Jesus and Demons and Fasting

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Jesus aid in the bible certain demons could only be driven out by prayer and fasting. What type of demons? I have a sexual addiction, I am not possessed, maybe oppressed. When Jesus said this what type of prayers did he mean? What type of Fasting? Besides skipping food what are some other examples I can do for fasting?
 
Remember when Jesus said that if our eye is an “occasion of sin” for us, to pluck it out, and if it is our hand, to cut it off. Better to go without an eye or hand than be cast into hell.

We don’t need to literally pull out our eye, but the point is to cut off at the root and fast from those things that routinely cause us to fall into sin. Unless we steadfastly and continually remove the remote cause of our fall, we will be tempted over and again.

Small example - if we have a problem with alcohol, we had best avoid the bars or parties where it is served in abundance, huh? Since your problem is sexual, it seems right to avoid all forms of stimuli that triggers thoughts of commission. You alone would know where your weakness lies in this regard. Much of our problem comes via our desirous thinking, so these thoughts would be a good place to begin. If it is a place or person, you can see the wisdom of fasting totally from that as well.

And I warn parents who may read this to keep a strict eye on what your children read. I had much difficulty in my teens from reading magazines like True Story, or True Confessions, and the like.

I know of few other sins which are as difficult to overcome as in this area, since God has instilled so very much pleasure in the body from these acts. Strength will come with each denial and refusal to focus on it, coupled with the helps that God gives both sacramentally and through prayer.

Satan desires to engulf us in a stronghold through these temptations, but he is a defeated foe. I believe Our Blessed Mother will be very helpful in crushing his head if you entrust her help as well.

🙂 Carole
 
I suppose you could try other forms of fasting, but honest “not eating” really does stand above the rest. Besides not eating anything(drink lots of water), you can take special care to set aside the times you would have spent eating for prayer, in addition to your normal prayer times.
I’m new to the whole fasting thing, but i’ve found it to be really wonderful.
simply on the issue of fasting and discipline, i would suggest a book called “Celebration of Discipline”(Check www.half.com for best used prices). Not only does it advise the average man on fasting, but also talks about prayers and meditation. To be honest, the author quotes both the saints and luther at times, so i can’t tell what denomination he is.

As for sexual sin, remember the God says to “flee from all sexual immorality”. He also says that he will not give us any more than we can bear. With Christ, this is NOT impossible.
Make a point to share your sin and struggle with a friend. Although priests can fulfill this position, they can sometimes be distant from your own social life, and may be ill informed of the struggles you are going through. In our church, we call these accounatability partners. Someone who, every week, will ask how you have done in your area of sin. Not only that, but you begin to share your specific areas of temptation with them, which they can both hold you accountible for, and pray for.
Although sharing such a private sin with a friend often seems difficult, and too extreme, that is precisely why it works. Sins like this become things “noone has to know about”. When you are forced to share them, it makes you begin to think twice.
a little off topic… sorry

Keep strong in christ!
 
I don’t understand how fasting can help me overcome a sexual addiction. It doesn’t make sense to me. I can’t see the connection. What is it about fasting that will make me stop doing impure things?
 
Dear friend

We cannot allow the body to rule the spirit, we must rule the body with the spirit and that is why we need to bring the body under the authority of the spirit. It must be disciplined and to discipline it we must purge it. None of this can be done just by our own will, we must do it by God’s will and grace.

When our own desires and body dictate to us a life contrary to the Gospel, the body is ruling the spirit, it must be trained in accordance with the Spirit and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. To do this we must starve our bodies of the very things it takes great pleasure in whether corrupt or not and fasting is the weapon against temptation of this nature.

By fasting we are detached from worldly affairs and the body and pay attention to our spirit which in turn masters the body. The body and spirit undergoes penance and through this sincere striving God is merciful and all is done by His grace.

You are not obliged to fast at any other time but those days as prescribed by the Church (Ash wednesday and Good Friday) and the hour before Holy Communion. (Fast from meat on fridays or replace with an alternative penance).

However fasting as a form of penance with the aim to cease a sin is noble and recommended. However above any fast undertaken, the sincere striving to be obedient and frequent confession is preferable.

If you do desire to fast make it realistic, say a one day fast and do this once a month and as you grow in virtue increase it.

My best advice to you however is not to undertake any penances or mortifications without direction from your Priest.

I’ll keep you in my prayers.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
You can fast in other ways besides abstaining from eating.

For sexual sins, fasting from television works wonders. Try this: for three weeks, watch no cable TV. Keep it off. If you rent movies, rent nothing with an “R” rating. Often times, TV commercials can be the near occasion to sexual sins. You don’t have to watch porn or the O.C. to be tempted nowadays. Commercials are enought to tempt. You’ll find that the more you fast from cable TV, the less trouble you’ll have with lusful thoughts (prelude to the bigger sexual sins).

Sexual sins are HARD to conquer, and can take years. Just keep going to confession. If you fall, just get up and keep going. Try and try again.

ME? I totally unplugged my cable connection and only rent movies. Big sexual sins have been gone for a year! Lustful thoughts have decreased dramatically now that cable TV is gone. I am very careful about the movies I rent, especially R. Read the back of the dvd box to see why it is rated “R.” I personally, cannot rent anything that says “strong sexual content” or if the theme of the movie is about sex … like … “Closer,” for example. This movie, though it showed no sex acts, it had some nudity and strong enuendo, enought to tempt me. I MUST FAST PERMANENTLY in order to maintain status quo. I hated to turn off the cable completely, but it had to be done. No other way.

I goto confession once a month, fast on visual media, goto Mass three days a week, and have have conquered the big sins.

I tried fasting on food … ehhh … didn’t work very well. Fast on TV and movies.

What you have is an addiction to your own body chemistry. TV commercials and certain movies get these chemicals going through inducing bad thoughts. Best to turn off the source of the chemical spigot.

Always remember though … something LONG DEAD can always be resurrected. Don’t ever trust that you can handle a temptation. Trust God, not yourself. I learned this the hard way!!! You will ALWAYS be an addict, not unlike an alcoholic. Think of it as an addiction, and it’ll be easier to conquer.

God bless you. It WILL get better.
 
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Shameless:
Jesus aid in the bible certain demons could only be driven out by prayer and fasting. What type of demons? I have a sexual addiction, I am not possessed, maybe oppressed. When Jesus said this what type of prayers did he mean? What type of Fasting? Besides skipping food what are some other examples I can do for fasting?
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Interesting; That is the same Scripture the Lord gave me when he began dealing with me about the same problem in my life.
Whether you want to call it a demon (or demons) or a serious bondage to the flesh, the results are the same. — and so is the solution.

I think Springbreeze’s post hit the nail on the head; and Golden Arrow also.

In my case, I began fasting from food – first, a few meals at a time; then maybe a full day. When i realized how grave this sin is to my relationship with the Father (and to my peace of mind) I had to become determined NO MATTER what the cost, I was going to get free, AND STAY FREE!

First, the Spirit led me to stay inside the entire morning, several days in a row, not eating until evening, and more importantly reading massive passages from the Bible. Its the Word that sets us free. Of course, this required me to TURN OFF THE TV entirely for a week; except for two Christain channels. Nothing – and NO web surfing. This helped greatly because I was not exposed to the constant bombardment of lewd, sexual images, etc. that permeates all of TV ( and the web) except two Chrisian channels (one being EWTN). (I also listened to Christian radio - preachers only -just to get an extra dose of the Word). I forbid myself to go to public gatherings, coffee shops, etc. for the entire time -

By keeping me inside I was forced to meet with God in prayer constantly. Until I could get my** full** deliverance (as I called it); I wanted nothing else. . I was determined that the devil was not going to rule over me, and neither was my stinkin’ FLESH! But I didn’t know how. I knew only that the grace of God could reach down deep into my soul and into my being where the root of this bondage had been lodged for years.

Fasting humbled me so I could : 1. take full responsibility that it was my fault for these grevious sins and for repeated failure that greived the heart of Jesus, and 2. **fasting humbled me so I could receive the grace of God so the Spirit of God could be allowed into the deep recesses of my soul. 3. It opened my spiritual ears to be sensitive to hear God’s voice. **

I started meditating in Romans where Paul speaks of his constant battle flesh vs. Spirit. Now I could hear God’s voice clearly as He spoke to me through His Word:

First, the commandment:
**“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God,…and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God”.(**Rom.6:13)

The struggle:
"We know the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. …For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I cannot find". (Rom7:18)

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness…" (Gal.5:19)

The choice**:**
" The wages of sin is death…"
**"For to be carnally minded is death,… **
"For if ye live after the flesh YE SHALL DIE…"

Now the solution**:**

"But if ye THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY (PUT TO DEATH) THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, ye shall live" (Rom.8:13)

Then it was on to the Scriptures about the cross, (many of them). Jesus said to be his disciple you must ‘Deny yourself, and take up your cross daily’ in order to follow him.
Its a CHOICE you make!

I began to see then, this life is about choosing to die! Dying to self, and letting Christ raise me up into a new resurrected life!

The cross means choosing to die to self-desires. It is PAINFUL. If you want to be set free completely from this disgusting demonic bondage, you better be determined and willing to suffer pain… emotional, spiritual, and yes, maybe even physical.

It may take repeated attempts for a long time, but God is always willing if you are.
All the pain I went through was well worth the freedom and peace of being restored back to righteousness. I realized that pain sometimes is His chastisement and actually a sign of His love and that we are His children, and His discipline “afterwards yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness”.

(Message too long…continued on next post).
 
Then He took me into a study of numerous Scriptures on** righteousness compared to unrighteousness,** always assuring me of His forgiveness. And that our righteousness comes by faith in Christ. And to keep this new freedom from demonic bondage I must continue to follow the Holy Spirit daily, which in turn requires me to deny self daily, to stay alert to Satan’s tactics, to put God first in all things and to stay so committed to that love relationship that I shudder at even the thought of unfaithfulness again.

I’m praying for you;
Faithful One

More Scriptures that helped me:
" For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the PULLING DOWN OF STRONGHOLDS; casting down IMAGINATIONS, and ever high thing that exhalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ". 2Corin.10:4-5)

"Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you … Be afflicted , and mourn, and weep: … Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up"." (James 4:8-10)
 
Our Lord gave us example in fasting. And we see fram the Scred Scrpture that while he was preparing for his public ministry and on to the passon and rescurction right there in the midst of the desert there was the evil one.
I have found out just this week that fasting reaps great rewards if it is carried out in prayer and with some alms giving also, (ie: temporal works of mercy).
I personally belive that we are being given a time to prepare ourself for what is coming ahead. I have not doubt about it now. I will try to address this in a blogs posting friday and provide links to proper conditions to fast. all I know is that there is something happening far to many coincidences to not be actual Spirit Daily speaks of this urgency for fasting and prayer and penace as have numerous other sources. God protects His Children but woe to those who have not been prepared for the next few days and week and more are going to be wild. Pray, Fast , Peance, recieve the Sacraments frequently, increaces your rosaries and chaplets. If knothing happens then you will have grown in holiness, if something does happen you will be prepared spiritually.
 
Everything that Faithful One said is GREAT! You may need to do some intense spiritual work repeatedly.

For me … it took two years of intense work, and now, just maintenance.

I want to share some good practical advice that my confessor shared with me that helped immensely, because I don’t think prayer and fasting are enough to conquer the very intensely addictive sexual sins.

He told me to keep a detailed sin diary, like a sin calendar. I was to write down what I think prompted the sin, what the sin was, and whether it was mortal or not.

I was to do this in addition to going to confession. You will notice patterns … certain occasions of sin being worse than others … etc…

After a year, I started getting things under control. When I get control, I noticed a monthly pattern to my lustful thoughts that matched certain events in my mentrual cycle! LOL!!! I think men also have some sort of montly cycle, too, but I’ll share mine with yours:

My lustful throughts peak two times a month:

I have a very lustful dream once a month, when I ovulate (mid-cycle). During that day and maybe the day after, I tend to have lustful thoughts. Keeping a diary helps me know WHEN this will occur, so that when it does, I don’t go into a huge guilt trip with myself over it. I also know WHEN I’m most vulnerable and when I need to pray more.

The rest of the month, I’m prettymuch lust-free, except for about two or three days before my period, and Day one of my period. After that, I’m OK.

In keeping my calendar, I also notice that I get an intense migraine headache exactly ten days before what I call, “Hell day,” or day One of my period. I also have a week-long headache after my period ceases, for about 5 days.

This happens every month like clockwork. I even schedule my confessions one week after each menstrual period!

You need to discuss this with your confessor, and he can grant you some leniance, but physiological changes that have such a pattern diminish some of your culpablity.

Now, I’ll warn you: When you get close to getting control of your sins, that is, when you only have thoughts and nothing else (ahem), then you may develop problems with Scupulosity. That’s why knowing your monthly thought patterns and hormonal changes are helpful, so that you don’t drive yourself crazy thinking that every lustful thought or fantasy is a mortal sin, cause its not.

I got so Scrupulous that I was put under obedience by my confessor: He told me that if I had a lustful thought I was not to run to confession every time, but to say a confeitor and an act of perfect contrition and goto Mass and receive the Eucharist for strength. He told me to obey! LOL!!!

I had two different priests tell me that I was developing neurotic behavior because I thought every bad thought was a mortal sin, and I drove both my confessors nuts! So … I now don’t guilt-trip myself over the thoughts.

If you develop scrupulosity, know that it’s the Devil’s raging on you. He’s getting desperate. He’s seeing that you’ve made great progress, that you’re not doing things alone anymore (ahem) and that he is losing power over you. He plays with your mind, convincing you that you’ve sinned when you have not, hoping that he’ll lead you into not trusting God and hoping he’ll lead you into enough despair that you’ll go ahead and commit a mortal sin. Scupulosity is a sign that you’re actually making HUGE progress, and are near the time when you can simply do maintenance.

I went through a six month period of scrupulosity. Scrupulosity was hard to conquer, but not as hard as lust itself. There are books on scrupulosity that you can get, or simply discuss it with your confessor. Believe me, every confessor has a “Golden Arrow” in his parish, and they know how to deal with them. You can even ask to be placed under obedience. This helped me a lot.
 
Now, with that said, your road will not be easy. At some point, you will get angry at God for giving you a sex drive. You may even curse him for it.

One priest told me that sexuality is a gift, and I said, “No, It’s a curse!!!” I felt like my sexuality was like an instrument of torture. You may or may not have already encountered this stage. What helped me is knowing this: sexuality is a gift that is only meant to be used in the Sacrament of Marriage, so that the process of reproduction and procreation are pleasing to the married couple. Humans are not meant to use this gift outside this sacrament, and that’s why sexuality can, ironically, be destructive to singletons.

You may also try a few “stupid” and “futile” things such as biting yourself every time you have a lustful thought, or whacking your head with a wooden spoon every time a bad thought enters. This doesn’t work, and only causes bruising. LOL!!!

You may also do stupid stuff like make a vow to God to never do it again, and I can tell you, this doesn’t work either. In fact, it can make God a little mad when you fail. Don’t make vows you can’t keep. LOL!!!

Anyway, I’ve tried the vow thing and causing myself pain and both are futile. One tries desperate things when one is desperate.

A better response is to take up a hobby. If you find yourself lusting, start crocheting something. Or get up and cook something. Or if you’re a dude, go out and work on your car. Maybe take up a man’s hobby … like putting together little model cars (you know the boxed sets).

When you get close to the end, near the maintenance-only period, you may find something you did not expect. For me, it was a vocation of celibacy. If you can be celibate, you are actually, spiritually, on a higher “level” than married people. I like being celibate, now. Two years ago, I’d have NEVER thought that possible!!!

You are here asking questions, seeking help in the right place. I have no doubt that you’ll conquer this. When you get to the end, when you can simply do maintenance therapy, you will find yourself to be so STRONG. You’ll be able to then start conquering other minor sins and defects, for once the Principle Sins are defeated, the minor sins, with some effort, all fall away like dominoes. You’ll start to learn things about yourself that you never saw before, and you’ll be able to, with God’s hand, perfect yourself in this life, and you’ll shave off SO MUCH Purgatory time.

You’ll find that the road to God is a narrow path, BUT when you get closer to God, you’ll find the road to be less steep and less rocky, and it may even widen out in a few places near the end. There is light at the end of the tunnel, truly. Just be patient with yourself, and also, be able to forgive yourself. That helps, too.

God Bless you!!!
 
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