What is fasting?
"So I prayed to the Lord God. I begged him. I made many appeals to him. I didn’t eat anything. I put on black clothes. And I sat down in ashes" (Daniel 9:3).
"The prophets and teachers fasted and prayed. They placed their hands on Barnabas and Saul. Then they sent them off" (Acts 13:3).
"So we didn’t eat anything. We prayed to our God about all of those matters. And he answered our prayers" (Ezra 8:23).
When someone is fasting, it means they’re giving up something for a time so they can focus more on God.In Bible times, people who believed in God would often fast and pray when they wanted to show God they were serious about something. They would give up food for a certain amount of time and spend hours talking to God. Sometimes they did this when they wanted to show God how sorry they were about something they did. Sometimes they fasted and prayed when they needed something from God.
The Bible doesn’t tell us we
have to fast, but it can be a good thing because it helps us to focus completely on God. People in the Bible gave up food when they fasted, but we can also fast from other things like video games, movies, social media, books, and more. We don’t have to give up these things forever—just for a period of time to honor God or show Him how serious we are about something.
You can fast and pray no matter how old you are. It’s good for anyone, of any age, to show God they want to focus only on Him for a while. However, always ask your parents if you want to fast from food. It may not always be the healthy thing for you to do, and there are other ways you can choose to fast instead.
