In a purely traditional spiritual sense, fasting is abstaining from solid food for the purposes of mourning, repenting, and seeking the Lord's favor. In rare and radical cases, heroes of the Bible fasted food and liquids, including water. The Bible mentions many kinds fasts of throughout the Old and New Testaments.

If you trust the Lord for your time of fasting, He will lead you on the type of fast that He desires for your particular circumstances and needs. You may fast solid food for the entire 40 days; you may fast one meal a day; you may fast one day a week. Your journey will be unique and can not be compared to anyone else's experience. However, it is important to enter into this sacred time with the Lord earnestly and with a pure heart, hopefully anticipating the journey on which He will lead you. According to your faithfulness and willing spirit, the Lord will bless your intentions and sustain you during your fast.

Please understand that the fasting referred to throughout the Trumpet and Torch website is purely a spiritual discipline; no fasting references are intended for physical, medical, or other purposes. While we believe that the Lord will take you on the type of fast that He intends for you, we encourage you to seek medical guidance before beginning a fast, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or currently suffering an illness or disease.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1).

Fasting unto the Lord goes beyond rote, superficial sacrifice of food. Fasting unto the Lord, when done with the proper heart and the proper spirit, cleaves you to the Lord; everything on earth takes a back seat to worshiping and communing with your Heavenly Father. It is about "holding fast" to Him regardless of your circumstances (reference Deuteronomy 10:20, 11:22, 13:4, 30:20; Joshua 22:5, 23:8; 2 Kings 18:6; Psalm 119:31, 139:10; 1 Peter 5:12).

In Jeremiah 14:12, the Lord proclaims, "Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry." His refusal to listen to His people was based on their continued wickedness; their superficial sacrifice meant nothing because they persisted, unrepentant, in sinful behavior. Jesus, too, warned about fasting as an empty, perfunctory ritual. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about hypocrisy and hardened hearts in Matthew 15:8-11, 18-20: "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, 'Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean', but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'. ... But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'. ..."