I am writing this on day seven of the fast, and I know some of us are struggling with self-control.  If you’ve fasted before, you know the pattern: you skip a day, then you skip two days, and pretty soon, you’re basically not fasting. What began as energy and commitment has given way to plodding guilt. You had wanted to practice a different way of living, but you haven’t significantly changed anything. You’re still the same person, just a guiltier, more hopeless one.

The Problem

The problem is that you’re trying to rewire your behaviour and ask something fresh of yourself physically (and/or, depending on what you’re fasting, socially). If this is the first time you’ve tried this particular fast, your body/mind/spirit don’t know how to do this yet, and your whole flesh is constantly trying to yank you back into comfortable, known patterns.

Why it Matters

We have a prevailing believe that because God gives endurance (Romans 15:5), He will give us the strength to fast. Perhaps He will, but there’s a good reason why He won’t: The power of fasting is that when we do it, we train out brains to be obedient to Him, even when things are hard. So the power of the fast is in the fact that it’s hard.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t train ourselves to be obeident.  And that’s what this post is about.

Disclaimer: Lame Fasts Are Still Fasts

I’m writing to tell you what I’ve discovered about developing discipline during these times. But first, let me be clear:  In this past year especially, I have been blow away by how much God has honoured even some of my lame, stumbling fasts with unexpected answers to prayer.  He is good and gracious and we can’t make him more good or more gracious, even with the best, most committed fasting.

Rather, we follow him out of because we love him.  He’s amazing and we want to be like Him.  He fasted so we fast. And as we take stumbling baby steps towards him, as a good father, He is pleased with our infantile attempts to be like Him.

In all of this complexity, there are certainly times when I’ve completed a fasting period and concluded that I cheated on my fast so much that really, I didn’t fast.  All I felt was that I wasted my time and effort.

The Four Steps

So without being legalistic, we should recognize that being earnest in our attempts to mimic Jesus matter. And so I offer six steps for becoming more disciplined during a fast:

1. Ask God what you should fast (John 10:27) and do what He says (hopefully, at this point, you’ve already done this!).
2. Keep track of the days you do it: It’s easiest to use a habit tracker app. Note: If you don’t have a device, a wall calendar works fine too.
3. Remember: When you’re tempted to break the fast, remember that this is what God told you to do.
4. Reset: Commit to the behaviour for 40 continuous If you miss a day, start the count over. If that doesn’t make sense, here’s more explaination:
5. Count only your unbroken streak: Some examples:
   • Today, as I’m writing this, it’s Aug. 26. If you’ve done it every day since we started the fast (Aug. 20), you’re on a 6-day streak (not including today)
   • If you did it yesterday and the day before, but not not the day before that, you’re on a 2-day streak (not including today)
   • If you didn’t do it yesterday, you’re at 0 (not including today)
6. Every time you break your streak, start your count again. You’ll only do that a few times before you start sticking to your commitment.

Not convinced it’s worth it?

Maybe that sounds like too much work.  After all, by the time you’re done, you might have fasted for 60 days in total! But provided that you’re committed to experiencing this life change for 40 days, it will work.

Here’s a recent example you might be able to relate to.  When we had to wear masks in stores, at first of us arrived at the store, only to realize we’d forgotten them.  I were grateful when if we saw that the store had them waiting for me.  But it was so wasteful, using a new mask every time I went shopping. So I put cloth ones in the car. But I would still forget.  Rather than get the disposable one at the store, I forced myself to go back to the car, effectively “restarting” my shopping trip. If you want to a new habit, you need to do it for 40 days.  To stick to your commitment, restart it when you break your streak.  Pretty soon, you find yourself wanting to obey God, even if it was initially hard.

So, remember what you felt you should fast, remind yourself how you determined you should fast it, count your streak, and reset it if you break it.  It will only be a matter of days before you are living out a new way of being, and experiencing the fruits that come from it.