Liquid Fast - Week 2, Day 1

Fasting Makes Me Cranky

Good morning, it's Pastor Chris from the Liquid Nutley campus.

Most days, I enjoy reading through a Psalm because it helps me to pray. Because as a pastor, I get asked to pray on a lot of occasions... at church, at meals, at weddings, at special events... and quite frankly, it can get quite exhausting trying to find new ways to pray the same thing - "Dear God... help!"

So I read through the Psalms because it can be a very useful collection of prayers that expands my own prayer vocabulary. Heck, if it was good enough for Jesus to use, then it's good enough for me. In fact, it's pretty cool to think that I'm uttering the exact same prayers that Jesus prayed.

// READ & FEED: Spend a couple minutes reading through Psalm 42. I'm fairly certain that you'll recognize the feelings that the author expresses so clearly: My tears have been my food day and night. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Why have you forgotten me?

// REFLECTION: A lot of Christians walk around wearing a smile on their face that says, "Hey Jesus, life is awesome; I'm kicking butt!" Good for them.

Unfortunately, the lines on my face read, "Hey Jesus, life just gave me a wedgie! What gives?!?!"

So, a prayer like Psalm 42 (with all the "woe is me" stuff) really resonates with me. And that seems to be okay with God. Given the fact that the Psalms are filled with a lot of brutally honest prayers from some pretty famous Christians in the Old Testament... it almost seems like God invites our brutal honesty. "Bring it on, I can handle it."

And that's a relief, because when I fast, I get cranky. No food = jerkface. There's no spiritual make-up to apply that can beautify my heart or personality. Besides, God sees all the scars and wrinkles anyway. So in one sense, fasting relieves me of the need to pretend to be something I'm not. And instead, I can spend all my energy engaging completely, wrestling wholeheartedly, and crying out tirelessly to a Savior who invites me to come and be completely transparent with Him.

// PRAY: One of my favorite authors suggested that our prayers should start with a very simple request: "May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real You that I speak to."

So today, pray through Psalm 42. Read verse 1, then spend a moment to personalize that line. Then read verse 2, and do the same...

In doing so, you may find the Psalms to be one of your favorite partners in your spiritual growth.