What Is The Best Way To Prepare For a Fast?

There is no information on the Internet for the Christian who wants to know how to prepare for fasting.

Consequently, I have developed this resource to assist the Believer who finds him or herself in this predicament!

I totally understand your situation. You want to fast but you don’t know what to do and in what order before your fast!

This also implies that you also don’t know why you should do what and when? However, we are not without help for we could learn how to prepare for fasting by observing how biblical characters prepared!

There are many; however, I will only look at a few and see how they prepared. First, I will examine how Moses, prepared for fasting; then Jesus, and finally the men of Jabesh.

Why should you prepare for your fast and how do preparations aid your fasting?

How Did Moses Prepare For His Spiritual Fast?

The Lord called Moses “and [he] was in the mount forty days and forty nights“. Exodus 24:18.

His was a long fast. So, what preparations did Moses make before his forty days and forty nights of fasting?

If he were living now you would hear a litany of preparatory tasks he would need to perform before fasting.

But Moses made no preparations for his very long fastings. He did not gradually reduce the amount, types, and frequency of his eating.

Instead, he woke up and decided that he should obey the Lord’s command to ascend the mountain.

In this timeless resource, I share how to fast? Click the link and explore it!

How Did Jesus Prepare His Body For Fasting?

The best way to prepare for a fast is to do all those tasks that the Lord God instructs us to perform before fasting.

Therefore, let us see if Jesus’ 40 days of fasting taught us how to prepare for fasting. Personally, I think how he fasted, like Moses, exemplified the best way to prepare for a fast, a Christian fast!

So, let’s see how Jesus prepared his body for fasting.

According to Apostle Matthew, immediately after Jesus’ baptism he was “led up of the Spirit” to go into the desert to be tested by the Devil, Matthew 4:1.

This means that this action was spontaneous. He had no plans or made no preparations to enter the desert or to fast.

This also means that Jesus had no water or food with him! As a result, those supporters of Jesus’ partial fasting, really are allowing their imagination to run away from them!

This also means that Jesus, like Moses, made zero preparations for his body before his fast.

So, to answer your question, how did Jesus prepare his body for fasting? Answer: He made no physical preparations!

How Did These Men Prepare Their Bodies For Fasting?

Similar to Moses and Jesus “all the valiant” men of Jabesh made no preparations before their seven days of fasting.

“And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul.”

1 Samuel 31:11

“All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.”

1 Samuel 31:12

“And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.”

1 Samuel 31:13.

They didn’t reduce their fluid intake nor did they change their diets. In the same day, they learned of the tragedy that befell Saul’s family they fasted.

How To Prepare For Fasting As a Christian Depends On This…

Today, how you prepare for Christian fasting depends on the same motivation that Moses, Jesus, and the Men of Jabesh had!

Without any doubt, Moses did not take it upon himself and climb the mountain to fast. Instead, the Holy Spirit of God impressed it upon his heart to do it!

Similarly, Jesus wouldn’t have ventured into the wilderness without food, drink, and alone to fast had not the Holy Spirit let him to do it!

Finally, the valiant men of Jabesh wouldn’t have traveled by night into the Phillisines’ stronghold to remove and transport the bodies of Saul and his two sons to Israel to bury them unless the Holy Spirit had inspired it.

His Impact On How We Prepare To Fast Is Timeless!

Consequently, whether you are in AD 5, the First Century, or the 21 Century how Christians prepare for fasting, to a very great degree, depends on the extent of the moving of the Holy Ghost on their hearts to do so.

This move is usually instantaneous. It comes with no warnings! For example, you just heard through a friend that Donovan’s family had been evicted from their apartment.

Instantly, the Holy Ghost inspired your heart to fast for them. Consequently, you enter into one!

Before you heard this news you had no plans to fast and you made no preparations to do so either.

But now, you are fasting because when Christians fast, most times, if they are not impetuous, they are planned.

Failing To Prepare = Prepare To Fail?

In the world “failing to prepare” for a fast is equivalent to “preparing to fail” but in the Church this is untrue!

How Christians prepare for fasting is different from how the world prepares and fasts. Our motivation is primarily faith in God. But theirs is predominantly how much they prepare.

They erroneously assume that if they adequately prepare for a fast, then it will be a success, but if they don’t it fails.

As a result, they spend so much time in physical preparation that they become blind to the reality that fasting is first a spiritual act and then natural.

Conclusion

Thus, Christians spiritually start fasting long before they cease to eat and drink!

Therefore, the World cannot enjoy the spiritual benefits of fasting but we will always enjoy natural benefits if we focus on the spiritual.

The World doesn’t prepare for fasting like the Church does. The former focuses on the physical aspects of fasting.

But the latter focuses on spiritual preparation.

We don’t physically prepare for fasting because it’s done on an immediate perceived spiritual need and on our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!

The one could take days to be effective but the other could attain spiritual readiness in a second.