Fasting 101

Daniel 9:³ “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.”            

There are certain fundamentals of the faith that we assume people understand. However, from engaging with people I have discovered that some people really do not understand these things. So, rather than assume we all understand, it is important that we explain the concept of fasting again. What is fasting? Fasting is abstinence primarily from food for the purpose of seeking God or aligning with God. Fasting in our time has evolved because it is not only food we can fast from. We can fast off the television and social media in addition to food. We can do a food fast and partial video games fast just to recover our souls. In fact, you do not realize how much you have been spread thin sometimes until you do this fast. While in the church we will fast primarily from food, we should add these other components that we have become a little bit attached to.

Some people are not attached to the television or video games, but they are attached to WhatsApp. They check everyone’s status; as soon as the status goes up, they are the first to see. Maybe you want to go on a fast, you will discover that if you do not check people’s status for one week or two, you will not die. I know that some people use social media for work. It is not because we just want to punish ourselves or to afflict the body that we stay away from food. It is beyond that; it is the appetite that God wants to reign in. The truth is that if you can control your appetite for food, you can control your appetite for almost anything. All the different appetites that man has, food and affection are the only ones that are there from birth and will be there till death. The day someone loses his or her appetite for food, you know the person is on the way out. The appetites for everything else are acquired or developed as we mature.

So, if you can control your appetite for food, you will be able to bring your body under control and control every other aspect of your life. Our classic example of fasting is Jesus. Jesus fasted. Jesus gave us an example of what it is to fast and how to fast. Matt.4:² “For forty days and forty nights, he fasted and became very hungry.” There are different types of fast, Jesus did a full fast from food, but if you compare scriptures, you will see that Jesus took water in between. Jesus fasted day and night, He did not break at night like some of us. A type of our fast is we fast during the day, as soon as it is day which is midnight. And we fast until the day is over, which is at six o’clock in the evening. So, we do an intermittent partial daily fast. Jesus fasted day and night.

Daniel 10:³ “I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.” (NIV). In those days, for someone of his calibre, he would have had his bath with perfumed and oiled water. Daniel abstained from that, he abstained from choice foods. He was not eating meat or taking wine. It is called a Daniel fast today.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for a fresh understanding of what it means to turn to You in fasting and to deny myself to seek You, in Jesus Name. Amen!