Fasting: Aligning With The Father’s Heart

Fasting is one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines available to us as followers of Jesus. But here’s what I want you to understand: fasting isn’t just about what you’re giving up. It’s about what you’re making room for—aligning with the Father’s heart—positioning yourself to hear His voice clearly and join what He’s already doing.

Jesus didn’t say “if you fast”—He said “when you fast” (Matthew 6:16). He expected His followers would fast as a regular spiritual practice, a way to create space to hear God’s voice more clearly and position ourselves for breakthrough.

Why We Fast

Before we look at the different types of fasts, let’s be clear about why we fast in the first place.

Fasting creates space in your life—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—to connect with God at a deeper level. Every time you feel that hunger pang or that urge to check your phone or that craving for whatever you’ve chosen to fast from, it becomes a reminder to pray, to listen, to seek God’s face.

Jesus modeled this for us. Before He launched into His public ministry, He fasted for forty days in the wilderness. When Satan tempted Him, Jesus responded: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Fasting reminds us that we need God more than we need anything else.

The early church understood this power. Before they sent out Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, they fasted and prayed: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).

Notice the pattern? Fasting positions us to hear from God. It creates clarity. It opens our spiritual eyes to see what God is already doing and invites us to join Him.

Important: Before choosing a fast please review the health note at the bottom of this page.  

Types of Fasts

As you consider how God might be inviting you to fast, here are four biblical approaches you can take:

1. Selective Fast

This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet while continuing to eat other foods. The most well-known example is the Daniel Fast.

Biblical Foundation:
Daniel and his friends chose this approach when they were taken into Babylonian captivity: “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (Daniel 1:8). For ten days, they ate only vegetables and drank only water. The result? “At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food” (Daniel 1:15).

Later, when Daniel needed breakthrough and clarity, he chose a selective fast again: “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” (Daniel 10:2-3). The result was one of the most powerful angelic encounters and prophetic revelations in Scripture.

More Info:
A selective fast creates discipline without being overwhelming. Every time you reach for something you’ve removed from your diet, you’re reminded to pray. It’s sustainable over longer periods, making it ideal for the 40 days of Lent. It teaches you that you can say “no” to what your body wants and “yes” to what your spirit needs.

Practical Application:
During a Daniel Fast, you remove meat, sweets, bread, and processed foods from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food. This approach works especially well if you’re new to fasting or if you have health considerations that make a complete fast unwise.

2. Partial Fast

This fast involves abstaining from eating any type of food during specific times of the day, typically morning and afternoon. This can correlate to specific times like 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.

Biblical Foundation:
This pattern appears throughout Scripture as a regular spiritual discipline. David wrote: “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:17). The dedicated times of prayer and fasting created rhythm in his relationship with God.

Nehemiah used a partial fast approach when he heard about the broken walls of Jerusalem: “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). His fasting and prayer positioned him to receive a strategy from God that rebuilt the walls in just 52 days.

More Info:
A partial fast creates dedicated space in your daily rhythm without completely removing food. It’s sustainable over extended periods and creates multiple daily reminders to seek God. The morning and afternoon become times of prayer and listening rather than eating and distraction.

Practical Application:
Choose a window of time each day—like from when you wake up until noon. Use your normal breakfast time to pray, read Scripture, and listen to the Holy Spirit. When the fast period ends, eat a healthy meal. This approach allows you to maintain your energy while still creating significant space for God.

3. Complete Fast

In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option, and abstain from all solid food.

Biblical Foundation:
Jesus modeled this when He fasted for forty days in the wilderness before beginning His ministry: “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (Matthew 4:2). During this time, He was tested by Satan and emerged in the power of the Spirit, ready to launch His world-changing ministry.

Moses fasted this way—twice—for forty days on Mount Sinai: “Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28). He encountered God so powerfully that his face actually glowed.

Paul fasted completely for three days after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road: “For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything” (Acts 9:9). During this time, God was transforming his entire identity and calling.

More Info:
A complete fast creates the most dramatic shift in your physical routine, making it impossible to ignore. Every moment of hunger becomes a moment of prayer. Your body’s normal rhythms are interrupted, creating space for spiritual breakthrough. This type of fast is especially powerful when you’re seeking major clarity, direction, or breakthrough.

Practical Application:
Start with shorter periods—perhaps one day—before attempting longer complete fasts. Drink plenty of water and light juices to stay hydrated. Use the time you would normally spend preparing and eating food to pray, worship, and read Scripture. Listen carefully to your body and to the Holy Spirit. This type of fast requires wisdom and often preparation.

4. Soul Fast

This fast focuses on removing non-food elements from your life that create distraction, noise, or unhealthy patterns. This 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.

Biblical Foundation:
Paul wrote: “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). A soul fast addresses the things that may be permissible but have begun to master us—social media, television, entertainment, shopping, or other habits that consume our time and attention.

Isaiah described the kind of fast God truly desires: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6). Sometimes we need to fast from attitudes, behaviors, or patterns that hold us captive.

More Info:
A soul fast addresses the reality that we can be consumed by things other than food. Social media, news, entertainment, and other habits can dominate our attention and crowd out God’s voice. Fasting from these things creates space for God to speak and often reveals how much power we’ve given them in our lives.

Practical Application:
You might choose to stop using social media, watching television, shopping for non-essentials, or engaging in other activities that have become habitual or excessive. At the conclusion of the fast, carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses with clear boundaries. For example, instead of scrolling social media for hours, you might limit yourself to 15 minutes per day after the fast ends.

Fasting During Lent

We encourage you to select days and times for fasting over the next 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday as part of our 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting.

Lent is a 40-day season (not counting Sundays) that begins on Ash Wednesday (February 18th) and ends on Easter Sunday (April 5th). It’s a time when Christians around the world intentionally create space to prepare their hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. The 40 days mirror Jesus’ time in the wilderness, where He fasted and was tested before launching into His public ministry.

Think about it—every time you feel that hunger pang or that urge to check your phone or that craving for whatever you’ve chosen to fast from, that becomes a reminder to pray, to listen, to connect with God. You’re trading the temporary for the eternal. You’re exchanging what fills you physically or emotionally for what satisfies you spiritually.

But notice what Jesus emphasized about how we fast: “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18).

Fasting is between you and God. It’s not about impressing anyone else. It’s about positioning your heart to receive what God wants to give you.

During this Lenten season, I want to challenge you: What would it look like to create space for God to do something new in your life? What if these 40 days became the launching point for breakthrough, for clarity, for a deeper relationship with Jesus?

Remember, you’re not just giving something up. You’re making room for something—or Someone—greater.

Moving Forward

You may also choose to fast at other times during the year for your own spiritual development. Fasting isn’t limited to Lent—it’s a discipline available to you whenever you need to create space to hear from God, seek His direction, or position yourself for breakthrough.

As you step into this season of fasting and prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you:

• What is He inviting you to fast from?
• Where do you need to create space?
• What breakthrough are you believing for?

Ezra and the Israelites fasted when they needed direction and protection: “So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer” (Ezra 8:23).

Let’s create space together. Let’s position ourselves to hear from God. Let’s see what He wants to do in us and through us as we seek Him with our whole hearts.

Following Jesus, Sent on a Mission means learning to hear His voice clearly and position ourselves to join what He’s already doing. Fasting is one of the most powerful ways to do exactly that.

 

Important Health Note: Before beginning any fast, especially complete fasts, consult with your doctor if you have any health conditions, take medications, are pregnant or nursing, have a history of disordered eating, are diabetic, or have blood pressure issues. Fasting should never compromise your health—listen to your body and the Holy Spirit’s guidance about what type of fast is right for you.