Those of you who started fasting with us on Sunday (see comments here) are at the midpoint if you're fasting for a week. It can feel miserable if you're hearing your stomach more than you hear God, or it can be tremendously gratifying if God is speaking to you. Either way, we can encourage one another by sharing the results of the fast so far.

For many people, the third day of a fast is the most difficult. You find yourself not only battling hunger pangs, but fighting to summon the will power to continue. Tomorrow the hunger you feel should abate some. So, if you've made it this far, my counsel is, keep going! The best is yet to come. You can build a kind of spiritual momentum as you go further in a fast.

One of my friends wrote this morning: "Having a day of brokenness today.  Can't stop weeping over stuff."

I found that helpful to my own faith. In contrast to him, I had a busy travel day - car to bus to plane to car, all the while on my phone or laptop. I didn't feel much of anything all day - I needed to hear what my friend has been experiencing.

Bill Bright used to report that he felt his prayers had double their normal power when he was fasting. He experienced such a spiritual turbocharging through his fasts that he made it a regular feature in his calendar.

I was with some Eastern Orthodox believers today and they reported the way their church incorporates regular fasts into the calendar. Many modern believers no longer practice this important spiritual discipline. Why? Well, maybe because discipline hurts - it involves a delaying of pleasure for a longer term gain.

But the Bible says that discipline is a good thing, that it's profitable.* We need it - fasting is worth it.

So, what have you been experiencing this week in your fast?

*Prov. 12:1, Heb. 12:11