You Can Stop Complaining: A Five-Day Fast!Sample

The Language of Heaven

Two things happen to you as you take control over complaining through fasting those words!

First, you stop speaking as much. Conversations with others who are criticizing and complaining (how tiring!) will have no allurement. In your quietness, you will be more attentive to people—your listening will improve. Here is a marvelous, simple discovery. If you want to get to know someone, you must be quiet and listen. Even more profound in its simplicity—if you want to know Christ intimately, you must be still and listen. Oh, the effortlessness of it all—right listening produces right speaking!

Second, you will have more room in your soul for the Holy Spirit. Removing complaining, and all the negative baggage that goes with it, will produce a void in your soul. It is the perfect fit for more of God. 

I am often asked this question, “Ok, complaining words are leaving my vocabulary; what am I supposed to be saying?”

God wants words of encouragement, comfort, and blessing to be on your lips. In today’s scripture, Job spotted those who were about to stumble and propped them up by his words. Others who were about to succumb to temptation, his words gave strength to stand. Now those are words of life, the terms of Heaven. 

Words of thanksgiving and praise should saturate our life. The way we live is worship to God. Bonhoeffer said it best, “All of life is worship.” 

St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, gifted us with what he called “the most important prayer” that we could say, The Prayer of Examen. One of the critical refrains of this prayer is the daily practice of living in gratitude and thanksgiving for God’s presence in our life. 

What I love about The Prayer of Examen is that it affirms that even in sorrows, we can see and know God’s presence. It seems natural to give thanks to God and rejoice when blessings come our way. Where we falter is that it seems natural to complain when things turn sour. 

However, isn’t this the grand prize we have learned through these five days of fasting complaining? We can and will give thanks in all things. We will choose to bless the Lord at all times.

If you’ve been encouraged by Tim Cameron‘s devotional and want to dig deeper into this teaching, you can find more at: https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Day-Word-Fast-Spiritual-Eliminate/dp/1629982210.