Fasting
The Goal of Fasting
The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It also enables us to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God and prepares our hearts for all the good things God desires to bring into our lives. Remember, your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.
Timing of Fast
For the Valley Family, we encourage fasting March 30th through April 19th, as we seek God. These 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting are set apart as a season of focused prayer for ourselves, our families, our church and our community. You may also choose to fast at other times during the year for your own spiritual development. It’s very typical to fast a single meal, a whole day, or three days or more. The timing of your fast is not as important as the strength of your focus on God as you fast!
Scripture References
Types of Fasts:
Complete Fast
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the “Daniel Fast”, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
Prayer Focus
- Pray that God continues to bless the Valley Family, in this Year of Jubilee 50th Anniversary.
- Pray that God continues to pour out His Spirit on and through Valley Church, so we continue to see so many being healed, set free and coming to salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ (especially in this Easter season).
Prayer and Fasting Resources
Days of Prayer and Fasting are a time where we intentionally seek God every day in prayer as we believe for Him to move in powerful ways. If you are preparing for Valley's upcoming season of Days of Prayer & Fasting or you want to learn more about strengthening your personal prayer life, use these free resources from one of Valley's ministry partners, Highlands Resources, to help.