Fasting What Do We Fast

👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾about #Fasting: What Do We #Fast From . (Part 5) Dear followers of the Orthodox teachings .we greet you with the peace of the Lord. Today, based on the topic mentioned above, we present to you the following important lesson. We encourage everyone to read it carefully and learn from it. 👉🏾 “Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, and so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19-20 ✍🏾 If the whole body does not fast, then fasting only from food and drink becomes meaningless. 👉🏾 Our senses must fast: the eyes, ears, hands, and feet, which are far more important than the stomach. ✍🏾 We do not avoid food and drink because they are sinful in themselves, but because they strengthen the body and can pull it in an unhealthy direction, causing our relationship with God to weaken. ✍🏾 When we fast, we must also abstain from gossip, slander, adultery, false witness, and every sin that defiles the soul. ✍🏾 The foundation of fasting is obedience to God. While certain times forbid specific foods for religious reasons, fasting is not limited to food alone. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church teaches two kinds of fasting: 👉🏾 Fasting from certain foods (such as abstaining from meat) 👉🏾 Fasting from all sin, which we must practice at all times ✍🏾 The reason we avoid certain foods is not because they are evil, but because of obedience to the spiritual order. When we willingly restrain the body, we turn our thoughts toward the heavenly life where there is no eating and drinking, and we give thanks to God. ✍🏾The Blessings We Receive Through Fasting 👉🏾 Blessings in our work and ministry ✍🏾 The apostles fasted so their ministry would flourish. ✍🏾 The prophet Nehemiah fasted so that God would bless the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:4). If we fast according to the proper order, we also receive blessings in our daily work, in the rain, and in divine mercy. 👉🏾 In the days of the prophet Joel, when the rain ceased and the trees withered, the people received blessing during fasting and prayer (Joel 1:12-14). ✍🏾 Blessings in harvest Fasting blesses the seed and increases the yield, delivering the nation from famine and hardship. The prophet Joel teaches this (Joel 2:12-14). ✍🏾 Blessings for the soul Fasting strengthens the spirit, heals the wounds of the soul, weakens the force of the flesh, and subjects bodily desires to the command of the spirit (Psalm 108:24; Galatians 5:24). 👉🏾 Fasting removes worldly thoughts and reconciles us to God (Romans 8:7; Jonah 3:1-10). ✍🏾 It casts out demons (Matthew 17:21). ✍🏾 It reveals hidden things (Daniel 10:1-3). 👉🏾 “I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a straight path for us, our children, and all our possessions.” Ezra 8:21 👉🏾 “Trials push us to pray for ourselves, and love compels us to pray for others.”(Saint Yohannes Afewerk.) Part 6 Continues ... May the name of the Holy God be praised forever and ever in every tongue that He has created, today and always. May the blessings of God's mother, the virgin, and the cross be upon us. Amen. © John's Repentance Reach out to us on our social media platforms and share it with your friends:https://linktr.ee/johnsrepentance