What are the biblical benefits of fasting? (2023)

What is the benefits of fasting according to the Bible?

Fasting releases God's supernatural power. It is a tool we can use when there is opposition to God's will. Satan would like nothing better than to cause division, discouragement, defeat, depression, and doubt among us. United prayer and fasting has always been used by God to deal a decisive blow to the enemy!

We have two types of fast. The one that pleases God known as the purifying fast, and the one that displeases God known as the wicked fast.

Fasting can help us overcome personal flaws and sins. It can help us overcome our weaknesses—help them become strengths. Fasting can help us become more humble, less prideful, less selfish, and more concerned about the needs of others.

There are three main types of fasts: calorie restriction, nutrient restriction, and seasonal eating.

Fasting requires discipline. Fasting helps us accomplish one of the vital purposes of life: developing self-mastery. King Benjamin referred to this self-mastery as overcoming the natural man. He taught that the natural man is an enemy to God, always has been, and ever will be.

Going longer than three days without eating or drinking can be dangerous. Supernatural fast: There have been instances when God enabled someone to fast in ways that they could not do on their own. Moses abstaining from food and water for 40 days (Deuteronomy 9:9) is an example of this type of fasting in the Bible.

In Matthew 4:2 we find Jesus being tempted in the wilderness while He fasted for 40 days with only water. Then there's the Partial Fast: No Choice Foods or meats. At their own requests, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo in Daniel 1: 8-16 refrained from eating anything but vegetables and water.

The practice of spiritual fasting builds focus and awareness. As such, the spiritual benefits of healthy fasting include a stronger sense of your connection with the universe. Spiritual fasting makes you less self-centered. It is a way to free yourself from the confines of what you want or think you need.

Fasting has been part of the gospel of Jesus Christ since Old Testament times (see, for example, Daniel 9:3; Joel 2:12). Fasting strengthens people spiritually and increases the effectiveness of their prayers (see Isaiah 58:6–11).

What are some biblical examples of fasting?

The Bible records that great men of faith such as Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, and Jesus, Himself, fasted so that they might draw closer to God (Exodus 34:28; 1 Kings 19:8; Daniel 9:3; Daniel 10:2-3; 2 Corinthians 11:27; Matthew 4:2).

The five pillars – the declaration of faith (shahada), prayer (salah), alms-giving (zakat), fasting (sawm) and pilgrimage (hajj) – constitute the basic norms of Islamic practice.

so many accounts in the bible prove this, and they includeBy saving the life of Esther when she visited the king at the wrong time that could have cost her life, and the king saved her, the scripture says that she fasted for three days and three nights to be able to save her life and that of the Jews Esther 4: ...

Fasting Can Help Us Feel Closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Point out that when we are willing to pray and fast, we show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that we love them and that we are trying to be close to them so that we can receive their help.

Four fasts

Ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av, full fast) Fast of Gedalia (Tzom Gedalia, minor fast) Tenth of Tevet (Asara B'Tevet, minor fast) Seventeenth of Tammuz (Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, minor fast)

In many cultures the practice was considered a means to assuage an angered deity or to aid in resurrecting a deity who was believed to have died (e.g., a god of vegetation). In the religions of some tribes of Native Americans, fasting was practiced before and during a vision quest.

Which is what Christian fasting really is. It isn't necessarily to starve ourselves from food, the main focus is to shift our focus completely 100% on God instead of fulfilling our personal fleshly desires. It's about becoming more like Jesus and more dependent on the Holy Spirit.

72+ hours. Once you've been fasting for three days or more, your body enters a deep state of ketosis. All the previous benefits: Autophagy, the uptick in the production of beneficial chemicals and hormones, fat loss, and mental clarity continue to increase.

A fast usually lasts from 12 to 24 hours, but some types continue for days at a time. In some cases, you may be allowed water, tea, and coffee or even a small amount of food during the “fasting period.”

What happens when you fast for 7 days?

What is this? Fasting for a week may result in adverse health and metabolic changes such as dehydration, a loss of lean muscle mass, hyperuricemia, hyponatremia, protein-sparing, sodium, and potassium-sparing, decreased serum calcium and magnesium levels, and acidic urine.

God desires for us to desire Him. He is our all in all and only satisfaction for our hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The passage in Chapter 1 refers to a 10-day test wherein Daniel and others with him were permitted to eat vegetables and water to avoid the Babylonian king's food and wine. After remaining healthy at the end of the 10-day period, they continued the vegetable diet for the three years of their education.

A spiritual fast is a conscious decisions to abstain from the modern diet. The benefit of this is that it can help rid your body of toxins. But it's not just about avoiding toxins. The benefits of spiritual fasting are a result of building awareness of our relationships.

When we are spiritually dehydrated, we experience symptoms of fear, anxiety, anger, loneliness, jealously, pride, and more. We have to constantly fill ourselves with God's truth in order to be spiritually healthy, because the world will try to fill us with lies.

Spiritual Hunger is feeling deprived of a sense of purpose, passion, pleasure, or joy in one's life. Maybe life feels like a grind, or there is a struggle to redefine a different life purpose after we've sent the kids to college or upon retirement after a long and successful career.

You can stir up a desire for God by remembering a time when you were pursuing God and experiencing intimacy in your life with Him. Do you have books that you read at that time, worship you listened to, or letters or journals that you read that stirred up God inside of you?

Generally speaking, while fasting with time-restricted intermittent eating, you don't eat any food at all and only drink beverages with very few calories, such as water or unsweetened coffee and tea without milk.

The prophet Nathan told David that the child would die. When the child became very ill, David refused to eat and immediately went into prayer and fasting, hoping that he might find grace in the eyes of God. After 7 days of praying and fasting before God, the child died.

What to read when fasting and praying?

Fasting for Holy Spirit Guidance

I ask for Your call and purpose in my life to be made clear. Remove any and all confusion. I pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to me and guide me as I journey on. Remind me Lord, that You have called your church the set apart ones and I am part of that.