Fasting failures

Prayer
1

I have been attempting completion of 7 day fasting, without food and water, which Abba Commanded, and have failed for months; I am devastated exceeding devastation. I have hurt Abba, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and Good many times, my life has worsened each time I have failed; I was given opportunity dozens of times to complete the fast, and I ruined each and disobeyed, I am a fool, I am in the brink, I ask, seek, and knock for death from Good.

Obey Abba when He Commands.

I do not know what to do. I do not want to lose Abba, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, nor Good.

1 Like
2

Thank you for sharing this @randyjfrederick. First, fasting is certainly scriptural and can draw us closer to God. I would like to gently caution you against extreme fasting, though. You mentioned trying to fast seven days without food or water. It’s quite perilous to your life to abstain from water that long, and while God can fill a lack of physical sustenance, I think we can be sure that he would not want you to put your life in jeopardy to fast for him. Fasting can help us face discomfort and hopefully draw us closer to God, but you don’t need to beat yourself up over not being able to complete a fast. Jesus wants to set you free and he cares more about the state of your heart than any good work you do or do not do. Hope this encourages you. :folded_hands:

1 Like
3

which Abba Commanded

This may not be correct. I see fasting as something one does that reflects the intensity of their feeling not so much as what God requires. Even at that I have found fasting as a useful reminder to pray. One can get caught up in the day’s activities to the extent one forgets that he intended to pray frequently. Hunger pangs can be a frequent reminder that one intended to pray for something throughout the day.

There can be health risks for extended fasting which may further indicate that it is not of God.

4

There is no direct, universal command in the New Testament that obligates all believers to fast in the same way that commands such as prayer, faith, repentance, or love are explicitly enjoined.

No Pauline epistle contains an imperative verb commanding fasting as a standing requirement for the church. This absence is theologically significant.

J.

5

It’s good that you have recognized the importance of fasting. I have done some fasting but not a crazy lot. I have accidently broken fasts before also. Not sure how that’s possible but I did it.

7 days is the longest fast I have ever done. I’ve done it 2 or 3 times. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. At first I made a strategy. If I felt hungry, I’d drink 1 or 2 full glasses of water and then I didn’t feel hungry anymore. but as the week went on I did not feel hungry even without filling up on water, and I was amazed at how much energy I had! So I realized that, the hunger was psychological, or at least, the voices in my head! So I made new strategy, on my last fast of 7 days, I got hungry and keeping in mind the Lord and it either being psychological or evil spirits whispering to me to stop it, I didn’t reach for a glass of water, I spoke to my flesh body and told it to shut up because I am fasting unto the Lord and if he doesn’t stop complaining that I will add another day to the fast! He shut up right away and I wasn’t hungry no more! True story.

6

Maybe you missed that page? But we sure do, it is in Matthew 6

Matthew 6: 2, 6-8

**2 **Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward….,

**6 **But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

**7 **But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

**8 **Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him…./KJV

So at first it says when you do your alms (giving), it say when you do them. It does not say, “If” you do them. Right? So the Lord expects us to give alms and help people. Then right after that it starts talking about Prayer. It says, “when” you pray, don’t do it like that, do it like this…Right? So we know that we are expected to pray and also we are charged with doing it the right way and not the wrong way, right? Stay with me, it gets real now, lol!

Matthew 6: 16-18

**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.

**17 **But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

**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…./KJV

Interesting! It sure seems to put fasting on the same level as Praying or giving Alms! Moreover, When You Fast, don’t do it it the wrong way, do it the right way. You with me?

The Lord expects us to fast. It is not a suggestion! Right?

7

I was expecting this @Edward429451 but…

Your argument depends on treating “when” as a command, but that is not how the Greek construction works in this passage.

In all three cases
almsgiving
prayer
fasting

…the same grammatical form is used:

Ὅταν + subjunctive verb

This construction means “whenever” or “when it happens”, not an imperative command.

So the structure is:

not “you must do this”

but “whenever you do this, do not do it like the hypocrites”

That applies equally to all three. The passage is regulating manner, not establishing obligation.

Now the key issue.

You are correct that almsgiving and prayer are expected practices across Scripture. That expectation, however, does not come from Matthew 6 itself, but from the broader canonical witness.

For example:

Prayer is explicitly commanded elsewhere
~1 Thessalonians 5:17
“pray without ceasing”[1]

Giving is explicitly commanded elsewhere
~2 Corinthians 9:7
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart”[2]

Now apply the same test to fasting.

Where is the New Testament command that says believers must fast?

It is not present.

There is no imperative verb anywhere in the apostolic writings commanding fasting as a standing obligation.

So you cannot import obligation into Matthew 6 when the rest of the New Testament does not establish it.

What Matthew 6 is actually doing is very precise.

It assumes three known religious practices and corrects hypocrisy in them.

The repeated pattern is:

do not practice before men.

practice in secret before the Father.

That is the controlling theme of the entire section.

It is about motive and visibility, not about instituting disciplines.

Now notice something important.

If your logic is followed consistently, then all three must carry equal legal force.

But even then, the passage still does not command them. It only regulates them.

So the argument becomes circular:

You are reading obligation into the word “when,” rather than deriving it from the grammar.

Finally, the broader New Covenant framework must govern interpretation.

In ~Colossians 2:16:

“Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink”[3]

Fasting falls into that category of food abstinence.

If it were a binding command, Paul could not speak this way.

So…

Matthew 6 does not command fasting.
It assumes the possibility of fasting and corrects the way it is done.

Prayer and giving are commanded elsewhere in Scripture.
Fasting is not.

So the text cannot be used to make fasting a requirement for believers.

Correct?

J.

  1. pray without ceasing - ESV ↩︎

  2. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - ESV ↩︎

  3. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. - ESV ↩︎

8

Nah, that’s not correct. You are over rationalizing it is all.

9

I’m not finished yet @Edward429451 …

When Paul says in Epistle to the Colossians 2:16, “Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink”[1], he is not speaking narrowly about diet preferences only, but about the entire category of eating and abstaining. The Greek terms for “food” and “drink” form a comprehensive pair that includes both consumption and the deliberate withholding of it. That naturally includes fasting, because fasting is defined precisely as abstaining from food and or drink.

Scripture itself confirms this definition. In Gospel of Matthew 4:2, Jesus’ fast results in hunger, showing the absence of eating[2]. In Book of Esther 4:16, fasting is explicitly described as neither eating nor drinking for a set period[3]. So by definition, fasting falls directly within the scope of “food and drink.”

Paul develops the same principle further in Epistle to the Romans 14. He says the one who eats and the one who abstains are both acting unto the Lord, and neither is to judge the other. “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats”[4]. That category of “abstaining” clearly includes voluntary restriction of food, which is exactly what fasting is. So the apostolic rule is not compulsion, but liberty of conscience.

Paul then sharpens the warning in Epistle to the Colossians 2:20–23, where he rejects imposed regulations such as “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”[5]. The phrase “Do not taste” directly concerns abstaining from food. When abstinence is turned into a rule, it becomes a human regulation rather than a divine command. That is precisely what Paul is opposing.

So the conclusion is straightforward. Fasting is not excluded from Colossians 2:16. It is included within the category of “food and drink” because it consists in abstaining from them. Therefore Scripture explicitly forbids making such practices a basis for judgment or obligation. Fasting may be practiced as a voluntary discipline, but it cannot be imposed as a requirement for believers.

You agree?

J.

  1. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. - ESV ↩︎

  2. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. - ESV ↩︎

  3. Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. - ESV ↩︎

  4. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. - ESV ↩︎

  5. Why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” - ESV ↩︎

10

Since you put it that way, I have to agree with you. But I wasn’t judging you. You was talking about fasting so I spoke what has been my experience. How is that judging you? Didn’t mean to be…

11

Did not say I was judging you or vica versa, but we do need to rightly cutting straight the Scriptures @Edward429451 .

J.

12

If you have it in your mind that we don’t have to fast, then you’re not getting what I’m saying.

Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough for you? Well here is the teacher that helped me learn how important fasting really is. Derek Prince.

13

I hope I didn’t end the thread with that! I’m guessing not many people like to fast.

Now in Matthew 6 where it talks about fasting and how to do it right, it is not written as a commandment, but as if, he’s bringing it up in conversation, how not to do it, how to do it. But it does not say “If” you fast, it does say, “when” you fast, like it is an established thing to do that pleases the Lord. That’s all. The commandment is in the OT

Psalm 35:15

**13 **But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom…./KJV

There’s others also. And fasting is not as bad as I thought it would be. Now I understand, my body is my vehicle and any day I leave it in the garage and not make it work, the longer it will last.

Seven days was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I’m’a sort hesitant about a 21 day fast, I dunno!

The Lord told me that a fast does not have to be for a specific amount of time (it usually is though), but that it can be when you say now at the checkout for that candy bar. Give it Jesus. That was a fast. Going without almost anything can be a fast if there was denial to self involved. I like that !

I once tried a digital fast. No tv, internet, phone screens, nothing but silence, just me and the Lord. Longest 20 minutes of me life, lol.