Let’s be honest. Most of us would rather feast than fast. Fasting is one of those disciplines we admire from a distance and rarely practise. So this guide is meant to be simple: what fasting is, why Christians do it, and how to make a start.
What is fasting?
Fasting is going without food for a set time to seek God. That’s it. The Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible both mean “to abstain from eating.” People fasted for all sorts of reasons, but the thing they gave up was always food.
It’s voluntary. Nobody makes you do it. It doesn’t earn you anything with God, and it isn’t a diet or a detox. It’s a way of saying, with your whole body, “I depend on you, Lord, more than I depend on my next meal.”
Why do it?
Mainly, Jesus expected us to. In Matthew 6 he says “when you fast,” not “if you fast.” When people asked why his disciples didn’t fast, he said they would once he’d gone (Matthew 9:14-15). We’re living in that time now.
You find fasting all through Scripture. People fasted when they’d sinned and needed to repent, like Nineveh in Jonah 3. They fasted in a crisis, like Esther before she went to the king (Esther 4:16) or Jehoshaphat with an army on his doorstep (2 Chronicles 20). They fasted when they were grieving, like Nehemiah over Jerusalem, or longing for something, like Hannah praying for a child. They fasted when they needed God to guide them. The church in Antioch was fasting when the Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas out (Acts 13:1-3), and Paul and Barnabas fasted and prayed before appointing elders (Acts 14:23). Jesus himself fasted for forty days before his ministry began.
Isaiah 58 is worth reading before you start. God tells Israel he isn’t interested in their fasting when they’re treating people badly the rest of the time. The fast he wants comes with justice and generosity: freeing the oppressed and sharing food with the hungry. One good habit, which Christians have kept up for centuries, is to give away whatever you’d have spent on the meals you skip.
Watch out for these
Fasting can go wrong. The obvious danger is pride, thinking you’re more spiritual than the people who don’t fast. Jesus tells us to keep it quiet: wash your face, carry on as normal, and let it be between you and the Father (Matthew 6:16-18).
The other danger is treating fasting like a deal. “I’ve gone hungry, so now God owes me.” He doesn’t. John Wesley put it bluntly: “Let us beware of fancying that we merit anything of God by our fasting.” We fast to draw near to God, not to get him to do what we want.
Different kinds of fast
The most common fast in the Bible is no food, just water, often for a day from sunrise to sunset. That’s the best place to start.
A partial fast means cutting out certain foods or certain meals. Daniel did this for three weeks, going without rich food, meat and wine (Daniel 10:2-3). This works well for anyone who needs to eat every day.
Going without water as well as food is rare in the Bible, short, and kept for desperate situations. Please don’t attempt it without talking to a doctor first. The same goes for anything longer than a few days.
Health first
If you have diabetes, heart or blood pressure problems, kidney trouble, take regular medication, or you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, speak to your GP before fasting from food.
If you’ve struggled with eating, now or in the past, fasting from food might not be right for you. Please talk to one of the Elders, and have a look at the section below on setting other things aside. That’s a real and good way to give time to God.
Children and teenagers shouldn’t do long food fasts. If you’re a parent/carer read the section below (about giving up other things) with them and discuss an alternative to food they can abstain from.
How to start
Start small. Skip one meal and spend that time praying. If that goes fine, try a whole day. One easy way in is to eat lunch, skip supper, and carry on until supper the next day. You’ve slept through a good chunk of it.
Drink plenty of water. Expect to feel hungry, maybe a bit cold, maybe a headache. If you’re a coffee drinker, you’ll probably notice that most of all. It passes. If you feel properly unwell, stop and eat. That isn’t failure.
The most important thing is to use the time. Fasting without praying is just being hungry. Take the time you’d normally spend cooking and eating and give it to God: pray, read Scripture, sit quietly with him. When you finish your fast, eat something light.
What about giving up other things?
Lots of Christians give up social media, TV, Netflix or chocolate for Lent. Is that fasting?
Strictly speaking, the Bible uses the word fasting for food. I’d call these other things “abstaining” rather than fasting. That isn’t being fussy. Paul talks about married couples abstaining from sex for a short time so they can give themselves to prayer (1 Corinthians 7:5), and he doesn’t call that fasting. So there’s a clear biblical precedent for putting something good to one side to make room for God. We just don’t need to call it a fast.
And it can be really valuable. Most of us have far more noise in our lives than we’d like to admit. Our phones fill every spare moment. Putting them down for a season frees up time we didn’t know we had. Sometimes it also shows us how much of a grip something has on us.
If you do this, be clear about what you’re giving up and for how long. It could be total, or something like no phone after 8pm, or no TV on weekdays. Then decide what you’ll do with the time. If you put the phone down and pick up the remote, nothing has changed. The point is to pray.
You can abstain on its own, or alongside a food fast. Either way, the aim is the same: to spend more time seeking God.
