The Altar
Fasting, explained plainly
Five fasts from Scripture, with the verse each one comes from, what it is for, what it will actually feel like on day two, and how to break it without making yourself ill. No mysticism, no guilt, and no claim that a longer fast makes God listen harder.
One day · 1 dayA single day set apart · Judges 20:26The Esther fast · 3 daysThree days, for something urgent · Esther 4:16Seven days · 7 daysA week of consecration · Joel 2:12The Daniel fast · 21 daysTwenty-one days, no pleasant food · Daniel 10:2-3Forty days · 40 daysThe long wilderness · Matthew 4:2
Read this first. Fasting is a spiritual discipline, not a medical one, and it is not for everybody. Do not fast from food without speaking to a doctor if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, diabetic, underweight, taking medication that must be taken with food, recovering from illness or surgery, under eighteen, or if you have any history of an eating disorder. There is no shame in fasting from something other than food — media, spending, sleep for a night, a habit. God is not measuring your stomach.