In the midst of all the posts on fasting, a few people have asked me if fasting is really all about abstinence from food, or is it broader than that. I think this is an important question for us to consider within this whole topic. In an earlier post, I defined fasting as "voluntary abstinence …
Fasting: A View from the New Testament
Here is an unedited list of references to fasting from the New Testament with brief comments about what we can learn about fasting from these references. This list is a companion to my earlier list from the Old Testament found here. Matthew 4:1-3 – “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to …
Fasting: A View from the Old Testament
In thinking about the topic of fasting, I tried to cull through the Bible to find different references to fasting. Here is a mostly unedited list of references to fasting from the Old Testament with brief comments about what we can learn about fasting from these words. You can also read the companion post on …
Types of Fasting
In his book Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life, Donald Whitney offers a helpful list of different types of fasting that I found particularly helpful. I have distilled Whitney's comments down here in hopes of giving a basic framework for understanding the variety of fasting seen in the Scriptures. Normal fast – abstaining from all …
Fasting: Why Do We Do It?
Throughout the Bible, there are many reasons given for fasting, from personal spiritual renewal to community repentance before God. Some churches will take focused times of prayer and fasting based on times in the Bible where God’s people pray and fast in order to express deep needs before God. As a community, churches will stand …
Matthew Erickson 