Question about Fasting. (Matt. 17:21)?

Question

It says that if your prayers aren't answered maybe fasting is necessary. I'm confused about fasting.. is it really as simple as not eating anything? I'm praying for God to heal my marriage, and I am willing to do anything.. can someone please guide me and tell me what it is I should do in order to have my prayers answered?

Answer 1

First of all let me say no matter what happens in your marriage don't ever lose faith in God.

Mark 11:24 Therfore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Like 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

This is kind of hard for me to explain I'll do my best. Fasting does not make things happen, it causes you spiritually to become closer with God. When we deny the flesh and "seek" spiritual things we have a closer walk with God. Through this walk we have stronger faith in God.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

I have fasted ( I'm not sure if that is proper english) many times. I have not always seen anything noticable at first.

The best fast are spirit led fast. I was in church one night and a man of God called me out. Up to the front of the church laid hands on me an told me the Lord was leading me into a fast for a certain number of days. I was hungry at the time when he called me out, by the time I made it back to my seat the spirit of fasting was on me and I was not hungry any more. I began the fast immediately. I will not say I did not get hungry for the length of days of the fast but I can say I was not starving. After the fast I began to see a noticable difference in my walk with God. My faith had came alive. There were things that came out of that spirit led fast that I still see and feel today, even at this very moment.

The first days are the worst, our bodys go into withdrawals. For me the first day is the worst. Drink plenty of water, only Moses fasted with out any water.

Seek God during this time more than usual. Don't just sit around and do nothing. Idle time during fasting is what the devil will use on you to torture your mind with food. If you have a job keep going to work. If you are at home continue to do chores an what have you as normal. Try to seperate yourself from ungodly things. Seek God, pray, and read the Bible. Keep your mind on Jesus. Don't tell what you are doing to be seen of people. Try to keep it secret.

My Pastor has just went off on a fast for a week at a time at different times. His results are very noticable. I've known many men and women of God who fast often. If you have anymore questions that I could answer for you about this feel free to email me.

I give a big AMEN to Don S.

Answer 2

There are different types of fast, but the one you are looking forr is the one where you abstain from food fo a period of time. The time varies depending on how long you want to hold out.

Anyway, when you are going on this fast you must at least have your objectives in mind. Yours would be for God to mend your marriage. If you are going to fast for more than a day or two, you can drink water in between but not enough to be full.

You should also prepare your body by eating less and lots of fruits ( fruits contain water which will sustain you).

Try not to move around much either when you are fasting. also, if you become hungry and you still want to continue, tell it to Jesus ( I was on a days fasting 6am-6pm and i became really hungry, i prayed and went to sleep and dreamed i was eating a whole lot of food-When i woke up i was full)

Most of the time of your fasting should be dedicated to prayer and Your prayer mus be sincere as well as you must believe that God is able to deliver. Also try to get away for a while and spend some alone time with God.

You do not have to talk all the times, if you feel like crying that's OK too. God understands every language. Keep o n making your petition before God and eventually you will get an breakthrough.

You can even pray when you are not ion fasting. Just keep on asking God for this and eventually He will answer.

I am on fasting today, i will remember you in my prayers.
God bless

Answer 3

Fasting isn't a sure fire way to get your prayers answered. However it is a way to cleanse your heart, mind and spirit to be open and ready for what God will tell you.
There are many types of fasts....a full fast is no food and can be physically harmeful if you aren't carefull. There is also fasting with drinking liquids and no solid food. A Daniel (or partial) fast is only fasting some things like Daniel did (He fasted all but water and vegetables.) I've done a Daniel fast by skipping a meal and spending that time in prayer. At the moment, I'm fasting Starbucks for June and praying for the US during the time I'm missing my Starbucks. Fasting doesn't have to be food...it can be tv time...anything that you put before the Lord.

For your marriage, I will be praying. Ask God to give You more love for your Husband. As your heart changes and there is more love overflowing, your husband will see the difference and God will be able to make changes in him too.

Answer 4

When you fast, you deny yourself. This can mean a complete fast, where you do not eat (or sometimes drink) anything for a certain amount of time. However, there are other kinds of fasts, too. Daniel fasted from sweet meats only and God sent Him an angel! Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churchs fasted from meat only on Fridays for centuries.

You can design a fast that fits you -- but by "fitting you," I don't mean one that affects you least. But if you work a physical job or have a physical condition, you may not want do a complete fast.

I fast every week by eating only brown rice on Thursdays.

The main thing is that you are telling God that spiritual things are more important to you than physical comforts. This isn't to appear religious or to become righteous but to show both Him and yourself that you are so serious about this that prayer for the desire of your heart and His is more important to you than life.

Fasts should always be accompanied by prayer and if possible, quiet times.

Finally, fasting is somethign you don't really understand until you do it for a while.

Answer 5

It is as simple as not eating but do not ever cease to drink water. Keep yourself fully hydrated.

You are better off fasting one or two days at a time to begin with. Going three days or longer requires some special care in breaking the fast without hurting yourself. From my experience I always find prayer harder when fasting. I think because you are putting your body and mind under subjection at the same time.

In longer fasts you take as much time to come off the fast as you have spent in fasting. After a three days fast you will drink juice the fourth day, maybe have soups the fifth and eat a few hand fulls of light foods of solids on the sixth day. In a complete three day fast you do not resume a normal diet until the fourth day after breaking the fast.

In other words a three day fast really involves seven days!

Since you seem to be considering fasting in order to get answer to prayer let us look at prayer. The first purpose for prayer is to get yourself in line with the Lord. (I need to stop here and will finish in a few hours. Sorry).

Answer 6

Britney...we just done with a fast. We fasted for three days straight. Interesting to see that you bring up Matt. 17:21, that was the text I used for Sunday mornings service. When you fast, it's more than abstaining from food. It's not an endurance test to see how long you can last. What it is designed to do is show yourself how weak your flesh is & how you need God in your life. In the verses before 21 starting in 14 Jesus' disciples cannot cast out the demon that possess' a man's son. This is to show us how much we need God. When you fast, we must realize that we need God & put no confidence in the flesh. There is another scripture, II Cor. 10:3-5, and it states that we are fighting against strongholds that hold people bound & that our weapons are not carnal, but are mighty through God. And what it's talking about is our prayer lives & relationship with God. "For we wrestle not against flesh & blood, but principalities & powers, rulers of darkness of this world..." -Ephesians 6:12. The strongholds, principalities, are things that bound people. Alcholism, Suicide, Addiction to drugs are things called strongholds, things that the devil uses to cause people to stumble or be bound. One of the ways that breaks this is when we pray & put our bodies into subjection to God's Will. When we fast, we are telling God that we at the end ourselves, we have no answers. When you feel the pain of not eating, you get the headaches, the nausea, that shows you how weak & feeble our bodies are & that we need God to intervene in our circumstances that we have no answers for.

Answer 7

with fasting, the main idea is to concentrate on God and prayer. That's why you fast, so that you're not distracted by things in the world, and can concentrate on praying. It's traditionally fasting from food, but doesn't have to be. You could fast from TV or something. The whole point is to show your sincerity by giving up something you enjoy. Just keep praying and trust God, He may save your marriage, He may choose not to, but you need to trust that whatever He does is for the best.

Answer 8

Often, it means not eating from sun up to sun down.

But fasting can be done in many ways. Here is where and how it's mentioned in the bible.

"The Bible recounts primarily two types of fasts. A partial fast is described in the book of Daniel. Although the water fast seemed to be the custom of the prophet, there was a three-week period in which he only abstained from "delicacies," meat, and wine (Daniel 10:3).

The two primary types mentioned in the Bible are the "absolute" and "supernatural absolute" fasts. These are total fasts-no food (solid or liquid) and no water. Paul went on an absolute fast for three days following his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:9). Moses and Elijah engaged in what must be considered a supernatural absolute fast of forty days (Deuteronomy 9:9; I Kings 19:8)"
-Bill Bright

Check out this website:
http://www.billbright.com/howtofast/

Answer 9

To fast you must be lead by the Spirit, or called by the Spirit to do so. Our hearts should be totally given to God. While fasting we should be in a continues state of worship and praise. It will do no good just to set there and go hungry. What you are doing is denying the fleshly needs of the body, and turning everything over to God. Be mindful though, He doesn't always give us what we want. He gives us what is best and only He knows what that is. This is a time that you need to trust and except what He has in store for you, and your home. If you can't except that, all your going to get out of your fast is an empty stomach.

Answer 10

God hears every word you say. Fasting does help, but there are many other things that will help you get answered prayers. Have you received God's righteousness? Have you forgiven other Christians who offended you?

Searching God's Word and seeking Christian advice is a good start. The Bible says that if your mate is not a "Born Again Christian", and he or she wants a divorce, let them be. It is admirable that you want to save your marriage, but please do not put your marriage above God. I did in the past and my marriage fell apart anyways and caused me so much pain and suffering.

My best advice for you is to become full of the Holy Spirit so that He will lead you. Acts 2:38 and Acts chapter 8 shows us how to receive the Holy Spirit. Ephesians teach us how to walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh.

I will pray for you.