Does it strike you, as it has me, that there is something terribly wrong with a passionless, passive, monotonous relationship with God?

The idea of my "1 week fasting plan" two weeks ago just came with the wind. I was in a phase where I feel bored. Stagnant. Not that I despise everything that happens in my life, but I just feel like I was kinda 'trapped' in a mundane routine.

One afternoon after I heard my friend told me that she was fasting; not only food and water fasting but also "social media fasting", the idea just intrigued me. And that Sunday afternoon, when I was attending Sunday service, I found it quite funny that the pastor was also talking about the importance of letting go of "penyembahan berhala" or idolatry in this modern era. 

We might not worship statues like the ancient people did, but what he meant with "idolatry" was based on the fact that nowadays, human tend to worship the world and what it offers. That includes gadgets, technology, things, money.. and many more examples. Modern idolatry is an act of enjoying what God gave to us more than Himself. It doesn't take long until I decided that I want to try the similar food and water fasting experiment myself + social media detox, start on Monday, February 4th, 2019, and intended to write a daily journal in that 1 week period.

What is Christian fasting anyway?

Disclaimer : I am trying to make this whole post as "natural" as I could, even though the theme sounds a lil' bit 'heavy' and 'holistic'. I am nowhere near perfect, hell I am a sinful human living in this world. Not tryin' to be a hypocrite or anything. The reason why I decided to write down this experience of mine, is just to show that I am trying to grow— and hopefully people can relate. The main idea of the blog is always to share.

Anyway, fasting is the process where you abstain from food and/or water for a period of time. Christian fasting is voluntarily going without food — or any other regularly enjoyed, good gift from God — for the sake of some spiritual purpose.

Fasting is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines of all the Christian disciplines. Chances are you are among the massive majority of Christians who rarely or never fast the right way(like me). It’s not because we haven’t read our Bibles or heard about the power of fasting... We just never actually get around to do it. Part of it may be that we live in a society in which food is so tempting that we eat not only when we don’t need to, but sometimes even when we don’t want to. Lol. And of course, there are our own cravings and aches for comfort that keep us from the discomfort of fasting.

Why Social Media Detox?

I guess we are all agree that fasting is hard. It sounds much easier in concept than it proves to be in practice. It can be surprising how desperate we feel when we miss a meal and everything the lusts telling us to do. Let's being honest here. For me, beside food, my cravings consists of being emotional, laziness, and social media addiction. With that being said, social media has been one of my best "frienemy".

Most people won’t admit how much social media means to them. For me, social media has been a lovely escape from the real world. It is fun, aesthetic, you can chat with your friends, you can build your own community, or share your thoughts and hobbies. But there was a phase when I thought it has been quite consuming, overwhelming, unproductive, and... ehm, fake. Most of the time, I don't realize that I've wasted my time for hours on Instagram. The worst thing is, I also started to become cynical and jealous of people, geez. So stupid. I started thinking: with those hours I've spent on social medias, I could read a book, spend quality time with a friend, finish my writing, take my dog for a walk, or work on my business. It was so unhealthy, then I came to the day when I thought "this needs to change". 

What Are The Steps and Rules?

I don't think there are the exact rules of Christian fasting. From what I've read and what my friends has told me, the main things are to get rid of food and lusts and take some intimate times with God. And still roll in our daily activities (work or school). I asked my friend who's experienced in fasting about what she does while fast, and she popped some ideas that inspired my fasting game. 

So here are mine:

Steps :

- Deactivate my accounts 

- Uninstall all social media apps 

- Pray 

- Bible reading 

- Praise and worship 

- Listen to gospel music only 

- Listen to preaching/sermon on YouTube

- Replace social media with another activity. I need to fill that void with something else, otherwise I know I am just going to claw my way back. In my case (other than step no 1-4), I choose to write, play guitar or chat with work colleagues. 

Rules :

- Fasting starts from 00.00 AM to 6 PM (18 hours) 

- No social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube *other than Christian contents*) 

- Be consistent

And here's my journal.

Day 1

• Morning pray
• Office hours
• Break time: listen to preaching on YouTube
• Evening pray + bible reading

Sooo that's my journal. Very simple, right? I only write those things that I find important, even thou it looks like normal activities; it functions as reminder that "I can do better tomorrow".

As you can see, I try my best to follow the rules and resist the don'ts. But of course, challenges will always come whenever you like it or not. Gotta admit that I still lost sometimes. Most of the time, I was able to control my emotion, but in some unfortunate times, I still find myself mad and sad over some things. We are human. We are unstable. That happens. But in the end, it's not about how you fail. The most important thing is how you get back. There may be issues, but I worked through it and I moved on. God sees my heart. God knows my motivations. 

Things I learned from 1 week fasting :

1. It's NOTHING compared to anyone else who fasts for 2 or 3 weeks or even 40 days. I read many inspiring fasting stories and I adore them so much for their commitment and strong will
2. I don't miss social media at all (what a surprise)
3. The hardest part of fasting was to resist the food (because I have gastritis) 
4. I swear God has a sense of humor because the way He works is just too funny. When you ask for something he can be pretty direct about it. After I finished my 1 week fasting, He showed something very important to me, it's literally like He answered my question a day after I prayed for it. It's so powerful, it's scary. 
5. I almost cried in the 7th day, because it felt like letting go the"special" relationship I've been having with God for the last 7 days.  I will miss these moments so much. I don't want to sound weird or anything, but I feel the amount of time I spent with Him made me able to listen to His voice. It's hard to explain the feeling I have inside my heart, how I feel about Him every time I pray for others, every time I feel hungry, and every time I sing for Him and enjoy my alone time with Him. It was special. You should try it and I am sure you will understand. 

Fasting is a battle against the sin and weakness inside us. Fasting is simply the act of placing ourselves in a position of letting go of our ego and to hear from God instead. We take food and lusts out of our schedule and focus on pleasing Him. Our purpose is not to be perfect; but to surrender to Him. To align ourselves with His spirit. Basically count on Him every seconds in every decision we're going to make in our life.

Matthew 6:16 KJV

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

*special thanks for Vionita Ressa, who's always willing to help and taught me a lot of things; and provided me with sources about fasting, beautiful sermon and preaching links. Gurl u rock :*