How will we who imagine in Jesus do fasting? In a world inundated with diets and fads, it’s hard to know the right way to separate the 2. What makes fasting different from simply weight-reduction plan? Also, how is the Christian fast different from other religions? To answer these questions, we will separate our actions of religion from culture and other religions by going back to the Bible itself. To know the right way to fast as a Christian, these three steps are essential:
-Study what the Bible says about fasting.
-Include prayer and Scripture while fasting.
-Clarify your reason for the fast. Get to the center of it.
Let’s dig deeper into each step to make clear how we do fasting as Christians.
Where Does the Bible Mention Fasting?
Fasting could be present in each the Old and New Testaments. According to “Bible Verses About Fasting,” the Bible mentions fasting over 70 times. If the Word of God mentions this discipline so again and again, doesn’t it prove its importance? Sometimes, Bible stories seem faraway from our modernity, however the disciplines of prayer and fasting hold no timeline. Whether before the Cross or after, fasting still plays a task in our faith.
We learn the right way to fast, when to fast, and the way long to fast from biblical heroes like Moses, Daniel, and Esther. Each fasted for a certain length of time and for specific reasons. They also fasted in alternative ways.
Moses’ Fast for Good Hearing
In Exodus 34, Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai within the presence of God. During those 40 days and nights, he didn’t eat anything or drink water while he chiseled the Ten Commandments on stone tablets.
Have you wondered how he fasted for therefore long? Undoubtedly, this was a supernatural moment in time, nevertheless it’s possible that Moses didn’t actually fast for 40 days and 40 nights. This phrase was a Hebrew idiom meaning “a extremely very long time.” It also identified a testing or probationary period, like Jesus’s testing within the desert after his baptism. Whether or not Moses fasted for exactly 40 days and 40 nights will not be crucial. Rather than specializing in the fast’s length, let’s deal with why Moses fasted.
Go back to what he was doing on Mt. Sinai to know why he was fasting. Remember, Moses was not preserving his own law; he was writing down what he heard from God. From this instance, we will conclude that fasting opens our ears to the voice and purpose of God. It empties us in order that we will hear God more clearly. Sometimes that emptying is required for higher understanding.
Daniel’s Fast for Revelation and Warfare
Daniel mourned for 3 weeks due to a prophecy he’d received about an excellent war. During this era of mourning, he didn’t eat “alternative” food or meat, and he didn’t drink wine. Daniel also didn’t use lotions. After this era of mourning and fasting, he received understanding through a vision. Jesus got here to Daniel to present him insight. These words spoken by Jesus confer with Daniel’s fast and its purpose:
“Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the primary day that you just set your mind to achieve understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I even have are available in response to them.But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then Michael, one among the chief princes, got here to assist me, because I used to be detained there with the king of Persia. Now I even have come to clarify to you what is going to occur to your people in the longer term, for the vision concerns a time yet to return.” – Daniel 10:12-14 (emphasis added)
Daniel’s fast was not only an indication of mourning, nevertheless it was also a humble act. One could also argue that his fast played a crucial role within the waged spiritual warfare. Daniel’s fast lasted precisely the length of the resistance of the enemy. Fasting may weaken our bodies, nevertheless it strengthens our spirits to fight battles we cannot see.
Aretha Grant writes concerning the spiritual warfare component in “Christian Fasting and the Power of Biblical Facts.” She writes, “Indeed, fasting brings God’s protection, provision, and help. Fast your way through afflictions, hardships, obstacles, and opposition.”
Esther’s Fast for Wisdom and Favor
Esther initiated a quick due to an enemy, too. As her people faced a doomed future, and Esther prepared to intervene at the chance of death, this humble queen called for her people to fast for 3 days.
“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ‘Go, gather together all of the Jews who’re in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for 3 days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is completed, I’ll go to the king, though it’s against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’” – Esther 4:15-16
Esther’s actions reveal another excuse for fasting. She needed wisdom and favor to save lots of her people from destruction. But Esther was not alone in her fast as Daniel and Moses were. Esther called for all the Jewish population to fast together with her. Though her instructions didn’t include orders to wish, it is obvious that their fasting can be partnered with petitions for her safety and the salvation of the Jews.
How Do Christian Fasting and Prayer Fit Together?
Fasting should be coupled with prayer since it strengthens prayer. As demonstrated within the three examples above, the fast’s purpose involved hearing God. Fasting provided wisdom, strength, and the Presence and favor of God.
Another story within the Bible proves how fasting and prayer go hand in hand. This story involved a demon-possessed boy. Jesus explained the connection of prayer and fasting to his disciples, who were unsuccessful in attempts to heal this mute, seizure-laden boy:
“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” – Mark 9:29 NKJV
For reasons unknown to me, many translations pass over the word “fasting” on this Scripture. It is, nonetheless, in the unique text. It is the Greek word nēsteia. This word referred to personal and public fasts, akin to those held throughout the Jewish Day of Atonement. From this Scripture and Jesus’s trial within the desert, we all know Jesus fasted. If Jesus, the Son of God, fasted, how way more should we? Jesus taught through these scriptures that prayer without fasting lacks power, and fasting prepares us for ministry to return.
Is Christian Fasting a Form of Meditation?
Fasting strengthens our prayers and prepares us for ministry since it cultivates a greater awareness of God and his wisdom. It helps us pray with clarity and purpose. It improves our focus. In this manner, fasting could be considered meditation, especially when coupled with Scripture. In simplest terms, fasting involves abstaining from food, water, or something we enjoy, like social media or coffee. It doesn’t all the time involve food, nevertheless it should all the time involve replacing those things with time spent in God’s Word, meditating on God’s truth. The psalmist wrote:
“I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate in your precepts and consider your ways.” – Psalm 119:14-15
When I fast, and my stomach rumbles, I’m reminded to wish. In the identical sense, after I’ve chosen to fast a meal or social media or time watching television at night, I replace what I’m fasting with God’s Word—it is a type of meditation. In eastern religions, meditation involves emptying oneself completely, however the Christian fills that vacant place with truth.
What Separates Christian Fasting from Other Religions’ Forms of Fasting?
Many religions include fasting as a type of discipline. Though it’s an identical practice, with each form involving abstaining from food, sometimes water, and other pleasures of life, what separates Christian fasting from Hindus, Muslims, and other Eastern religions is the fast’s purpose.
Muslims fast during Ramadan, a company fast, abstaining from food and water throughout the daylight for 30 days. Sam Martyn explains:
“Whereas fasting in other traditions is usually related to health advantages, political advocacy, or the ascetic rejection of the world, such will not be the case with Islam. Islam affirms the goodness of creation and human enjoyment of creation moderately, evidenced by the feast that takes place each evening when the fast is broken at sunset. Instead, Muslims fast primarily to precise their submission to Allah.”
Though the Christian fast is a type of submission or humility to God, Christian fasting will not be done to achieve favor with God. Jesus did that for us. It is simply by grace that we’re saved. No amount of fasting can get us into heaven without Jesus.
Rather than fasting to achieve favor with God or a better level of spirituality, as in Hinduism, Christians fast to achieve wisdom and strength to assist them live more eternally productive lives on this side of eternity.
Get to the Heart of Your Fasting
The Christian’s reason for fasting and what we do throughout the fast are what separate fasting from diets, fads, and other religions. It is feasible to fast for health reasons, and that’s okay. We may employ intermittent fasting to drop some weight. But once we fast to grow closer to God, hear the Lord’s wisdom, and fight spiritual battles, and we incorporate prayer and the Word of God, then our fast becomes a Christian discipline. I’m reminded of David’s plea, “Search me, oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious ways. See if there may be any offensive [idolatrous] way in me and lead me into the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24, addition mine). May this be our prayer as we fast to serve God higher.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/camaralenta
Andy Lee is an event speaker, blogger, YouTuber, and award winning writer of three books, A Mary Like Me; The Book of Ruth Key-Word Bible Study, and Radiant Influence: How an strange girl modified the world. She passionately teaches the right way to find life in God’s Word as a way to live abundantly. You can catch her life giving messages weekly on Instagram and YouTube. She also provides monthly Bible reading plans and articles on her website www.wordsbyandylee.
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