Breaking Chains Through God’s Justice and Compassion: What Is Fasting?

What Fasting Actually Means

At its simplest, fasting means choosing not to eat for a period of time in order to give that time and attention to God. The hunger you feel becomes a physical reminder to pray, to listen, and to remember that you depend on God for everything.

Most fasts involve food, but fasting can also mean setting aside something else that normally fills your time or comfort—social media, entertainment, or even certain pleasures. The point is not the absence of food itself; the point is what you do with the space that absence creates.

Fasting is not a hunger strike against God to get what you want. It is not a way to punish your body, and it is not something you do to prove how serious you are. It is, at its core, a quiet turning of your full attention toward the One who made you.

Where Does Fasting Come From in the Bible?

Fasting shows up from the earliest books of Scripture all the way through the New Testament. Moses fasted on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). David fasted in grief and repentance (2 Samuel 12:16). Esther called the Jewish people to fast before she risked her life for them (Esther 4:16).

The prophet Joel called Israel to return to God with fasting and mourning (Joel 2:12). Daniel fasted and prayed as he sought God’s direction for his people (Daniel 9:3). Nehemiah fasted when he heard that Jerusalem’s walls lay in ruin (Nehemiah 1:4).

Jesus himself fasted for forty days before beginning his public ministry (Matthew 4:2). He did not fast because he was weak in faith. He fasted as part of his preparation, his dependence on the Father, and his readiness for what was ahead. That alone tells you this practice carries real weight.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says when you fast, not if you fast (Matthew 6:16). That small word suggests he expected his followers to fast. He simply wanted them to do it differently than the religious leaders of the day were doing it.

What Jesus Said About How to Fast

This is where Matthew 6:16 speaks directly to you. Jesus draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of fasting: the kind done to be seen, and the kind done in secret before God.

The hypocrites he describes made their fasting visible—long faces, disheveled appearance, a performance designed to win human admiration. Jesus says plainly that the admiration of other people is the only reward they will get. They have received it in full.

Jesus calls you to something quieter. Wash your face. Go about your day. Let your fast be between you and your Father, who sees what is done in secret and will respond (Matthew 6:18). The goal is not to hide fasting out of shame, but to protect it from pride.

This is a mercy, actually. It means your fasting doesn’t have to look impressive. It doesn’t need an audience. You can fast on an ordinary Tuesday and it counts—because God sees it.

Why Do Christians Fast?

People fast for different reasons in different seasons, and the Bible reflects that variety. Some fast in grief or repentance, turning toward God after recognizing sin or loss. Some fast to seek direction before a major decision. Some fast in intercession, praying intensely for someone else’s need.

The early church fasted before sending out missionaries (Acts 13:2-3) and before appointing leaders in local churches (Acts 14:23). Fasting and prayer were woven together as acts of dependence on the Holy Spirit.

You might fast simply because you want more of God and less of the noise that normally crowds your days. That is a completely valid reason. Fasting creates a kind of internal quiet that is hard to manufacture any other way.

It is worth saying clearly: fasting does not twist God’s arm. It does not make him obligated to answer a prayer a certain way. What it does is position your heart in a posture of seeking rather than demanding, listening rather than broadcasting.

Practical Ways to Start Fasting

If you have never fasted before, start small. A single meal is a perfectly meaningful place to begin. Use the time you would have spent eating to pray, read Scripture, or simply sit in silence before God.

A common beginner’s approach is a sunrise-to-sunset fast: no food from waking until the evening meal, drinking water throughout the day. This mirrors the structure of many biblical fasts and is manageable for most healthy adults.

If you have a medical condition—diabetes, an eating disorder history, pregnancy, or any chronic illness—please speak with your doctor before fasting from food. Your health is not a barrier to prayer. God hears you whether or not your stomach is empty, and there is no shame in modifying or skipping a food fast entirely.

Whatever form your fast takes, plan what you will do with the time. A fast without intentional prayer tends to become just skipping a meal. Write down what you are seeking. Return to it throughout the day. Let your hunger, when it comes, nudge you back to prayer rather than frustration.

Tell God what you are doing and why. That conversation itself is the beginning of the fast.

What Fasting Is Not

Fasting is not a spiritual weight-loss program. Attaching physical vanity goals to a spiritual discipline tends to muddy both. If health goals are important to you—and they can be—keep them separate from your time of seeking God.

Fasting is not a guarantee that God will give you a specific outcome. Scripture does not promise that fasting produces a particular answered prayer. It does show that fasting is associated with seasons of seeking, and that God responds to humble hearts (Isaiah 58:6 describes the kind of fasting God values, and it is worth reading carefully).

Fasting is also not a practice reserved for super-spiritual people or those who have been Christians for decades. If you are brand new to faith, or still deciding what you believe, you are not disqualified. You can fast as an act of honest seeking: God, I want to find you. That prayer is never turned away.

If fasting triggers anxious thoughts about food or eating, please be gentle with yourself. Spiritual practices are meant to bring you toward freedom, not distress. Talking with a counselor alongside your prayer life is wise, not weak.

A Simple Way to Begin This Week

Choose one meal in the next few days. Before you would normally eat, sit quietly for ten minutes. Tell God what is on your heart. Read one psalm. Ask him to meet you in the silence.

That is it. You do not need a formula or a forty-day plan to start. You need a willing heart and a few unscheduled minutes.

Fasting, practiced over time, has a way of softening the things inside us that are hard—the anxiety, the grasping, the chronic distraction. It will not fix everything. But it creates space for God to move, and that space is never wasted.