At West Ridge Church we regularly call the congregation to a time of fasting and prayer. We do this because we believe that there are things that God will not do unless we fast. If you have been praying for something for awhile, consider adding fasting to your prayers to bring about breakthrough.
The What & Why of Fasting
Fasting is choosing to abstain from food for a certain period of time in order to seek God. Fasting is often paired with prayer because they go hand in hand. Prayer connects us to God, while Fasting disconnects us from the world. When we add fasting to our prayer we are doing the most that we can do, inviting God to do the most He can do.
Throughout scripture we find that people fast for the following reasons:
Throughout scripture we find that people fast for the following reasons:
- Prepare for a new season
- Break bondage
- Communicate to heaven
- Accelerate answers
- Improve apologizing
Ways to Fast
If you are pregnant, nursing, or have any medical conditions please consult with your doctor about what type of fasting is safe for you.
- Abstain from food for 24 or more hours
- Abstain from food from sun up to sun down
- Abstain from one meal per day
- Abstain from select foods of your choice
- Daniel Fast- abstain from certain foods for 21 days (based on Daniel 10:2-3)
The length of a fasting period can vary from just one day to a month. It is important that the fast is a challenge because this is part of our sacrifice to God. A good starting point would be to do a partial fast (of abstaining from certain foods) for at least a week but up to 40 days. Fasting a meal per day can be done for a set number of days per week for a month or everyday for a week. Fasting continuously for multiple hours is typically done for shorter periods of time.