Part 4 in the Series of Prayer and Fasting
If you seek a closer walk with God, adding the discipline of fasting to your prayers can be powerful. Since Jesus never commanded believers to fast after His resurrection, fasting can strengthen your walk with God. You will learn about the types of fasts that will help deepen your prayer life and propel you forward in your faith. As you read through each fast, the purpose of fasting will become clear.
Today, I want to share 10 proven types of fasts that will:
- help you in your daily walk,
- help you grow in spiritual strength,
- and help you take a stand against the enemy.
This post covers the types of fasts from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We will cover each fast’s name, background, and purpose.
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10 Types of Fasts that God Can Use
These fasts are not the only fasts that a believer can explore for a particular problem. However, we’ll cover 10 types of fasts that you can use as models for your own fasting.
What follows is a brief overview of the 10 types of fasts God can use, listed in chronological order, from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
Each fast includes the same Scripture reference: Isaiah 58:6-8, which speaks of God’s chosen fast.
Elmer L. Towns’ book, Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough [not an affiliate link], is an excellent resource with plenty of detail!
These fasts are suggestions you can use separately or together. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in any fast that you do.
The Samuel Fast
Background: When the Ark of the Covenant was returned from captivity, Samuel led God’s people in a fast to celebrate its return and to pray for Israel’s deliverance from the sin that allowed the Ark to be captured in the first place.
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 7:6 And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:6 is a verse about revival and soul-winning, about prayer used by God to deliver people from spiritual darkness into God’s kingdom. This fast is to
- recognize and acknowledge your bondage to sin,
- pray for God’s presence among His people, and
- ensure God’s leaders are in place.
The Widow’s Fast
Background: God sent Elijah to a poor, starving widow so she could feed him. How ironic! Her obedience resulted in food for her survival as well as Elijah’s.
Key Verse: 1 Kings 17:16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? This fast meets others’ needs by caring for them physically with food, clothing, and housing.
The Ezra Fast
Background: King Artaxerxes, king of Persia, had given Ezra, the priest, permission to rebuild their city, Jerusalem. Despite King Artaxerxes’ permission, Israel’s enemies opposed them. Ezra had already told the king that the God of Israel would protect them, so when his enemies came against them, Ezra could only call a fast for God’s direction and protection.
Key Verse: Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:6 …to undo the heavy burdens… A fast for problem-solving and to lift the load and barrier that keeps us from walking joyfully with the Lord.
The Esther Fast
Background: The Jewish Queen Esther risked her life by appearing before the pagan Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes). Although he did not know the Queen was Jewish, he threatened her people with destruction. Before she appeared before the king, she and her attendants, along with her cousin Mordecai and all the Jews in Shushan, fasted three days and nights before God for His protection.
Key Verse: Esther 4:16; 5:2 …gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: … she obtained favour in his sight…
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:8: the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. To show God’s glory as He delivers His children from the evil one.
The Elijah Fast
Background: When Elijah fled to escape from Queen Jezebel’s threat to kill him, he deliberately went without food as he sought the LORD to take his life rather than let Jezebel kill him. After he spent the night under the juniper tree, an angel touched him and said, “Arise and eat.” Twice, the angel provided Elijah with a cake and water. This food sustained him for the journey ahead.
Key Verse: 1 Kings 19:4,8 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness…he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights…
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:6 …ye break every yoke. This fast breaks the chains of emotional problems that seek to control our lives and returns control to God.
The Daniel Fast
Background: The king and his officials forced Daniel and his three friends to eat the king’s pagan food. Daniel asked to eat only vegetables and water for ten days to see whether they would be more alert and have more wisdom and understanding than those who ate the king’s rich food.
Key Verse: Daniel 1:8 Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank…
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:8 …thine health shall spring forth… To gain a healthier life or for healing. To seek God’s direction, purpose, and vision.
The Disciple’s Fast
Background: The disciples tried to cast out a demon from a young boy but couldn’t. Jesus said that this kind comes out by prayer and fasting. While we can often cast out demons without prior fasting, sometimes demons are more resistant to leaving, and spending time fasting can help us cast them out successfully.
Key Verse: Matthew 17:21: this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:6 …to loose the bands of wickedness… The bands of wickedness can refer to sin, addictions, bondage, guilt, wrongdoing, violence, deceit, fraud, and acquiring wealth through wicked means. This fast frees us and others from all wickedness.
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The Saint Paul Fast
Background: Jesus blinded Saul on the road to Damascus as he planned to persecute Christians. Jesus could not let Saul’s plan continue, so he stopped him from his attempt to stop the gospel message.
While Saul was blind and unsure what would happen to him, his thoughts about Jesus changed. He went three days without food as he prayed for direction and purpose. After his eyesight was restored, his life took a whole new direction as he sought to serve Jesus Christ, who saved him from his sin.
Key Verse: Acts 9:9: And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning… To provide clear perspective and direction for crucial decisions.
The John the Baptist Fast
Background: John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, was called by God to take the Nazarite vow from birth. He was to abstain from wine and strong drink. This lifestyle set John apart for his mission as Jesus’ forerunner.
Key Verse: Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
Purpose of Fasting: Isaiah 58:8 …thy righteousness shall go before thee… To serve as a witness and testimony, influencing others as we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Jesus Fast
Background: After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for 40 days and nights as he was tempted by the devil. Jesus overcame the devil’s temptations with the Word of God, saying, It is written.
Key Verse: Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Purpose of Fasting: Matthew 4:1-2; 11 …behold, angels came and ministered unto him. For spiritual power and victory over temptation, the flesh, and the devil.
Times of Fasting in the Old Testament
Fasting appears a few times in the Old Testament beyond the fasts listed above.
The term “fast” refers to self-denial or abstaining from eating food. In 1 Samuel 1:7, we read that Hannah was so distressed that “she wept and did not eat food”.
Another time, King Ahab was upset that he couldn’t buy Naboth’s vineyard and said he “would eat no food” (1 Kings 21:4). Personally, I’d say he was pouting.
Fasting was a natural expression of grief. David fasted when he grieved over Abner’s death -2 Samuel 3:35.
Scripture often describes fasting as “afflicting” one’s soul or body. We see this in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says, “humble thyself.”
David also fasted when his son by Bathsheba was sick. He fasted to turn away God’s wrath for his sin, but God did more just than that. He could not allow David’s sin to go unpunished. When his son died, David abruptly ended his fast since there was no more reason to seek God to heal him.
Times of Fasting in the New Testament
Fasting in the New Testament became a widely practiced discipline. The Pharisees were well known for fasting, as they liked to let everyone know they were going without food.
The disciples of John the Baptist regularly fasted, as did Jesus, who fasted for 40 days before His ministry began.
Though the Pharisees and John the Baptist’s disciples challenged Jesus because His disciples did not fast, Jesus defended their reason for not fasting. He said they would have plenty of time to fast after He was no longer with them (Matthew 9:14-15).
Jesus taught His disciples that when they do fast, they should not be hypocritical as the Pharisees. They were not to “advertise” their fasting through their facial expressions or demeanour.
After Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the New Testament church regularly practiced fasting, especially when ordaining apostles or men for special ministry (Acts 13:1-3; 14:23).
Spiritual leaders such as Paul, Barnabas, and others regularly prayed and fasted. In fact, when Paul had to defend his ministry, he listed “fasting” as a regular ministry discipline (2 Corinthians 6:4-5; 11:23-27).
Biblical Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough
Earlier, I mentioned a book by Elmer L. Towns called Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough [not an affiliate link]. It is an excellent book based on the 9 Biblical fasts above (though he doesn’t cover the Jesus Fast). He details each fast with a step-by-step guide to help you fast and seek God the right way.
When I first began studying this discipline of Biblical fasting, I started with Saint Paul’s Fast because I had a decision to make and needed God’s guidance. I kept a notebook, wrote out the steps, and prayed through them.
Saint Paul’s Fast is a three-day fast with five steps for making decisions. It took three days to work through it, and on day three, I knew what God wanted me to do. That was eight years ago, and I have long since fulfilled what the Lord gave me to do!
If you are interested in working through a study on biblical fasting, here is a Bible Study by Elmer Towns, used with his book of the same title, from Digital Commons at Liberty University.
Wrapping up the 10 Types of Fasts in the Bible
We still have much more to say about fasting, which we will cover in Part 5 of this series on Prayer and Fasting. I highly recommend Elmer Towns’ book, which will help you work through each fast and see results.
If you found this post on the types of fasts helpful as you seek information on Biblical fasting, please let me know!
I’d love to hear if you’ve tried any of these fasts; if so, what was the outcome, and was it what you expected?
~ More in this Prayer and Fasting Series ~
- Part 1 – Why Humility and Fasting Go Together. Before you start your fast, make sure your motive is right.
- Part 2 – Prayer and Fasting: New Testament Teaching. Learn what Jesus said about fasting and whether it still matters today.
- Part 3 – 10 Powerful Benefits of Fasting and Prayer. Learn how fasting with prayer can benefit your spiritual growth.
- Part 5 – How to Start a Fast and The Best Way to Break a Fast. This is chock-full of good information to properly start and end a fast. Coming soon.
