Fasting is abstaining from food in order to pray to God. Fasting in the Bible was resorted to for different reasons and motives. Daniel fasted and persisted in prayer for 21 days till he got an answer from God through an Angel. Some people like David fasted and sought God to reverse judgement though this was not granted because God was determined to execute it.

The Israelites fasted when Esther went in to see the King and they sought God’s grace and favour against their enemies and they were granted (Esther4:15-17).Fasting was common in the Old Covenant and Isaiah 58 gives a guide of how people could fast and what God expects them to do on a fast. In some cases God could relent from sending calamity as what happened when Jonah went to pronounce God’s judgement in Nineveh (Jonah3:3-10). The people of Nineveh fasted even together with their livestock and God heard them.

 

In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ taught about fasting and also stressed at one point that prayer combined with fasting could dispel the kind of demons that did not go through some other means (Matth.17:14-21). It can be a time of cleansing from God and forgiving others as the grace of God is outpoured in abundance when people come closer to God.Fasting in the Bible could be initiated by people but in some cases, the Holy Spirit could initiate fasting as in the case of Moses and Jesus Christ when they spent 40 days and nights fasting. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil and He didn’t eat during that time. He came down anointed with Power to preach/teach, to heal and drive out demons (Luke4:1-19). 

 

The Bible indicates that Jesus Christ and even the Apostles like Paul would fast and pray often. Believers could fast together when they wanted, for example, to hear from God, or to send out preachers, or to ordain ministers. Such cooperate fasting would be for a day, or for three days and it is not likely that cooperate fasts would go beyond seven days. Fasting for many days requires personal calling since believers operate at different levels of faith and maturity (Romans 14). Examples of long fasts as that of Moses and Jesus were initiated by the Holy Spirit, whilst Daniel’s twenty one days were personal and not predetermined as Daniel merely stopped at receiving the answer.

 

Fasting according to the Bible helps boost the faith of a believer since the spirit becomes active in communion with God whilst the body or soul which is the centre of doubts and emotions is repressed. The Bible says faith comes by hearing the Word of God; it is easier to hear from God during times of fasting and fellowship with God. Our faith is the one that moves things like the Lord taught that even little faith as small as a grain of mustard seed can move mountains. Fasting moves the heart of God since God honours any honest sacrifice made to Him and the result is good rewards for believers (Matth.6:16-18) when God intervenes in their situations or relents from sending calamity.

 

The early Christians seemed to understand the power of fasting and prayer so much. We read in Acts 13:1-3, that believers were fasting and praying together and the Holy Spirit spoke and sent Paul and Barnabas into ministry.Fasting thus enables believers to come closer to God and hear His Words. The body or soul may be so subdued that only the power of God helps sustain a believer and this entails more of God’s glory upon an individual. This can lead to further blessings as sicknesses disappear, demons can not stand the fire, and more Spiritual gifts can be received from God. It is normally possible to receive more of God’s Anointing when one is fasting, praying and feeding on God’s Word. God promises in James4:7-10 that He will come near to those who seek Him and will lift them up.

Fasting should be combined with prayer. God called us to fast and pray. Giving up our free weekends and vacations to fast, is one way we can sacrifice to the Lord. Although the word "fast" is used as abstaining from food in the Bible and does not refer to giving up other things, during a fast one can practice abstinence from other pleasures as well, such as entertainment, T.V, hobbies and sex, as spoken about in 1 Corinthians 7:1-5. 

Breaking from a fast can be predetermined or it can be as led by the Holy Spirit who leads every believer differently depending on how we have learnt to hear from God. The way it is now under grace is there is no fixed number of days or time periods it should be personal when it is an individual fast whilst corporate fasts need group agreement.

Fasting ordained or honoured by God according to Isaiah 58:6 loosens the bonds of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free and breaks every yoke. However, fasting can be meaningless when it becomes like a ritual or a drug resorted to without exercising proper faith in the God who can show Himself even without fasting. Isaiah 58 mentions that continuing in wrong deeds when fasting does not bring results whilst proper fasting combined with righteous deeds would bring results such as good health, provision in a dry land, more light, answers to prayers, restoration etc etc.

 

Isaiah. 58:2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.3 `Why have we fasted,’ they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?...

(Some Answers)- Isaiah 58:8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and yourhealing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [Or your righteous One] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 

Some Helpful Scriptures:-

 

Matthew 6:16-18 "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."

 

Joel 1:14, "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord."

Matthew 4:1-4, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward anhungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Acts 9:9,."And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink."

Luke 5:34-35, "And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days."

Matthew 17:21 "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Acts 13:2-3: "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."

Ezra 10:6, "Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away." Nehemiah 1:4, "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven."

Daniel 10:2-3, "In those days I, Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled".

II Corinthians 11:27, "In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Philippians 3:8, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."

I Corinthians 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

Different kinds of Fasts

  • Water only Fast - No food, water only.
  • Absolute Fast - Absolutely no food and water 
  • Partial Fast - Abstinence from certain kinds of foods (i.e.: No meat or sweets, soup only, fruit and vegetables only, etc. In Daniel 10:3, Daniel ate no pleasant bread). 
  • Corporate Fast - A church or group of people who feel God has called them to fast together for a certain period of time.
  • Chain Fast - A church or group of people who commit to fasting for a long period of time and each individual commits to fast for a day or longer and signs up for so many days so that the entire period is covered for the designated fasting period.