A New Kind of Fast

Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Nineteenth century Englishman and contemplator James Allen wrote, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. . . . Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.”

Having never observed the tradition of "giving up something for lent," this year I eagerly jumped on the opportunity to take part in a new kind of fast—a fast from Wrong Thinking, which lasted the 40 days of lent. I signed up to be part of the fast and each day received an e-mail from Pastor Gregory Dickow describing the type of negative and unbiblical thinking of which most of us are guilty at least sometimes. Thoughts that reflect a victim’s mentality (“I never get a break), self-defeating thoughts (“It’s no use, things will never get any better”), wrong thoughts about God (“praying isn’t working”), and thoughts such as “I can’t help it, that’s just the way I am” all serve to stifle our relationship with God and cripple our potential for joy.

The beauty of the fast wasn’t in the decision to no longer think in certain ways; the beauty was in replacing those wrong thoughts with the truth of God’s Word. And so I’m very excited to tell you that we at the Voyageur Press have received permission to print articles from Pastor Dickow’s present teaching, From the Inside Out: Fasting from Wrong Thinking. I hope you'll enjoy this addition to the Faith pages.

See www.fromtheinsideout.us to access archives of Pastor Dickow's messages. Good stuff!

Blessings, Lisa