Fasting is a voluntary abstaining from food for spiritual purposes.
Fasting is used by celebrities as a cleansing diet. New Age practitioners and many Eastern religions practice fasting as a means to discipline the body to gain favor of their false gods. (these angels and false gods are revealed as demons by the Bible and by those who convert from New Age and Eastern Beliefs to Christianity) Medical doctors recommend forms of fasting for cleansing the body of toxins. It has been determined that cancer patients do better with chemo treatments when fasting for three days before hand. Of course some people can’t fast due to medical reasons, so one must be advised by a doctor as to what form of fasting is safe for their bodies.
There are several lengths of fasting in the Bible.
- One night. Daniel 6:18
- One day. I Samuel 7:6, II Samuel 1:12, 3:35, Judges 20:26
- Three days and three nights. Esther 4:16, Acts 9:9, 17-19
- Seven days. I Samuel 31:13, II Samuel 12:16-23
- Fourteen days. Acts 27:33-34
- Twenty-one days. Daniel 10:3-13
- Forty days. Exodus 24:18, 34:28, Deuteronomy 9:9, 18, 25-29. 10:10, I Kings 19:8, Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2
There are several types of fasting in the Bible.
- Moses ate no food nor drank any water for 40 days. God supernaturally kept him. Moses did this two different times. When he died, scripture says his eyes were good and his strength was not gone. Deuteronomy 34:7
- Jesus ate no bread for 40 days while being tempted by Satan. He was hungry afterwards but scripture does not say he was thirsty, so He must have been drinking water.
- Elijah went in the strength of food and water for 40 days after ravens fed him bread and flesh.
- Ezra, Esther and Paul ate no food nor drank any water for three days.
- Daniel fasted by eating only vegetables and drinking water abstaining from the kings rich diet of meats and wine for 21 days.
- Paul and a ship’s crew fasted partially for 14 days eating no regular meal, but living on necessary rations while trying to control a ship in a storm.
What is important about fasting is the one element that many people seem to miss. Humility.
Jesus demonstrated over and over to us that abasing oneself is the way to attain exaltment. Fasting is for the purpose of humbling ourselves before our God acknowledging that we can’t do this on our own and that we need His divine intervention to help us with the battles of our lives.
“Therefore whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:4
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” I Peter 5:6
The responsibility to humble ourselves is placed upon us. To pray, “God make me humble,” is not scriptural, and God will reply, “humble yourself.”
Psalm 35:13, David said that he humbled his soul with fasting. Fasting is a means to humble ourselves.
Ezra was leading a group of returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem. The journey was dangerous through country infested with enemies and gangs of thieves. They had their wives, children and vessels for the temple. They needed safe conduct. Ezra can ask the emperor of Persia (Iran today) for soldiers to protect them, or he can ask God to protect. He chose God.
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to Him, but His anger is against all who forsake Him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this,, and He answered our prayer.” Ezra 8:21-23
Jehoshaphat king of Judah received a message that a vast army was coming against him. Scripture says the people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord. Jehoshaphat invokes a prayer for God’s help. “O our God. will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” II Chronicles 20:12
He acknowledges that he and Judah have no power, and that they do not know what to do. They turn to the supernatural for help and God answers.
God told them through His prophet Jahaziel that they would not need to fight but to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Singers were appointed to praise the beauty of the Lord as they went out before the army singing, “Praise the Lord; for His mercy endures forever.” As they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon and they were smitten. God caused the enemy to turn upon each other and Judah saw the dead bodies and no enemy to fight.
God told Moses to establish the Day of Atonement for the Children of Israel. On the 10th day of the 7th month they were to humble their souls and not to do any work. This was a special day to be kept once each year to commemorate God cleansing them as individuals and as a nation from their sins. It was to be a Sabbath of rest before the Lord. Leviticus 16:29-31
The phrase, “you shall humble your souls,” can be translated “you must deny yourselves,” “you must fast.” Jews still observe Yom Kippur today as a day of fasting. It is referred to in the book of Acts as “the Fast” Acts 27:9
Fasting not for one’s ego
Jesus taught us that fasting is not to be done for drawing attention to ourselves as the Pharisees, but to do it secretly as much as possible so that our Father who sees us in secret can reward us openly. Matthew 6:17-18
Old Testament examples of fasting shows clothing oneself with sackcloth and spreading ashes on one’s head showing all that one was mourning in fasting. Jesus taught us to do the opposite since the religious want to use fasting as a means of pride and boosting the ego.
We are to shower and shave, and dress as usual. We are not to announce a trumpet alerting all that we are fasting. We are only to inform those who need to know as to allow us time and space to concentrate on God and His Word in prayer. It is a personal sacrifice between you and God.
Husbands and wives are to abstain from sexual relations during seasons of fasting. I Corinthians 7:5 Paul says after the season of fasting the husbands and wives should then make themselves available for sexual relations to prevent the devil from tempting the husband or the wife into immorality.
There were individual and corporate fasts. II Samuel 12:15-16 shows David fasting and Joel 2:15-16 shows him calling for all the people to fast.
Many churches have their congregations to fast for 21 days eating only supper or abstaining from certain foods and drink. Jentezen Franklin’s ministry is a good example of a corporate fast.
God’s Chosen Fast
Isaiah chapter 58 shows the people accusing God of not seeing their fasting. God answers that they have fasted for the wrong reasons.
The fast that He has chosen is loose bands, to undo heavy burdens, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to provide for the poor.
Anna was in her eighties and gave herself to prayer and fasting spending most of her time in the temple of God at Jerusalem. She was privileged to have the Holy Spirit reveal to her who the baby Jesus was when she saw Joseph and Mary bring Him into the temple. Luke 2:36-38
Humility is characterized by Anna, Ezra, Esther, Moses, Elijah, Paul, Jehoshaphat, Daniel, and by Jesus showing us that we fast to afflict our souls, to acknowledge our inability to know what to do on our own, and to ask for supernatural intervention from the only one who knows all.
Why are you fasting?
You should have a goal in fasting. What are the needs in your life? Ask God for direction as to how long and how intense the fast should be. Sins should be confessed before beginning a fast, and should be confessed for loved ones and our nation during the fast.
Fasting detoxifies your body eliminating toxins from your digestive system and can be healthful if done properly and with the right submission to God. Some discomfort is to be expected as the body cleanses itself.
The leaders of our country used to call for times of prayer and fasting to humble ourselves before God seeking His help in times of calamity. Now, Obama lights the White House with the colors of the militant homosexual movement.
Ruth Graham once said, “If God doesn’t judge America, He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!”
Surely today’s world needs leaders both spiritual and political to call for prayer and fasting the humbling of our souls before Almighty God.
In times of impending calamity and distress; when the liberties of America are imminently endangered by the secret machinations and open assaults of an insidious and vindictive administration, it becomes the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publicly to acknowledge the over ruling providence of God; to confess and deplore our offences against him; and to supplicate his interposition for averting the threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue, and posterity. – The Continental Congress, March 16th, 1776