“There was also a prophetess, Anna…She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Lk. 2:37 

“We are to fast from whatever fills our soul.”  -Lisa Bevere
                                     
Long after Jesus’ 40 day fast was over, He was still fasting.  He lived in a state of “heart fasting” in that He never consumed anything that filled His soul other than His Father.  We are to walk as Jesus did:  we are to fast from whatever fills our soul.  Scripture tells us that Anna “never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.”  Anna literally lived her life in the temple—before God’s face—coram Deo!  God is longing for more Anna’s who have a fresh awareness that His temple is within us, and as such, we can stay in the temple worshiping night and day in state of heart fasting no matter what we are doing.  

Heart fasting is unhindered availability to God.  It is the Romans 12:1 kind of worship that says, “I’m Yours and You’re mine whenever, whatever, with no however’s.”   Some degree of fasting will be necessary for most people to fully comprehend coram Deo heart fasting.  In order to fully grasp the coram Deo life, we must grasp heart fasting, which is scorning all things that would interrupt the continual communion of our heart with His.  

One of fasting’s greatest merits lies in the way it trains our hearts and minds to call on God. When the Lord took me through my 40-day fast, it required my heart’s eyes to be trained on God nearly every moment in order to make it. During high times and low, during wakeful hours and in my sleep, I had to stay so close to God that at times it seemed that I breathed God.  He was my all in all.  With no bread to sustain and comfort me, He became my “Bread of life” like never before. Ending the fast was sweet sorrow, for my body cried out for food, but my spirit cried desperately to remain feasting at God’s banqueting table. My soul had never been so plump! Then I read that it was possible to have a heart wholly prepared and focused even after the fast was over. (Towns 1996)  If that was true, I wanted like nothing else to find out how to do it.  I had tasted and seen what that kind of life was like since the completion of the fast, and the sole cry of my heart was to learn how to live in this state of “heart fasting.” Shortly after that God revealed the way to live like that was found in one simple 2-word phrase…Coram Deo. 
 
Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html

“God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up.  He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having—life with Himself.”  -- Oswald Chambers

Continually redirecting the earthly focus of our hearts towards “the things above” requires that we adjust our understanding of the latter part of Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Most Christians have bought a twisted interpretation of this Scripture and believe that dying to self means we must be miserable, joyless, and lifeless. The first step in true spiritual freedom is attaining correct definitions. (Bob Hamp, Gateway Church Dallas).  The truth about the truth sets us free.  
So let’s take a moment to correctly define the life Christ died for us to have.  The Word says, “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8) The good news of the gospel is that every ounce of hell we deserved fell on His body: “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5)  The very reason Christ came was: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10 KJV)  The word abundantly means “superfluous, more than sufficient, what is above and over, denotes what is superior and advantageous.” (Vine 1984, 10, 25, 1106)
Now let’s stop.  If our spiritual life is not superfluous, more than sufficient, above and over, superior and advantageous then we are missing one of the key things Christ died to give us.  God wants us to smother everything that hinders abundant living by being completely immersed in the life and love of His Son.  This is what it means that “we’ve died and our lives are now hidden in Christ.”  He promises that when we lay down our life we will find it. (Mt. 16:25)  Unless we are clear-eyed about His lavish grace and good intentions toward us, the concept of dying to self, which is key to coram Deo living, will always leave us acting like abandoned martyrs in the desolate wilderness.  We cannot possibly endure in our coram Deo resolve if we do not become completely settled in the knowledge that God is for us.  The fact that we’ve died and our lives are now hidden in Christ really is the best thing that ever happened to us.

Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html