What is a Fast?
Daniel 9:2-4 "in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,"
What is a Fast?
The dictionary tells us a fast is to keep from eating all or certain foods, such as observing a holy day, or to eat very little or nothing. According to the commentaries, the cultures of Jesus day practiced different kinds of fasts. There were the plain food fast of eating vegetable or beans and not meats or delicacies as practiced by Daniel. There were normal fasts meaning no food, only water. Most commonly one day was from sundown to sundown, but it also was common not to eat during daylight hours. There were extreme fasts, as recorded by Moses who was forty days up on Mt. Sinai. He did not eat food or drink. In the custom of Israel an extreme fast usually lasted only one day.
To understand a fast is to recognize the place of food in the Bible. Food was not only for survival, but for pleasure that we might enjoy what God has given. Some of us have more pleasure than others in eating. There is also the fellowship we enjoy in sharing and giving and eating with one another. There is also the spiritual dimension of food. God blesses us by providing our needs and our enjoyment. It is a means of worship, thanksgiving, and blessing from God and to God. Food may also have a symbolic use such as wine and bread at communion.
Biblical fasting was to refrain from eating some or all food for spiritual reasons. Of course, there are many types of fasting that do not have specific spiritual reasons. Fasting should not be confused with hunger strikes for political reason, nor to be confused with dieting to lose weight. It is for spiritual significance.
Jesus witnessed fasting as a spiritual activity, as a means of people measuring their spiritual health. Scribes and Pharisees loved to parade their piety among the people and did so with making sure others knew they had deprived themselves of food for God’s sake. Many wore special clothes. If it was for mourning, sack-cloth and ashes were worn as part of the cultural practice of the Israelites. They put ashes on their heads. Many Pharisees and other leaders would fast twice a week. They would not eat food during daylight hours, but eat something before the day and/or after the sun set.
A personal fast is most effective when instead of eating a meal, you use that time to pray, read scriptures, and think as you set this time apart for God.
The dictionary tells us a fast is to keep from eating all or certain foods, such as observing a holy day, or to eat very little or nothing. According to the commentaries, the cultures of Jesus day practiced different kinds of fasts. There were the plain food fast of eating vegetable or beans and not meats or delicacies as practiced by Daniel. There were normal fasts meaning no food, only water. Most commonly one day was from sundown to sundown, but it also was common not to eat during daylight hours. There were extreme fasts, as recorded by Moses who was forty days up on Mt. Sinai. He did not eat food or drink. In the custom of Israel an extreme fast usually lasted only one day.
To understand a fast is to recognize the place of food in the Bible. Food was not only for survival, but for pleasure that we might enjoy what God has given. Some of us have more pleasure than others in eating. There is also the fellowship we enjoy in sharing and giving and eating with one another. There is also the spiritual dimension of food. God blesses us by providing our needs and our enjoyment. It is a means of worship, thanksgiving, and blessing from God and to God. Food may also have a symbolic use such as wine and bread at communion.
Biblical fasting was to refrain from eating some or all food for spiritual reasons. Of course, there are many types of fasting that do not have specific spiritual reasons. Fasting should not be confused with hunger strikes for political reason, nor to be confused with dieting to lose weight. It is for spiritual significance.
Jesus witnessed fasting as a spiritual activity, as a means of people measuring their spiritual health. Scribes and Pharisees loved to parade their piety among the people and did so with making sure others knew they had deprived themselves of food for God’s sake. Many wore special clothes. If it was for mourning, sack-cloth and ashes were worn as part of the cultural practice of the Israelites. They put ashes on their heads. Many Pharisees and other leaders would fast twice a week. They would not eat food during daylight hours, but eat something before the day and/or after the sun set.
A personal fast is most effective when instead of eating a meal, you use that time to pray, read scriptures, and think as you set this time apart for God.
Dale
The dictionary tells us a fast is to keep from eating all or certain foods, such as observing a holy day, or to eat very little or nothing. According to the commentaries, the cultures of Jesus day practiced different kinds of fasts. There were the plain food fast of eating vegetable or beans and not meats or delicacies as practiced by Daniel. There were normal fasts meaning no food, only water. Most commonly one day was from sundown to sundown, but it also was common not to eat during daylight hours. There were extreme fasts, as recorded by Moses who was forty days up on Mt. Sinai. He did not eat food or drink. In the custom of Israel an extreme fast usually lasted only one day.
To understand a fast is to recognize the place of food in the Bible. Food was not only for survival, but for pleasure that we might enjoy what God has given. Some of us have more pleasure than others in eating. There is also the fellowship we enjoy in sharing and giving and eating with one another. There is also the spiritual dimension of food. God blesses us by providing our needs and our enjoyment. It is a means of worship, thanksgiving, and blessing from God and to God. Food may also have a symbolic use such as wine and bread at communion.
Biblical fasting was to refrain from eating some or all food for spiritual reasons. Of course, there are many types of fasting that do not have specific spiritual reasons. Fasting should not be confused with hunger strikes for political reason, nor to be confused with dieting to lose weight. It is for spiritual significance.
Jesus witnessed fasting as a spiritual activity, as a means of people measuring their spiritual health. Scribes and Pharisees loved to parade their piety among the people and did so with making sure others knew they had deprived themselves of food for God’s sake. Many wore special clothes. If it was for mourning, sack-cloth and ashes were worn as part of the cultural practice of the Israelites. They put ashes on their heads. Many Pharisees and other leaders would fast twice a week. They would not eat food during daylight hours, but eat something before the day and/or after the sun set.
A personal fast is most effective when instead of eating a meal, you use that time to pray, read scriptures, and think as you set this time apart for God.
Dale
The dictionary tells us a fast is to keep from eating all or certain foods, such as observing a holy day, or to eat very little or nothing. According to the commentaries, the cultures of Jesus day practiced different kinds of fasts. There were the plain food fast of eating vegetable or beans and not meats or delicacies as practiced by Daniel. There were normal fasts meaning no food, only water. Most commonly one day was from sundown to sundown, but it also was common not to eat during daylight hours. There were extreme fasts, as recorded by Moses who was forty days up on Mt. Sinai. He did not eat food or drink. In the custom of Israel an extreme fast usually lasted only one day.
To understand a fast is to recognize the place of food in the Bible. Food was not only for survival, but for pleasure that we might enjoy what God has given. Some of us have more pleasure than others in eating. There is also the fellowship we enjoy in sharing and giving and eating with one another. There is also the spiritual dimension of food. God blesses us by providing our needs and our enjoyment. It is a means of worship, thanksgiving, and blessing from God and to God. Food may also have a symbolic use such as wine and bread at communion.
Biblical fasting was to refrain from eating some or all food for spiritual reasons. Of course, there are many types of fasting that do not have specific spiritual reasons. Fasting should not be confused with hunger strikes for political reason, nor to be confused with dieting to lose weight. It is for spiritual significance.
Jesus witnessed fasting as a spiritual activity, as a means of people measuring their spiritual health. Scribes and Pharisees loved to parade their piety among the people and did so with making sure others knew they had deprived themselves of food for God’s sake. Many wore special clothes. If it was for mourning, sack-cloth and ashes were worn as part of the cultural practice of the Israelites. They put ashes on their heads. Many Pharisees and other leaders would fast twice a week. They would not eat food during daylight hours, but eat something before the day and/or after the sun set.
A personal fast is most effective when instead of eating a meal, you use that time to pray, read scriptures, and think as you set this time apart for God.
