Starving Your Flesh – Ruth Moise
“When God gets what He’s been waiting for, He releases what “When God gets what He’s been waiting for, He releases what “When God gets what He’s been waiting for, He releases what you’ve been waiting for.” Phoenix Rising
Hey Empresses it’s your girl, Phoenix Rising, back with another rising gem, and today’s one is deeply personal and spiritually powerful. Before I get into it, I have to stop and give honor where honor is due. Thank you from the very bottom of my incarcerated, healing, still-standing heart for every email, every comment, every shared post, every prayer you’ve sent my way. You are not just readers and subscribers. You are my family. And I thank Goddie every single day for connecting us through this blog. I made a promise to bring you the realest, rawest, most real content I can, and I’m not going to stop doing that.
So ladies, let’s get into today’s gem: fasting, prayer, and what they
actually do for your mental health. I know that might sound like church-talk to some of you. I know some of you are rolling your eyes right now. But stay with me because I lived this. I didn’t read it in a book, I didn’t hear it in a sermon. I survived it. And I’m here to tell you that what God does when you fast and pray is something no therapist appointment, no medication, and no motivational quote can fully replicate. Let’s go.
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What Is Fasting — And Why Does God Ask Us to Do It?
Fasting, in its simplest spiritual definition, is the deliberate act of denying your flesh your body, your cravings, your comfort to create space for God to move. Most people think fasting is just about not eating food. But it’s so much deeper than that. When you fast, you are essentially putting your physical needs on the back burner and saying, “God, I need You more than I need anything this world can offer me.” That is a radical statement of faith. And Goddie honors it every single time.
In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus didn’t say if you fast He said when you fast. That tells us that fasting was always meant to be a normal part of our spiritual lives, not some extreme thing reserved for prophets and preachers. It’s for everyday women like you and me women who are struggling, women who are healing, women who are
searching for purpose in the middle of pain.
“Fasting isn’t punishment. It’s surrender. And surrender isn’t weakness it’s one of the bravest things a woman can do.”
The Science Backs the Spirit
Here’s something interesting, Empresses: modern research is now catching up with what God has always known. Studies in holistic and integrative health show that intentional fasting can reduce cortisol levels (that’s your stress hormone), lower inflammation in the body, and promote the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor essentially a compound that helps your brain heal and rewire itself. So while you are spiritually surrendering, your body is physically resetting. God designed our bodies to respond to fasting. It was always in the blueprint.
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My Unintentional Fast: When Depression Became a Doorway
I want to be real with you all because that’s what this blog is built on raw, unfiltered truth from a woman who is still in the fire but
refusing to be consumed by it. There was a season in my life where I went about 30 days barely eating. Not because I was intentionally seeking God. Not because I had a prayer plan or a devotional journal. I went 30 days not eating because I was in the darkest depression I have ever experienced in my life. I couldn’t taste food. I couldn’t feel joy. I could barely get out of bed. The world felt like it was caving in on me, and I truly did not know if I was going to survive it.
But here’s what I need you to hear: I survived. And not only did I survive in the middle of that pain, in the middle of that involuntary fasting, God showed up. He met me in the darkness. He whispered a revelation into my spirit that literally turned my entire life around. A word so clear, so personal, so specific to me that I knew it could not have come from my own mind. It came from Him. And that revelation that one divine moment of clarity is what started the journey that brought me here, writing to you, still rising, still burning, still becoming.
I tell you this not to glamorize depression or suffering. Please hear me: depression is real, it is serious, and it is not something you should navigate alone. But I tell you this because I want you to know that even in your darkest season, God is not absent. He is working. He is speaking. And sometimes, the very thing that feels like it is killing you is the very thing God is using to birth something extraordinary in you.
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How Fasting and Prayer Directly Heal Your Mental Health
Now let’s talk practically because I know some of you came here for real answers, not just inspiration. How exactly does fasting and prayer help your mental health? Let me break it down the way God broke it down for me.
1. You Surrender What You Cannot Control
One of the biggest drivers of anxiety and depression is the desperate need to control outcomes we were never meant to control. When you fast and pray intentionally, you are physically and spiritually releasing your grip. You are saying, “I cannot fix this. I cannot force this. I cannot figure this out. God, it’s Yours.” That act of spiritual release creates genuine psychological relief. The weight you’ve been carrying the anger, the fear, the grief, the shame you are laying it down at an altar that is big enough to hold it.
2. You Starve the Emotions That Don’t Serve You
When you fast, you aren’t just giving up food. You are fasting from the emotions and thought patterns that have been feeding your suffering. Lust, anger, greed, fear, comparison, bitterness these are all fleshly things. They live and breathe and grow when we feed them with our attention, our energy, our obsession. Fasting starves them out. It weakens their grip on your mind because you are redirecting your focus from self to God, from problem to promise, from wound to worship.
3. God Speaks in the Quiet Your Fast Creates
When our lives are full of noise social media, drama, toxic relationships, constant stimulation we literally cannot hear God’s voice. Fasting creates sacred quiet. It creates margin in your spirit where revelation can land. And ladies, let me tell you: one word from God will do more for your mental health than ten years of ruminating in your own thoughts. Purpose heals. Clarity heals. Knowing that you are seen and known and loved by the Creator of the universe that heals something in you that nothing else can touch.
Rising Gem Breakdown:
Fasting + Prayer = Releasing control + Inviting God in + Starving fleshly emotions + Creating space for divine revelation.
And what does that produce? Peace. Purpose. Mental freedom. That’s the formula, Empress.
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What Does a Fast Actually Look Like? Starting Where You Are
I know some of you reading this are thinking, “Phoenix, I can barely get through a Monday. How am I supposed to fast?” I hear you. And I want you to know that fasting is not a competition, and it is not a performance. You are not trying to impress Goddie with how long you can go without food. You are trying to draw closer to Him. That’s it. So start where you are.
Types of Fasts to Consider
Intermittent Fast (1 day): Skip one or two meals and spend that time in prayer and scripture. This is your entry point, Empress. Start here.
3-Day Fast: A powerful, short fast that creates real breakthrough. Jesus’s disciples did short fasts. This is where you begin to feel the spiritual shift.
7-Day Fast: One week of intentional surrender. You will come out of this different. Scripture, journaling, and prayer every day are your anchors.
21-Day Daniel Fast: No meat, no sweets, no bread fruits, vegetables, water, and prayer. Based on the prophet Daniel’s fast in the Bible. Life-changing for mental clarity and spiritual breakthrough.
30+ Day Fast: I lived this unintentionally. And God still moved. If you feel called to an extended fast, please do so with medical awareness and spiritual accountability.
Now, I want to be transparent: Jesus fasted 40 days. I am not going
to even pretend I’m in that lane. I’m going to leave that superpower to JC and Goddie. My humanity has limits and I am at peace with that. What I know is that whatever length of fast God is calling you to even if it’s just skipping breakfast to spend time in prayer He will honor it. He always does.
“You don’t have to fast for 40 days to get God’s attention. You just have to mean it.”
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What God Releases When You Fast: Blessings That Heal the Mind
Here is the part I want every young woman reading this to tattoo on her spirit: when you surrender to God through fasting and prayer, He does not leave you empty. He fills you. He replaces what you gave up with things money cannot buy, therapy cannot prescribe, and nobody in this world can take from you.
He Releases Your Purpose
Nothing destroys mental health faster than not knowing why you are here. Depression thrives in purposelessness. When God reveals your purpose through a fast and He will that revelation
becomes an anchor. It becomes something to get up for, something to fight for, something to live for. I know this because it happened for me. In the middle of my lowest moment, God showed me exactly why He made me. And I have been on fire ever since.
He Releases Your Destiny
Your destiny is the life God always intended for you before the trauma, before the bad decisions, before the incarceration, before the heartbreak. Through fasting and prayer, God begins to restore and recalibrate you back to the path He designed. And Empress, let me tell you your destiny is bigger than your current circumstances. It is bigger than where you are right now. Do not let your present location convince you that it is your permanent destination.
He Releases Peace That Passes Understanding
Philippians 4:7 talks about a peace that surpasses all human understanding. This is not the peace of having everything figured out. This is the supernatural ability to be at rest even in the middle of chaos. That is what fasting produces. That is what prayer unlocks. And for women dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma responses, and grief that kind of peace is not just a blessing. It is medicine.
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A Word to My Empresses Who Are Struggling Right Now
I want to speak directly to the woman who opened this blog today in tears. The one who is reading this from a situation she never thought she’d be in. Maybe you’re incarcerated like me. Maybe you’re a young mother trying to figure out how to hold it all together. Maybe you’re dealing with depression so heavy that getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain. Maybe you’ve been carrying trauma that nobody even knows about. I see you. And more importantly — God sees you.
You are not too broken to fast. You are not too sinful to pray. You are not too far gone for God to reach. The enemy wants you to believe that your past disqualifies you from God’s presence — but that is a lie. The very fact that you are still here, still breathing, still reading these words, is evidence that God has not finished with you. Your story is not over. Your rising is still ahead.
Fast and pray not as a religious obligation but as an act of radical trust. Come to God messy, come to Him broken, come to Him with your anger and your confusion and your doubt — and watch what He does with all of it. He is not intimidated by your pain. He is not surprised by your struggle. He has been waiting for you to give it all to Him so He can give you what He has been waiting to release.
Your Rising Gem Takeaway:
Fasting and prayer are not about being perfect. They are about being present — present before God, surrendering what you cannot carry, and trusting Him to replace your burden with purpose, your chaos with clarity, and your pain with peace.
You are not caged, Empress. You are being prepared.
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How to Start Your Fast: Practical Steps for Beginners
Set your intention: Know why you are fasting. Write it down. Are you seeking direction? Healing? Peace? Be specific with God.
Choose your fast type: Start with what is realistic for your body and your season. A 1-day fast done with sincerity is more powerful than a 7-day fast done for show.
Create a prayer plan: During the times you would normally eat, pray. Use those windows intentionally. Read scripture. Journal what God is showing you.
✦ Stay hydrated: Especially if you are doing a food fast — drink water consistently. Your body needs it, and God wants to meet you in a healthy vessel.
Eliminate distractions: Fast from social media, negative music, and toxic conversations alongside your food fast. Give God your full attention.
Record your revelations: Keep a journal nearby at all times. When God speaks during a fast, He speaks with clarity. You want to capture every word.
Break your fast gently: After extended fasts, reintroduce food slowly fruits, soups, light meals first. Honor the temple God has been working in.
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In Closing: Your Healing Is Already Waiting
Empresses, this rising gem today was written straight from the depths of my testimony. I am 27 years old, I am a mother, I am currently incarcerated, and I am also a woman who has experienced firsthand what God does when you fast and surrender and pray with everything you’ve got. I am not writing to you as someone who has everything figured out. I am writing to you as someone who decided to rise — again and again — no matter what life threw at me.
Fasting and prayer did not make my circumstances disappear. But
they gave me something far more valuable: they gave me God’s perspective on my circumstances. They gave me purpose in my pain. They gave me peace in my prison and I don’t just mean these physical walls. I mean the prisons of the mind that we all
carry. Anxiety. Fear. Shame. Worthlessness. Those chains come off when you bow your head, when you empty yourself, when you say, “God, I need You more than I need any of this.”
So Empress, I’m challenging you. Try it. Fast one day this week. Spend that time in prayer. Write down what God reveals to you. Then come back and tell me what He said. I am always in your corner, always cheering you on, always believing in your rising even on the days you can’t believe for yourself.
I love you, I see you, and I am so proud of you for still being here.
Until the next rising gem stay rooted, stay surrendered, stay rising.
— Ruth “Phoenix Rising” Moise
Unapologetically Caged | Est. by a woman who refused to stay down
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