Fasting
And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing, but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29

Why Fast
Fasting and prayer are powerful spiritual weapons that can set the oppressed free from ungodly yokes, bondages, and demolishes strongholds. When we fast, pray and study god’s Word, we are looking away from ourselves to Christ as our only true help and our only hope.

• Fasting helps to keep us in the present of God

• Fasting helps us to humble ourselves before God. It is a means of declaring to god that He is the most important thing in our lives

• Fasting helps us to recall our utter dependency upon God

• Fasting helps us control and discipline our live. We choose to go without in order to gain something of greater consequences

• Fasting helps to release the purposes and power of God in our lives and in the lives of those for whom we are praying.

Fasting Guidelines
Fasting liberates us from slavery to our appetites while we focus on the true “Bread o Life,” Jesus Christ (John 6”48-51, 63) When fasting, we make a small self sacrifice to focus on our Savior’s awesome sacrifice and plan for us God desires and expects his followers to fast. Jesus Christ was asked why his disciples did not fast like other religious people. He replied with a short parable explaining that it was because He was still present with His disciples. He stated that after He was no longer among them (referring to His impending return to heaven), “then they will fast (Matthew 9:14-15) When Jesus spoke to His disciples about how to fast, He clearly was expecting that they would fast. He did not say “if you fast” but “when you fast”. A major purpose of fasting is to learn humility—to better understand how great God is and how weak, sinful and needy we are. How long we might safely fast depends on our individual health. If you are unsure about your health limitations, it would be wise to get a medical checkup.

The Normal Fast: This fast is from sunset of one day to sunset of the next (Leviticus 16:29: 23:32). So in this type of fast the person abstained from food and liquid for a period of one day (from sunset to sunset) another schedule of fasting maybe sunrise to sunset (6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m)

The Partial Fast: In this type of fast, the person fasts on vegetables and water. There is no complete abstinence from food. Examples of this fast, see in the bible are regards to Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego who ate only vegetables and drank only water (Daniel 1:15)

The Radical Fast: This type of fast is one in which the person refrains from both food and water or simply food (but not water) for an extended period of time. A radical fast lasts for three days.