On today's show, I will share with you my journey seeking God's leading through fasting and prayer, and why I believe it is such an important spiritual discipline for Christians to develop. I am no spiritual giant by any means! But God has taught me much through fasting and prayer, and I started 2018 with a two-week fast in which He moved in amazing ways in our family and my life. It was a truly life-changing experience and something that I believe was crucial to changing and preventing future problems with relationships and family life.

Fasting is also an important part of lifeschooling, as you are so often teaching your children more by example than by what you say in a formal setting. We should also be constantly seeking God's leading in lifeschooling, and fasting is a great way to do this.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I mentioned drinking salt water in a pure water fast, but I failed to clarify that this is in addition to drinking regular water. I wanted to mention that in case it isn't obvious.
For this episode, I want to share with you about something that has made huge impact on me and my family. First of all, I am not a doctor! Please consult your health professional for advice and understand that I am just sharing my personal experience with you.
I am a bit hesitant to share about fasting. Jesus made a point about the Pharisees and their practice of drawing attention to their fasting. He said that by drawing attention to themselves, they already had their reward. So in sharing, I want to be very careful that I'm not being like the Pharisees because I certainly don't want to lose the blessing God wants to give. But I do feel that God wants me to share as an encouragement to others who need to start practicing this discipline.
To give you some background, I started to become interested in fasting several years ago after reading “Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life.” Our pastor at that time also preached a sermon, sharing about his own experiences with fasting, including a time when God used his fast to spark a revival on the campus of his school.
It is important that we also understand that God designed fasting to not only have spiritual benefit, but also the added benefit of health.
I have had failures and successes in fasting. History of my fasts, in order:

7 days - My first one and all I could think about was food! It was more about me and not eating than it was about time with God or seeking God's leading. Focus on the end date.
10 days - A little better.
27 days - Really learned more how to focus on prayer and the specific focus I had in mind (abortion). But still a lot of food focus (Food Network, scanning recipes online, cooking and baking a lot for family). Also didn’t make it to 30 days. Felt God release me from that (had something I was called to do, so needed to eat for energy). Still felt a little guilty, but I think that was just because I didn’t reach my own goal.
10 days - Really learned about how to focus attention on God. When felt tempted to complain or focus on food, I praised the Lord. At the end, amazing time with God! Weeping. Broken over sin, over what Jesus did for me. I was transformed...peace, love, joy, patience... Glow of being in God’s presense.
2 weeks - Recent fast. I had a plan for specific focus, but God redirected. Time of starting the year with meditation, seeking God's leading, refocusing life, cleansing. Want to do it yearly.

2 week fast has many benefits: cleansing, weight (fat) loss, breaking addictions, finding out true “appetites”
How to fast:

Start slowly
Ask the Lord to guide
Have a definite purpose in mind

Here are several websites with good information for learning more: