Fasting - Praying - with the Bible bread from Ezekiel 4 - why?

In February 2020, I was commissioned by GOD to bake a bread according to Ezekiel 4 for the first time. I've revised the recipe several times. My weekly bread-baking chores have been made much easier by purchasing an electric grain mill, and the bread has become more digestible.

What was God's purpose in the special fasting and prayer with the Bible bread in Ezekiel 4?

My ministry began very similarly to Ezekiel's. God asked me to perform various symbolic acts just as the prophet Ezekiel had done. God wanted to clarify his message to Ezekiel and show me how he would deal with us Christians and also with the people of Israel at the end of time.

We Christians have become part of the people of Israel through Jesus. We have already recognized the Savior and Messiah and, through faith in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, have been grafted into the people of God.

When I received the words and the commission from Ezekiel 4, it quickly became clear to me that the Lord wasn't just having me fast for 390 days for Jerusalem and then another 40 days for Judah. ​​I understood that through this fast, I was to intercede for all believers, Christians and Jews, but also for myself and my family (household). Our God repeatedly reminded me that Jesus would soon come to take up his kingdom on earth

God wanted to make it clear to me that God's warnings, including those from the Old Testament, were directed at all believers, but especially at all Christians and Jews who had resisted God's words.

With the command to fast and other tasks, God prepared me for my ministry as a prophet, intercessor, and teacher. Just like Ezekiel, I had to learn to humble myself, to submit to God, to live in separation, and also, as strange as it may sound, to suffer. The fact that we as Christians also have to suffer seemed very strange to me at first. Until then, I had heard that Jesus took everything upon himself and that we would now be healed as born-again Christians. I looked forward to heaven on earth. I had to learn that, as a Christian, although I had died to sin and was growing together with Christ in his death, I now found myself in a place of struggle, the place of struggle between good and evil, between heaven and earth. I was and am still in a spiritual battle. Through Jesus' death on the cross, God gave sin the red card, but it continues to sneak back into the game, specifically into the mortal body.

I spent a lot of time fasting, praying, learning to regularly write everything down in my journal, participating in various Bible studies and training courses, waiting, persevering, hiding like David before Saul, but now, at the end of a long period of waiting and training, I seem to be reaching the finish line. Or, isn't it said, we never stop learning?

Just like Ezekiel and other prophets, I had to learn, sometimes with great effort, to humble myself and suffer alongside the believers. I had to go through various exercises and carry out assignments myself. In this way, I learned to understand and encourage others who are going through similar circumstances. I can intercede for them, I can weep with them, comfort them, and take them seriously. Jesus, our King and High Priest, our Brother and Bridegroom, has shown us how we should live. May he continue to be and remain my example. Jesus, lead the way on the path of life. I want to continue to follow you, for I know that you will lead me and us to the Fatherland. Hallelujah

The Assignment

Read Ezekiel 4: 9-10 and do the same:

„Get some wheat and barley. Also get some beans and lentils. And get some millet and spelt. Put everything in a storage jar. Use it to make some bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days you are lying down on your side.

10 Weigh out eight ounces of food to eat each day. Eat it at your regular mealtimes“ (NIRV)

Soon I found some Ezekiel bread recipes. Someone wrote that the bread should be baked like barley bread, the next one had published pictures of small, flat breads. The problem was that all of the recipes used yeast or sourdough (leaven) and honey. I wanted to be obedient and I knew that the Lord would soon reveal the truth to me. I went to buy the ingredients. Baking bread was not strange to me. I bought a certain supply right away, should I feed on it for 390 days. Soon there were also barley groats, millet, various types of beans and lentils in my shopping cart. Finally I found yeast too.

At home I looked at everything. Should I bake bread from this? There was quail beans, white beans, kidney beans, then there were green and red lentils and a few other lentils. I was faced with a great mystery, but I took the first recipe I found and began diligently to - so and so many cups of the flour and of the flour - so much barley and millet. Then two tablespoons of the beans and two tablespoons of lentils. - Simply that way? Didn't I have to pre-cook or grind them? O Lord help this woman. I threw everything in the bowl. Then I measured the water - was it too much? The information about the honey was even worse. Half a jar of honey, please? Would that be okay? I remembered baking bread very differently. Finally, I put everything in the oven, trusting that the first attempt would succeed.

YES, the bread was tasty! - but you could clearly see the beans. The legumes also gave me some gas, as expected. It had a good one: it was super full. A slice of bread in the morning and one in the evening was enough to get me through the day. I didn't want to miss my lunch and negotiated with God. He allowed me to cook and have a little lunch with my husband.

After the first bread was almost eaten, I started a second attempt. This time I crushed the beans and lentils, almost "shredding" the electric grinder of my little food processor. I took less water, less yeast, and less honey, and, according to the old custom, put two bowls of water back in the oven. Soon I had baked two wonderful loaves of bread.

The bread tastes good and is very nutritious. Ezekiel was only allowed to eat 20 shekels - equivalent to 250 g - per day. That's 2 slices of bread. I would get along well with it and it would be enough for me. In addition, Ezekiel was asked to drink 1 hin of water - this corresponds to 3.6 liters. I think you should subtract something from this, because there is a lot of water in the dough. Ezekiel was supposed to bake it over feces (very unsanitary), but it was supposed to make the Israelites understand how difficult it would be to get fuel if the people lived under siege.

I have since improved the recipe and am quite happy with the results. At the time of unleavened bread, I mixed up some dough without yeast and baked it in the pan.

Ezekiel bread recipe.pdf

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