The purpose of fasting is ultimately God Himself. There are many reasons to undertake a fast, but the bottom line for them all is to align your heart directly with Him. Think of this as the picture: the immediate purpose of a fast can vary. So, the first step for any kind of fast—order or method—is purpose. Fasting cannot be done casually, because there isn’t any spiritual benefit in simply not eating. Going through the motions just makes us hungry; but genuine, purposeful fasting is a powerful discipline for the disciple of Jesus and can play a part in literally transforming your life.

To help us define a godly purpose for fasting, here are 10 reasons:

1. To strengthen prayer
2. To seek God’s guidance
3. To express grief
4. To seek deliverance or protection
5. To express repentance and return to God
6. To humble oneself before God
7. To express concern for the work of God
8. To minister to the needs of others
9. To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God
10. To express love and worship to God

Throughout the Bible, we see people fast for a variety of reasons:

1. To be like Jesus (Matt. 4:1–17; Luke 4:1–13)
2. To obtain spiritual purity (Isaiah 58:5–7)
3. To repent from sins (See Jonah 3:8; Nehemiah 1:4, 9:1–3; 1 Samuel 14:24)
4. To influence God (2 Sam. 12:16–23)
5. To mourn for the dead (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12)
6. To request God’s help in times of crisis and calamity (Ezra 8:21–23; Nehemiah 1:4–11)
7. To strengthen prayer (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:17–29; Acts 10:30; 1 Corinthians 7:5)

None of these purposes amounts to twisting God’s arm to do what we want.
Who can do that? God is not a genie who will grant us whatever we wish. He is a good Father who is working out His sovereign will. Our reasons for fasting are for our own humility. By denying ourselves for a time, we provoke ourselves to rely more on God Almighty. It’s not about changing God; it’s about changing us. In fasting we:

1. We pray more intently
2. We become more receptive to God’s guidance
3. We lean more on Scripture to hear His voice
4. We demonstrate our grief and honest repentance
5. We physically declare that we need God to survive
6. We learn to sense spiritual reality more than the physical world
7. We prepare to love others better than ourselves

Lastly, fasting helps us to remember the true source of our utmost joy.
Most people would agree that food is a good thing. If you’re unable to fast, choose to abstain from something else, such as a hobby or technology or entertainment; those can also be good things. All good things come from God, but the human heart is inclined to worship God’s gifts rather than God Himself. Fasting helps our hearts to look past the good gift to the good God, who uses His gifts for our benefit.

Even if fasting makes sense, you may not feel like you need it right now. But think of fasting as similar to praise and worship. Oftentimes joy overflows from songs of praise, but more often singing leads to joy. With fasting, we place ourselves into a posture of humility. Likewise, when our souls overflow with godly emotions and repentance, we may be led to fasting; but far more often we need to choose to enter into a fast in order to be humbled and to fight our pride by rejecting the way we normally cope with our idols—a proactive approach.

You may fast personally at times, but our 21-days of prayer and fasting is something we will do together as a church family. Biblically, there are instances of corporate fasting where entire nations fasted together (Esther 4; Ezra 8). If it will help you overcome any fear you might have of fasting, ask another believer to join you. So feel free to fast together and pray for one another. Our church-wide fast will lend itself to this opportunity, because there’s a good chance the people around you will be fasting at the same time.
Find out what fasting should look like for you. Begin to pray now about what this is.

21-Day fast at Quest will look like this:
Even if you feel intimidated to try, let us all agree together as a church to fast in some fashion. Then join us in our church-wide fast to dedicate this time to the Lord as we ask Him in prayer for big things at Quest CHURCH in the coming year.

If you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our pastors or a leader at Quest. We’re here to help and support.

January 3, 10, 17 & 24 from 9:00–10:00am