Seeking God | Guide To Fasting
We are so excited about what the Lord is going to do in us and through us during this time. I am so glad that you are seeking after the Lord together as His church. I wrote a brief description of fasting for your spiritual growth.
Fasting is a grace given to us by God. We fast to draw near to the Lord and experience Him more deeply. We fast for breakthroughs. We fast in times when we need the Lord to move powerfully. Fasting is like prayer on steroids. It focuses our hearts and is a way to humble ourselves before the Lord. Jesus tells us not to seek approval or make it self-centered. What we see throughout the Bible is individuals fasting but also whole communities and churches fasting and praying together.
Jesus also told us that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word from the mouth of God. I encourage you to read the Word and pray over your normal meal times. Pray for the Lord to move in the hearts and minds of our church. Pray for the gospel to spread in our community. Below you will see some different types of fasting and tips.
24 hour fast
Eat dinner and then the next day go without food until sundown.
Whole day fast
Wake up and go the whole day without food until the next morning. It is about 36 hours in total.
Partial fast
Usually for a long period of time such as in Daniel 10. Daniel spent three weeks fasting in prayer and ate sparingly with a simple diet.
You might be tempted to abandon your fast. Jesus was when He fasted for 40 days, so don’t be surprised. You could get a little tired or grumpy. The Lord is growing you through those moments as you depend on Him and seek after Him.
If you have health restrictions that could harm you, like diabetes or you are a woman who is pregnant, it would not be wise for you to fast from food. There are other things to fast from than food as well, such as TV, social media, your phone, etc. The Scriptures even give us an example of couples fasting from normal sexual relations in the context of marriage to focus on prayer for a time (1 Corinthians 7:5).