As we prepare for 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting I wanted to help educate everyone on different types of fasts that you could do. This Sunday, I’m going to teach on why we would fast as a group of people and we’ll kick off the 21 Days on Monday, Jan. 5th. As I’ll highlight on Sunday, there are several purposes for fasting:
- To help eliminate unnecessary distractions in life and focus on Jesus
- To get clarity and wisdom from Jesus on a big decision you’re trying to make
- To practice discipline and self-control and/or to break any addictive hold on your life
- To beg Jesus to move in big ways on your behalf (such as healing, salvation, revival, etc.)
- To be reminded by your hunger pangs of your dependence on Jesus showing up in your life and work
The type of fast you choose doesn’t matter but it should support the purposes of fasting. Otherwise you miss out on the incredible spiritual benefits of fasting. I’m telling you, I’m telling you, I’m telling you, all of the hard work we’re putting into this launch will be POINTLESS if we don’t take seriously the call to beg Jesus to move! If He doesn’t show up, we’re screwed!! We need Him now more than ever!!
Ok, here are some different types of fasts you could participate in:
Full Fast
Drink only liquids. I would NOT advise doing this for the full 21 days if you’ve never done a long period of fasting before. If you don’t prepare properly for this and gradually re-introduce foods into your system after the fast, you could do some serious damage to your body and become very ill. You should also consult your physician before choosing this kind of fast for this long of period.
The Daniel Fast
Eat no meat, no sweets and no bread. Drink water and juice. Eat fruits and vegetables. This is a great fast to do for 21 days and has MAJOR health benefits as well!
Jewish Fast
The Jewish fast is no food from sun up to sundown. You don’t want to gorge yourself once the sun goes down. This defeats all the purposes of fasting. Eating a normal-sized dinner after sun-down would suffice.
Specific Fasts
You could fast from specific foods like coffee or sweets. The reason you would do this is if a particular type of food has a strong hold on you.
Alternative Fasts
You could also fast from things like Television, Social Media, Pinterest, or other things that cause distraction in life. Just don’t fast from ridiculous things like “the kitchen” or “doing the dishes” or other household chores that you and your spouse have established as part of the management of your home. One major key to fasting for married couples is that you both agree on and encourage each other in your decision of what to fast.
Also you could do a combination of any of these. Maybe you want to do a Jewish fast AND fast from coffee, sweets and social media. Or maybe you want to do a Full Fast for 7 days, a Jewish Fast for the next 7 and a Daniel Fast for the last 7. I would suggest you spend some time over the next couple days asking Jesus what kind of fast He wants you to do.
I would also suggest that you have someone hold you accountable during your fasting. The purpose of this is to deprive yourself for a period of time to focus on Jesus’ work in your life. This can be (and SHOULD be) very challenging. We’ll each need support through all of this.
I’m so pumped about these next 21 days!! The Best is Yet to Come!!