This is not a joke.

[oversabby]

Hello guys!
There is this subject that has be troubling my heart.
It has to do with our walk with God.

Can somebody be overzealious?
and does it dengerous to pray too much or fast too much?
I have my reasons for asking .
certain things happened in my church and also there was a friend of mine had the same experiance in his church to.
With what happened ,It was really not easy to say if this people prayed so much or they had fasted so much but they all had this experience after a long fast.
I will need responds before i would tell the full story.
Hope to hear from you all soon and God bless!

[4hisglory]

I do not think someone can pray or fast to much.....

.....but......

If they are announcing it or "disfiguring there faces" they are making a public specticle about which isnt a good thing.

[BBoy]

I don't think it is possible to pray "too much" or fast "too much."

However, it is VERY possible to live an out of balance life. Is this what you are asking?

For instance, if someone who is married with three children has a dirty house and no food prepared for the children, and never goes to any of the children's plays or football games, never throws the children birthday parties or helps them with their homework . . . but is constantly in church and in everything the church has going on, on every committe and in every church function . . . then that person is out of balance.

Now we are to always pray and not faint. We can pray on our way to work, while ironing clothes, while practicing the keyboard, while cooking dinner for the family.

Now, if you fast to the point where you are depriving your spouse of the natural affection that they are due, then your fasting is out of balance and you are opening a door for the devil to put someone else in front of the eyes of your spouse.

So it depends on what you mean when you say "too much." There is no such thing as too much fasting and prayer, but sometimes untaught people can lead very unbalanced lives.

Be Blessed  

[deemusic]

Hello,
Don't know what your situation is about the Fasting Part, you can't pray to much, you can pray within without anybody knowing that you are praying.
I have been taught to fast according to my ability. I mostly fast in the mornings 9 to 12 noon or longer if  there is a serious problem, when i fast, i always drink water to keep my body hydrated. sometimes i don't watch T.V. for 2 or 3 days, sacrificing something,sometimes i don't eat sweets or drink soft drinks for a week - different things to fast on, it's not always total abstince from food. i hope this help, always fast according to your ability, not someone elses. some people i  know fast from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., some longer, everybody not on the same fasting or praying level.

[biblethumpa]

I don't think it is possible to pray "too much" or fast "too much."

However, it is VERY possible to live an out of balance life. Is this what you are asking?

For instance, if someone who is married with three children has a dirty house and no food prepared for the children, and never goes to any of the children's plays or football games, never throws the children birthday parties or helps them with their homework . . . but is constantly in church and in everything the church has going on, on every committe and in every church function . . . then that person is out of balance.

Now we are to always pray and not faint. We can pray on our way to work, while ironing clothes, while practicing the keyboard, while cooking dinner for the family.

Now, if you fast to the point where you are depriving your spouse of the natural affection that they are due, then your fasting is out of balance and you are opening a door for the devil to put someone else in front of the eyes of your spouse.

So it depends on what you mean when you say "too much." There is no such thing as too much fasting and prayer, but sometimes untaught people can lead very unbalanced lives.

Be Blessed  

Once again, well said BBoy!  

[oversabby]

So,This is what happened.
There were 3 guys in my church who were behaving strangly and this was after they had fast.

They were having their fasting at different times.
I was even told one fasted for 21 days and there after he was make such strange statement like:He is among the 24 elders the book of revelation was talking about.

Before now was also a sister who was also behaving strangely after fasting for a long time(but i donīt know how many days) He was behaving so strangely that they had to take him to the mental hospital

I even discurse this Issue with a friend of mine in another country.His responds was that he also know a sister in thier church who fasted for a long time and since about 5 years now has mental problem.

I know fasting is scriptural.I have fasted also but not for so long period.
But my question is:Why should this people have such problem(mental problem) After fasting.

The responds i have gotten so far were :Maybe

They were not having spiritual covering before going into such fast.

They were not studing the bible during fasting and since thier spirit is so open anything can happen.

They were fasting for selfish purpose

They were praying for power without focusing on God.

They were having too much Zeal without knowledge.

But with all this responds i am still not satisfied.

I should surpose fasting bring us closer to God ,make our spiritual life with God more Active,make us more sensitive to Gods voice etc.
During the time I have fasted I experience positive manifestation,positive result.
Among this people I was talking about was one Who started hearing Voices and seeing thing and from my discursion  with her I have not been conviced that this voice is from God: Because God cannot Contracdict his word.

Can some body please say something on this Topic

[nessalynn77]

I would say you have to definitely be lead of the lord when going on a fast for a long period of time.  We see fasts in the bible (Moses, Elijah, Jesus) where fasts lasted as long as 40 days with no food or water.  But it is safe to say in these instances that God himself instituted those fasts and he gave them the physical stamina needed to endure.  I don't think you can fast or pray to much, and I agree with what bboy said.  Out of the responses you gave, I believe the one about opening yourself up to the devil, because many people start out with the right intentions, but the devil only needs a small opening to come in.  God can begin to work in someone's life or start revealing things to them, and pride creeps in and they begin to lose focus and glorify themselves instead of glorifying God.  It's a thin line sometimes, between being highly anointed and used of God, and being lifted up in self.  We also see stories all through the bible of people getting lifted up in themselves and trying to eclipse God's glory (God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to literally lose his mind -- he wasn't fasting or anything, but that pride thing is shown clearly in his story).  I don't know if you'll find the answer your seeking, but I believe that when fasting and seeking God, you gotta stay in the Word to remain on course, and stay prayerful and make sure everything lines up with what God has already said in his Word.  If we aren't sure it is God speaking, there's nothing wrong with continuing to seek Him and telling him that we are unsure, so he can help give us clarity.  Anyway, this is a little long for my second post ever, LOL!! So I'll stop here.

[BBoy]

You are right, GOD's leading never contradicts His Written Word.  Anything that contradicts GOD's Written Word, we can be absolutely certain, is not from GOD.

It can be dangerous to go on a fast without the proper teaching. In the situation you described, I would say that yes, they were overzealous and entered into spiritual warfare that they did not understand.

All of the people you referred to should be referred to their pastor for help.

[beantownborn]

Can you pray or fast too much?  I believe you can.  If you're so intent on praying for a certain situation, you may miss what God is saying to you.  for example, you could be praying for promotion for yourself and God wants to speak to you about bringing someone to salvation.  Yet, you miss that because your intention is misplaced.  Or God can tell to stop praying for something, like when David mourned his son.  He ceased from mourning and praying because it would avail to nothing.  

The same goes for fasting.  You may fast food but the Holy Spirit may cause you to fast shopping, or fast TV, or radio, or fast a certain food.  Why?  You may need to be streghthen in other areas. Or that fasting opens a doorway of hearing and doing for you.  Or that fasting could be a cleansing of the mind, body, and soul.  It may be a partial fast.

So, I believe you can fast and pray too much if you are not led by the Holy Spirit.

(Sorry for the late response but I felt it needed to be said. Plus, I just learned about this forum a few weeks ago, though I've been a LGM member for much longer. Gotta learn to look outside my scope of thins.)

[bishop2]

See this is the thing, Zeal, NOT according to knowledge is bad, you CAN fast so much and not be spiritual monitored and go into a self righteous spirit.  Your fast will go from a good motive to you think that you are deep and God is giving you so much revelation...Personal mail me and I'll go deeper into that...  But this is why you have to be under leadership, I stress that soooooo much, because folks now a days go on a 50 and come back crazy, why, no one was checking them in the spirit.  When you start telling me that God took you to the 3rd heaven and showed you the room of gifts, and you still curse every other word, it makes me wonder... Now I'm not saying stuff that I heard, I'm telling you what I see... folks trying to be deep, and not letting God use them in their ablilty...
DEEP PEOPLE DROWN....

[oversabby]

Hello guys !
I would like to thanks you all for you contribution.
But there is a point i was not so cleared about Bishop2.
I had always believe fasting make our spiritaul man active and our flesh weaker.
And pride we all know is from our flesh and not spirit.
This people I was talking of were not even doing tangible miracles.
The were just fasting for long period and ending up by saying strange things which the feel were revelation gotten from God but in real sence,are things contraditing the Bible.
One said that he is amonge the 24 elders the book of revelation was talking of .and so on.
One lesson i was able to learn from all that happened is that ,We should not believe all spirit.
Even After Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 night ,the first word he was hearing after such a long period of fast was that of the devil(The temptation of Jesus)
The is no hight one get to in the christain race that the devil does not speak to one ,But we should not take all what we hear been it inward witness,or audible voice like thunder,still voice etc as from God .We should first control it with the word of God before we can say if it is of God or not.
Somebody told me of a woman of God who war already married .After she finished Bible school she said God spoke to her to leave her Husband for another man of God who just lost his wife .

There was also another story of a man who entered a zoo and went to the spot where the lions are because he believe God promise to deliver him just like daniel in the bible.the sad part was that he was killed by the lion.

There was this story of some set of believer who said some year back that God spoke to them and told them the exact day Jesus was to come Back.
At that period in my country churches were filled up because no body want to go to hell.But this period came and went nothing happend .
Even the Bible says that no man knows the day or the hour that the son of man is coming back.

I thing all this things are happen as a sign that we should be close to our bible like never before.

Any fast without bible study could end up been spiritism.
Even when we pray our prayer are more effective when we bring God promise to him.
God is not interested in our fears,or in our tears but in our faith in his word.
God honours His word more than his name.
If all kness bow at his name you can guess what they would do at his word.

[MODERN_DRUMMER]

I don't think it is possible to pray "too much" or fast "too much."

However, it is VERY possible to live an out of balance life. Is this what you are asking?

For instance, if someone who is married with three children has a dirty house and no food prepared for the children, and never goes to any of the children's plays or football games, never throws the children birthday parties or helps them with their homework . . . but is constantly in church and in everything the church has going on, on every committe and in every church function . . . then that person is out of balance.

Now we are to always pray and not faint. We can pray on our way to work, while ironing clothes, while practicing the keyboard, while cooking dinner for the family.

Now, if you fast to the point where you are depriving your spouse of the natural affection that they are due, then your fasting is out of balance and you are opening a door for the devil to put someone else in front of the eyes of your spouse.

So it depends on what you mean when you say "too much." There is no such thing as too much fasting and prayer, but sometimes untaught people can lead very unbalanced lives.

Be Blessed 

what he said!