Your personal guide to prayer & Fasting
By Dr. Bill Bright
How desperate am I for God?
Fasting is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines of all the Christian disciplines. It is a way to align our hearts with the psalmist: “My soul thirsts for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:2). “It’s a means of God’s grace to strengthen and sharpen our Godward affections,” writes David Mathis in his book “Habits of Grace.”
Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.
According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, fasting and prayer can also effect change on a much grander scale. I am convinced that when God’s people fast with a proper biblical motive — seeking God’s face, not His hand — with a broken, repentant and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven. He will heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and our world. Fasting and prayer can bring about a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of the earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This is a powerful motivation in today’s unsettled world.
For those who desire both inward and outward impact, humbling yourself before God through fasting is a good place to start. His power can be released in and through you by the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
Fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual practices. When I first undertook an extended fast, I had a difficult time finding information on the nature of a biblical fast, how to start, what to expect physically and spiritually, and how to end a fast.
Below are resources designed to answer your practical questions about fasting and ease any concerns you might have.
Types of Fasts:
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Complete Fast
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
How desperate am I for God?
Fasting is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines of all the Christian disciplines. It is a way to align our hearts with the psalmist: “My soul thirsts for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:2). “It’s a means of God’s grace to strengthen and sharpen our Godward affections,” writes David Mathis in his book “Habits of Grace.”
Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life.
According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, fasting and prayer can also effect change on a much grander scale. I am convinced that when God’s people fast with a proper biblical motive — seeking God’s face, not His hand — with a broken, repentant and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven. He will heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and our world. Fasting and prayer can bring about a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of the earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This is a powerful motivation in today’s unsettled world.
For those who desire both inward and outward impact, humbling yourself before God through fasting is a good place to start. His power can be released in and through you by the enabling of the Holy Spirit.
Fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual practices. When I first undertook an extended fast, I had a difficult time finding information on the nature of a biblical fast, how to start, what to expect physically and spiritually, and how to end a fast.
Below are resources designed to answer your practical questions about fasting and ease any concerns you might have.
- Why you should fast
- How to fast safely
- What length and type of fast are right for you
- How to prepare yourself spiritually and physically
- How to manage your schedule while fasting
- How to deal with the responses of friends and loved ones
- How to make your spiritual experience the best it can be
- How to maintain nutritional balance and health from beginning to end (including specific juice and broth recipes)
- What physical benefits to expect
- How to finish your fast and return to your normal schedule in a healthy way
Types of Fasts:
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Complete Fast
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
