Strengthening Your Discipline of Fasting

I will never forget the first time I, as a new believer not raised in a Christian home, received an invitation to attend a “church fellowship dinner.” I had never heard of such an event. What I learned was that our church family would have a meal together, but I didn’t realize we would have a BIG meal together. Given all the homemade food that good Christian cooks made for that meal, I quickly decided that I liked this “fellowship meal” idea! 

When I later heard about “fasting” as a spiritual discipline, I was confused—primarily because  (1) few people talked about it, and (2) I wrongly understood fasting to be only avoiding food, but without having a spiritual reason for doing so. I hardly understood fasting as a “discipline,” as few people I knew ever fasted at all. How grateful I am today that I’ve since learned much more about fasting!  

Here are some ways to work on strengthening – or beginning, as the case may be – the discipline of fasting: 

1. Study the Word on fasting. When you study the Word, you will find that God’s people fasted on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29–31) and in times of national crisis or renewal (e 2 Chron 20:3, Esth 4:16, Neh 9:1). Nehemiah fasted (Neh 1:4). Daniel fasted (Dan 1:11-16). Jesus assumed His followers would fast, just as they would give and pray (Matt 6:2-17). The early church fasted when they made major decisions (Acts 13:1-2, 14:23). Even when Jesus’ disciples were not fasting, it was because they were celebrating in the groom’s presence; the day would come when they would fast as they longed to see Him again (Matt 9:14-17).  

   
   

2. Seek the Lord as you lean toward fasting. This discipline is not simply abstaining from food; it is seeking God so strongly that food almost becomes an afterthought. Pray about your commitment to fast. Invite some prayer warriors to join you in the task. Prayerfully determine the best time to fast, and establish your strategy for how you will use your fasting time to seek God. If all you do is decide not to eat and call it fasting, you have simply chosen to do what I’ve heard others call “a baptized diet.” As I have written elsewhere: 

   
   

Fasting says, “God, I love you and long to know you more intimately. I long for you to come again.” It pushes away from the table and looks instead to the Redeemer, and your desire to eat then loses its force when you desire God more than anything. As I once heard a seminary president say, “Fasting is about wanting to eat at God’s table more than at our own table.”i 

3. Invite someone to pray for you as you fast—and perhaps join you in the fast. I realize Jesus warned against advertising your fasting, but His caution was a heart check rather than an admonition to keep your fasting secret. Knowing that someone is praying for you will encourage you to stay the course if/when you get hungry. In addition, it’s always good to let someone know you’re fasting just in case you have a negative physical reaction to this new discipline.   

   
   

4. Start small if you have never fasted. My suggestion is that you start by fasting for just one meal. Determine early in the week which meal you will not eat, and mark it on your calendar. Pray each day in preparation for that fasting time. Then, focus on God when that fasting time comes (see the next point). Later, you can increase your fasting to two meals, then to a day and longer as the Lord leads you. If you never start by fasting from at least one meal, though, you’ll never fast for longer times.  

   
   

5. Decide up front how you will use the time when you would have been eating. I generally use that time to read the Word and pray in a more focused way. Sometimes I take a walk and talk to the Lord as I go. I’ve also listened to a Bible teaching or a sermon during fasting times. At other times, I use that time to reach out to someone who simply needs a word of encouragement, as fasting pushes my attention off self to God and to others. My point is this: have a plan to focus on God and His work as you choose not to eat.   

   
   

6. Break the fast with thanksgiving and simplicity. Keep your focus on God before you fast, while you fast, and after you fast. Thank Him for sustaining you with His Word and His presence when the fast is complete. Commit yourself to fast again at the appropriate time. Be careful, too, about overeating the next time you eat. That’s not the time to make up for your food deficit; it’s the time to eat with more gratitude and more focus on God.  

   
   

7. Make fasting a regular discipline in your life. Here is a plan that has worked for me for a number of years:  

   
   

   1. I calendar at least one day per month when I will fast for 24 hours. I try to be wise in calendaring (like, I generally don’t fast when we have guests, during holidays with family get-togethers, etc.)—but I make sure I choose at least one day for this purpose.  

   2. I fast when I’m longing to know God more and trust Him more. When I’m pleading with God to answer a prayer, for example, I fast not simply to get an answer – but to seek God more as I wait.  

   3. I fast if I simply sense the Lord’s direction to do so. I don’t always know why I need to fast, but I want to be obedient to the Lord.  

   
   

I pray one of these ideas will be helpful to you as you fast!