First I would like to say that this is a very good site. Second, the question I have concerns fasting. I understand that prayer and fasting go hand in hand when you are wanting some serious time with GOD. I plan to fast for seven days. What is acceptable to GOD for me to consume during this fast? I was thinking maybe juice, toast maybe a little fruit. Or is no food allowed at all? I will be alone during this time. Just me, my Bible and GOD in a motel room. All day, every day. For seven days. So I really can’t cook anything or go anywhere to get anything. I just want to know can I eat food at all and if so what? Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help you can offer would be a great help. Thanks again. Your Brother in Christ,
Robert Bertram
Fasting is not a commandment to the Christian and for some is not a enhancer of prayer. This is between you and the Lord! Fasting is the abstinence of all foods, but not drink. You need that moisture and nutrients found in juices and the flushing effect of water. But if you are wanting some guide lines, here they are:
- When you fast, make sure it is in secret and that no one knows its happening. This is between God and yourself! Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
- Concentrate solely on your prayers to God, abstain from all outside interference, make it plain in your heart first that your daily food is less important to you then Gods will is! Isaiah 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
- Immediately start eating again before you start hurting you health. Acts 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 27:36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. Do not take the fast to the point of injury to the Temple, your body! 1st Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.