Awakening

Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom 

by Stovall Weems

 

Do you long to grow spiritually?  Has your relationship with God become stale?  Perhaps fasting is missing from your life. Stovall Weems’ Awakening details the renewal process even in our electronic, fast-paced world.

Every January, Weems and his church complete a 21-day fast, encouraging others to join them.  Awakening explains the value of a commitment to fasting and its function.

Fasting: The Open Door to God

The book is not so much a manual on how to fast as it is a resource detailing the Scriptural benefits of fasting. I ended prior fasts wondering if I fasted “correctly”.  Weems confronts such confusion and clarifies how to achieve the Bible’s promised rewards from fasting.

Awakening is not a book of recipes or how-to hints.  Weems addresses the Biblical background and admonition to believers for regular fasts and the practical and spiritual solutions fasting brings.  He also details the personal and corporate benefits of fasting.

Awakening Stories

Chapters end with “An Awakening Story”, testimonies from people who complete 21-day fasts, with explanations of how fasts change lives. Weems teaches the reader to understand God’s leading during a fast. His extensive fasting experience resonates authenticity and strength, and includes success stories from people around the world.  The book includes a 21-day devotional and fasting calendar.

Favorite quotes:

• “God will meet you right where you are.” (page 14)
• “There is a closeness to God that you simply will not experience from prayer or personal devotions alone.  You must fast.” (page 63)
• “Alignment by God [through fasting] is the place where He begins to put things in order so that His kingdom can come into our lives.” (page 75)

I recommend this book without reservation.  Weems’ homey, open style makes the subject accessible and easy to understand, and he addresses common struggles which keep people from fasting. His particular combination of practical instructions and Biblical reasoning work well, and inspire me to begin a fast of my own this month.

Read Chapter One!

Click on the link below to read Chapter One of Awakening and to watch the author’s video message from 2011:

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© Sarah Gunning Moser, January 5, 2012

* I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for my unbiased review.