6th-Day Bul (Month 8) 22nd
Friday November 14th, 2025
Fasting
Hello bothers and sisters in the faith, who love Father Yahuah and His Son Yahusha Ha’Mashiach, that walk in the way and guard covenant with Yahuah. I pray that your week has been good and that you are looking forward to Yahuah’s Feast Day of the Shabbath tomorrow!
Introduction
In this blog series we have looked at several types of prayer and the last type of prayer we talked about was praying for healing. Praying for healing and other types of prayer such as praying for protection from and the removal of evil ruach may require more than just praying sometimes, it may also require that you fast with your prayers.
What is Fasting
The word fast (when not pertaining to speed) comes from the Hebrew words צוּם (Tsum) which is SHW 6684 and צוֹם (Tsom) which is SHW 6685. SHW 6684 definitions are: to shut up (part of body i.e. womb, eyes, hands, etc.) to cover over (the mouth), to abstain from food, to fast and fasted. SHW 6685 simply means fast(ing).
The Greek word fast is νηστεύω (nésteuó) SGW 3522 which means to fast and is from SGW 3523 which means fasting, without food, not eating, i.e. abstinent from food (religiously).
As we can see from the definitions in both Hebrew and Greek the words mean basically the same thing: to abstain from food and to fast. In addition to abstaining from food, to fast means to abstain from any other drink except for water. No other liquids may be consumed and sometimes people fast without eating or drinking.
Over the years I have seen a lot of confusion arise from the subject of fasting and what it actually means. Many people think that you can abstain from a certain food but continue to eat and this is a form of fasting found in the scriptures. One of the most common misuses of the word is what people call “the Daniel fast” which they say is what Daniy’el did when he refused to eat the king’s portion, but is this what the scriptures say?
Daniy’el (Daniel) 1:8 & 12 – “8. But Daniy’el purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.”
**From the scriptures, we can see that this is not a fast but it is Daniy’el’s refusal to defile himself or make himself unclean by eating the king’s unclean food. So this is not a fast but him simply following the dietary commandments of Yahuah, something we should try to uphold ourselves as much as possible.
Warning!
Before we go further, I have to state that you have to be very careful when you fast, it is not something that should be entered into lightly. The first thing you have to do is ensure that it is Father Yahuah’s will that you fast because if it isn’t His will, you are not doing it for the correct reasons and it will be of no gain to you. Second, I recommend that if you have any health problems whatsoever, you should always talk to your physical doctor before attempting any kind of fast, no matter how long or short. Fasting is both deeply linked to your ruach and your flesh and it is actually going to cause a war between the two:
Galatiym (Galatians) 5:17 – “For the flesh lusteth against the Ruach, and the Ruach against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
Scriptures About People Who Fast
We can now look at scriptures that show us people who fast and we will see something very interesting. Before we look at those scriptures, the first time the word fast is used it is used to show that something has been closed up fast:
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 20:17 – “ So Avraham prayed unto Elohiym: and Elohiym healed Aviymelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For Yahuah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Aviymelech, because of Sarah Avraham’s wife.”
**We can see that Elohiym had closed up the wombs of the women in Aviymelech’s house and Avraham prayed to Elohiym to heal them and they were healed.
The first time we have the word fast to mean abstaining from food is found in:
Shofetiym (Judges) 20:26 – “Then all the children of Yashar’el, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of Elohiym, and wept, and sat there before Yahuah, and fasted that day until even, and offered ascending smoke offerings and peace offerings before Yahuah.”
**The children of Yashar’el had just lost a battle to the tribe of Binyamiyn and they fasted during the daytime until evening, offered offerings and prayed to gain the favor of Yahuah and He told them that He would be with them and deliver the tribe of Binyamiyn into their hand on the next day.
The scriptures contain many accounts of individuals and groups fasting and praying to Yahuah in different situations and below are a few of them form the Tanakh and the Brit Ha’dasha:
2nd Shemu’el (Samuel) 12:5 – “Da’vid therefore besought Elohiym for the child; and Da’vid fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.“
**Da’vid prayed to Elohiym and fasted to save the life of the child he had out of wedlock with Bath-Sheva when he murdered Uriyahu.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 14:11-12 – “Then said Yahuah unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer ascending smoke offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.“
**Yahuah tells Yirmeyahu that because of Yashar’el’s disobedience and transgressions against Him, He will not hear their prayers when they fast. Fasting is not something we can just do to get back in Yahuah’s grace, we must walk daily in His commandments and pray to Him continuously.
Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 53:5 – “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahuah? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?“
**Yahuah tells Yashar’el that He has set the fast of Yom Kippuriym to loose the bands of wickedness over the people but they do it for the wrong reasons. They do it for their physical gains and to harm each other by having Elohiym on their side because they fast. This is all wrong, remember we are to first get Yahuah’s approval before we fast and once we have that, we have to ensure what we are fasting for is alignment to His will and not for our own personal gain.
The first occurrence of fasting in the Brit Ha’dasha is when the prophetess Channah who served Elohiym in the temple:
Luqas (Luke) 2:37 – “And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served Elohiym with fastings and prayers night and day.“
**Because of Channah’s obedience and sacrifice to Yahuah she was able to see Mashiach Yahusha before she died.
The first occurrence of Mashiach fasting in the Brit Ha’dasha is when He started His ministry and He went into the desert to purge and dedicate Himself fully to Father Yahuah:
Mattithyahu (Matthew) 4:1-2 – “Then was Yahusha led up of the Ruach into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred“
**Yahusha was led by the Ruach to fast and this is what we are to do is be led by Ruach Yahuah to fast in order to get closer to Yahuah and be aligned with His will rather than our own will. There are only three people recorded in scripture who fasted for forty days and nights, and they were Mosheh, Eliyahu and Mashiach Yahusha.
From the above scriptures we can see that fasting goes hand in hand with communicating to Father Yahuah and that we are not to fast for personal gain but to become closer with father Yahuah and His Son Yahusha Ha’Mashiach through Ruach Elohiym.
The last scripture we will look at is when the talmidiym couldn’t cast a demon out:
Marqus (Mark) 9:28-29 – “ And when He was come into the house, His talmidiym asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.“
**Mashiach Yahusha reveals that sometimes things can only be accomplished through fasting and prayer together because we are not battling flesh and blood but evil ruach who can only be defeated through prayer and fasting. Remember that to feed the Ruach of Yahuah inside of us we must deny the flesh and submit to His Ruach. The best way to deny the flesh is to not feed it, literally and seek after the thing of Ruach Yahuah:
Romaiym (Romans) 8:4-5 – “That the righteousness of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Ruach. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Ruach the things of the Ruach.”
Conclusion:
Fasting is a very important part of our relationship with Father Yahuah and His Son Yahusha Ha’Mashiach. It is not something that we should enter into lightly or half heartedly, we should use it as a way to show our desire to do the will of Yahuah in our life. It is a very powerful tool in our sojourn here and we can do a lot of things through fasting and prayer but we must remember it is not to gain physical goods but to obtain goods for living a set-apart life.
We can fast with others but we must make sure that their goals and our goals are aligned with the will of Father Yahuah and that we can trust them to complete the fast. If you do enter into a fast with someone else always make sure that this is the will of Yahuah and that you let Him know that you are doing this in tandem with someone or with a group and that you are only responsible for your part and to not charge it to you if someone else fails to hold up their end of the fast.
I pray that this blog has given you a better understanding of what fasting truly is, the reasons that it needs to be done and how it is to be done.
Have a blessed Shabbath tomorrow and may Yahuah continue to bless and strengthen you in your sojourn here.
Shalom,
Minister Morrow