DEFINITION

• Fasting is abstaining from food or bypassing the opportunity to eat with a

specific spiritual goal in mind

KINDS OF FASTS • A NORMAL (Full) Fast – Abstaining from food, drinking

only liquids (water and / or specific juices). • An Absolute Fast – Abstain from food and liquids. • The DANIEL (Partial) Fast – Abstain from meats and

sweets, drink only water. (Unseasoned vegetables and most natural fruits are acceptable)

• COMBINATION Fast – Begin the first three days with a full or normal fast. Continue by observing the Daniel Fast for the remaining 18 days.

VARIOUS OPTIONS • TASTE: Sodas, candy, sweets, desserts, chips and

snacks…• HEAR: I-pods, mp3 players, CD players, radios, and

phones. • SEE: TV, video games, and/or movies.• Joel 2:15 (NIV), Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a

holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

PURPOSE OF FASTING • The PASSIONATE PURSUIT of the

HEART of GOD.

Isaiah 58:3-4 (NIV / NLT), “Why have we fasted…and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not

noticed?” I will tell you why! It’s because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting… 4What good is fasting

when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. 

(See Luke 2:37; Matthew 4:4; John 4:31)

PURPOSE FOR FASTING • The Need for Understanding, Revelation and INSIGHT

and the Need for SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGH.

Isaiah 58:6-9 (NIV / NLT), Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 “If you do these things, your light will shine will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. 9Then when you call, the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ‘Yes, I am here.’

HOW TO BEGIN • Set your objective.

– Start with a clear goal. Be specific. Why are you fasting? • Do you need spiritual renewal, guidance, physical healing, the restoration of

a marriage or your family, grace to handle a difficult situation, a financial breakthrough?

• Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. – This will enable you to pray specifically and strategically.

• One of the primary purposes of fasting is for us to humble ourselves before God.

In Psalm 35:13, David said, “…[I] humbled myself with fasting…”

COMMIT