Fasting Series: Are there really different types of fasting?

lionunlimited

Jan 8

Once anything can be identified or defined, then it can not be one type. Only a person can be one type. As a matter of fact, you can not apply types to a person. Moses is Moses, Kate is Kate ... period. There are no types of Moses or Kate because that's who they are. But once it is not a person, there can not be only one type ... even when the subject is God.

If this shocked you, it means that you did not know that God is not our God's name. God is a title attached to a role. As such, we have different types of gods, which is why we can say there is a true God and there are false gods. That is a reference to types.

I said all that to say, yes. There are different types and forms of fasting. The person who would disagree will be the person who does not understand what fasting really is. If a person defines fasting as abstaining from food and drink, then to such a person there can only be one type of fasting. Fasting is not just abstaining from food and drink. Rather, fasting is abstaining from anything that could potentially be a distraction so that one can focus on fellowshipping with God in view of a specified objective.

By looking through scriptures alone, it is easy to see that there are different forms that fasting can take, and each of them is recognised and respected by God.

In Matthew 4, we see that Jesus was hungry after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights. This suggests that his fast involved abstaining from food. It is not clearly stated whether Jesus abstained from drinking water, but we can assume that since he was in a place that was most likely a desert, it is possible that he did not drink either.

Then, in the book of Daniel, we find a clear example where Daniel went into a fast that did not involve absolute withdrawal from food. Rather, his fasting was from pleasant foods and other forms of refreshment like wine. I would say this makes sense because there was no outlined duration for his fast when he started since he could not have known how long it would take. So, I guess he decided to eat something just enough to keep him alive and strong enough to be conscious to pray and wait for an answer from the Lord. And as we read from the story, God respected and recognised this fast and sent an angel with an answer to him.

I have suggested that it was this same type of fasting that Daniel and his friends did when they were in the training program for the king's advisors. The program lasted 3 years and these guys ate only vegetables and water. It allowed them to be able to fast for 3 whole years and the end result was that they topped their class by a wide margin. Again, as I have said before, since the word "fasting" was not mentioned in the text of Daniel 1, there are those who would argue that they were not fasting, and as I said, I would not bother to argue the point.

I should seize this opportunity to point out here though that it was not the fasting itself that made God answer Daniel but rather the position of his heart and his determination to stay with God for as long as it took to get the answer. And as we can see from the story, the answer was released from heaven from the very first day he decided to seek God regarding the issues that bothered him.

I wonder if you realised that this happened to Daniel on two separate occasions. On one occasion, his fasting involved "prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9) and on the second occasion, it was a matter of "eating no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in [his] mouth, neither did [he] anoint [himself] at all." (Daniel 10)

So, even from Daniel's example alone, you can see that there are at least 2 forms that fasting can take. If you read and compare both accounts, you will notice that heaven's response was the same.

An Angel was dispatched from heaven on the very first day he set his heart to seek God,
It was the same angel, Gabriel,
The first thing Gabriel did was to touch Daniel
Gabriel affirmed the love of God for Daniel
Gabriel relayed the message from heaven to Daniel.

But here, in the second record, we see the benefit of fasting. Daniel had persisted for 21 this in the presence of God waiting to hear a response to the questions that he had. If Daniel had not been in the fast, he would have walked away and continued his usual business and perhaps he would not have been in the right position of heart to receive the answer he needed. Whatever we might think, at least it is clear that God saw Daniel's devotions on both occasions as acceptable forms of fasting.

In Isaiah 58, we find a description of fasting that God himself takes delight in. In his description of the fast that he chooses, he makes no mention of abstaining from food and drink even though he recognised that the fasting that the Israelites were doing focused on outward things like abstaining from food and punishing the flesh in the name of appearing to be humble. He knew it was a fast but he said he preferred a different type of fast. So, this is another form of fasting, social justice, generosity and seeking peace on a day set aside by the community to do so.

I remember a time when I was choir director. We used to fast once a month. Based on this Isaiah 58 scripture, we brought in the financial value of the meals we skipped in our fast and used them to meet welfare needs of members in financial difficulty, and I can say we saw the blessing of God as there were tangible individual and corporate testimonies.

Now, I think I see beyond just the question to the why of the question. There are 2 points in my mind, and I think one might be influenced by the other.

Some people, in a bid to avoid the hunger associate with the type of fasting declared by their church community, use the fact that there are different types of fasting as their excuse to dodge what has been agreed corporately as the parameters of the fast to which the community may have signed up for.

For example, a person being part of a church community that has decided to embark on a fast of food and drink for a certain number of days can bring up the example of Daniel's fast (in Daniel 10) as a means of justifying themselves for not joining the rest of the church in abstaining from food. And they do this without prior agreement with the rest of the church so that they would be able to claim to have fastest and be seen to be at par with the rest of the community. Well, such people are only interested in appearing to fast. It is to such people that Jesus offered a rebuke that their fasting is to be seen by men and, with that being the case, they have no reward from heaven.

Of course, there are situations that preclude certain people from joining in a type of fast that involves absolute withdrawal from food and drink. For example the aged and the sick may not be able to withstand the physical demands of staying away from food and drink in order to fast. Usually a congregation that is sensitive to this particular category of people will make that provision available right from the point where the fasting is being declared so that those who fall into that category would participate in the fast within the parameter set forth to accommodate them.

Those who don't belong to such a group but then choose to sneak behind the group using what is otherwise a legitimate option as their excuse for not fasting as they agreed to should know that, even though they are able to deceive men, they can not fool God. And as Jesus said, they have their reward already; their fast will accomplish nothing beyond the praise of men.

2. Church leaders, in a bid to "catch" those who are being too lazy to fast and are using the Daniel type of fast to continue eating while others are fasting, might teach that there is only one type of fasting, which is the complete abstinence from food and water. Unfortunately, in their zeal, they are presenting teachings that are not supported in scriptures.

Personally, I would rather teach the truth as it is in God's word and leave God to sort out the wheat from the weeds. As I mentioned before when the choir used to fast together in the manner I detailed earlier, not everyone bought the idea initially. I had to teach it to the choir several times over many months before some people came on board. In addition to that, one of the things that gave credence to that step was that testimonies began to manifest in the lives of those who had fasted willingly and with understanding, and as more testimonies came up, more people realised that they were missing out of a legitimate avenue to be blessed and they had a change of heart.

So, I think even if we have the best of intentions, teaching people what is not true does not get them the blessing that God intends for them to have. Teach the truth, leave the rest to the Lord. Do not use the scriptures and your position to manipulate or trick people to do what you know to be God's will for them. The benefits of following God are realised only if we are willing and obedient; obedience in isolation will not get us there.

Daniel Oyanna is a conference speaker on relationships, health, faith and other subjects and a Pastor and teacher blessed by God with a grace to make things easy to understand. He is the author of the book To Date or Not to Date, Instructions in Submission, Crushing the Crushers, several mini-books most of which are free. He started UnLimited to help people reach their God-given goals by walking with them to their finish line. He is reachable at pd_lionunlimited@yahoo.com