As we prepare for our church-wide 21 Day Fast from February 1-21, I wanted to share 6 types of fasts:
1. Normal - abstaining from all food, but not water.
Example: Jesus "ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them was hungry" (Luke 4:2).
2. Absolute - abstaining from food and water; normally no more than 3 days. The body can only go a very short time without water. This is an exceptional fast for an exceptional situation.
Examples: For three days Paul was blind, and did not eat or drink anything" (Acts 9:9), Moses (Deut. 9:9), Israel (Ezra 10:6), Israel (Esther 4:16).
3. Partial - restricting diet of certain foods or a meal a day rather than complete abstention. This allows for many variations.
Examples: Daniel "so the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead" (Daniel 1:16), (Daniel 10:3).
4. Regular - fast days that commemorate an event or weekly fasts on a regular day.
Examples: Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27; Ps. 35:13; Is. 58:5), a fast day (Jer. 36:6); four separate festivals (Zech 8:19); twice a week (Luke 18:11-12).
5. Public - fasts called to times of special need and emergency. Almost all regular fasts were public fasts, but all public fasts are not necessarily regular ones.
Examples: King Jehoshaphat when Judah was invaded (2 Chron. 20:1-4), Ezra returning the exiles (Ezra 8:21-23) Ninevah, as a result of Jonah's preaching (Jonah 3:5,10).
6. Involuntary -no desire for food because of anxiety, sorrow, or mental distress (Dan. 6:18), and where a person finds themselves in a situation where no food is available (Matt. 15:32; 2 Cor. 6:5, 11:27)
Fasting is effective because the man or woman who can conquer self-denial can be entrusted with spiritual power. The hard thing is conquering self. The way God trains us is through fasting.
Are you praying about how God wants you to fast?
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