FAQ – 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting

At Manna, we encourage fasting for 21 days each year in the month of January.  This is part of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, a season of focused prayer as a church family.

The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions and obstacles for a spiritual purpose. Fasting hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It enables us to experience and celebrate in a fresh way the goodness and mercy of God. It also prepares our hearts for the blessings, plans and purposes God desires for us.

Your personal fast should represent a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

Types of Fasts

Soul Fast

This fast is a great option if you don’t have much experience with fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.

Selective Fast

This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of this kind of fast is the “Daniel Fast”, during which you remove meat, sweets and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruit and vegetables for food.

Partial Fast

This involves abstaining from eating any type of food for certain periods of time of the day (eg: 6am to 3pm, sun-up to sundown)

Complete Fast

In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.

Scripture References

Resources

7 Basic Steps to Successful Fasting and Prayer

article by Bill Bright
cru.org

Guide to Prayer and Fasting

article by Bill Bright
cru.org