Spiritual emptiness plagues the souls of our modern society. Crafted veneers cover up how we really feel, because, to be honest is to admit we’re suffering inside. It is easier to ignore the cry of the heart and suppress it with work, activities, alcohol or sensual pleasure.

Much of what we do is maneuvering around past hurts, fears and low self-worth. On the inside, is a small child, in an adult world, crying out for love using possessions and job titles to prove significance because we don’t really believe we are worthy of love just as we are. Entering a relationship desperate for love, pressures the other person with unrealistic needs. What God intended for support and encouragement becomes a war zone.

Spiritual Emptiness Symptoms

Spiritual emptiness causes depression, feeling oppressed or out of control and confusion. Thoughts become contaminated with toxic resentment, unforgiveness, self-hate and feelings of failure. Many people need a TV or radio blaring constantly because silence is uncomfortable. Silence can be terrifying to an empty soul. During fasting, the inner silence is profound. Noisy, clamoring emotions become quiet and, for the first time, you hear the voice of your soul.

Curing Spiritual Emptiness

Curing spiritual emptiness demand the emptying the soul of all the junk impeding your relation with God. Why fasting makes such a difference before God is because spiritual fasting is the emptying of self, not just of food, but the mutterings of the inner self that drowns out the quiet voice of God. He will not shout. We must listen.

Most people have toxic thoughts filled with negativity, pride and false expectations, stemming from the pain of childhood. When I first saw the futility of my thinking process, the only conclusion I could come to was that I was totally insane. I would try to think positive thoughts by thinking of love instead of resentment, faithful thoughts instead of worry, which would last about five seconds then I’d start to think how much a failure I was for not being able to control my thoughts.

Living in Colombia, I had the worst drain clog of my life. After a failure with a full container of Devil Drain Cleaner, I hired a professional “drain deplugger”. He rammed a coiled wire down the pipe but the sink remained clogged. As a last resort, he put a water hose down the pipe and turned on the water full power. Out spewed a stinky, black and brown sludge. As he wiggled the hose, more and more sludge backwashed onto the floor. The kitchen was turning into a sludge swamp. Then came bigger, slimy chunks. Finally the blockage broke down and let the water pass.

Fasting is like that. It penetrates the blockage in the soul and stirs it up. It stinks and spews out everywhere, then the blockage opens and there is an experience of long-forgotten freedom. I can remember the day that the illusion fell away. I had worked so hard to prove myself worthy of love through achievement. When I realized my purpose was hollow and meaningless, I suffered an emotional breakdown and wept uncontrollably, walking around for days in an emotional vacuum. No longer did I know who I was. On the third day, the breakthrough came. I realized that God truly loves me, and that is enough. The words echoed through my soul in a way I had never felt before. At that moment, the sun broke through a hazy sky, and a white bird soared on an updraft. I soared with that bird. Love had set me free.

Fasting stills the mind. In the quietness, we can study our thought process. Worry, unrealistic fear, false pride, obsessive negativity and self-defeating thinking can be seen as thought sequences connected to triggers. During fasting, toxins released into the blood affect emotions and thinking. They cause feelings of weakness, discouragement and a loss of faith. Old emotions, memories and hurts stir powerfully. You face the full power of negative, toxic thoughts. At this time, many people give up the fast. For those who hold firm, fasting brings an inner-awareness that stills the soul bringing peace. We can take our burdens to Christ in true humility. When the breakthrough comes, there is a joyous awakening and a new freedom.

Cleansing Your Thought Life

Our imagination can create a work of art or a horror movie. When our thought life is negative, we live the horror movie. Philippians 4:4 states, …whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent of praiseworthy—think about such things…and the God of peace will be with you. During the fast, fill your imagination with thoughts of being thin, happy and energetic. See yourself eating healthy, and enjoy the feeling of being healthy. Dwell on the desire you have to be healthy. See the unhealthy foods damaging your body and hate them. Do these mental exercises repetitively like you are going to the gym. There is no set pattern or timing, but the more you think good thoughts the better you will feel and self-discipline will come naturally. Do it driving to work or during laundry. Do it until it becomes a lifestyle.

Money, medications, material possessions, achievements, good deeds or perfect living cannot buy a clear conscience. It is easy to make excuses, but if you do not believe your own lie, it will be powerless to sooth your conscience.Guilt can last a lifetime, and the pain does not lessen with age.

When Adam hid in the bushes, shame was controlling his actions. He could have been walking, laughing, exploring, but there he was in the bushes hiding with a guilty conscience. Where there is shame there is pain, separation and a degraded self-image. We no longer look at ourselves with pride. God becomes distant and we lose passion for living.

Unknowingly, many come to fasting as a fix for a dirty conscience. Honesty is good for the soul. It is time to tell God and those you have hurt that you are sorry. There may be a cost, but no matter how expensive the cost, the joy will be more than worth it. Repentance is the pathway to peace. You do not have to apologize a thousand times. Once is enough and the sin is forgotten. The blood of Christ and the power of God’s forgiveness are greater than any sin. Christ willingly died on the Cross for your every sin. When you finally believe in the forgiveness of God, you can start to forgive yourself. When you forgive yourself, it is easier to forgive others.

The ones you love the most cause the greatest pain when they do you wrong. There are only two ways to deal with the pain: resentment and becoming hard or drawing close to God and deepened compassion through humility, acceptance and understanding.

When life wanes into the hollow darkness of death, it will not be the parties, victories, trophies or empires we built that will fill our thoughts but the last embrace of the ones we love. One last tear-filled moment to share. When that day comes, each of us will have regrets. The working mother wishing she had spent more time with her daughter. The alcoholic who looks back on wasted years. When you stand before Christ and the events of your life are reviewed, what will you see? Will you be watching a shallow, self-centered person striving for self-gain or the painful sacrifices of a humble servant? As I write this, tears come to my eyes for I look at my own heart. I see how much less I am than what He wants me to be, how often I turn away and chase worldly desires.

It is easy to rationalize sin and self-centeredness because everyone does it. Yet, each of us knows right and wrong. You want what is right, and that is the reason you are reading this book. You are following an earnest hunger for a deeper connection with God and are willing to fast, willing to change, willing to sacrifice, humbled and hungry for more. With this attitude, fasting will be a catalyst to deep change.

To get practical, make a list of what is important, why it is important and what you are doing to reach it. During your fast, spend time studying each entry of importance. Lay it out before God, pray and wait. If you get stuck putting a value on a project, possession or achievement, consider the Apostle Paul’s value system. After one meeting with Christ on a dusty road, His most important values were slashed to zero, tossed in life’s dumpster and the only thing considered valuable and beyond price was knowing Jesus. When you mark the price tags of your life, look a little closer. The stuff thought of as most valuable may be junk before Christ. You do not have to have regrets at the end of your life.

When I was younger, I studied the writings of Confucius, The Tibetan Book of The Dead, Buddhism, Astrology, Tarot and every interesting and weird philosophy I could find. Playing bass for a heavy metal band called Black Mass, I became morosely depressed and entered a state of continual torment. Strange things started to happen. Lamps flickered when I entered a room. The guitarist and I almost died. We passed out from a drug overdose and the band practice hall, which was in a barn, caught fire. We were on a farm in the middle of nowhere, but someone entered, dragged our barely-conscious bodies from the fire and put it out. I saw his feet through the smoke. Then he vanished. I did not care; I was becoming suicidal, and life no longer mattered. The next day, at the same time and without talking to each other, two friends visited me with the same message that I was possessed and had to go to a certain church. I flopped into the seat of the truck, and the electrical system died. They prayed and the truck started. I walked into the church, and the pastor kept looking at me and appeared unable to concentrate. I just sat there in some weird trance. Suddenly, he ended the service, and asked everyone to leave, but I was asked to stay. When the pastor spoke to me, I got dizzy and ran to the bathroom with extreme vomiting and diarrhea. When I finally left the bathroom, there were 20 people in a circle and one chair in the middle that I knew was for me. Now, I am free from bondage and living with the protection of Christ. I will never forget the dangers of the spirit realm

The Bible states that there is a war between light and darkness; that Satan is alive and active on planet Earth and to be aware of his schemes. To get right with God, you have to repent of all the cult stuff in your life. If you have old Black Sabbath albums, crystal balls used for séances, Ouija boards, tarot cards or cult books, you need to destroy them. Remove anything in your house that is an insult to God. If you are reading this chapter because you want the best from God, remember that He is a jealous God and will have no other idols before Him.

Before you start fasting, take some time to think about why you are fasting. Jesus did not fast to lose weight. He was to be stripped naked, and hung bleeding on a Cross. His purpose in fasting was for the strength to complete His ministry. Healing, better health, weight loss and clearer thinking are worthy goals but what is the purpose of your life? The Bible says that each of us is called and God has set out our purpose from the beginning of time. Are you ready to live your purpose?

During the fast, the day-to-day world fades in significance. The world of thought, memory and emotion heighten in intensity. Connection with God clarifies. The foolishness of modern living becomes repulsive. Questions of who am I and where am I going, demand answers. Fasting is the accelerator of the process. It demands you to live for a higher purpose and that will cause you to become different from the people around you. Fasting unplugs you from the Matrix. You will never be “normal” again.

1Ki 21:9 In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people.

Ne 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads.

Es 4:3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Es 9:31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation.

Ps 35:13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

Ps 109:24 My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt.

Isa 58:3 `Why have we fasted,’ they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.

Isa 58:4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Isa 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Jer 36:6 So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

Jer 36:9 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the LORD was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.

Da 9:3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Joe 2:12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Mt 4:2 After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Mt 6:16 “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

Mt 6:18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Mr 2:18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

Mr 9:29 He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Lu 2:37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying.

Ac 13:2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Ac 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

The wind-swept summit held no treasures or mysteries to be discovered, just another mountain to climb. Within 300 feet of the top, every inch extracted excruciating effort. Shivering, weak and soaked with sweat, the peak defied the solo climber. It mocked his tiny hammer and pins. Resolve strained like a worn thread, yet deep within, in the place where dreams are forged, determination held. After three months of preparation, ten days of hiking and three days of climbing, the moment of glory came; the climber stood at the top of the world, the edge between heaven and earth, for nine wondrous minutes. Transparent blue sky above, mountain peaks and cumulus clouds below, the sweetness would linger for months.

Fasting and intercession is like climbing a mountain. Not for the weak at heart or the undisciplined. No cheering crowds to stir you on and the mountain is just another request before God that defies conquering.

Humility

Before the mountain climber climbs, he must get to the mountain, and so the intercessor must first descend to a dark valley before climbing the mountain of God. The valley is a smelly place full of the dirty garbage of sin. It is all laid out before God in painful remembrance. It hurts, we want to believe the best about ourselves and to do the opposite is indeed painful. Yet, through repentance, humility grows strong. Only when we realize how weak and powerless we are before God, can we begin to realize how much we need Him in every aspect of our lives. A humble, broken soul stripped of the weight of sin stands prepared at the base of the most powerful mountain on earth.

The mountain of intercession and fasting is the ultimate pain zone for pride. It becomes a giant groan before God. When the flesh is the weakest, the Spirit is the strongest. When pride is stripped away with humble remorse and heartfelt confession, angels gather to watch.

You cannot climb the mountain of intercession with the weight of pride on your back. It has to go. If you want to kill pride in your life, pray for another; if you want to develop compassion, empathy and patience then take on the burden of another soul. Feel their sorrow and embrace their pain and you will grow in humility and compassion will burn bright.

Flickering Faith

Water fasting is tough enough, but intercession and fasting are like climbing a mountain with a hundred pound backpack. You carry the weight of another sin or even an entire nation. Every cell and emotion ache. Blackness never seemed so bleak and God so far away. No stirs of the Spirit, only weakness that drains faith.

During water fasting and intercession, faith can waver and be weak and miniscule. You don’t believe your own prayers. Yet, God listens intently and moves each request to the top of His To Do List. Your prayers will be answered.

If you were to sneak into my room during one of these fasts, you would not see a guy glowing with a halo in the presence of God. Mostly, I lay in bed with a glass of water and an open Bible. My mind gets foggy and it is hard to pray or read. Feeling lethargic makes it easy to dwell on problems, and so I have to fight to think victorious thoughts. I can start to believe the fast is pointless. Somehow, I keep going, doing my best and knowing that this is enough for God. I know this because the mountain has moved many times, and if it does not I will know why and be given the patience to accept it.

Waiting on God

Each time I have fasted in prayer, my prayers have been answered in only three days. They were the three longest days of my life. Exceedingly difficult and requiring much resolve but when the presence of God came, weariness was washed away with joy.

I have heard many people say that they are water fasting for long periods then quit after the first day. Forget 40 days of water fasting for your first fast. A fast of that length is like climbing Mount Everest on your first climb. It is good to learn to walk before you climb a mountain and juice fasting is a perfect preparation for water fasting and intercession.

For those with a fast metabolism and intense work demands, water fasting can be impossible, but a restricted juice fast can become the vehicle of intercession. When choosing the length of time, listen to your body and you will know when to quit. During a water fast, you can alternate to juice fasting to get through some demanding times, then return to water fasting and prayer. You can intercede on a juice fast, but for me, it has to be water fasting. Juice fasting is a high-energy burn, but water fasting slows me down and demands inner reflection, which is so important in intercession.

Once you get the hang of it, and get a few prayer fasts behind you, it becomes an instant reaction. I can be in the midst of woes and concerns of regular life when a catastrophe hits and my faith flickers. I thank God and believe in the best, but I know it is not enough. Conviction wells up inside that I need to get serious before God. The greater the problem, the greater the conviction. Instead of water fasting being a huge undertaking, the conviction reduces the process to a simple act of filling a glass of water, closing the door to the room and kneeling in prayer. No preparation needed, the only requirement is a problem big enough to rock the soul.

Moses

When Moses climbed Mount Sinai in obedience to God, he did not know the reason or the length of time. All he knew was that his next step and a growing sense of importance. He knew God and had fasted many times. He lived a life of sacrifice and service. He could feel the pulse of God heart.

Ancient Israelites were a hard people. Even in the presence of the glory of God, they hung onto carnal beliefs that mocked God. God initial desire was to love and bless His people. God also has anger. He can become provoked, and the last thing you want to do is get God angry. That what the Israelites did. Destruction was imminent, then Moses argued with God, pleading for mercy, offering his own life in sacrifice, and then the impossible happened. God changed His mind, and a man who stammered in speech altered the fabric of eternity.

Like Moses, the intercessor, wrestles with God, refusing to take nothing but a yes as an answer. In Scripture, she is the irritating woman who tenaciously implored the Judge until her request was granted, and the midnight doorknocker who would not let his friend sleep until he gave him bread. The intercessor holds the most powerful position on earth. Whoever moves the hand of God alters the outcome of eternity.

Intercession is the spirit of joy and faith in God’s power?

Faith smiles when the problem is hopeless because you have decided that God will make this work out for the good. No fluffy spiritual theory, faith is an action, doing the opposite of how you feel. Rejoicing, dancing around, acting silly and being happy releases the problem to God. Imagine yourself happy with victory. Plan for a victory celebration. If you fill your mind with victorious thoughts, then faith can do its work.

Where Are The Intercessors of today?

A church filled with bulging bellies must bring great sorrow to Christ. Instead of a trained army skilled in spiritual warfare, He sees a motley crew of tired, groggy complainers. What is a disciple without discipline or an intercessor without fasting? It is no wonder that North America has degraded into a modern day Babylon. The guards on the watchtower are asleep.

Most Christians that come to Fasting.ws to start fasting want to get real with God. They are tired of empty, meaningless religion and desperately hunger for Christ. If you are one of these people, you will suffer much in your life, for anyone who called to intercession will be a target for Satan from a young age. Nothing will come easily, and your life will have more problems than most. You may even think there something wrong with you and that you have a mental problem, but in reality, Satan is moving in your life, and he will not quit. You have no other choice than to pick up the standard of Christ and fight.

The intercessor has one of the most unappreciated positions on earth. No Masters in Intercession degree to attach to your name, no pulpit lights or applause, no support staff, no works to show and no recognition. Instead, the intercessor stands before a heavenly audience of millions, illuminated by the light of God with angels as support staff, and eternal recognition given to your name in the Book of Life.

There is no request too big or challenge greater than the power of God. If He is willing, He is more than able, but big prayer requests cost, and the price is paid on your knees, interceding and fasting.

When God looks down in this world, He sees each prayer request as a tiny light but the intercessor burns bright before the Throne of God. The flames consume his/her very being, and if that fire burns bright enough, hot enough and long enough it can set fire to a nation.

Whether your addiction be sugar, salt or TV, fasting cuts at the spiritual roots of addiction: fear, insignificance, laziness, self-centeredness, guilt, negative thinking, resentment and spiritual emptiness. Fasting, being still, prayer and reading the Bible have the power of a chainsaw on these roots. During your fast, you take an aggressive stance on a battlefield to face all your addictions. Urges come and you say no. They return with greater urgency, and you stay firm in resolve. With each resistance, the power of addiction grows weaker.

If you want an addiction to die, don’t feed it. If you want to change your desire of an addictive substance, see its ugliness. If you want to be free of addiction, thank God for the challenge of addiction and do the opposite of what it demands. Fasting and prayer are the opposite of addiction. Set your mind on freedom and resist addiction.

You will always have hard days and tough times filled with stress and uncomfortable emotions. How you respond to these needs is either healthy or unhealthy. A healthy response to stress is to go for a walk, exercise, breathe deeply, or think faith-filled thoughts. An unhealthy response is smoking a cigarette, worry and nail biting. Changing your responses is indeed difficult as the behavior is engrained in your neural pathways and you have to create a healthy response pathway. The value of fasting is that it is a focused event dedicated to developing healthy responses to the urges of addiction. It may take months of retraining for your body to fully develop healthy responses that become subconscious but be patient, it will happen.

There was rich man who asked Jesus, “What must I do to enter the Kingdom?” When he was asked to sell all he had and give it to the poor; he turned away because he valued money more than following Jesus. What have you exalted above Jesus? What is it that you cannot give up? What addiction is filling the space that only Christ can fill? You can sponsor 10 children, read the Bible daily, faithfully attend church, and yet be groaning with spiritual emptiness because you are in bondage to hidden addictions.
We live in an addictive society where it is socially acceptable to be addicted to sugar, salt, caffeine, fried food, cookies, cakes and junk. Yet, no matter how small the addiction, it has to go. Even a cookie addiction can powerfully affect your life through guilt, pimples and thirty pounds of excess weight. You may say it is just a few cookies but if there is deterioration to your health, and you eat them without control, your cookie addiction needs to end.
When I got high, it was never long enough or high enough. Every time I got high, it was a tease. I always wanted more. Drugs were supposed to make me happy but I was miserable. I never had what I wanted. Leaving you always wanting is the sneaky side of addiction. An addiction makes you feel good for a time, but, behind your back, it is stealing your self-control and making you its slave through the desire for more. …for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. (2 Pet 2:18,19) Even a cookie high is never enough.

Hard Days Ahead

You will always have tough times filled with stress and uncomfortable emotions. How you respond to these needs is either healthy or unhealthy. A healthy response to stress is to go for a walk, exercise, breathe deeply, or think faith-filled thoughts. An unhealthy response is smoking a cigarette, worry and nail biting. Changing your responses is indeed difficult as the behavior is engrained in your neural pathways and you have to create a healthy response pathway. The value of fasting is that it is a focused event dedicated to developing healthy responses to the urges of addiction. It may take months of retraining for your body to fully develop healthy responses that become subconscious but be patient, it will happen.

Fasting For Spiritual Strength

When John baptized Christ, the Spirit led Him into the desert—not for a vacation, but a preparation through fasting. Each day was another day closer to the suffering of the Cross. Any man would want to run from such a fate, but Christ used fasting to strengthen His resolve.

One of Satan’s main tactics is to encourage any addiction or lifestyle that makes the body the master, where man is moved by every little whim of the flesh. Fasting is a powerful discipline for bringing the body under submission. You take total control. It suffers and you say no. A soldier without needs cannot be tempted and will not turn from duty.

Each great servant of God has had his/her time of fasting. It is an essential spiritual discipline and without it we are weak. It fortifies spiritual foundations, builds intimacy with God and strengthens resolve. We can hide behind a lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy, fear of rejection, and fear of failure, yet we will never be fulfilled until we become courageous. Fasting, prayer and faith give us the courage to move past our fears into the realm of the unknown.

If you are spiritually dry, fasting and prayer will restore that fiery passion you had when you first came to Christ. If you are seeking direction, truth will be revealed. If you are in a spiritual battle, fasting gives the edge for victory. If you have a request before God, there is no position more powerful than fasting in humility and praise.

The process of victory always starts with one small decision to change then building on the momentum. For example, a man cuts down on his smoking three cigarettes per day. Because he feels good, he decides to go to the gym. In the gym, he meets some positive people who encourage him to change his diet of greasy foods. A few weeks latter he has lost 12 lb and looks younger. He decides to go a step further and prays each morning for 20 minutes. He becomes more loving to his wife and children and their relationship deepens. Feeling better about himself, he reorganizes his business, restructures his finances and makes long-term investments. One year later, his life has been totally transformed by the act of cutting down on cigarettes and strengthening the chain reaction that followed.

Modes of Behavior

We function in modes of behavior that become lifestyle patterns. The man who comes home each day and watches TV for three hours is in the comfort mode and running three miles is the opposite of that mode. Doing the opposite is the only way to break the behavior pattern. The act of running demolishes the comfort mode and creates a new mode of living that is much healthier.

Living in fear, worry and doubt is a mode of behavior. Constantly fearing rejection and feeling insecure is another mode of behavior. To demolish these modes of behavior, we need to do the opposite of what the emotions are demanding. To kill fear, do something risky. To kill the fear of rejection, get out and socialize.

The Bible uses this process in a powerful way to kill the sin nature. The verse pick up the cross and follow me is intended to kill the mode of self-centeredness. If you want to fight fear, be willing to die for Christ. If you want to kill rejection, be willing to be rejected for Him.

It would be great if a Sunday church service could blast us high enough into the spirit realm that we made all the way through the week. I wish it was so easy, but it is not, walking in the freedom of Christ requires us to be connected. Walking in the Spirit in a moment-by-moment basis. During eating, sleeping, or exercising, we need to maintain the connection. That why Paul says rejoice always, for in this we stay connected. This process of staying connected is indeed difficult because it requires us to be continually monitoring and adjusting of our state of mind to that of Christ’s spirit.

The state of mind that defines the spirit of Christ is peace, love, long suffering, patience, and kindness. If these are absent, you are not in the Spirit. If you are angry, uptight, edgy fearful, nervous, resentful, bitter and people or events are constantly creating irritation, you are definitely not walking in the Spirit or even close.

The Choice

With every decision we make there are two paths before us. We can abandon ourselves to the desires of the sin nature or follow the path of self-discipline. You would not be reading this book unless you hunger something deeper. The following pages will inspire you to get serious in the war with the sin nature. Many battles will be lost but surrender is spiritual death and that is unacceptable.