The Basics of Fasting
By Sharon Vlacich
As we live in a time where knowledge has increased, there is an ever increasing interest in properly caring for our bodies, nutrition, and the physical benefits of fasting.
Just as there are rewarding physical benefits of fasting, there are awesome spiritual benefits as well. Fasting is not something newly discovered and has been practiced since Old and New Testament times. It was done for various reasons such as seeking God's protection, intervention, and repenting from sin, just to name a few.
Scripture shows that biblical fasting was the abstaining from food or food and water and was coupled together with prayer to God. Matthew 6 seems to indicate that it is a spiritual discipline that is regularly practiced. Isaiah 58 is well known as the fasting chapter. In this chapter God shows the type of fasting He considers acceptable as well as what is not, and shows that He is very concerned with the motive of the heart and not just the external action. God also shows us here the purpose of fasting and the rewards that are reaped from it as you meet His conditions.
In Isaiah 58:1-5, the people were fasting but wondering why God had not responded. God pointed out that they were fighting but asking Him for fair decisions, and were mistreating their workers. In verses 6-10 God explains to them that acceptable fasting is to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the bands of the yoke, let the oppressed go free and break every yoke, and to seek God to be able to help those in need, including their own family. God further explains that if along with this, they stopped their finger pointing, evil speaking, and mistreatment of eachother, that the following would result:
Throughout scripture we find various types of biblical fasting. There is the normal fast which is the abstainance of all food and only drinking water, the complete fast which is abstaining from both food and water found in Esther 4:16; and the partial fast which is abstaining from all food except vegetables and water mentioned in Daniel 10:3.
We find various lengths of fasting in the Bible. There is the half-day, one-day, three-day, twenty-one day and forty-day fast. A person who is unaccustomed to fasting may find it difficult to complete a full day or more of fasting, and a half-day fast may be preferrable. They can gradually fast for longer periods as they become more accustomed to fasting. There is no set standard for the length or type of fasting. All of these fasts were accepted by the Lord. The best type and length of fast is the one you feel the led by the Lord to do.
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