.

When we tune into each other and notice these little outward expressions, it helps us to connect at a deeper emotional level. Some people are not very good at picking up on these signs and can actually be blind to many of these signs. Often that starts early in life by being shut out relationally by family, school mates etc. They begin to insulate themselves from getting rejected and eventually stop being able to read what another person is feeling. Those who have been abused can also insulate themselves from emotional connections with people.

To regain that takes emotional healing and a lowering of the walls that have been built around the heart. Everyone can learn to read other peoples signs better. Often it is by trial and error, by asking questions and talking about what you are observing. Many times we can sense when something is wrong with people we know well. That sense comes from the non-verbal and verbal communication they are sending us. Simply asking some questions of that person can help to open the lines of clear communication about what is going on.

So my challenge to us all is to pay attention this week. Look for signs like “Road Closed”, “Stop”, “Yield”, “Proceed with caution”, “Slow Down”, “Do Not Enter”.

Life is full of signs and people wear them every day. I love the comedian that talks about “Here’s your sign” that is different, that is us giving someone else a sign instead of reading theirs.

Paying attention, asking questions and knowing when to give someone space and when to pursue them are all critical relational skills. I hope this will also help you as you display your own signs. What are you saying to the people around you? Maybe you need to change out some of your signs to allow people to get closer to you.

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How to Help Without Hurting

“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:17-18

My takeaway from that verse is that Christians need to be doing more not less to help those in need. There are two kinds of responses people can make to this verse.

  1. “I just don’t care about the poor, My life is all about me and I like it that way”
  2. “I can’t wait to help the poor! The love of God is in me”

I guess there could be a third response of I have thought about helping the poor, but just don’t know how.

A word of caution to the people with response number two. There can be mixed emotions and motives behind wanting to help the poor. Here are some possible motives:

  • A need for meaning and purpose in our lives
  • A desire to feel like we are the answer to someones problem
  • To be a bit like God – it makes me feel good to try to save or help poor people.

The danger is to unintentionally reduce poor people to objects that we use to fulfill our own need to accomplish something good. Really the answer for all three responses is that we need to be reminded of the Gospel every day. We are all broken and poor in some way. It may not be financially, but it might be relationally, emotionally, spiritually or physically. We need to be reminded that Jesus paid it all and covers all our sins and short comings. So we are not on this earth to fix ourselves or other people, we are here to love God and love other people.

Our approach to helping poor people should be to love them. Taking the time to build relationships, to listen to their story and really care about them. It means taking a longer term approach with people instead of a quick fix like paying a bill for them, or buying them groceries once. Often times we like to swoop in and help someone out and then never interact with them again. That usually confirms to that person that they are poor and feeds the shame they feel. It does not help that person heal emotionally or to mend broken relationships or build new healthy relationships.

Here are five principles we can use in our approach to giving:

  1. Give yourself first – First give yourself fully to the Lord and then to other people. This means viewing ourselves as servants, here to serve and love others.
  2. Give to the point of sacrifice – We should not just give our leftovers, but our best. We should give the first 10% of our income to God through the local church. We should give above that if we are able. We should give our talent, abilities and experiences to helping others through the local church or non-profits. We should give our best time, by planning out when we can serve and help those in need.
  3. Give willingly – giving should be voluntary and not out of obligation, but out of love. Giving is a privilege and a way of worshiping God.
  4. Give what you have – We cannot give what we do not have. We can give our money to healthy organizations, we can give our talent to help our churches and healthy non-profits, we can give our time to people and organizations as well.
  5. Give with a plan in mind – Desire is not enough, there should be a deliberate setting aside of time, talent and treasure. In other words, we need to plan out our giving. Find the right church or nonprofit that we can work with to make a difference.

In order to really help someone we need to understand if they need relief, rehabilitation or development. In many situations, relief is not needed, but rehabilitation or development is needed. Relief should go to the severely disabled, some elderly that cannot care for themselves, the very young, orphaned children, mentally ill homeless and victims of natural disaster. Most others may want relief, but need rehabilitation and development.

Most people are poor because of broken relationships. Development looks to help restore and to build healthy relationships. This takes time, patience and work. We should not do things for people that they can do for themselves. When we step in and do things for people they can do for themselves we send a message to them that they are incompetent, hopeless and helpless. Instead we should work with them to help them improve their lives. This is the helping in truth part from the opening Scripture.

This holiday season, I want to encourage you to think long-term if you want to help someone in need. If you are not willing to do that, then it would be better to not get involved. You can still help by giving to organizations that have this approach. Here are some organizations that my church supports. NewPointe Community Church also has this approach of mentoring and working long-term with people to help make big changes in their lives. We might help them financially along the way, but it is part of a plan for helping them grow and change.

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May God Bless You With Discomfort

I read this today in Michael Hyatt’s Blog and thought it would be worth sharing. This is a different way of looking at the world around us. I have been challenged lately to love people better. Jesus told us to love others like we love ourselves. I am not sure I can say that I do that every day. So here is a prayer for me and for you:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to our children and the poor.

Amen

I hope that was as inspiring and challenging to you as it was for me. I want to challenge you to start praying that prayer and asking God to make you uncomfortable. Compassion and love for people is not a feeling, it is an action – Go make a difference!

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How Can You Know God’s Will?

I received some questions that our mentors hear from time to time and thought I would address them here. The first one was “How Can I Know God’s Will?”

Other similar questions might be: Can I really know God’s will for my life? Do you think God really has a plan for me? How do I know that what I’m doing is God’s will? Does his will change?

Without reservation, I believe God has a plan for our lives! However, living day to day can feel like visiting a major city for the first time without a GPS or map. Sometimes we just feel unsure of what direction to go or what to do. We would like God to write us a message in the sky telling us what to do.

What do we normally do when we get lost or disoriented? Asking directions is usually what gets us back on track. I just gave a truck driver directions this morning, he had received confusing instructions about where he was going. After talking with him for a while I discovered where he needed to go and was able to give him clear directions on how to get there.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could meet with Jesus like that and ask for directions. As Christians we have a personal guide and map as we try to navigate through life. The Holy Spirit is our guide and the Bible is our map. That is what we need to look to, to know God’s will for our lives.

God tells us this in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plan I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

If we want to know God’s will for our lives, we need to look to God’s Word. Much of God’s will has already been revealed through the Bible. For example in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 it says, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified (holy): that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like those who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.”

  • God’s Word reveals His will for our attitude in certain situations: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess. 5:18
  • God’s Word reveals His will for how we should handle critics: “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” 1 Peter 2:15

The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God’s character, and express His deep love for us. We can be certain that God’s purpose and vision for our lives will never be contrary to His revealed character. For instance, it is not God’s will to sin in anger, to disregard human life, to neglect children or your spouse or to be rudely impatient.

Revealing God’s will in our lives is a process. We wish He would just tell us who to marry, where to work, how to raise our children and how to have healthy relationships. The problem is, even if He would do that, we often would not listen and still do things our own way. The Old Testament is full of stories demonstrating that.

That is the journey we are all on, learning from mistakes and painful experiences in life. Without those difficult, hard times, we would not be growing to be more like Jesus. Here are some stages along the way to knowing God’s will for our lives:

  1. Obey God’s Word – We should not ask God to reveal His will and then decide after He reveals it whether or not we will obey it. If we take that approach, we will miss out on God’s best for us. In order to obey God’s Word, we need to know God’s Word.
  2. Ask God what His will is for us – Prayer is vitally important is this process. Psalms 143:10 says “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your spirit lead me on level ground.” God will not always reveal His will immediately even after you pray about it. However He will reveal as much as we need to know at that time. Prayer often changes us not the circumstances. A mark of a mature believer is praying for God’s will to be done and really meaning it. Maybe His will is for you to change!
  3. Recognize that His Spirit bears witness – The Holy Spirit lives in us to help us with the decisions of life. He interacts with our spirit so we can know that we are in the center of God’s will. One benefit of the Holy Spirit living in us is peace. When we are doing God’s will, we can experience peace, even when a storm is raging around us.
  4. Pay attention to circumstances – God opens and closes doors. Because we are His children He promised to direct our steps. Life is not a series of accidents, based on chance or happenstance. We are not some insignificant blob. The Bible says “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 He did not say some things, He said all things – God speaks and directs through life’s circumstances. So ask yourself, What does God want me to learn in this circumstance.
  5. Have a relationship with the body of Christ – A key element of our process or spiritual growth is our relationship with a local church. Having close relationships with other believers is vital in following God’s will for our life. God often speaks through other people.

If you are facing some difficult decisions in life or are trying to find God’s will for your life, here are five simple things you can do:

  1. Read the Bible – God will never ask you to do anything contrary to His Word
  2. Pray – Ask Him for direction, peace, wisdom, discernment, courage.
  3. Ask your self and those close to you if there is peace in going this direction. Peace not relief from pain or difficulty.
  4. Is a door clearly open, do you have an opportunity to do something good. Or are you trying to force the door open on your own?
  5. Seek other Christ followers to affirm whether this situation is God’s will. Ask for honesty not for agreement or sympathy.

If you have done all five of these you should have a pretty clear indication of whether this is God’s will or not. If one of these is not in agreement, you should consider that a yellow warning light from God. Maybe it’s not against God’s will, but it may be the wrong timing.

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

When you are in the midst of a really difficult situation you can feel helpless and hopeless at times. The old saying of being between a rock and a hard place describes many peoples lives. So what do you do when you find yourself in the midst of a divorce? Or what do you do when you find out your spouse has been unfaithful? What do you do when one of your children is making horrible choices? What do you do when facing financial hard times? What do you do when someone you love dies?

If your a follower of Christ this is what God wants you to know. “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end- Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior… So don’t be afraid: I’m with you. Isaiah 43:2-5

Here are four practical things to do while in over your head, in rough waters or between a rock and a hard place:

  1. Forgive yourself – Most of us find it very difficult to forgive ourselves for messing up. We beat ourselves up over and over again. That usually leads to a downward spiral. Remember that God forgives and forgets, and He will give you the grace to forgive yourself, too.
  2. Forgive those who’ve hurt you – Forgiveness is the one power you always have over someone who hurt you. Forgiveness means canceling the debt and letting them off your hook. They still are on God’s hook, let Him deal with them. Forgiveness is a huge step toward healing and wholeness.
  3. Take your time, go slow – When your hurting, it is never a good idea to make major decisions. You’re riding an emotional roller coaster and that is never a good time to move quickly. Don’t get into new relationships if you have a freshly broken one. When you are in difficult circumstances seek wise counsel, surround yourself with healthy Christian friends and be patient. Healthy people make healthy choices, so spend time reading God’s Word, praying, seeking counsel, and allowing yourself to be made whole.
  4. Start giving back – This can be a hard thing to do, because when your in the midst of crisis you don’t feel like serving others. However, becoming more like a servant is one of the best things you can do to get your mind off your problems and onto God and wholeness. “Your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.” 2 Chr 30:9. Knowing that God will not turn His face from you if you seek Him, helps you to comfort and serve others.

So no matter what your going through, God is with you. The choices you make while in the midst of turmoil will become part of your story. Choosing to forgive yourself and others, going slow and being patient and serving others will pay dividends in the end. It will lead to good fruit and a healthy heart.

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How Teachable Are You?

My grandfather told once when I was younger that he found my name in the Bible. I was a little surprised and asked him where it was. He said it was in the book of Daniel, a King by the name of NebuCHADnezzar. That was the first I had ever heard that name and it has stuck with me for a long time.

I recently read about this King again and learned some interesting things about this ruler of Babylon. He was one of the most arrogant leaders in history, self-centered and full of pride. He viewed himself as god and looked at the kingdom of Babylon as something he created.

God gave this king a vision of a huge tree, chopped down by an angel. The tree represented him. God took away his kingdom in an instant even as he was bragging about what he had accomplished. God drove him into the wilderness, where he lived like an animal, living in caves and dirt shelters. He stayed there until he recognized God as the supreme ruler of the world. He finally submitted to God, gave up control and became teachable.

Being teachable is one of the most important qualities a person can have if they want to be successful. After Nebuchadnezzar submitted to God he began a new life as King , here are some things he did to develop a teachable heart:

  1. He used grateful words – he express appreciation and blessing for God’s grace and mercy. I am sure he also used kinder words with the people around him
  2. He had a hungry mind – He wanted to grow personally in character, faith and as a leader
  3. He developed a Big-Picture perspective – He began to see things from a bigger God perspective
  4. He was dissatisfied with how things where – He was not content with the status quo
  5. He had a humble heart – He no longer viewed himself as the most important person
  6. He was real – this caused people to start to follow him. He became a magnet for high level leaders.

How teachable are you? Do you prefer to just tell people what to do? Are you willing to learn from anyone? Here are a few ways you can improve your teachablity factor:

  • Don’t believe everything people say about you – Don’t get distracted by your achievements and the accolades of others.
  • Watch how you react to mistakes – Do you admit when you make a mistake? Do you apologize or make excuses?
  • Ask questions and take notes – When you meet with people try to learn something from them. Find out about them and don’t talk so much about yourself.
  • Try something new – When was the last time you tried something for the first time? Challenges stretch us and make us better.
  • Work on your area of strength – Read, talk to other people that do what you do, search the Internet for people you can connect with to learn from. Improve in the areas you are strongest. Keep stretching.

If you are a teachable person, you will always be in demand, because you will always be changing and growing. those are the type of people that become leaders and have influence and can change the world.

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Focus & Self-Discipline

Today I met with a well known highly successful business man. We were talking about potentially partnering together on some ministry initiatives. As we talked it was clear that he was a man of vision, passion and focus. After we talked about the idea of working together he asked a question. So what is our next step?

I think he was testing to see if we had a vision and a plan. He wanted to know how focused we were. I was able to lay out several immediate next steps that we are taking to shape our vision and plan for helping people effectively. It made me think about how important it is to have focus as a leader.

Focus and self-discipline provide the foundation for solid leadership. If a leader gets distracted from the most important things it will cause a loss of energy and productivity. Learning self-discipline is tough. For me I have found that it really helps to develop self-discipline through physical exercise. I have been running for a couple of years and it has helped me to push myself. When I have been disciplined in my exercise and running, I have found myself much more focused on staying fit and healthy.

Here are a few things that may help you to work on focus and self-discipline:

  1. Protect your mind -Whatever you think about the most is what you will tend to focus on. When you fill your mind with the right things it will help you to be disciplined in the areas that will bring you the most success. When you allow lies and deception to fill your mind it leads you down the wrong paths.
  2. Guard your heart -A focused self-disciplined person must prevent old patterns from penetrating their hearts. Everyone has weaknesses and temptations that can creep into their hearts, that can not only distract them, but destroy them.
  3. Guide your lifestyle – As a leader it is important to live a life of integrity and character. Lifestyle decisions can lead to distractions and a lack of discipline. This can keep you from being effective and influential.

In order to be focused and self-disciplined, you will need to say no to some good things. You will need to do some things you don’t want to do and give away some things you like to do.

What areas of your life need more self-discipline? Where are you lacking focus? What is distracting you from the important things?

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Relationships Are Messy!

Relationships are messy. Think about all your close relationships – no matter who it’s with – it’s messy. Ask yourself these simple questions about your closest relationship:

  • Have you ever felt misunderstood?
  • Have you ever been hurt by what they said?
  • Have you ever felt like you haven’t been heard?
  • Have you ever disagreed on a decision?
  • Have you ever been let down?
  • Have you ever doubted the other person’s love?
  • Has the other person ever doubted your commitment?
  • Have you ever struggled to resolve conflict?
  • Have you ever felt used?
  • Have you ever thought, If I had only known!

These questions confirm that our most valued relationships are often very messy and difficult. In the book of James it says “Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you.” When it comes to relationships, we are our own worst enemy. No wonder the Bible includes so many commands and exhortations to be patient, kind, forgiving, compassionate, gentle and humble. The Bible assumes that our relationships on this side of eternity will be messy and require a lot of work.

The most healthy relationships are the ones that are other-focused instead of self-focused. Our sinful nature though causes us to act in different ways. Here are 6 basic ways we destroy relationships:

  1. Self-Centeredness – What is best for me
  2. Self-Rule – I am in control
  3. Self-Sufficiency – I can handle this on my own
  4. Self-Righteous – Your sin is the problem
  5. Self-Satisfaction – I want just want to be happy
  6. Self-Taught – I don’t need anyone telling me what to do

None of this will improve apart from a growing, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. When our attention turns to God and knowing Him more intimately that is when relationship can begin to improve. We need to plug into God for the ability to love, forgive, be patient, be humble etc.

I believe God has a bigger agenda for our relationships than we do. Our personal agenda is to be happy, or in control, while God’s agenda is for us to become more like Jesus Christ. When we work at our relationships, it puts us in position to be changed by God.

All of us have tried to be the Holy Spirit in another person’s life, trying to work spiritual changes that only God can accomplish. When we step back and look at ourselves and how we can become more like Christ our relationships will benefit. We all struggle or have struggled in a relationship, we wish it would magically get easy, but it does not.

Only God can change a heart. He is present in our struggles and He is fighting on our behalf. James goes on to say in chapter 4 “You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.”

Maybe a change in perspective can change our relationships. God wants to help us, but often times we are so focused on our own agenda we miss His agenda. Start looking for what God’s agenda might be in the midst of your current struggle. Messy relationships are hard, but they help us become better and healthier if we include God.

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Life Change

Some of you that know me may have noticed that I wear a green band on my right wrist. The band says Life Change, and I wear it as a reminder that Life Change is why I do what I do.

Let me ask you this, what has changed your life? How have you changed over the last year? Are you changing for the better or worse? Are you growing?

I recently shared my life story with a group of guys I am meeting with monthly. I shared some of the significant things that have happened in my life. Things that have shaped me into the man I am today. As I was sharing, I realized how much I have changed over the years.

For me, my life has changed most at defining moments. Times in which I made decisions about the direction of my life. One of those times was a golf trip with Steve Wingfield where I recommitted my life to Christ. Decisions on the priorities and focus of my life, like the time I surrendered to God at a leadership conference and gave Him control. Other defining moments included several mission trips to Mississippi (Katrina Relief), and the Middle East (Egypt, Jordan, Iraq).

During these times, God opened my eyes to what could be and what should be. These moments took my faith, character and leadership to higher levels. They also were times in which I built meaningful and long lasting relationships.

Life Change is not just about defining moments or experiences. Life change happens when we work on our relationships. When we make a decision to improve as a husband or wife. When we ask for forgiveness and admit our mistakes. Life change happens when we do the right thing, even though it may have been painful and difficult.

Life change happens when we become more humble and seek help. It happens when we make the decision to be ourselves and not someone else. It also happens when we step out of our comfort zone and do something that really stretches us. Once stretched, we don’t go back to how we were before.

So, are you experiencing life change? What defining moments have shaped your life? Do you need to work on your relationships? Do you need to step out of your comfort zone?

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Fasting

Last week Pastor Dwight talked about some practices that can help us grow in our relationship with God. One of those may not be as familiar to some people as things like prayer and giving. Fasting is one way to grow closer to God. It is a discipline of abstinence.

Fasting is abstaining from food for a period of time in order to gain mastery of the physical realm and open us up to the spiritual. Fasting has been around a long time, as a matter of fact the Jews practiced fasting before Jesus came and most religions practice fasting. Jesus just assumed people practiced the discipline of fasting. In Matthew 6:16 he says “When you fast…”

Fasting is not dieting, dieting is about losing weight, looking and feeling better physically. Fasting is about getting closer to God. Fasting is all about denying our appetite to better control our flesh. Russell Nelson says it this way, “Fasting gives you confidence to know that your spirit can master appetite, and helps to protect against later uncontrolled cravings and gnawing habits.”

Most people, myself included are obsessed with food. Our worlds tend to revolve around food or where and when we are going to eat. Many people use food as a way to relieve stress or ease pressure in their lives. Food can be a comfort for some people as well. Fasting puts food in its place. It helps us to have a different perspective on food.

We should never fast just to fast, because we know we should. Just like reading the Bible because we should, instead of desiring to communicate with God. Fasting should be done to repent for our sins or the sins of others. Fasting is a way of showing God that we are serious about sin and do not treat it casually.

Another reason to fast is to deepen your prayer life. Fasting enables us to focus better on prayer. Fasting and praying for another person’s salvation or healing is a common way we should approach a fast. Several years ago the men’s group I was in did this together. We fasted for three days and we each were praying for the same person for healing. We also each had one person that we were praying for their salvation. What a powerful time of growth for all of us in that group.

Here are some benefits of the discipline of fasting:

  1. Peacefulness – Fasting can bring peace to a busy life. When we incorporate solitude, silence, Scripture and prayer with a fast, we can experience amazing peace.
  2. Dependence on God – When we do without something it makes us appreciate it even more. Food is a gift from God, and we often forget that here in America. After ending a fast the food we eat tastes better, and we appreciate it much more.

How to start practicing fasting:

  • Start small – I don’t recommend starting with a 7 day fast.
  • Consider a partial fast – A total fast is abstaining from all food and drinking only water. A partial fast may be fasting from certain types of food like desserts, carbonated beverages or caffeine. The Daniel fast is fasting from all meat and following a strict vegetarian diet. Daniel 1:12
  • Fast from something other than food – One year I fasted from TV for 40 days.
  • Start a special day fast – Pick a day each week that you will fast and have extended times of prayer.
  • Think about a major fast – in time you might aim for an extended fast of three days or more. A friend of mine did a 40 day fast a few years ago.

Start praying now about how fasting may help you in your spiritual journey. It is a good idea to check with your doctor before you do any kind of an extended fast. Some people can’t fast from food because of health reasons. A partial fast or fasting from a non-food item may be best. I want to challenge you to consider fasting as a spiritual discipline.