Biblically, fasting is abstaining from food, drink, sleep or sex to focus on a period of spiritual growth. Fasting should be limited to a set time, especially when the fasting is from food. Extended periods of time without eating are harmful to the body. Fasting is not intended to punish our flesh, but to focus on God.
As long as the flesh rules purity of heart will not exist. The fast should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the members of the body: the eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip, the hands from acts of injustice. It is useless to fast from food and yet to indulge in cruel criticism and slander.
"You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother."
In the Old Testament fasting is sometimes preparation for the Feast days, but more generally it is a sign of humility before God. Fasting accompanied mourning and repentance. In time of necessity of danger, it was appropriate for an individual or the whole community to fast.
Fasting in the New Testament was introduced by our Lord Jesus Christ Who gave us a great example of fasting. After His Baptism in the river of Jordan He withdrew into the wilderness where He spend forty days and forty nights in prayer and fasting in preparation for His sacred ministry. Jesus taught his disciples and followers to fast.
He told them not to fast like the Pharisees, but when they fast bodily they should be completely natural in their behavior humble and penitent .
Today, I think it is safe to say, the practice and idea of fasting is largely ignored. Some people say that God's people need not fast since we are saved by grace and not by works, and that fasting can easily become hypocritical, done merely for show and for the condemnation of others. Many others generally dismiss fasting as something old-fashioned, simple and naive.
Nonetheless, in spite of present practice of most people, we must take the practice of fasting seriously, We all need to develop the habit of saying no to our carnal passions and desires. What we need is self discipline and self-control. These are acquired only through regular spiritual exercise namely through fasting.
Prayer and fasting should in their turn be accompanied by almsgiving, by love for others expressed in practical form, by works of compassion and forgiveness.
Let us feed the hungry, let us give the thirsty drink, Let us clothe the naked, let us welcome strangers, Let us visit those in prison and the sick. Then the Judge of all earth will say even to us: Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.
Fasting is not at all an act of mortification for mortification's sake. It is not a "little suffering" which is somehow pleasing to God. It is not a punishment which is to be sorrowfully endured in payment for sins.
On the contrary, fasting for a Christian, should be a joyful experience, because fasting is a self discipline which we voluntarily impose upon ourselves in order to become better persons and better Christians.
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