Fasting Beyond Food- What is Controlling You? Lent Series

“You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ — but not everything is good for you. And even though I am allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything.”  1 Corinthians 6:12

Ask yourself: 

What feels hardest to surrender? What would make you slightly defensive if someone suggested you give it up? That may be your master.

Reflection Questions: 

1. What do I instinctively reach for when I feel discomfort?
   
   
2. What feels hardest to fast?
   
   
3. What emotion am I most likely trying to numb?
4. 
   

3-Day Devotional Guide:

Day 1 – Discernment
 Read 1 Corinthians 6:12 slowly.
 Ask God to reveal what may be mastering you.

Day 2 – Commitment
 Choose one specific thing to fast for three days.

Day 3 – Replacement
 Every time you crave it, pray instead.
 Journal what emotions surface.

Father, thank You for Holy conviction and how Your Spirit will speak to me this season. Show me what masters me Lord. I know I’ve leaned on it more than You, please forgive me. Break this chain in my life Lord. Give me the courage to surrender what controls me. Teach me that my only dependence is on You Father, I want to be mastered by You alone. Show me Lord, my heart is open. Heal my broken places Jesus. It’s in Your Name I ask, Amen.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting. 

 In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
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Transcript

Confronting Idols

Today, we're going to move from naming sin to confronting our idols. This one may get sticky, but stick with me because Lent is not just about identifying what's wrong. It's about loosening what controls us.

When most people hear the word fasting, they immediately think of food, skipping meals, giving up sugar, drinking only water, and yes, fasting from food is biblical. But biblical fasting is not limited to food.

It's about surrendering anything that has begun to master you. So let's see what God's Word has to say. Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight?

Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way? Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey, friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off. So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

Biblical Weight Loss Framework is waiting for you. If you are ready to take a deep dive into the struggles that keep you from finally losing the weight that you know God is calling you to lose, join the framework.

Let's take a deep dive at your own personal struggles. Create tactical steps that you can take every day to pray through them, move through them in a godly way and watch what God will do in you, through you, and because of you.

So find the link to join us in the show notes or at herweightlossmindset.com/framework. That's herweightlossmindset.com/framework.

Identify Your Master

So today's word comes from 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12. Paul writes, You say I am allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. And even though I am allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything.

That last line is key. I must not become a slave to anything. So fasting during this Lent season asks 1 piercing question.

What has become your master? Because not everything that masters you looks evil. Some masters look normal.

Some masters look successful. Some masters look socially acceptable. But mastery always competes with intimacy.

So let's ask ourselves honestly, what do you reach for first when you feel uncomfortable? When you feel anxious, do you scroll? When you feel lonely, do you overeat?

When you feel insecure, do you hop online and compare yourself? When you're bored, do you shop? When you feel stressed, do you escape into unhealthy entertainment?

Or any kind of entertainment? When you feel unseen, do you seek attention? When you feel temptation, do you open private tabs?

None of these behaviors may feel dramatic, but if they are your reflex, they are shaping you.

Fasting Purpose

Fasting is not about punishment. Fasting is about exposing our weaknesses, taking them to the Lord, and asking Him to remove them from your life. So when you remove what you normally reach for, something surfaces.

And what surfaces is really revealing. If you fast social media, you may suddenly feel restless. If you fast shopping or Amazon cart, insecurity may arise.

If you fast certain entertainment, you may feel boredom or dissatisfaction. If you fast from overeating, you may feel emotions that you didn't realize were numbing you. That discomfort is not failure.

It's God revealing His truth. The wilderness reveals what comfort conceals. In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4, Jesus fasted for 40 days, and the enemy tempted him precisely where he was physically the weakest.

Turn these stones into bread. The hunger was real. Temptation was logical.

But Jesus refused to let his appetite rule him. And here is something so important. Jesus did not argue with Satan emotionally.

He responded with the truth of God's Word. Fasting strengthens our spiritual clarity. It sharpens our ability to see temptation clearly.

Because when you say no intentionally in one area of your life, you train your spirit to say no in others. Fasting, in a sense, is spiritual resistance training. But here is where we need to go deeper.

The goal is not simply discipline. The goal is dependence, dependence on Jesus. When you remove what comforts you, you feel that need.

And that need is meant to drive you towards God. If you fast social media and you feel restless, pray in that restlessness. If you fast over spending and feel insecurity, bring that insecurity to God.

If you fast certain content and you feel tempted, confess immediately. Fasting without prayer becomes dieting. Fasting with prayer becomes intimacy with your Holy Father.

Intentional Surrender

So this week, I don't want you to fast randomly. I want you to fast intentionally. Ask yourself, what feels the hardest to surrender?

What would make you slightly defensive if someone suggested you give it up? That, my friend, is your master. And here's the honest part.

Some of you know exactly what it is. Maybe it's that drink that you have to have at the end of the night. Maybe it's scrolling before you pray in the morning.

Maybe it's the private habit that you justify that's stealing from your marriage. Is it the constant checking for validation and your social media notifications? Is it the spending that makes you feel powerful?

Maybe it's the emotional eating that keeps you from sitting with your sadness. You do not need to do all of it and you don't need dramatic fasting. You need to focus on the one thing that you think you can't give up and surrender it.

Because mastery doesn't always shout. Sometimes it whispers, you need this, you deserve this. You cannot cope without this.

It's just a small little thing. But fasting exposes whether that's true. And here's the best part.

When you remove what masters you, you connect intimately with your Holy Father. You discover something that's so deep within you. You're not as dependent as you thought.

And God is more sustaining than you give him credit for. Hunger reminds us that we're human. Fasting reminds us that God is sufficient.

He is sovereign.

Freedom from Control

But I want to be clear about something. Fasting is not about proving your strength. It's about admitting your weakness.

It's about saying, I have leaned on this too much. I have let this shape me too deeply. I want to be mastered by Christ and not my comfort.

And Lent is the perfect season for this because it prepares us for the cross. Before the resurrection, there was surrender. Before power, there is pruning.

Before we get to celebrate, there's confession and repentance. So here's a question I want you to ask yourself this week. What is controlling you?

Not what you occasionally enjoy, but what controls you? And are you willing to surrender it even temporarily to make room for Jesus? Because when you remove the noise of the world, you create space for intimate conversation with God.

And we have to have space so that he can speak to us. We're not living legalistic. We're not becoming rigid.

This is about freedom and the cross. Freedom is not the ability to indulge everything. It's the ability to say no.

Fasting helps us lean in to the freedom that only God can provide. And who knows? After 40 days without social media, you may realize just how fulfilling your life is without it.

To be honest, I've been without it this Lent season and I have not missed it one time. So don't fast casually. Fast prayerfully and watch what surfaces because what comes up is what God wants to heal.

I've heard in the past the thing that you think you can't give up or the thing that you say, I could never live without that, that's what you need to fast. Have the courage to trust that God is going to provide for you in your moment of weakness.

This is about his strength in your weakness. His power is made perfect in your weakness. Fasting reveals your weakness.

When we are weak, he is strong. When we are weak, he is strong. Fasting is not about us and what we are sacrificing.

Fasting is about connecting to the Savior who gave his life for us, who sacrificed everything for us so that we can live forever with him. This is not easy, my friends. I'm in the middle of a 40-day sugar fast, a 40-day social media fast.

I'm craving that spiritual connection with God because I have allowed these distractions to come into my life. That is why I'm challenging you today. Do not fast casually.

Fast intentionally, fast honestly, fast prayerfully, and watch what he reveals in your life. He will heal you. He will heal the people that you pray for.

Have the courage to trust that he will provide your deepest need. So I want you to think about a couple of things today. What do you instinctively reach for when you feel discomfort, when you feel alone?

You have 10 minutes on the toilet. You have, you know, the baby is playing by herself on the floor. Do you reach for your phone?

Do you reach for a snack? Or can you just sit there and give gratitude for God for what he's doing in your life? Then ask yourself, what feels the hardest to fast?

That's the thing you need to give up. You can live 40 days without sugar. You can live 40 days without your phone.

You don't need social media. Social media doesn't need you. Okay?

The struggle will still be there if you decide to return. And then ask yourself, what emotion are you trying to numb? Name it.

The devil cannot hold power over us when we name our sin and weakness. That is when we get to give it up to God and watch him take it. So I want you to reach out to me and connect with me.

Shoot me an email at info at herweightlossmindset.com about what God is going to reveal to you during the three-day devotional guide that I'm about to give you. Okay? So day one, you're going to focus on discernment.

You're going to read 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 12 slowly. Read it a couple times. Read it.

Read it out loud. Write it down. Ask God to reveal what may be mastering you.

And then day two, you're going to commit to choosing one specific thing to fast for. Fast. Start for three days.

Start to fast for three days. Maybe it's sugar. Maybe it's social.

Maybe it's alcohol. Maybe it's porn. Maybe it's shopping.

Fast it for three days. And then day three, we're going to focus on replacement. Every time you think of that thing or crave that thing, pray instead.

And journal what emotions surface. God has called me to stop watching TV before afternoon. I am obsessed with this Home Again show on HGTV.

It is a great show. It's clean. People are helping people.

These are like the nicest people in the whole entire world, but it has become a replacement idol in my life for social media. And God called me out on it a couple weeks ago. So something that is not inherently bad is still a distraction.

So in those times where the baby's napping and I'm holding her and cuddling her, and I just really want to flick on the TV, I've turned on worship music and I pray instead. I take a nap with her or I focus on my gratitude.

These are things that we should always be working on, not just in the season of Lent. You are worth this struggle. Father, thank you for holy conviction and how your spirit speaks to me this season.

Show me what masters me, Lord. I know I've leaned on it more than I've leaned on you. Please forgive me.

Break this chain in my life, Father, and give me the courage to surrender what controls me once and for all. Not about 40 days, Jesus, but for life. Teach me that my only dependence is on you.

I want to be mastered by you alone. Show me, Lord. My heart is open.

Heal my broken places, Jesus. It's in your name, I ask. Amen.

Hey, sis. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend?

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No more standing in the kitchen waiting for motivation to appear. I will meet you back here for another episode. God bless.