Consumed: 40 Days of Fasting, Repentance & Rebirth - Softcover

Briggs, Dean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692363610 ISBN 13: 9780692363614

Publisher: Champion Press, 2015

Synopsis

Fullness is dullness. Hunger is passion.Sometimes we need a personal reboot. We need a "burning bush" encounter, one close enough to feel the heat. Life has a way of growing cluttered, feeling dull. Modern society is so full of stuff—busy schedules, buffet lines, gadgets—that we've forgotten the discipline of denial. We don't remember how to hunger, therefore we've forgotten how to be filled. Yet Jesus promised the opposite: if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, then we will experience fullness. And nothing rekindles the inner fire like fasting.Drawing inspiration from Psalm 40 and Isaiah 40, Consumed is written in simple, encouraging language, composed day-by-day during the author's own forty day fast. Thus, the insights come to you in "real time" — exactly what you need for each day, like a friend who knows how to speak to your heart. Each brief, daily devotional helps to focus the soul in a posture of humility and repentance for the ultimate goal of personal renewal. Have you lost direction, focus, vibrancy? The ancient solution is to give yourself to an extended, 40-day fast. Don't worry...you can do it!Consumed also features:

• Nuggets of wisdom from ancient and modern church fathers
• Practical advice for managing your fast
• Simple, daily guidance from physicians to maximize and safeguard your health
• Space to journal your reflections each day
• Medical insights into the benefits of fasting; also specific recommendations for structuring and ending your fast.

Don’t yield another day to the tyranny of excess and overindulgence. Confront your idols, focus your spirit on the presence of Christ within, and you will experience the unique grace of hunger. Burn again with love for God. Be consumed!

About this title

From the Back Cover

From Day 5 --------------------------------
"Fasting is the choice not to be physically full so that we might more fully know our need of Christ. Don't fight this barrenness, turn it into praise. Watch as God forms a new kind of brightness in your spirit--songs of hope, not lamentation for lack. In the grace of God, your inner man is able to turn missed meals into melodies. The sobriety of fasting becomes a paradox of joy when we learn to embrace the gift of emptiness. Do this: locate how He is filling you, in the place food once occupied. Say yes, then exalt Him for the hunger, for that is precisely where you will be filled and transformed..."

From Day 6 --------------------------------
"Never forget, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was also food! Forbidden food. So in a sense you could say Satan used excess food to lead them to destruction, with fruit that exceeded their permission to enjoy. Their desire was not wrong, only that particular meal. It was simply more than was good for them.

So it is today with our own unchecked appetites! The message of fasting is not that food is explicitly evil, but that too much is an impediment to deeper life. God desires to bring revelation through moderation to our spiritually starved culture. With warehouse supermarkets sagging under the weight of all the excess -- not one variety of mac 'n' cheese, but ten! Whoppers and Big Macs dueling for loyalty! Every meal a feast of seconds and thirds! -- your forty days of quiet, determined restraint may become the most shocking, unexpected, gracious invitation for others to follow the way of Christ..."

From the Inside Flap

FROM THE FOREWORD BY DENNIS JERNIGAN

"On my fast, a remarkable thing happened. Rather than dreading each day without food, I found the opposite to be true. Hope, confidence and passion began to replace my previous fear and exhaustion. Thanks to the wisdom and nourishments in this book, I progressed into the fast as an adventure with God, slowly leading to a renewed mind, refreshed body, invigorated soul, and deeper faith. Dean's words and insight to Psalm 40 and Isaiah 40 led me to places of creativity and passion for Jesus that my soul craved. His encouragements can actually be heard in each of the songs I received during my fast. Food as an idol in my life was replaced by a proper focus on Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life.

Each day produced a new song of deliverance. My soul took flight. My friend, let this book and my songs inspire you. No one thinks they can manage an extended fast until you do one, then you discover the grace of God in such unique and personal ways! The benefits of fullness with God far outweigh a few days' emptiness in your belly. Renew your focus on Christ, filled with Him above and beyond the cares of life."

Edition details

• Publisher: Champion Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0692363610
• ISBN 13: 9780692363614
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 178