Did you know that fasting has the power to unclutter your soul from the things of the world and make it sensitive to the things of God? During fasting is when you can break your strongholds with food addiction and allow Jesus to transform your relationship with food. 

show notes:

In this episode, Heidi talks about the power of fasting in Jesus and shares her personal experiences with fasting and breaking strongholds. Listen in to understanding fasting in Jesus, examples of fasting in the bible, and how to approach it. 

“Anything that has a stronghold over you is a good thing to fast.” ~Heidi Bramm

Top Takeaways:

• The power of fasting in breaking strongholds, bringing health and healing to the body, bringing us closer to God, and bringing breakthroughs and blessings from God. 
• How fasting can unclutter your soul from the things of the world and make it sensitive to the things of God.
• Ask God to search your heart while you’re fasting and be ready to surrender so he can transform you from the inside out. 

What you will learn:

• Fasting as depicted in the scriptures plus what fasting is not. 
• Understanding fasting, why you should fast, and the things you can fast. 
• Heidi shares some of the things she has fasted over the years and how she approaches fasting. 
• Heidi also shares her struggles with alcohol and her come to Jesus’ moment when the Lord delivered her. 
• Three questions to ask God during your fast so he can transform you. 

Relevant Links:

• Full: Food, Jesus, and the Battle for Satisfaction by Asheritah Ciuciu
• Biblical Weight Loss Facebook group:  facebook.com/groups/biblicalweightlossblueprint/
• Register for the Food Freedom Workshop, Nov 28 at 7:30pm CST: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pzoN6QIpSsyDiNy6sJQLdA

Detailed Transcript:

Hey beloved, Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode, we are covering Chapter 6 in the Full book: by Asherita Ciuciu. Food, Jesus, and the battle for satisfaction. I’m going to share key highlights from this chapter on The Power Of Fasting and how doing it With Jesus Can Transform Your Relationship With Food. I will be sharing my personal takeaways from when I went through this book in 2019. This POWERFUL book changed my life so much that I chose it for the 12 week curriculum for my breakthrough program, the Biblical Weight Loss Blueprint. To truly give you weapons for weight loss that work for lasting freedom. To help you renew your mind, to make you wise to the enemy’s tactics so you can armor up and stand against schemes, and to help you trade guilt for grace in your relationship with food. And today is the day that I share My Come To Jesus Moment In The Bathtub. You’re not going to want to miss it. 

But first, I want to let you know what’s coming on November 28th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and also what’s launching in Jan 2022.  

Do you feel overwhelmed when it comes to food? 

Have you ever felt stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of overeating, yo-yo dieting, and obsessive thoughts about food or your body image? 

Do you look to the scale to determine your self-worth?

Oh my gosh, I’m so excited beloved! I’m doing a “Food Freedom Workshop” and you’re invited! We’re going to spend 1 hr together unpacking what it really takes to break free from bondages to food and struggles with weight — w/o exercise and even if you’ve struggled your entire life!  

For many of us, food has become an increasingly complex issue that causes us to feel guilty, overwhelmed, or even hopeless. If you feel defeated by your lack of self-control or overwhelmed by your weight, and thoughts and longings for food, then come join us in the Biblical Weight Loss Blueprint Facebook group on FB Sunday, Nov 28th at 7:30pm CST as we dig into Scripture and reveal the path to freedom. 

I’ll be covering the top 3 mistakes that I see when people try to lose weight and this workshop will also give you a glimpse into the food-freedom curriculum that we use in my Biblical Weight Loss Blueprint, which is my 12 week signature program that I’m launching January 2022. It’s a faith-based format, and it’s comprehensive, it’s holistic in nature. We are body, spirit, soul so in this program we address all three with a guided fast and detox for the physical weight loss portion, a biblically based food freedom curriculum for the spiritual piece, and finally personal inner healing sessions for the heart & soul work that’s so crucial for lasting freedom. A strand of 3 cords is not easily broken and this program has it all! 

Weight is just a symptom. It’s not about the weight, and yet it’s not NOT about the weight. It’s about so much more than weight but we know that the weight is “in the way” so to speak of us truly living our lives to the full. 

Losing the weight is really just the icing on the cake in this program since yes you will be losing between 10-15% of your body weight, which for most people is about 20-25lbs, but more importantly, you will discover the joy of living free from food fixation by experiencing deeper satisfaction in Christ, you will find healing from the inside out and that you no longer NEED to carry this extra weight around because you’ve found true healing, and you will finally feel comfortable + confident in your own skin and be able to step into the fullness of what God has for you. So come join me for this totally free “Food-Freedom workshop” that I am doing for you. This is a spiritual battle y’all. We need to overcome the lies with truth. I will even have a special guest join us to share her experiences from the 12 week program so you can hear first hand her results and her takeaways. AND workshop attendees will get first dibs on applying for the beta version of this program that launches in Jan.

If you are ashamed to workout in front of others…

Can’t stop obsessing about food…

Or can’t stop binge eating or drinking…

If you avoid the mirror because of what you see in the reflection…

If you are stuck in a cycle of shame and self hatred with your body, or overcome by fear and anxiety in social settings…

Or using food to cope and numb the pain of the past, or when you can’t handle the everyday..

And your soul yearning to be set free from the bondage of food fixation, binge eating, loneliness, and isolation…

Then please come join us in the Biblical Weight Loss Blueprint Facebook group for the upcoming “Food Freedom Workshop” Sunday Nov 28 at 7:30pm CST. 

I can’t wait to see you in there!

I know a biblical approach is needed because when we aren’t in alignment with who God says we are, we are susceptible to the enemy’s lies. Either God is shaping our minds or the world is. 

I want to keep planting seeds that will open your heart to the idea that the Lord wants to fight this battle for you and victory is found in Jesus. So today we are talking about What Really Controls Your Appetites And Affections and How The Power Of Fasting Can Transform Your Relationship With Food + Jesus, PLUS I am going to share my come to Jesus moment in the bathtub when he delivered me from a spirit of gluttony and drunkenness with alcohol. 

But first, I want to ask you, have you ever fasted before? As Christians we are called to fast. In the beatitudes in Matthew 6, Jesus doesn’t say IF you fast. He says WHEN you fast. We also see in Luke 5:34-35 Jesus sharing the expectation that every believer is called to fast. He says, “Can you make friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them then they will fast in those days.” 

“Fasting has the power to break strongholds, to bring health and healing to the body, to bring us closer to God, as well as bring breakthrough and blessings from God.” 

And we see many examples of this in scripture. Moses received the 10 commandments during a 40-day fast. Esther and her people were spared by the hands of Haman after a 3-day fast, Hannah wept and “did not eat” we don’t know for how long but God blessed her with her son Samuel. Daniel partially fasted for 21 days which broke the power of delay by the Prince of Persia, and released the angels of God. Paul was on at least 2 fasts, one for 3 days and one for 14 days. Peter fasted for 3 days, and of course, we know that Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. And we have to ask ourselves, man, if Jesus could have accomplished everything he came to do without fasting, then why did he fast?

That’s really just the tip of the iceberg and I’m going to let you dig into the Bible and search for more on fasting but I do want to take a second to clarify quickly what fasting is not. Fasting is not simply going without food. That is starvation. Right? A fast without Jesus is just another diet and if you try to white-knuckle through a fast on your own willpower, you will slip right back into neglecting your health and your needs, and likely turn right back to food for comfort and to calm. 

But again, we are expected to fast as part of our Christian lifestyle and participating in a fast, whether done individually or together as the body of Christ, God delights in rewarding openly. People will notice and say, “What are you doing? You are glowing and look so joyful and peaceful.” We all want that peace and confidence to step into our calling, right? We want to feel comfortable in our own skin, to feel attractive and intimate with our spouses, and to feel vibrant and joyful because we are confident in who we are and whose we are! We all want to grow closer in our relationship with God, to hear Him more clearly, to surrender, and step out in boldness to be used as a vessel for expanding his kingdom on earth.

When you eliminate the food chatter from your mind and simplify your diet for a set number of days through fasting, whether it’s 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, or 40 days, your spirit becomes uncluttered by the things of the world and incredibly insensitive to the things of God. Fasting is refraining from something, all or some, for a period of time for a spiritual purpose. 

People fast for many different reasons. And fasting is a way to extend an invitation to God to do a transformation in our lives. And there are lots of different things you can fast, right? You can fast sugar, you can fast dairy, you can fast social media, you can fast negativity, you can fast gossip.  I would say anything that has a stronghold over you is a good thing to fast.

The idea is to take your eyes off of whatever it is that maybe is a distraction for you and to put your eyes on God and him as your source of strength. But through the discipline of abstaining from a controlling substance, coupled with prayer and an increase in our intimacy and desire for satisfaction in God alone. Man. Get ready for a transformation! You’ve all heard that our flesh is weak, right? Our heart and flesh are weak, but God is our source of strength. And so with him, we can supernaturally do these things that we couldn’t before.

So I like to regularly put off my appetite for things that have a hold on me. In the past it’s been sugar and processed foods, or wine or chocolate. Sometimes I will only consume lean proteins and whole fruits and veggies. Those are my favorite things to do for a 21 or a 40 day fast. I just want to root out all of the rocks that are in the way and are holding me back. And it’s a practice. Each time you do it, you will get better at it. I have practiced this. I practiced fasting sugar for, I don’t know. I want to say I’ve had like this on again, off again thing was sugar for the last 15 years maybe. But there’s fruit that comes from fasting, right? There’s fruit from that. Think about this. Like David, we can ask him to examine our hearts throughout this process. 

I like to approach fasting from a position of expectation. From a position of expectation of that transformation and what he has for us we can ask him to help us through that process. So I had this question written down. So I’ll just share it from my perspective. I asked him, “in what ways have I chosen and treasured comfort foods over you? In what ways have I turned to sugar as a way to numb?” So let me tell you about this experience. I’ve had an on again off again relationship like this with alcohol too. As a mom of four, right? Always in stress mode, at least for several years there, I was kind of in survival mode.

I’ve given up wine and alcohol obviously through my four pregnancies, births, and for nursing afterwards, but it always seemed to creep back in. And in our society and culture, I think that wine and alcohol is almost edified as an escape for moms or as a solution to our problems. It’s something that has had a strong hold in my life through different seasons. And so each time I went back to it as a solution, whether it was to calm me if I felt overwhelmed or if it was to give me confidence if I was feeling insecure in a social setting or if it was just to numb pain and block something out, it always backfired. I would always drink too much. I was never satisfied with one glass of wine. And so this was like an on again, off again thing. I’d give up wine and then it would creep back in and before you know it, I’d be having it most nights of the week.

And so that’s an example of stronghold. A stronghold is something you can’t say no to and you take it too far. You overindulge. So in different seasons, that was wine. So me being me, I don’t like things having control over me. I don’t like these negative influences having lordship over me. Having control where it’s like, I’m choosing this thing that I know I don’t want. It’s like the do-do verse in Romans. I’m choosing to do these things that I know I don’t want to do, but I’m choosing out of my weakness in my flesh, like I’m choosing it anyway thinking that it’s going to have this fulfillment for me. And it never does. It can never satisfy. 

But in December 2019, and this is my come to Jesus moment in the bathtub with alcohol. So I had two glasses of wine at home. We had family over and it was a difficult family time. There was tension so I released that in my own body by having two glasses of wine. But then I went to a friend’s house a couple hours later and drank another two glasses of wine as if I hadn’t even had the first two glasses of wine.

Needless to say, the next morning I got really sick. I’m not used to drinking that much wine. But I had my essential oils thankfully to help me detox. I had this Holy spirit moment and he gave me an essential oil recipe and it was really fast and it accelerated my detox on that. But I was in the bath and I was just literally crying out to God. And I was like, “I don’t want to live like this. I’m almost going to be 40. This is ridiculous. How come I keep doing this? I just need to be done. I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to be choosing this anymore.” 

This is what repentance sounds like. And this may sound strange to you if you don’t have a relationship with the Lord, but hang with me. And he said clear as day to my spirit, “I have delivered you from a spirit of drunkenness and you are not to return to it ever.” I was like. . . ever? 

He said, “EVER.” This is what he said. 

And He said, “Grieve it if you have to, but it will never be a good choice for you.”

So, and this doesn’t mean that wine is bad. In fact, Jesus, I think it was to Matthew in the Bible. He said, go have some wine for his upset stomach. Right? He was kind of a worrier. And that’s what Jesus told him to do. So I’m not saying it is bad to drink wine, but for ME personally it was something that kept rearing its ugly head. And I couldn’t ever seem to be satisfied with just one glass. So while I was still in the bath, I replied, and I said, “I can Lord, I can give it up, but I need your strength to help me get started.” He was worth more than any effect I could have from a drink. And he did, he took it. I gave my desire for wine and alcohol to him. I just completely surrendered it at that moment. It was that typical come to Jesus moment in the bath crying. 

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” It will have been 2 years ago this December and I haven’t had a drink since. All thoughts, all cravings for wine, and everything is completely gone. I don’t even think about it anymore. Praise God!

You can just imagine. And he did, he met me there and he permanently transformed me into who he created me to be in that regard. Like as far as that specific thing goes, what I was doing that was holding me back and I didn’t like, I cried out to him. He delivered me. And I am honoring him by telling you what He did and what He can do for you. Because he is no respecter of persons. If he can do it for me, then he can do it for you. So me turning to him through this and receiving his strength and his love and his grace and his mercy, I haven’t had a single craving. I haven’t had a single taste of wine since December 2019. I don’t think obsessive thoughts about it. We can go to a cookout or go to a friend’s house. We can be here on a Friday night just chilling. My husband can have a drink and it doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t even think about it. 

It’s like, it never even existed.

You guys know that internal tension and turmoil you go through when you’re fighting something. And you want to have it, and you have urges when you’re in specific situations, it can relate the same to sugar, or comfort foods – or any other fixation, sex, drugs, you name it. Right? So it was amazing. It was awesome. I love it when he works immediately in those deliverance type moments. Not everything is like that. But you also have to remember, even though that was an immediate moment of deliverance, there was 15 years of practicing trying to not turn to alcohol for comfort in certain seasons. It just happened to all culminate together in that one final moment. So even when there are immediate results, usually there’s been a struggle behind that for some time. But we have to put our faith and our actions behind that faith.

Here’s my advice to you:

Get quiet and ask God some real, and vulnerable questions. Ask him to search your heart and be ready to repent and surrender so he can transform you from the inside out. 

1. What sins in my life do I need to repent of?
2. In what ways have I treasured [fill in the blank] more than I’ve treasured you?
3. What prideful Tendencies do I need to be aware of as I start this fast?

Again, be sure to join us in the Biblical Weight Loss Blueprint Facebook group for our upcoming workshop at the end of November. All are invited and it’s open to everyone. 

In the meantime, I pray that you prosper in your health just as your soul prospers. Lord, thank you that what we do in secret with the father you reward. Thank you that we can expect a deep heart change and a transformation that will produce the deserved fruit. As we allow you to refine us through the process and open ourselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit, we expect to be transformed. We know we cannot live not by bread alone (or chocolate or wine or sugar) but by you Lord. Only you can satisfy our hunger. And even if we never again get to taste our favorite foods or drinks, Lord we will be happy and fulfilled in you. You are enough. Let us use fasting to turn our hearts back to you God, to awaken our hunger for you, to find satisfaction in you and your will, and to become more seasoned as we practice the discipline of fasting and to receive your blessings and breakthrough. We love you, we appreciate you, we thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen