What is fasting, and should Christians do it?
Fasting is the foregoing of a meal or consumption of food for a predetermined period of time. A fast may be warranted before blood tests or a medical procedure. Sometimes, very obese people need to go on a liquid diet, which would considered a fast as well. A religious fast is something else, entirely. In a religious fast, a Christian will sacrifice his natural desire for food, in order to spend time seeking God regarding a specific issue. The intention is that all of the time that would be spent acquiring, preparing and consuming food would, instead, be spent in the presence of God through prayer, worship or meditation on the Word. Also, the heightened sense of awareness obtained through hunger serves as a reminder of the purpose of the fast. The goal is to replace the feeding of the needs of physical hunger with the feeding of ones spiritual hunger by the means of intimacy with God. Jesus fasted from all food and drink, except water (Luke 4:2). The Bible also describes some extreme t
