SPIRITUAL FASTING THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE
THE BIBLE SAYS THAT WHEN WE FAST OR STOP EATING FOR SPIRITUAL purposes, then God will feed us something better than food. Isaiah 58:14 says He will feed us “with the heritage of Jacob.” What that means is that fasting will give us a place among other great spiritual men and women throughout history.
This is an incredible promise, for many great men and women have rocked nations and shaken kingdoms. Walking in their footsteps is a genuine privilege.
Let’s turn now and look at some of these spiritual giants and examine their powerful spiritual fasts. They are named for the great spiritual leaders who used them to make their world better and to rise above the human, fleshly condition.
Jesus Himself employed fasting to conquer Satan.
Let’s investigate the fast of Jesus. The story begins when John the Baptist baptized Jesus. In Luke 3:21–22, the Bible states, “Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’”
This is the first of two major experiences Jesus had before entering public ministry. In this experience, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in a visible form. If Kodak cameras had been available back then, no doubt someone would have snapped pictures of this powerful phenomenon. Even so, this incredible sign from heaven did not launch Christ’s ministry. After the Holy Spirit came down upon Him, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to fast and pray (Matt. 4:1).
For forty days Christ ate nothing. After this extended fast, Luke 4:14 says, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and the news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.”
Later, Jesus would sit among the people and teach three disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount. They include prayer, giving, and fasting—and He placed all three on the same level. Many believers feel it is their duty to pray and give but seldom feel the same need to fast. But Jesus didn’t say, “If you fast . . . ” He said, “When you fast . . . ” (See Matthew 6:17–18.)
Jesus didn’t begin His ministry until He had fasted for forty days. Jesus was first baptized. Then the Holy Spirit descended on Him, and afterward He was full of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit led Him into the desert, and after His fast, He returned in the power of the Holy Spirit. This was when His mighty ministry was launched, a ministry of great miracles, signs, and wonders. All of this took place as a result of fasting.
Interestingly, Jesus told us that we too would do these works and even greater works because He went to the Father. (See John 14:12.) I truly believe that we will see these greater works as we learn and practice the great spiritual discipline of fasting.
If Jesus Christ felt the need to fast, how much more should we? An individual, a group of people, or an entire nation can accomplish fasting. When the Jews came together each year on the Day of Atonement for a day of corporate fasting, the results were powerful. Let’s take a look.
Corporate Fasting for Forgiveness of Sins
Historically, God’s people were commanded to fast once a year. On the Day of Atonement, all Israel came before God in corporate fasting and repentance. (See Leviticus 16:29–34; 23:26–32.)
The Day of Atonement was considered the single most sacred day of the entire religious year, a day in which everyone in the entire nation stopped everything he was doing, refused to eat, and sought God’s forgiveness for all the sins committed that year.
Leviticus 16:29 tells us:
This shall be a statue forever to you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all.
It goes on to say, “For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever” (vv. 30–31).
Since the day this statute was given, for the past thirty-five hundred years, Jews have honored and observed Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, as a solemn day of fasting. This fast day was mentioned in the New Testament. As Paul journeyed to Rome, “much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast [which was the Day of Atonement] was already over” (Acts 27:9).
The Day of Atonement usually fell at the end of September or the beginning of October. The fasting of this special day was part of the humility and repentance necessary for atonement to be given by God. On this day, the high priest actually laid hands on a goat and spoke out the people’s sins. When he was through, he released the goat into the desert or the wilderness. The blood of another goat was then sprinkled in the holy of holies in a solemn act. Through this ceremony, the sins of the people were cleansed.
The Day of Atonement was always on a Sabbath day. During Jesus’s lifetime, the Jews observed about twenty-two different spiritual fasts, including the Day of Atonement fast.
Not only was fasting used to cleanse the sins of an entire nation, corporate fasting was used by the Jews also to seek protection and deliverance when their enemies tried to destroy them.
The Esther Fast—for Protection, Deliverance, and Divine Favor
Esther was a beautiful, young Hebrew girl living in Persia during Israel’s captivity. This lovely woman was chosen as queen over all the other young women in the entire nation. The prime minister of Persia was Haman, an evil man who hated the Jews.
Haman succeeded in passing a law of genocide to kill all the Jews. Therefore, Queen Esther decided to risk going before the king to try and save her people. According to the laws, if anyone, even the queen, requested an uninvited audience with the king, that person could be killed.
Faced with the danger to her people and the danger to Esther herself, the queen called a fast. The Bible says:
Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!
—ESTHER 4:16
Esther went before the king dressed, not in sackcloth and ashes, but with her royal robes. She invited Haman and the king to a banquet she had prepared, and the king accepted. However, later that night the king could not sleep. He had his royal diary brought in, and as the diary was being read, he learned that Esther’s cousin Mordecai had saved his life. The king’s heart had already been turned toward Esther because of the people’s corporate fast.
When Haman entered the court to speak with the king about another matter, the king asked Haman this question: “‘What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?’ Now Haman thought in his heart, ‘Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?’” (Esther 6:6).
Haman answered the king with these words:
Let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”
—ESTHER 6:8–9
Just before this happened, Haman had prepared gallows to hang Mordecai. But instead of hanging him, Haman was forced to parade him with great tribute throughout the city. Then Esther informed the king that Haman had issued the decree to have the Jewish people exterminated. The king entered as Haman was reaching for the queen to beg for mercy. It looked to the king as if Haman was attempting to assault his wife sexually. The story ends with Haman being hanged on the gallows that were prepared for Mordecai.
The three days of corporate fasting called by Esther turned the situation completely around in a mighty display of supernatural favor and spiritual power.
The three-day Esther fast is for protection, deliverance, and divine favor, and it reveals the power of corporate fasting to move the hand of God mightily and to change the hearts of men. This fast opens up even those whose hearts are bitterly hardened against God and can help turn hurting individuals back to God.
Let’s turn now and look at the fast of another great leader whose spiritual fast significantly impacted a nation’s history.
The Ezra Fast—for Direction and Protection
For centuries the Jews was held in captivity by the nation of Persia. When freedom finally came, Ezra, a priest, was given permission by Cyrus, the king of Persia, to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the magnificent Jerusalem temple.
The trip to Jerusalem was very dangerous. Ezra needed protection to lead the great caravan of thousands of defenseless Jews back to their home city. He was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers because he had bragged about God’s protection for all who worship Him. Many of the travelers actually had become wealthy in captivity, and so Ezra was responsible for safely transporting their treasures and other belongings as well.
Ezra 8:21 says, “I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” They fasted for the protection, security, and direction from God.
The journeyers returned to Israel in safety with all of their possessions intact. Once again, the Bible reports powerful spiritual results were obtained through fasting.
Although corporate fasting was common, individual fasts were even more so. Elijah was another spiritual giant of the Bible who understood the power of fasting for affecting the outcome of great spiritual battles. The Elijah fast is undertaken during times of intense spiritual conflict.
The Elijah Fast—to Combat Spiritual Enemies
Elijah had just won the greatest victory of his life over four hundred fifty prophets of Baal. He actually had called fire down from heaven and then had all of those demonically inspired prophets of Baal killed. Queen Jezebel, who had given these prophets a place of authority, responded in an angry frenzy, threatening to murder Elijah by the very next day.
Thrown into a state of terror, depression, and despondency, Elijah ran for his life. He didn’t stop running until he was about a day’s journey away in the wilderness, where he sat down to rest under a juniper tree. It seems clear that Elijah realized that he lacked what it took to battle what was coming against him. In 1 Kings 19:5–8, we read:
Then as he lay and slept under a broom [juniper] tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
In this account, Jezebel represents the evil forces that can come against God’s own. The Bible says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Confronted with the rage of evil forces, Elijah responded with fasting.
Elijah didn’t eat or drink, and the power of the terror, despondency, and depression that had assailed his mind and overwhelmed his emotions was broken.
We all have faced overwhelming situations that terrify us, paralyze us, and place us in emotional and mental bondage. There are even times in which we feel as if the very forces of hell are raining down on us.
Nonetheless, we don’t have to be become paralyzed or bound by a yoke of anxiety, depression, and fear. Just as with Elijah, God has provided fasting as a powerful weapon to combat the spiritual forces that attack our minds and emotions.
Isaiah 58:6 says, “Is this not the fast I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” Yokes are devices for joining two oxen together. When you are yoked with depression, you become bound or united to it as a heavy burden that you must carry.
Yokes of bondage include negative attitudes such as depression, despondency, fear, and anxiety. But don’t go on a forty-day fast as Elijah did without a special word from God, no matter how heavy your yoke. Even then, your physician must closely monitor such a lengthy fast. Also, never go on a fast without drinking adequate amounts of water on a daily basis.
Both Elijah and Moses went on a supernatural fast in which they ingested neither food nor water. Jesus, however, went on a forty-day fast and drank water but ate no food.
Interestingly, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses—the two men who had fasted for forty days without food or water—were there with Jesus. (See Matthew 17:2–3.) All three who stood on the Mount together had undergone a forty-day fast.
Fasting finds great favor in God’s sight because of its ability to break the control of the flesh. Daniel was another great spiritual leader whose fasting brought about powerful results. Let’s take a look at the Daniel fast for overcoming the flesh.
The Daniel Fast—to Overcome the Flesh
Daniel and three other Hebrew youths—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—were Jews in captivity, but in the kingdom of Babylon. They were greatly favored for their purity, and they were well educated and extremely gifted both mentally and spiritually.
When these four young men were captured and taken into the king’s palace to educate them in the ways of the Chaldeans, Daniel 1:5 states, “The king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank.” He planned to keep them on his own rich diet of meats, fats, sugary pastries, and wine for three years. At the end of the three years they would be presented to the king.
However, verse 8 says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank.” In other words, Daniel rejected the rich, temptingly delicious meats, wine, and pastries of the royal court, perhaps because they did not meet the requirements of Jewish dietary laws or because these youths may have taken vows against drinking alcohol.
So Daniel made a request of the prince of the eunuchs. Verse 12 says, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.” The King James version uses the word pulse. “Pulse” consisted of vegetables and grains, wheat, barley, rye, peas, beans, and lentils.
Daniel and the three other Hebrew youths lived a fasted life for three years on the vegetarian diet of pulse while learning and studying in the king’s court, and God honored their partial fast. We’re told in verse 15, “At the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies.”
God tremendously favored their decision to fast and granted them favor, wisdom, and insight far above anyone around them. In verses 18–20 we read:
At the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.
Daniel knew what was healthy to eat, and he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. The Daniel fast eliminates rich foods such as meats, pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, alcohol, and any other food that is tempting to the flesh.
Today, people are so bound to their flesh that they often cannot go one meal without eating some form of meat, something sweet, fatty, or some other type of rich food. We must crucify our flesh daily and take up our cross and follow Christ. (See Matthew 16:24.) What better way to crucify our flesh than to follow Daniel’s fasted lifestyle?
The Second Daniel Fast—for Spiritual Breakthroughs
We find a second fast of Daniel in which he took in nothing but water. Let’s look.
Daniel 9:3 says, “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” When the Jews fasted with sackcloth and ashes, it was never a partial fast, but a total fast with complete abstinence from food.
Again, during a season of special prayer when Daniel desperately needed revelation from God, he fasted. Daniel 10:2–3 says, “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.”
Many scholars believe that this was a partial fast or a diet. However, some scholars believe it was a total fast. During this time of fasting, Daniel had great visions from heaven, along with an incredible angelic visitation.
This time of fasting reveals some astonishing insights into the spiritual realm and how it works. Once again, we see fasting as a dynamic agent of powerful spiritual warfare. It seems that the great ruling angel, Gabriel, was attempting to get a message to Daniel from the moment Daniel started praying. However, the account paints a picture of a great spiritual struggle encountered by this angelic being that was broken as Daniel fasted.
The mighty, shining heavenly ruler spoke to Daniel. “From the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days” (Dan. 10:12–13).
The angel spoke of powerful, spiritual demonic princes and great, high-ranking angels sent to withstand these beings. The fascinating thing about this passage is the place it gives to fasting and prayer. It was because of Daniel’s three-week fast that the great angel was able to breakthrough the dark opposition and meet with Daniel to provide the mighty revelation he was seeking.
This astonishing passage suggests that fasting is extremely important when we need a breakthrough. In addition to that, it also suggests that we must never give up when we are seeking God.
Throughout the Bible, those who believed in God and wanted to develop spiritually sought God through the discipline of fasting. The disciples of Jesus were among them also.
The Disciples’ Fast—for Empowered Ministry
When the disciples who traveled with Jesus were sent out to begin ministering on their own, they encountered some unexpected resistance to the healing power of God. When the disciples were powerless to heal a young boy, the child’s father approached Jesus.
The father’s request is recorded in Matthew 17:15.
Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.
Apparently the father didn’t understand that his son was actually gripped by a demonic force. Although most cases of epilepsy have physical causes, this particular case did not.
In Matthew 17:16, we see that the father had taken his son to the disciples, but they were powerless to respond. Many of our own youth, teens, and young adults are bound with alcohol, drugs, nicotine, sexual desire, a spirit of revelry and partying, homosexuality, satanism, witchcraft, palm reading, and other dangerous strongholds. Unfortunately, some of these young people are Christians, but they are still bound with fear, anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, jealousy, strife, envy, and many other deadly emotions.
How can our youth be bound with these strongholds and yet profess to know Christ? Here’s how. They may have had their sins forgiven, and they may have professed Christ as their Savior, but they have never had the spiritual chains of wickedness broken off of them. Isaiah 58:6 says, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?”
The disciples’ fast breaks yokes, or breaks mental, spiritual, and emotional bondages, and sets people free. If you are a mother or father with a son or daughter in rebellion, bound with homosexuality, sexual perversion, sexual desire, drugs, alcohol, or any other stronghold, Jesus Christ can set them free by applying the principles of the fast of the disciples.
In Matthew 17:17–21, it’s clear that Jesus expected the disciples to exercise enough faith to heal the demonized boy. He rebuked them by saying:
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
This boy’s seizures were the result of a demonic stronghold that required fasting and prayer to break. Although demonic strongholds are created by sin, it doesn’t necessarily follow that everyone who sins is bound by evil forces. But if sin seems impossible to resist, causing an individual to repeatedly fall back into destructive behaviors, then a stronghold may be involved. Strongholds include alcoholism, drug addition, sexual addictions, compulsive lying, stealing, or any other strongly compulsive behavior.
To overcome a stronghold, first you must recognize it for what it is—a powerful way in which dark forces have attempted to control you. Next, it is important to avoid people and situations that link you to that stronghold. For example, if you are an alcoholic, stay away from bars and avoid your old drinking buddies.
It’s also important to watch what you say. Your words hold great power. Try to speak words that will bring faith and life, not depression and hopelessness. In other words, when you are tempted, don’t say, “This thing is bigger than me. I’ll never get free.” Instead, speak the powerful Word of God: “If the Son of God has set me free, then I am free indeed! ” (John 8:36).
Join your faith together with the faith of other believers. Have them pray for you and with you. Visit and share your feelings with those who will help you to stay focused and strong.
If you have never asked Christ to come into your life, I encourage you to do so. There is great freedom in the power and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is no farther away than the whisper of a prayer. Why not invite Jesus Christ into your heart this very minute? Simply bow your head and pray this prayer:
Dear Jesus, I repent for all of my sins. I repent for the sins that have brought bondage and fear into my life and into the lives of others. I thank You for dying on a cross for me so that I might be free. I receive Your forgiveness right now. Jesus, come into my heart, for I give my life to You. In Jesus’s name, amen.
If you have just prayed this prayer, freedom and release are yours. Christ has forgiven your sins and entered your heart. Accept it by faith, which is nothing more than choosing to believe God. And by the way, welcome to the family!
Continue to build up your faith through Bible reading, praying, and speaking the Word of God. Now, if you have received Christ, prayed, and done everything else we’ve discussed and still continue to struggle against a stronghold, you may need to do some fasting to break its power over you.
Interestingly, when Jesus encountered those who were demon possessed, He never attempted to heal them. Rather, He cast out the demon. Another example of Jesus’s dealings with demonic strongholds can be seen in Mark 5:1–16.
In Mark 5:8–9, Christ spoke to the stronghold. He said:
“Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”
Unfortunately, today we treat most addictions and diseases with drugs, when the actual cause may be a satanic stronghold. An individual receiving such treatments will never be truly healed until the stronghold is dealt with. This usually requires prayer and fasting.
The Bible describes the disciples’ fast to break strongholds in Isaiah 58:6, where God gives us the reasons for fasting. As we read earlier, it says, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?”
Other great ministers in the Bible fasted. For instance, Moses fasted for forty days, as recorded in Exodus 24:18. Interestingly, Moses fasted for forty days at least two other times. (See Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18.)
I strongly discourage you from ever fasting without drinking water. Water is absolutely essential for life, and we can only live about four days without water. Moses and Elijah had a supernatural fast, since they consumed neither food nor water. In addition, never fast beyond three days without being under the care of a nutritional physician.
Some other great ministers who fasted in the Bible include King David, the great prophet Samuel, the apostle Paul, and John the Baptist.
Many great ministers with special callings in the Bible actually went beyond fasting. They lived a fasted lifestyle.
John the Baptist was one of these individuals who lived his entire life in a partially fasted state. We see this lifestyle described in Matthew 3:4.
And his food was locusts and wild honey.
John the Baptist was a Nazirite. He was called to a Nazirite vow and a fasted life before he was even born. That call is recorded in Luke. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
—LUKE 1:15
John the Baptist lived a fasted life that included eating locusts and wild honey for his protein. Otherwise, he was a total vegetarian, most likely supplementing his diet of honey-coated bugs with fruits, vegetables, and some grains.
Another well-known Nazirite was Samson. He kept a lifelong fast from wine and alcoholic beverages and from touching anything that had died. Therefore, Samson was probably a vegetarian too. In addition to that, Samson vowed never to cut his hair. (See Judges 13:4–5.)
These faithful men lived in a deeper level of devotion and separation to God than most people today even understand. Instead of feeding his flesh, John the Baptist hungered for the things of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
By living fasted lives, John the Baptist and Samson were empowered to speak a word of prophecy and deliverance to their generations. John the Baptist stormed the countryside, preparing the crowds for the coming of Christ.
The fasted lives of these individuals signaled that they were born for a great and special purpose. Their lives were not their own but were to be lived in complete devotion to God.
Are you interested in going on a spiritual fast? Do you seek to influence your nation, city, workplace, or family? Would you like to break through the strength of your flesh or the power of a particular bondage? I trust you’ve discovered some powerful insights into fasting through this list of biblical spiritual fasts. I encourage you to select the fast that most suits your particular spiritual goals. Appendix B is a practical fasting workbook that will help you to get focused and to begin.
I trust that you’ve discovered that fasting is a powerful tool for health, cleansing, corporate strength, and spiritual empowerment. The Bible gives fasting an ancient position of honor, a place beside other dynamic principles for health and spiritual growth.
Fasting is a privilege, and it is a biblical key to cleansing that will bless your life with the gift of health, healing, renewed vitality, longevity, and deeper spirituality.
As you begin to undergo periodic juice fasts for detoxification, I encourage you to first commit that time to God for spiritual cleansing and renewal. Once you become accustomed to fasting for two or three days, you may choose to increase that time a little. Learn to devote increasing portions of that time to Bible reading, praying, and journaling for personal and spiritual growth. At times you may even choose to commit your fast times to even higher purposes, such as fasting for issues of national cleansing and healing.
As you develop a life of fasting and prayer, you will find that God will feed you with the heritage of Jacob. You will walk in the footsteps of great men and women who have gone before us—men and women who increased in purity of body, mind, and spirit, and who touched heaven with their prayers and nations with their passion.