On Fasting

Years ago I read some books on fasting and health, and was under the impression that if I could just go on a ten day water fast, or a twenty-one day fast, or even a forty day water fast, that I would experience some great breakthrough in my health and my spiritual life and then my life would be free of problems. I usually felt that the Lord was testing my faith during the fast to see if I loved Him enough to complete the fast and make this marvelous breakthrough in my life. I never made it to a ten day fast, but I was able to complete two seven day fasts on water alone.

The books that I read all emphasised that the fast had to be a water fast, and they recounted the experiences of those who said that by the third or fourth day of the fast they were free of hunger, felt great, did their duties without any tiredness, were able to preform household chores, yardwork and normal employment with little or no excess fatigue. They simply breezed through their fast, and after the week was up, or in some accounts the ten days or twenty-one days were over, they then experienced this marvelous breakthrough in their life and their health.

Such was never the case with me. I can't tell you how many seven day fasts and ten day fasts I started and failed to complete and then felt guilty afterwards, as though I had failed the Lord and failed myself in not having had enough determination and faith to finish the fast. Usually by the third or fourth day of the fast I was ravenously hungry, so tired that I could barely walk down the hallway, and eventually ran down to the local supermarket deli and bought a bunch of my favorite foods and came home and pigged out before the seven days were over. Then I would go through a period of dejection feeling that I had failed some sort of test that God had given me.

Well, of course, none of this was true. The only test God gives us today is whether or not we will believe on His son, and then if we will believe in and be obedient to His word in loving others and in living out the precepts that He has given us to live a godly life. I'm sure there are other unseen tests that come our way, in fact all of life is a test for our response to God's love and to the needs of others.

But God is not testing us in the same manner that he tested the Old Testament Patriarchs. While spiritually we are meant to put our Isaac, our most beloved possession, on the alter as an offering to God, physically He is not calling us to go on a forty day fast as Moses and Elijah did, or as our Lord did in the wilderness, anymore than He is calling us to be physically crucified as our Lord was for us. We are meant to be spiritually crucified, and we are meant to crucify the old man of the flesh, and this does involve physical penance, but we are not meant to do everything that our Lord did for our salvation in order to be faithful Christians.

Having said that, fasting is a part of the Christian life. Our Lord did not say "If you fast", but "When you fast", thus fasting is expected of us, and it does have many spiritual and physical benefits.

One great secret I found out about the spiritual life, and fasting, was from watching the career of one of the greatest football legends ever to toss the old pigskin, Joe Montana. Now, Montana may have been the greatest quarterback in football history, but he was not the biggest or the strongest quarterback, in fact he looked kind of like a skinny guy in an oversized uniform at times. He also did not have the strongest arm for passing; there were other quarterbacks who could throw the ball farther, but one thing that Joe knew how to do, and that was move the ball up the field. He was able to do this in incremental steps. He knew how to keep a cool head, he could spot his man in the field and he could get the ball to his man play by play until he was within distance of the goal line, where they could make a touchdown or kick a field goal to win the game.

I found out that the spiritual life, and likewise fasting, could be carried out in the same way. You don't have to make some huge, dramatic breakthough with some forty day fast in order to overcome in life; you can go on regular single day fasts, and three day fasts and enjoy much benefit from it.

Even if you ever were able to go on a prolonged water fast for twenty or forty days this may not even be necessary, or even proper for good health, and it would not necessarily guarantee you perfect health afterward for the rest of your life either. For one thing, since we live in a fallen world, and not in the ideal environment that Adam and Eve lived in, we have imperfect bodies subject to disease, old age, and death; we are simply never going to enjoy continuous, perfect health.
We will be subject to colds, flu, accidents, infirmities due to genetic defects and other results of living in a fallen world; however it is possible for the majority of people to have optimal health, even vibrant health most of the time, and fasting, when done within reasonable limits, can be of great benefit in achieving this goal. We don't have to be sick and tired all or even most of the time, and we don't have to depend on doctors with their strange pharmaceutical concoctions to enjoy near to perfect health, and to have vibrant health either.

I believe as a Christian it is my duty to keep my vessel as fit as possible for His service, and fasting is one of the best methods to maintain one's health, providing it is done sensibly and in moderation. One valuable resource that I found on fasting was in the writings of the Desert Fathers from the fourth century of the church. These men were ascetics who went out into the desert to seek God, and many of them were very experienced in fasting. They were not strangers to hardship and oftentimes they pushed their bodies to the limit to seek to purge themselves of the lusts of the flesh and from worldly taints in order to purify their hearts so that they might know God more fully, as it is written "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God".

While they were experienced in all sorts of ascetic practices, I was surprised to learn that they also wrote that a single day of fasting or a three day fast was often sufficient for most people involved in the spiritual struggle, and that if one were attempting to fast beyond these limits but grew so tired that they were not able to preform their normal, daily duties, then by all meants they should eat something. You see, they were very practical men as well.

They also wrote that if due to someones' hospitality, they were offered food out of the goodness of another's heart, then in the spirit of charity it would be more prudent to break the fast and eat of someone's table who desired to bless them, so that the giver might be blessed themself. In fact, it was written that if one refused to accept another's hospitality because of a spirit of pride, then that was less acceptable than to receive the nourishment of charity and break the fast.

So we see that there are many issues involved in fasting, the first being that one should enter a fast with a humble heart, emptying oneself of one's own sense of importance, and set their heart on seeking the Lord, and his kingdom.

Another mistake I used to make when I fasted was thinking that I had to spend all of my time, morning to night, in prayer if I were not involved in secular duties; that I had to pray constantly or be reading the Psalms during the entire time of the fast and abstain from any other worldly activity.
This I know now is not necessary to do during a fast. If you set your heart to seek the Lord at the beginning of the fast, and then during the fast you have a regular time of daily prayer a few times a day, and read the Scripture occasionally, then you don't have to feel too guilty about reading a book, or going to a movie, or watching TV or listening to some other type of wholesome entertainment. You don't want the fast to be taken up entirely in secular activities, but you don't have to go to the other extreme either. Again, all things in moderation.

I also found out that it was easier to fast according to the old Hebrew method of fasting, evening to evening, instead of morning to morning. Thus instead of having my last meal on the evening before the fast, and then going on an entire 24 hour period from the next morning to the morning of the following day, I found that if I made my last meal prior to beginning the fast a lunch meal, and then started the fast after lunch and fasted until evening or supper time of the following day, I was able to handle the fast much better, particularly if I needed to be physically active during that period.
Thus I would begin a fast after lunch and break it on the evening of the following day, which would still be a 24 hour period.

Probably one of the most important things I learned about fasting, is that you do not have to go on a total water fast to enjoy great benefits, both spiritually and physically. There is what is known as a Daniel fast, where for a period of time one eats only fruits and vegetables, or when one goes on a juice fast, ingesting only the juice of fruits and vegetables. This was the type of fast I went on after my four day water fast to recover from my illness, and these types of fasts are much easer to accomplish than a water fast if the fast is to be longer than a few days. If one takes proper care of themself and takes vitamin supplements along with the juice during the fast, it is possible to go on a juice fast for up to a week without too much difficulty and the health benefits can be amazing

Even a three day juice fast can have dramatic effects on one's health.

It has been an ancient practice in the Eastern Orthodox church to go on vegetarian fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays, abstaining from all meat, dairy products, fish and eggs, with some of the stricter practitioners eating only one meal on those days, usually after three o'clock in the afternoon.
I have found this type of fast to be the easiest one to practice on a regular weekly basis and it can have wonderful health benefits.

If you are going to fast on a regular basis you don't want to go overboard with it. Usually 1-2 days a week is sufficient for regular weekly fasting, and these can be vegetable fasts or juice fasts. Many in the early church and in the early Methodist church fasted for 2 days a week, usually one or two days apart, such as on Wednesday and Friday.
This may be too strict for some people, so each should practice this to according to their own circumstances and surroundings.
If you do go on regular 3 day fasts, either water or juice fasts, once a month is usually sufficient for this.

Week long fasts or longer on water are difficult and I would not recommend them without the council of a trained naturopath or a holistic physician. A week long water fast should not be undertaken more often than once or twice a year. I understand that under rare occasions the Lord may call some people to prolonged fasts, even water fasts, however this should not be entered into rashly, and one should probably seek the council of a trained, mature Christian elder before going on such a fast, along with medical advice from a Christian physician trained in the discipline of fasting for a water fast that is to be longer than three days.

If you decide to go on a week long juice fast using natural fruit and/or vegetable juices, then this should not be undertaken more often than once every 2-3 months. 

Whether or not you ever go on a prolonged fast is between yourself and the Lord. While God expects us to fast, He did not set any particular time limits on it, and excess in fasting may not always be beneficial.
Fasts of a day or two or three are sufficient for most people.
There should never be any compulsion or coercion in regard to fasting.

There is also a purging type of fast described in the chapter on Hippocrates. When purging is mentioned images suddenly spring to mind of an exhausted, emaciated woman in the last stages of anorexia or bulimia, of voluntary vomiting and starving oneself nearly to death. Anything taken to extremes is dangerous, even drinking water. Eating is necessary for life, but eating huge amounts of food every day and putting on an extra 200 lbs. can be deadly. The same can be said about drinking alcohol, and about purging. Purging was an ancient part of medical science, providing it is not taken to extremes and is not done every day, or even every week, and it does not involve vomiting at all. It is simply a method for cleansing the system of toxins and can be practiced by nearly everyone. Sensible and moderate purging can have great benefits, and this will be covered in another chapter.