Why Do We Fast?

What is fasting and what is the purpose? This is the second of a four-part series committed to answering those questions.

THE PURPOSE OF FASTING IS ULTIMATELY GOD HIMSELF. THERE ARE MANY REASONS TO UNDERTAKE A FAST, BUT THE BOTTOM LINE FOR THEM ALL IS TO ALIGN YOUR HEART DIRECTLY WITH HIM.

Think of that as the big picture. The small picture, the immediate purpose for a fast, can vary. So the first step for any kind of fast is to declare our immediate purpose. Fasting can’t be done casually, because there isn’t any spiritual benefit in simply not eating. Going through the motions just makes us hungry, but genuine, purposeful fasting is a powerful discipline for the disciple of Jesus and can play a part in literally transforming your life.

To help us define a godly purpose for fasting, Donald Whitney gives us these 10 reasons:

1. To strengthen prayer

2. To seek God’s guidance

3. To express grief

4. To seek deliverance or protection

5. To express repentance and return to God

6. To humble oneself before God

7. To express concern for the work of God

8. To minister to the needs of others

9. To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God

10. To express love and worship to God

Throughout the Bible, we see people fast for a variety of reasons:

1. To be like Jesus (Matt. 4:1–17; Luke 4:1–13)

2. To obtain spiritual purity (Isa. 58:5–7)

3. To repent from sins (See Jon. 3:8; Neh. 1:4, 9:1–3; 1 Sam. 14:24)

4. To influence God (2 Sam. 12:16–23)

5. To mourn for the dead (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12)

6. To request God’s help in times of crisis and calamity (Ezra 8:21–23; Neh. 1:4–11)

7. To strengthen prayer (Matt. 17:21; Mark 9:17–29; Acts 10:30; 1 Cor. 7:5)

None of these purposes amounts to twisting God’s arm to do what we want. Who can do that? God is not a genie who will grant us whatever we wish. He is a good father who is working out his sovereign will. Our reasons for fasting are for our own humility. By denying ourselves for a time, we provoke ourselves to rely more on God Almighty. It isn’t about changing God; it’s about changing us. In fasting:

1. We pray more intently

2. We become more receptive to God’s guidance

3. We lean more on Scripture to hear his voice

4. We demonstrate our grief and honest repentance

5. We physically declare that we need God to survive

6. We learn to sense spiritual reality more than the physical world

7. We prepare to love others better than ourselves

Lastly, fasting helps us to remember the true source of our utmost joy. Most people would agree that food is a good thing. If you’re unable to fast but chose to abstain from something else, such as a hobby or technology or entertainment, those can also be good things. All good things come from God, but the human heart is inclined to worship God’s gifts rather than God himself. Fasting helps our hearts to look past the good gift to the good God, who blesses us despite ourselves.

I DON’T REALLY FEEL LIKE IT

Even if fasting makes sense, you may not feel like you need it right now. But think of fasting as similar to praise and worship. Oftentimes joy overflows in songs of praise, but more often singing leads us into joy. We sing first and that brings us to a place of thankfulness and joy. Likewise, when our souls overflow with godly emotions and repentance, we may be led to fasting, but far more often we need to choose to fast in order to be humbled and to fight our pride by rejecting the ways we so often cope with our feelings. It’s the proactive approach.

What Is Fasting?

What is fasting and what is the purpose? This is the first of a four-part series committed to answering those questions.

HUNGER FOR GOD

Fasting is a spiritual discipline. Simply put, it means not eating. Instead of using mealtime for food, you use it to spend time with God. Some fasts last for one meal, one day, multiple days, or even weeks. Fasting may begin at sunrise and end at sunset or extend 24 hours per day. There are many ways and reasons to fast, but the basic idea is to set aside the time you would usually spend eating and focus that time on God instead, praying, reading the Bible, and worshiping.

When you’re fasting, you’re likely to feel hunger pangs. Allow those to serve as reminders that you are hungry to know Jesus and that you rely on him for every need. When you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding and experience of Jesus in everyday life. You might pray something like, “Father, you are my daily bread. You are my comforter, my redeemer, my provider. My life is hidden in Christ. What more do I need?”

WHAT ABOUT MY MEDIUM HOT, QUAD, GRANDE, SOY, SKINNY, CARMEL MACHIATTO UPSIDE DOWN?

A normal biblical fast is to avoid food, but not water. However, you have a great deal of freedom as you fast. Some people avoid everything but water. Others focus solely on not eating and instead drink whatever they want.

Whatever your plan, make sure to consult with your doctor to ensure you are medically fit enough for a fast, and get tips from your doctor on how to fast safely. There are a number of reasons a traditional fast may not be a viable option for you. These reasons range from stage of life to pregnancy to medical conditions to eating disorders and everything in between. Most people are capable of fasting without compromising their health, but if that’s not the case for you, don’t be discouraged! You can fast in other ways. One option is to eat less than normal rather than not at all. You could fast from coffee or give up the foods you enjoy most, eating only simple, plain foods. This type of fasting is commonly called a “Daniel Fast,” referring to the story of Daniel in the Old Testament when he and his friends abstained from eating meat and consumed only vegetables and water (see Daniel 1:12).

While the majority of people are able to fast from food, if you are unable to fast from food, you could consider abstaining from certain activities instead. Though this is technically not a biblical fast, people have abstained from television, Facebook, music, golf—all sorts of things. The idea is to use the time you would normally spend on the activities you love to focus on the Lord instead, praying, reading the Bible, and worshiping God.

BUT WHY IS THE FOOD GONE?

Okay, so you’re told you should fast, that it’s a good spiritual discipline, and that it doesn’t necessarily require food. But fasting does emphasize food and it’s preferable if you are physically able to abstain from eating. Why?

There is a mystery to fasting and part of the reason we do it as Christians is simply because God wants us to. Jesus expects his disciples to fast (Matt. 6:16) and obeying God, even when it seems weird, is always a good idea.

The physical implication of fasting is that it directly impacts one of our most basic needs as humans. God has built us into a physical world with physical needs, and the physical world directly impacts the spiritual. By staying away from food and focusing our attention on God, we shut our bodies up, strengthen our soul in God, and put into action our dependence on him. He provides us with life. Food is the way he chooses to do so, but he is the source and can very well sustain us without food, water, or any of the physical necessities of life.

We do not discount the value of the body or consider the physical world bad. Fasting serves many purposes, one of which is to remind our minds, spirits, and bodies who and what we worship: God himself.

ONE FAST, MANY FASTERS

You can fast with other believers as well. If it will help you overcome any fear you might have of fasting, ask another believer to join you. Biblically, there are instances of corporate fasting where entire nations fasted together (Esther 4; Ezra 8). So feel free to fast together and pray for one another. Our church-wide fast will lend itself to this opportunity because there’s a good chance the people around you will be fasting at the same time.

What Fasting is and is not

What is fasting and what is the purpose? This is the third of a four-part series committed to answering those questions.

FASTING IS AN AWESOME GIFT. AND LIKE ALL AWESOME GIFTS, IT CAN BE MISCONSTRUED IN A WAY THAT LEAVES US BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED.

Now that we know what fasting is and why we fast, let’s consider what it is not.

GOD DOESN’T OWE YOU

Fasting is not a manipulation tactic or a way to earn points with God. Fasting doesn’t make you more holy or acceptable to God. Christ Jesus alone has made us holy. Instead, by practicing a fast and other spiritual disciplines, we are asking for grace just like we did when we prayed for salvation. We didn’t save ourselves. We received God’s gift to us. So in fasting, we don’t transform ourselves; we receive the grace that transforms us (1 Pet. 1:13–14).

THIS ISN’T TO IMPRESS YOUR MOM

Fasting is not an endurance test and, like anything else, can be done in pride for the praise of men (Luke 18:9-14). Self-righteousness is a signpost on the road to hell. That’s the reason we must clarify our purpose for fasting—to avoid ego-tripping. Jesus warned us (Matt 6:16-18) not to make our fasting a public service announcement in order to get attention. If you’re tempted to look at your contrite spirituality and get smug about fasting, remember that even the ability to fast is yours by grace alone and without Jesus (John 15:4-5) you couldn’t even do that much.

NOT AN END IN ITSELF

Fasting is not some religious formality to check off the list. Some believers, out of a feeling of duty, will participate in the 40 days of Lent by giving up something easy, but their sacrifice becomes a mere annoyance which they are glad to drop by the time Easter Sunday comes. Without a purpose beyond “It’s Lent,” a religious approach to fasting falls far, far short of the awesomeness God wove into the fabric of fasting.

IT DOESN’T IMPRESS GOD

Fasting doesn’t force God to be more attentive or give us quicker answers. We don’t tell God, “We’re fasting now. That’s our part; now you do your part” (Isa. 58). No matter what we do, God will perform all his holy will. So fasting isn’t our effort to twist God’s arm. It’s our response of pressing into him like it says in Joel 2: “rend your hearts and not your garments.” Fasting is one way that we express our surrender and honest petition before God.

Finally, be careful to differentiate between aligning your heart with God (what fasting does) and getting closer to God (what fasting does not). Jesus alone brings you, spotless, into God’s presence. If you belong to Jesus, fasting basically makes you more aware of where you already are.

THE NITTY-GRITTY HOW-TO GUIDE ON FASTING

What is fasting and what is the purpose? This is the fourth of a four-part series committed to answering those questions.

NOT ONE FAST TO RULE THEM ALL

ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR PURPOSE, PLAN OUT YOUR FAST. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FASTING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS IN ALL DIFFERENT WAYS.

Once you know your purposes for fasting (the ultimate purpose and immediate purposes), consider your health. Consult your doctor, and if it’s time for a checkup, get in there. Fasting can aggravate medical conditions, and you don’t want to find that out the hard way. A few reasons you may not be able to fast safely include a myriad of health concerns from anemia to anorexia to heart disease to pregnancy to nursing—there are many legitimate reasons to not fast.

If fasting from food is not a reality for you, pray about what God wants you to do. He knows your limitations and won’t be disappointed. If you are unable to fast, you might consider partaking in another form of spiritual discipline, abstaining from technology, entertainment, music, a hobby—the list is endless. But the important part is your motive! Use the time you would normally spend eating/snowboarding/Facebooking/whatever, and spend it with Jesus.

THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF FASTING COULD TEACH US SOMETHING

There isn’t one particular formula for fasting. It’s a personal decision. How you fast, how long you fast, and what you fast from are all individual choices, none of which are as important as your reason for fasting. God doesn’t command everyone to go 40 days without food. Ask him what he would have you do and start slowly. Avoid jumping into an extended fast without building up to it first.

In the Bible, we find several types of fasts. The partial fast is illustrated by Daniel, who abstained from the best foods and chose to eat vegetables and drink water instead. You could opt for a similar plan.

An absolute fast means not eating or drinking anything at all. Paul fasted absolutely for three days. Moses did the same for 40 days, but following suit would be so extreme that you should not copy Moses unless you are absolutely sure God has called you to do so. Don’t worry! If God wants you to do something this extreme, he knows how to make it so clear to you that there is no room for uncertainty.

The most common fast involves not eating any sort of food, but drinking plenty of water and juice. Ideally, juice your own fruits and vegetables or drink 100% juice. Beware of caffeine and sugar, as they will have stronger effects without any solid food in your system.

Ultimately, pray, pick the one that seems best, and think about your motives. God won’t be impressed if your fast is more difficult. He’s already fully pleased with you because of Jesus, so fast in whichever way you choose and praise God that you don’t have to earn his favor through misery!

PLAN AHEAD

It’s tempting to have your own personal Mardi Gras, eating every one of your favorite foods just before starting your fast. While culturally popular, this makes fasting more difficult. It’s better to wean yourself off of food slowly. So plan ahead, as this will mean changing your diet during the days leading up to your fast.

Also consider the point of fasting: spending time with Jesus.  Remember, the point of fasting isn’t just to be hungry; it’s to take the time you would normally spend eating and use it to focus on God.

BREAKFAST VS. BREAKING YOUR FAST

When your fast ends, it’s very important to reintroduce food slowly. Avoid the six-course dinner or the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. Your body will have responded and adjusted to life without food fairly quickly. Suddenly shoveling in normal food will not end well. Start simply, with plain vegetables or broth. Take your time and eat small quantities. Just like you led into the fast slowly, come out of it slowly.

EYE ON THE PRIZE

Fasting isn’t a burden or a requirement for belonging to God. It’s a gift that helps you to know and run alongside your heavenly father. Going without food is a reminder that cuts straight to one of our most basic needs.

If you’ve never fasted before, be courageous, give it a go, and expect great things. Fasting is an act of faith, and faith pleases God.

21 Day Daniel Fast Details

WHAT IS FASTING?

Fasting, like prayer, is a discipline that individuals and communities use to intentionally create space for God. By fasting, or abstaining, from certain foods or from food altogether, we are doing several important things. Fasting declares that Christ’s rule has very physical, material implications for our daily lives. By submitting to a fast, we are reminded that God is the provider of all our physical needs AND that the unmet physical needs of the poor around us demand our response. Fasting both empowers us, and sends us.

FASTING PREPARATION

To make the most of this fast, we encourage you to prepare several important areas ahead of time. First, prepare through prayer. Pray in advance that God will meet physical needs, supply energy and patience, and will speak to his people afresh today. Second, prepare logistically. Think through all the necessary arrangements for this change in diet and make plans for meals with those you live with who may or may not be fasting with you. Third, prepare your schedule. Because we are fasting in order to create space for God, we pair fasting from certain foods with extended and intentional time in prayer.

FOODS TO INCLUDE

ALL FRUITS | These can be fresh, frozen, dried, juiced or canned. Fruits include but are not limited to apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cantaloupe, cherries, cranberries, figs, grapefruit, grapes, guava, honeydew melon, kiwi, lemons, lines, mangoes, nectarines, oranges, papayas, peaches, pears, pineapples, plums, prunes, raisins, raspberries, strawberries, tangelos, tangerines, and watermelon.

ALL VEGETABLES | These can be fresh, frozen, dried, juiced or canned. Vegetables include but are not limited to artichokes, asparagus, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chili peppers, collard greens, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, ginger root, kale, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, mustard greens, okra, onions, parsley, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, scallions, spinach, sprouts, squashes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, watercress, yams, zucchini, and veggie burgers (an option if you are not allergic to soy).

ALL WHOLE GRAINS | Including, but not limited to, whole wheat brown rice, millet quinoa, oats, barley, grits, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas, rice cakes, and popcorn. All nuts and seeds, including, but not limited to sunflower seeds, cashews, peanuts, sesame. Also, nut butters, e.g. peanut butter and almond butter.

ALL LEGUMES | These can be canned or dried. Legumes include but are not limited to dried beans, pinto beans, split peas, lentils, black eyed peas, kidney beans, black beans, and white beans.

ALL QUALITY OILS | Including, but not limited to olive, canola, grape seed, peanut, and sesame. 

BEVERAGES | Spring water, distilled water, or other pure waters.

OTHERS | Tofu, soy products, vinegar, seasonings, salt, herbs, and spices.

FOODS TO AVOID

ALL MEATS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS | Including, but limited to, beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and fish.

ALL DAIRY PRODUCTS | Including, but limited to, milk, cheese, cream, butter, and eggs (unsweetened Greek yogurt ok).

ALL SWEETENERS | Including, but not limited to, sugar, raw sugar, honey, syrups, molasses, and cane juice.

ALL LEAVENED BREAD | Including Ezekiel bread (it contains yeast and honey) and baked goods.

ALL REFINED AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS | Including, but not limited to, artificial flavorings, food additives, chemicals, white rice, white flour, and foods that contain artificial preservatives.

ALL DEEP FRIED FOODS | Including, but not limited to, potato chips, french fries, and corn chips.

ALL SOLID FATS | Including shortening, margarine, lard, and foods high in fat.

BEVERAGES | Including, but not limited to, coffee, tea, herbal teas, carbonated beverages, energy drinks, and alcohol.

ENDING YOUR FAST

Our hope is that our 21 days of fasting as a community would yield long-term changes. In order to do this, we want to start with the end in mind by posing the following questions to be considered throughout our fast:

1. How has God challenged, convicted, or guided you during this time? What are the implications of your experience for the rest of the year?

2. How has God opened your eyes to the unmet needs of the poor, powerless, and suffering around you? How are we, as the church, being called to join God in meeting physical needs?

3. How can we continue to create space for God after the fast?

Quotes On Prayer

As we have read and studied the topic of prayer, we have come across so many wonderful insights into the topic by many men and women of God. These have helped us better understand prayer itself, the importance of praying, and how to pray. We hope you find them to be helpful for you as well.

WeI pray that you are encouraged and inspired by some of these thoughts and insights on prayer.

PRAYER & POWER

"If you are strangers to prayer you are strangers to power." - Billy Sunday

“Most of the great movements of God can be traced to a small group of people He called together to begin praying.” - Donald Whitney

“Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.” - Rick Warren

PRAYER & TIME

“I’m too busy not to pray.” - Martin Luther

“That four hours of work for which one hour of prayer prepares, is far better than five hours of work without prayer.” - George Mueller

“I feel it is far better to begin with God - to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another.” - Robert Murray Mc Cheyne

“Praying, true praying, costs an outlay of serious attention and of time, which flesh and blood do not relish.” - E.M. Bounds

“Mastering the art of prayer, like any other art, will take time, and the amount of time we allocate to it will be the true measure of our conception of its importance. We contrive to find time for that which we deem most important.” - J. Oswald Sanders

PRAYER & METHODS

“The church’s organization, methods, marketing, and machinery are powerless to deliver apart from prayer.” - Bruce Zachary 

“We are constantly straining to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Gospel. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer.” - E.M. Bounds

PRAYER & FASTING

“Prayer links us to heaven and fasting separates us from earth.” - C.H. Spurgeon

"Fasting is typically associated with abstaining from food. Nevertheless, we can appropriate God’s power by drawing close to Him by abstaining from certain material pleasures. For example, you can say “no” to television so that you can say “yes” to God. By spending time praying and reading the Bible rather than watching television, we are in effect fasting." - Bruce Zachary

PRAYER & SATAN

“God’s child can conquer everything by prayer. Is it any wonder that Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon from the Christian or to hinder his use of it.” - Andrew Murray

“Satan the hinderer may build a barrier about us, but He can never roof us in so that we cannot look up.” - J. Hudson Taylor

PRAYER & SUBMISSION

“Our motive in prayer should be for us to desire to do things God’s way, not to get God to do things our way.” - Bruce Zachary

PRAYER & IMPORTANCE 

“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” - E.M. Bounds

“As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” -Martin Luther

“Prayer is the vital breath of Christians. Not the thing that makes us alive, but the evidence we are alive.” - Oswald Chambers

PRAYER & PLANNING

“Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant prayer life is not so much that we don’t want to, but we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure, And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences of prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch tv. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.” - John Piper 

PRAYER & GODILNESS 

“The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness.” - John Wesley

"Prayer is a means for spiritual acorns to become mighty spiritual oak trees." -Bruce Zachary

“Through prayer, our hearts are aligned with God’s heart so that we gain spiritual insight.”  - Bruce Zachary

“Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness.” - William Carey

“What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in 19 cases out of 20, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy prayer much?” - JC Ryle

“This much we do know---Jesus prayed. Luke tells us ‘But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’ (Luke 5:16). If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray? Prayer is expected because we need it. We will not be like Jesus without it.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & GOD’S WORD

“The more familiar we are with God’s Word, the clearer His will is to us. The clearer His will is to us, the more confident we become that He will respond to our prayers.” - Bruce Zachary 

“The great lack of our faith is that we do not know God.” - Andrew Murray

PRAYER & ACTION

"We learn most about prayer by praying." - Bruce Zachary

“Reading a book about prayer, listening to lectures and talking about it is very good, but it won’t teach you to pray. You get nothing without exercise, without practice. I might listen for a year to a professor of music plating the most beautiful music, but that won’t teach me to play an instrument.” - Andrew Murray

“Reading about prayer instead of praying will simply not do. But reading about prayer in addition to praying can be a valuable way to learn.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & PERSEVERANCE

“If the ships of prayer do not come home speedily, it is because they are more heavily freighted with blessings. - C.H. Spurgeon

“It is comforting to know that God is never late. However, He is rarely early. As we ask, and while we wait, we learn to depend on God.” - Bruce Zachary

“The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.” - George Muller