How to Fast

This page is about fasting and how to begin. If food has been a battle for you, if you have starved yourself, or purged, or binged, read the part for you first. For you the faithful path may be not to fast from food at all.

When Ye Fast

But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 6:17-18 (KJV)

Jesus set fasting beside giving and prayer (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16). He said when ye fast, not if. He took it for granted that his people would.

Asked why his disciples did not fast, he answered with a wedding. Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast (Matthew 9:15). The bridegroom is Christ, and his disciples are the friends at the feast. It is a picture, and what it pictures is real. While he walked with them it was a feast. Now he has been crucified, raised, and taken up into heaven, and we live in those days. Christian fasting is the ache of the bride while the Bridegroom is away.

Fasting Joined to Prayer

In Scripture fasting goes with prayer and with humbling the soul. Ezra proclaimed a fast that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way, and God was intreated of them (Ezra 8:21-23). Nehemiah wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed (Nehemiah 1:4). Daniel sought God by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and confessed the sins of his people (Daniel 9:3-5). The church at Antioch fasted and prayed before sending out Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2-3), and elders were ordained with prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23).

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Joel 2:12-13 (KJV)

The empty stomach serves the broken heart. Hunger reminds the body of what the soul must learn, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

The Confession names solemn fastings, with oaths, vows, and thanksgivings, as parts of worship upon several occasions, to be used in an holy and religious manner (WCF 21.5). The Larger Catechism lists religious fasting among the duties of the second commandment (Q&A 108). Because it is worship, it is done as God directs. The Westminster Assembly gave a chapter of its Directory for Public Worship to public fasting. Scottish Presbyterians long kept a fast day in the week before the Lord’s Supper, and the Covenanters kept days of public fasting and humiliation in times of trouble. If your elders call such a day, keep it with your church.

What Fasting Is Not

It is not a way to earn God’s favor or bend his arm. In Isaiah’s day the people complained, Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? (Isaiah 58:3). They thought hunger put God in their debt, while they drove their workers and fasted for strife and debate (58:3-4). God answered them.

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? 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 58:6-7 (KJV)

A fast that leaves a man as hard toward the poor and as harsh at home as before is not the fast God chose.

Nor is it a show. The Pharisee told God, I fast twice in the week (Luke 18:12), and went home unjustified. The publican had nothing to offer but God be merciful to me a sinner, and he went home justified. No fast adds anything to what Christ has done. We fast as forgiven children, not to buy forgiveness. And it is not a diet or a punishment of the body. Food is God’s good gift, to be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4).

How to Fast

1. Fast for something. A sin you cannot master, a hard decision, a sick friend, a child gone astray, the state of the church.
2. Alone, as a family, or with the church. Keep a private fast quietly (Matthew 6:17-18). A husband and wife may agree to fast together (1 Corinthians 7:5). Older children may join by giving up one meal.
3. Start small. Scripture shows a fast of one day until evening (Judges 20:26), and in great danger, three days (Esther 4:16). The forty days of Moses, Elijah, and our Lord were extraordinary, not a pattern. Begin with one meal, or from one supper to the next. Keep drinking water.
4. Give the time to God. Spend the mealtime with your Bible open, in a prayer of humbling such as Psalm 51 or Daniel 9. Confess your sins by name, then pray for what you are fasting about. When hunger comes, let it send you back to prayer. See How to Pray.
5. Break the fast gently. Eat something light and give thanks.

When Not to Fast From Food

The sixth commandment requires a sober use of meat and drink to keep the life God gave you (Larger Catechism Q&A 135). If you have diabetes, are pregnant or nursing, take medication, or have any serious illness, see your doctor before you fast from food. If the answer is no, fast in another way. Give up one meal if your doctor allows it, or the phone and the news for a day, or a comfort you lean on. Hunger is not the point. Humbling yourself before God is the point, and he sees the heart.

If you have lived with an eating disorder, hear this gently. Going without food can feed the very thing that has hurt you and dress it up as holiness. For you the faithful path may be not to fast from food at all, and that is no lesser obedience. Set aside an evening for prayer instead, and eat as your doctor tells you. A Greater Affection has a short word on getting help. If you are starving or purging now, see a doctor this week. If you feel driven to hurt yourself, call 988 or text 988.

Your First Fast

Christ fasted forty days and would not turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:2-4). Where Adam fell over food, he stood for his people. Fasting cannot bring you to God, but he can (the gospel). If you are his, fast as one waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9), when no one will fast again.

1. Choose one meal this week, and write down why you are fasting.
2. Check your health first. If a caution above is yours, ask your doctor, or fast from something other than food.
3. Spend that mealtime with God. Read Psalm 51, confess, and pray for what you wrote down.
4. Do a mercy. Give what the meal would have cost to someone in need (Isaiah 58:7).
5. Break the fast gently and give thanks.
6. Leave the answer with God, and look to Christ, the bread of life (John 6:35).