How to Fast and Pray (Without Becoming Insufferable About It)

If you’ve never fasted, this post will get you started. If you’ve tried and quit, this post will help you understand why and try again better.

Fasting is one of the most overlooked Christian practices in modern American Christianity. It’s also one of the most countercultural in a culture that has trained us to never be hungry, ever. That tension is the point.

What fasting actually is (biblically)

Fasting in the Bible is voluntarily abstaining from food (sometimes other things) for a specific spiritual purpose. It is not:

• A weight loss strategy.
• A health practice (though intermittent fasting overlaps).
• A way to manipulate God into doing what you want.
• Spiritual showmanship.

It is:

• A way of physically embodying prayer.
• A discipline that reorders your appetites — making space for God in places food usually fills.
• A practice of waiting on God in seasons of major decision, grief, intercession, or repentance.
• A communal practice when the church does it together.

The Bible has many examples: Moses (40 days), David (multiple times), Daniel (10 days, 21 days), Jesus (40 days at the start of his ministry), Anna (constantly), Paul (frequently), the early church (regularly).

Importantly, fasting is assumed in scripture, not commanded as routine. Jesus said “WHEN you fast” (Matthew 6:16), not “if you fast.” It’s assumed Christians will do it, with no specific frequency mandated.

What fasting does

Three things, in our experience and in scripture’s testimony:

1. It clarifies what you actually want. When food is removed, the noise of constant satisfaction goes quiet. What surfaces — usually after the first day — is whatever your soul is actually hungry for. Often, it’s not food.

2. It puts prayer in your body. When your stomach growls and your blood sugar drops and you’d ordinarily eat — the fast turns that physical impulse into a prayer prompt. “I’m hungry. Lord, I’m waiting on you. Speak.”

3. It creates time and attention. Skipping a meal frees 30–60 minutes. Using that time for scripture and prayer is the actual discipline. Most fasting that “doesn’t work” is fasting that didn’t replace meal time with prayer time.

Types of fasts (with starter guidance)

Beginner: Skip one meal

Pick a day. Skip one meal — usually dinner is easiest at first because your morning starts normally. Use the time you would’ve spent eating to pray and read scripture.

That’s a fast. You did one. Welcome.

Try this for a few weeks before moving up. Many faithful Christians never go past this and have rich fasting lives.

Intermediate: 24-hour fast

Dinner one day to dinner the next. About 24 hours of just water (and coffee if you need it to function). Set aside time during the fast for extended prayer — maybe 30 minutes morning, 30 minutes midday, 30 minutes evening.

Most beginners can do this comfortably after a few weeks of single-meal fasts.

Advanced: 3-day fast

Solid food avoided for 72 hours, water and (optionally) clear broth allowed. Significant time given to scripture and prayer. Should be done with awareness of your health, ideally during a less-demanding work week.

Don’t do this until you’ve successfully done 24-hour fasts multiple times.

The Daniel Fast (10–21 days)

Named after Daniel chapters 1 and 10. Excludes meat, sweets, processed foods, alcohol, caffeine. Allows fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, water. Many churches do these corporately at the start of the year (often called “21 Days of Prayer and Fasting”).

Best for: longer durations where complete food fasting would be physically too difficult. Real fasting even though you’re eating — the discipline is in the restriction.

Other fasts

• Media fast. Off social media, news, streaming for a defined period. Not technically food fasting, but a real spiritual discipline.
• Sleep fast. Voluntarily losing sleep to pray (used historically by Pentecostal traditions in revival contexts). Be careful — sleep deprivation is hard on the body.
• Comfort fast. Skipping comfort items (coffee, sweets, certain foods) for a season. Often called a “partial fast.”

When to fast

Common biblical occasions:

• Major decisions. Acts 13:2–3 — the church fasts before commissioning Paul and Barnabas.
• Grief or repentance. 1 Samuel 7:6 — Israel fasts in repentance.
• Intercession. Esther 4:16 — Esther asks her people to fast for her before approaching the king.
• Seeking guidance. Acts 14:23 — fasting accompanies appointing leaders.
• Spiritual breakthrough. Daniel 10 — Daniel’s 21-day fast preceded a major spiritual revelation.

You don’t need a “reason” to fast — sometimes a regular weekly fast is itself the practice. But major spiritual moments often invite extended fasting.

When NOT to fast

The Bible is quiet on this directly, but pastoral wisdom says:

• If you have a history of disordered eating. Fasting can re-trigger anorexia, bulimia, or other patterns. Talk to a therapist before fasting.
• If you’re pregnant or nursing. Don’t.
• If you’re under 18. Generally not. Build other spiritual disciplines first.
• If you have certain medical conditions (diabetes, hypoglycemia, kidney issues). Talk to your doctor.
• During physically demanding work weeks. Hard physical labor + low calories = injury risk.
• If you’re using fasting to manipulate someone (a spouse, God, your own emotions). Examine your motives first.

If in doubt, talk to your doctor for medical questions and a pastor for spiritual ones.

How not to fast

Three things Jesus explicitly warned against (Matthew 6:16–18):

1. Don’t broadcast it. “Do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.” If everyone knows you’re fasting, you’ve already received your reward (their attention). The fast is between you and God.

2. Don’t make it joyless. Jesus says to “put oil on your head and wash your face” — meaning, look normal, even pleasant. Don’t broadcast suffering. Smile at people. Live your normal day. The fast is internal.

3. Don’t moralize about it. Some fasters use the experience to feel spiritually superior. The whole point of Matthew 6 is the opposite — secret discipline, not public pride.

What to expect

Day 1. Hungry. Headache likely if you usually drink coffee and stopped. Spiritual experience: probably nothing dramatic. Just hungry and a bit irritable.

Day 2. Less hungry but more tired. The body is shifting how it generates energy. Spiritual experience: things start to surface. Emotions get closer to the surface. Prayer feels different.

Day 3+. Hunger fades. Energy stabilizes. The mind clears. Many fasters report this is when the spiritual sharpness becomes most pronounced.

Most fasts don’t produce mystical experiences. Most produce subtler shifts — a clarified mind, a calmer prayer life, an awareness of God you didn’t have before. Don’t expect lightning. Expect quiet.

What to read alongside

If you want to deepen this practice:

• Isaiah 58. God’s prophetic correction of fasting that’s pure show — and his picture of fasting that includes justice and care for the vulnerable. Read this whenever you’re fasting.
• Matthew 6. Jesus’s framing of secret spiritual practices.
• Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline. The classic modern Christian book on spiritual disciplines, including fasting. Worth owning.

What’s next

• What is Christian fasting? (theological deep dive).
• How to pray (beginner’s guide).
• Does God answer prayer?
• Join a life group — many groups fast corporately a few times a year.

Skip one meal this week. Pray during it. That’s the start. The God who fasted himself in the wilderness honors the discipline — even when it’s small and unimpressive. Begin tomorrow.