A Detailed Fasting and Prayer Guide

What does fasting mean?

What is fasting?

Fasting is going without. This may be in relation to food or some other necessity or luxury. It is a common part of religion. The Christian faith holds prayer and fasting as key factors of a “healthy” relationship with God.

Today, fasting and prayer are somewhat ritualistic. In some charismatic circles, fasting is done at the start of each year without fail. Some wonderful ministries that I know of fast for the first 21 days of the year. All this is admirable. I do question, whether the essence of the fasting and prayer trickle down from the leadership to the congregation members and others who just fill the pews.

Nothing we do for the Lord, our God should become ritualistic, just one other thing we need to tick off the list. Rituals tend to lose the heart that is meant to be behind what they are doing. What does fasting in the bible look like?

Hosea 6:6
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

The verse above is a great example of how easily believers tend to replace the desires of God with rituals. God desires sacrifice, but not at the expense of mercy. He desires burnt offerings, but not at the expense of knowledge of him. What is your fasting coming as a replacement of? It is common for modern-day churches to be dens of thieves, as long as they are generous to the ministry.

Is that true fasting? You will recall that; reflection and self-examination are key components of this prayer course. Perhaps the best part to start would be identifying why it is that we fast.

WHY DO WE FAST?

The heart behind fasting is subduing one’s physical needs so that the spirit may be amplified. This is what feeds the power of prayer. Rich or poor, most of us are defined by our means. We are defined by the food that we eat, the places that we go to and the sort of people that we keep around us. The heart of fasting is casting these aside and focusing on the Lord, God.

Matthew 17:21

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

The scripture above speaks of things that cannot be overcome by prayer alone, but by prayer coupled with fasting. Even Jesus’ ministry was preceded by time in the wilderness, a time of fasting and prayer. It was preceded by a time where he would be tempted on a weakness that his sacrifice in fasting had created.

Fasting exposes ills in you. There is a constant tug between body and spirit, fasting strengthens the spirit man and subsides the body. It is better to be a man who has dominion over his own body than one that rules over nations. Fasting and prayer join these powers together. Without prayer, fasting is a hunger strike. Today

If you consider that the body is temporary, while the spirit is eternal, you will make sense of why it is important to build longevity in spirit. Fasting builds that longevity in spirit. Fasting lends power to prayer.

It is difficult to stay in tune with the Lord as well as to hear his voice above the noises of this world. The essence of fasting is, shutting out the world’s noises that you may hear from the Lord. You will not that fasting was often done in the wilderness. This would have been a way of physically separating oneself from all the day’s hassle. We are to find time to pull away, into that secret place of prayer.

As a carpenter, I imagine, Jesus would have had some clients coming over to place orders, his mother would have needed a hand with something, but be withdrew himself from all of this, so he could be with the FATHER. Are you making time to withdraw yourself from everyday mundane, that you may be with the father? Do you allow time for prayer? I say, allow, but more like “mandate!” Such is the need for prayer. This is more so when you are going through a fast.

The Lord is more concerned with the heart behind the actions than the actions behind the heart. Actions can be faked, or done out of the wrong motive, but the heart tells all. If your heart is not in this fasting, there is no point doing it at all, really. Your time should rather be invested in prayer for the state of your heart.

The contemporary view of fasting and prayer

Like most Christian things nowadays, the essence of fasting has been somewhat lost in believers’ goal to make it more mainstream. Although there are many factors behind this, one of the main attributes of this is the financial incentive that comes from filling our pews.

If the people we want to bring in do not agree with some of the things that we don’t think are necessarily key to our faith, we start to compromise these things. This is what has in some ways happened to fast. We are building comforts within our fast, so as to accommodate all. Is this the loss of the essence of fasting? Are the results worth it?

We have also become so caught up in names and types of fasting. The driving factor in most of the new variants is our desire to appease God while maintaining our comfort. There is a lack of the desire to sacrifice, which is the heart behind fasting.

“Sacrifice is the language of the spirit.”- Pastor Bonnie Deuschle.

You and I must not become too focused on ticking this ritualistic box, lest we lose the value and essence of fasting. Outside of sacrifice, there is no true fasting.

Types of fasting

Most fasting is governed by the duration that one would go without. These will range from:

• 6 am till 6 pm fasting (going without food between those hours).
• 3 Day fast (going for 72 hours without).
• 7 Day fast (gong for 162 hours without).

Biblical fasts noted Jesus as having fasted for 40 days. Other fasts recorded include queen Esther’s fast for the lives of her people, the fasts of several prophets. The common factor in these is a sacrifice. A fast void of the sacrificial factor is not fasting at all. It doesn’t matter how long you do it for, sacrifice is key.

Current medical advice is that one should not go without water for over 7 days. It is possible to go without food longer.

Again, if we are getting stuck on food, we are missing the point. Isaiah makes it clear what true fasting is.

Isaiah 58:3-4

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Fasting Types:

Dry Fasting/Full Fast

A full fast is one where you go for a certain number of days with no food and drink. 

Semi-dry fast

A semi-dry fast is when you go for a certain number of days without food, but with liquids. It is certainly more physically sustainable than a dry fast for prolonged periods of fasting.

Daniel’s Fast

This was established when Daniel didn’t want to eat the royal food served in the palace. As a compromise with the caretaker, he would only eat fruit and vegetables, but no meat. Presumably, he would also drink liquids.

It is also later recorded where Daniel spent 3 weeks of fasting. He avoided luxury.

Daniel 10:2-3, 

Partial Fast

A partial fast is one that does not span an entire day. It may be fasting from sunrise to sunset.

Corporate Fasting

This is where a group of people collectively go without food for a common cause or need that they are believing God for.

 1 Samuel 7

The scripture above explains exactly why some periods of “so-called” fasting bear no results. Why are some periods of fasting and humility in seeking God not met with any results? Our relationships with other people are a key component of any fasting. True fasting starts in your own homes, in the workplace and every other place that you spend time. Often, people will fast and pursue God while they are simultaneous ill-treating others.

Matthew 5:23-24

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Scripture tells us that we cannot say we love God while we hate our brother. True fasting is a ministry of reconciliation. There is no point in fasting to make up with God while you are holding your loved ones at bay. There ought not to be strife. Verse 4 of Isaiah 58, as shown above, states “You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.”

Consider your fasting for a moment. Remember, a key part of this prayer course is self-evaluation and reflection. It is very rare that anyone will tell you a deeper truth that you can tell yourself. At times, you must look in the mirror and show yourself where you are slacking.

I believe that this is one of the key reasons why miracles are drying up in the Western world as they grow in the east. We have become so consumed with patriotism that we begin to hate our brothers and sisters from different races, faiths, denominations and so on; yet we still go before God in the name of fasting. How can we say we love God and hate our brother? Cleaning our heads, hands and hearts are important for true fasting.

Isaiah 58:6-14

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness