Fasting, how to you do it and how often?

Do you just drink water or tea all day? Do you do it for 12hrs, 24hrs? Are you in constant prayer? Do you do it to ask God for one particular thing you have been praying for?

Fasting was used in the Old Testament to get God to move on their behalf using prayer and for Mourning and for Repentance of sins ----God the Father dealt directly with His people in the Old Testament ----which is not the case today ------

Moses Fasted before Receiving the Ten Commandments


Daniel Fasted and Prayed to Understand a Vision



David Fasted in Mourning the Loss of His Son and Best Friend


Jesus Fasted in the Desert when Tempted by Satan


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So today ---Fasting is just a formality that we can do to help us subdue our flesh from worldly circumstances -----but using fasting to get God to answer prayers or to Pray to God or get God to move quick in a bad situation or to repent of our sins ----is futile ----as we pray Today to our Saviour Jesus Christ who is our Mediator and rely Him to go to the Father on our behalf -----

Jesus only fasted a couple of times when He came in the flesh ----and Jesus did not preach that people should fast ---He said if one does fast they are to do it in private and not make a sceptical of it like the Hypocrites do-----

Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Isaiah 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

Isaiah 58:10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Because Jesus taught that it should be done in private, i do not see many people talking abt doing it. In our former church, there were times they called for fasting, but i was young and didnt think i could do it. Later, a friend from another church mentioned they were fasting and praying at the start of the year and other times, and my son also doing at one time, i tried doing it. I discovered it was not so difficult after all, and helped replace say a meal a day with other means of coming to God, as more Bible reading or meditating, offering the 'sacrifice' of missing a meal. In some ways it reminded me of hungry people who have no choice but to miss a meal or so. Usually thats just what i could do, miss a meal. I'm also reminded of Muslim friends who fast for a month, and think how self-controlled they could be to be able to do that.

wow thank you for all this Im new to the scriptures so all these examples really brings tolight why fasting was done

Your so welcome ----it is important for us to be knowledgeable about scripture -----both in the Old and New Testaments

[QUOTE="studentoftheword, post: 4725817,

So today ---Fasting is just a formality that we can do to help us subdue our flesh from worldly circumstances -----but using fasting to get God to answer prayers or to Pray to God or get God to move quick in a bad situation or to repent of our sins ----is futile ----as we pray Today to our Saviour Jesus Christ who is our Mediator and rely Him to go to the Father on our behalf -----
--[/QUOTE] Fasting is NOT just a formality. Fasting is closing out the material world so for a time you concentrate on only the spiritual world. It is not to get God's attention, it is to get YOUR undivided attention. Its purpose is not what we deny ourselves, it purpose is to center all our thoughts on the Lord, not on our material world. There are no rules about what we limit ourselves to for what we take out of our life isn't important. What is important is concentrating completely on God's word.

Here is a personal example of a fast. I was forced to live without any contact with family, I needed God's help to manage. I limited myself to coffee and water for five days, but the fasting was to concentrate on prayer and study of the word. God gave me a way to cope.

every night