Susan's Homeschool Blog

When God commanded His people to fast, the fast would always start at sundown and end at sundown the next day, since God counts each day beginning at sundown: “Evening and morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:5) The evening begins the day. They had food in their stomachs before sundown. So they did not have to go to bed with absolutely nothing in their stomachs. The next day they were released at sundown, so they could eat before going to bed. It was just the daytime when they had to go without food and seek the Lord with ALL their hearts and humble themselves before God and confess their sins (Leviticus 16:29-31; II Chronicles 7:14).

I started with a juice fast because I was scared of clonking my head by falling down. If you are diabetic or anemic, you might not be able to do a fast with water only. Regardless of the fast you choose, you must give up food. I drink coffee to not get a headache on the day I have set aside to fast and pray. So now I do water and coffee. You can do a minimum of juice, if you feel like you’re about to faint. Even with juices, your stomach will hurt really badly, and this will be what causes you to be emptied and stripped of all else before the Lord.

You can also do a half-day fast. In the morning, you would not eat breakfast. Most of the days I’ve done a half-day fast, it has been when I have a prayer meeting at noon. If all the people in the prayer meeting fast, they will be emptied and ready to cry out to the Lord together for one purpose. It is usually a very specific request, like the salvation of my friend’s husband, that God would bless our women’s retreat, or that a convicting sermon would cause a change in the lives of a worldly congregation. We were able to pray fervently as a result.

When you begin the day, cry out to the Lord in humility. Rest in God’s presence. Don’t watch any TV. Don’t do any entertainment or reading, unless it’s Scripture or a Christian book that is dealing with the issue you are fasting about. Many times words from Scripture have popped off the page during a fast, and it was God answering me. Also, I take more seriously what I’m reading, because I’m in pain.

I sometimes go outside and take a walk while praying. This clears my mind and enables me to continue if I feel like I can’t make it through the day. If your energy dips in the afternoon like mine does, I call a friend who is aware of the specific prayer request I have laid before the Lord, and we pray together over the phone. I always feel refreshed for the final stretch of the fast after I have prayed over the phone with a friend.

It’s even more joyful if you are able to pray in person with another believer during the fast. If you are asking for wisdom about a decision, or wisdom to find the root cause of a problem in your marriage, the other believer can lay hands and pray over you on the day you fast, that God would reveal it to you. Sometimes there is a demonic component that will be cast off at the laying on of hands, and the demonic blindness would remain otherwise.

I’ve cast off a demon from my own body without anyone around. It was when I was 15 years old. I asked God to be set free from my oppression in the name of Jesus, and this huge weight lifted off my chest and I was free. I did not know it was demonic until after the fact. But I was set free, and another believer was not in the room. So don’t lose hope if you are alone and don’t know any true believers who can lay hands to pray for you in this way. God honors your personal walk with Him, and He will hear you.

Hopefully this has given you a general feel for how to fast. Don’t eat food. It’s that simple. Dedicate the day to God to pray and try to do nothing else. You can do laundry while you are praying, or take care of small children. Do whatever God requires of you, but be focused on prayer throughout the entire day.

For more details on how to fast, here is a free audio (to download, right click, choose Desktop, and save):

• How to Fast

Have you missed one of our posts about fasting? Follow our “Hunger for God” Fasting Series. (One will be posted each Friday):

• What is Fasting?
• Reasons to Fast
• Seeking Wisdom During a Fast
• How to Fast (this post)
• Fasting with Others
• Fasting for an Enemy

To keep up with my prayer posts, follow my Prayer Page, where you will find exclusive prayer videos to help you hunger for God and establish a true prayer life!

One reason to fast is to seek wisdom from the Lord about a specific issue. Several years ago my husband and I fasted before the Lord because he had a sleep problem that was affecting his life. He was becoming so haggard that he could hardly survive. I had prayed and prayed about it, but God didn’t seem to be answering. So we decided to fast.

After fasting for 24 hours, the following day, I got an e-mail that a couple of gray-haired people from our church were prompted by God to pay for a sleep study for my husband. They hardly even knew us at that point, but God prompted them during the same 24 hours that we were fasting. The sleep study cost them over $1,000, so it was obviously God because people don’t part with their money like that. It’s impossible aside from God, but He was using the people within the church to answer our request.

As a result of the sleep study, my husband was given practical sleep strategies that he could implement to improve his sleep, and he was better able to sleep. But the overarching problem was a deeper issue. While fasting before the Lord, I had asked some practical questions. These are some of the questions I asked God:

• What is causing my husband not to sleep?
• What can I do to help him sleep?
• How do we reduce work stress? Does he need to switch jobs?
• How do we reduce financial stress? Is there something else we can do for income?
• Are there spiritual issues keeping my husband from sleeping?

Ask God each question and open your heart expectantly in silence for a long time. Rest in God’s presence in silence. Do not be rushed. Ask one question at a time and rest. Then write down what comes to you. These are always in line with God’s Word and are often counter-intuitive; ideas you never would have thought of on your own. You will find that deeper issues are resolved rather than the original issue you raised to God.

Another time I fasted before the Lord for three days to find the root cause of a problem in a relationship. At the end of the three days, God answered me, and I knew the root cause and was able to deal with it. Only God knows the issues of the heart and where true healing is needed. Ask God a question, and then fast for the answer. God promises us in James 1:5 that if we ask for wisdom, it will be given to us.

Sometimes God answers instantaneously during a fast. Other times there is a time delay. God hears our prayers during a fast, and then a month later, the answer comes. With Daniel, God heard his prayer instantly, but there was a time delay because of spiritual warfare going on. Just because you don’t see an instant response, don’t be disheartened.

Have you missed one of our posts about fasting? Follow our “Hunger for God” Fasting Series. (One will be posted each Friday):

• What is Fasting?
• Reasons to Fast
• Seeking Wisdom During a Fast (this post)
• How to Fast
• Fasting with Others
• Fasting for an Enemy

To keep up with my prayer posts, follow my Prayer Page, where you will find exclusive prayer videos to help you hunger for God and establish a prayer life that is truly alive!

We live in a self-indulgent society. We know nothing of self-denial. Christ commands us to lead a life of self-denial. (Matthew 16:24)

Jesus Himself fasted. He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 4:34 NASB) Jesus gave us the example of wanting God’s will above our own stomachs. He never prioritized self-pampering. He never did it. He constantly denied Himself, and He was God!!

If Jesus who was God had to be somehow unblocked through fasting to know God’s will clearly for His life, how much more do we need to fast to gain clarity for our own lives! Do we want to do the will of God? Then why don’t we seek Him wholeheartedly?

If you don’t have a hunger for God, fast. If you are bored reading your Bible, fast. If you feel like you’re not connecting to God during prayer, fast. “Blessed are those who HUNGER and thirst for righteousness, for they WILL be filled.” Matthew 5:6 NIV

There are some strongholds of the enemy that can ONLY be broken through fasting (Matthew 17:21). This is because there is a demonic component to many strongholds in our lives, and we are not even aware that we are in the grip of the enemy until we fast and have our spiritual eyes opened. Fasting is a way to break the bonds of the enemy in our lives. Fasting will open your eyes; it will humble you and show you your real self.

More reasons why you should fast:

1. When God doesn’t seem to be answering your prayers
2. When you have trouble overcoming a specific sin
3. When you feel blind in a situation where action is required
4. When counseling others
5. When you are in the midst of a trial where you have no hope
6. When you want to experience God in a deeper way
7. When you need clear direction and wisdom
8. When you have a broken marriage that only God can heal
9. To seek the heart of God about leading His people
10. When God’s people need to be revived

When you fast, you are humbling yourself before the Lord, which is why God hears you. He delights in people who seek Him with humility. Then our voices will be heard on high. “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” (Isaiah 58:9a)

Every time I have fasted, I have pressed into God with all of my being, and Scripture says that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

We can walk with spiritually open eyes, clarity of vision, nearness to God. Your own will needs to be fully and unconditionally crucified in order for you to be ready to do whatever God has called you to do. And maybe what you’re doing right now (your vocation) is exactly where God wants you, and you will get a special empowering to live it out in a much more powerful way. Or maybe you can’t even begin to conceive of how wonderful your life will be if God changes your desires and then gives you the desires of your heart. I’ve had this happen to me, and I can tell you, it is wonderful!

Here is the audio that further explains why you should fast:

• Reasons to Fast

What is fasting, and how is it related to prayer? Is there any biblical evidence that fasting is for today? Does Jesus want us to fast?

The purpose of fasting is to bring the body into subjection to the Spirit. Fasting is “abstaining from food for measured periods of time in order to heighten my hunger for the things of God.” – James MacDonald

The Jews were required to fast on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29). Everyone went without eating. Men, women, and children—every single person fasted before the Lord in humiliation. God commanded His people to fast—ALL of them.

Feasts were also commanded by the Lord, so there is nothing wrong with food in and of itself. God created food for the sustenance of our bodies, and He expects us to take care of our bodies. It’s only when we want more of God—or we have bondage to sin that we can’t get rid of—or we need wisdom—that we can set aside time to fast.

Christ expects that all true believers will fast, saying, “WHEN (not if) you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:16).

When Jesus was with the Pharisees, they asked why His disciples were feasting while John the Baptist’s disciples fasted. “And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the Bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they WILL fast.’” Matthew 9:15 ESV

Ezra fasted with 4,000 people to solve a problem. He needed to travel from Babylon down to Jerusalem with no bodyguards because he had told the king that God would protect them. But robbers would always attack travelers along that road. Ezra was scared into fasting for God’s supernatural protection because it would be a miracle if they arrived down in Jerusalem with all the gold vessels and treasures that they were carrying back to the Temple from the days of King Nebuchadnezzar. God heard their prayers and protected them during their travels.

Esther and the entire Jewish nation fasted before the Lord when the Jews were going to be massacred by Haman and his henchmen. God supernaturally intervened and Haman was hung on his own gallows, and all the enemies of the Jews were destroyed, while the Jews were kept alive and protected by God.

By the way, fasting is nearly always accompanied by tears. This is because you are so empty and dependent on the Lord that you are desperate. The reason that drove you to fast is the reason you are weeping. Fast with repentance as well as sincerity (Joel 2:12-14).

The best thing about fasting is that you get to know God Himself—you draw close to His heart and learn to align your will to God’s will. Ask God to reveal sin in your life as your first fast because we have so much sin that we are not even aware of. Without holiness we cannot walk closely with Him, so purge your life from all sin. Then you will draw much closer to God and discover His will.

When I fast, the fact that my stomach is hurting causes me to have much more intense prayer times. I seek God with all my heart. When my stomach is full and I pray with all my heart—that prayer is less intense than when I pray and my belly is empty. There is a yearning of the body… a weakness that is put under the authority of Christ. The emptying of ourselves causes a deeper passion, a deeper seeking after the Lord that is much harder to achieve without fasting.

I agree with John Piper that “the absence of our fasting is the measure of our contentment with our absence of Christ.” The normal life of a Christ-follower includes fasting. That is because all true Christ-followers are wholehearted.

This is the first post in the “Hunger for God” Fasting Series. (One will be posted each Friday):

• What is Fasting? (this post)
• Reasons to Fast
• Seeking Wisdom During a Fast
• How to Fast
• Fasting with Others
• Fasting for an Enemy

To keep up with my prayer posts, follow my Prayer Page, where you will find exclusive prayer videos to help you hunger for God and establish a true prayer life!