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What Does the Bible Say About Fasting? How to Fast for a Real Breakthrough

Written by Dr. Jeffrey Smith on October 05, 2026 | Found in: Blog

Some of you have prayed about the same thing for years. You believed, you asked, you kept showing up, and it still feels like you can never quite break through. If that's you, I want to talk about something almost nobody enjoys: fasting.

And yes, I picked October to do it, the month when there's candy on every counter in America. That was on purpose. Sometimes the best time to talk about something is the season when you're already thinking about it.

All year at City of Life, we've been doing something we call Give God One Year, and at the start of every month we add one spiritual discipline. We've covered silence and solitude, tithing, prayer, Bible reading, serving, small groups, and more. October is devoted to fasting, and I believe this one can produce something in your life that nothing else can.

Why Didn't My Fast Work?

Before we talk about how to fast, I want to look at a fast that didn't work, because God addresses it directly in Isaiah 58.

He describes people who look like they have it all together. "For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways" (Isaiah 58:2, NIV). And they were frustrated with God. "Why have we fasted," they say, "and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?" (Isaiah 58:3).

God's answer is blunt. On the day you fast, you still do whatever you want. You exploit your workers. Your fasting ends in fighting. "You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high" (Isaiah 58:4).

If you've ever fasted and felt like nothing happened, start here. They stopped eating, but nothing moved on the inside. Then God describes the fast He's actually after, one that loosens "the chains of injustice," shares food with the hungry, and gives the poor wanderer shelter (Isaiah 58:6-7). A real fast changes how you treat people. What God is doing inside you starts showing up in the way you live your life.

And look at what He promises when it does: "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear... Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I" (Isaiah 58:8-9).

That's the whole point of this. I want to meet God, and I want Him to meet me.

What Is Biblical Fasting, Exactly?

Let's keep this simple. The Greek word for fasting in the New Testament literally means to not eat. You already use the idea every morning. Breakfast is the meal where you break the fast you kept all night while you were asleep.

Fasting shows up all over Scripture. Moses fasted on the mountain with God, and Esther fasted before she walked into the king's court uninvited. The whole city of Nineveh, people who didn't know God at all, fasted when Jonah preached. The early church fasted when they faced big decisions.

We live in a world where everything is fighting for your attention, and fasting is the one thing that taps you on the shoulder all day long. Your body starts talking, and I mean that literally. "Hey. I'm hungry." Every time it does, you get the chance to answer, "I need God more than I need this." David put it this way: "I humbled my soul with fasting" (Psalm 35:13, KJV). Your dependence on God becomes something you practice with your body.

A quick word on definitions(and I say this with love): You can't fast your phone, because you were never trying to eat your phone. Stepping away from social media or TV is a good discipline. It's a different one, though. Even what people call the Daniel fast is closer to a Daniel diet, since Daniel chose to avoid certain foods and kept eating others. Fasting involves abstaining from food.  

And please don't get religious about it. Decide what God is leading you to do, whether that's skipping breakfast every day this week or going a full day. Then do that, and don't go policing the person next to you about the whole milk in their coffee. God works differently in each of us.

Fasting Is Part of Being a Living Sacrifice

"I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true and proper worship" (Romans 12:1, NIV).

Look at the word holy. Holy means set apart, not for common use.

My dad was a shoe guy when I was growing up. He had nice shoes, and he had really nice shoes, and then there were a few pairs in that closet in a different category altogether. He saved up for those. You did not wear those to run to the store. They were set apart.

So are you. You weren't made for common use, and fasting is one way we remind ourselves of that. The King James calls it your "reasonable service." I know going without lunch on a Monday doesn't feel reasonable. In light of everything Christ has given us, though, it is. It's a day where I tell the Lord that I need Him more than food and more than the approval of anybody outside my circle.

Three Kinds of Fasting From Three Bible Stories

Fasting That Brings You Back to God (2 Samuel 12)

David was a man after God's own heart, and he still lost his way. It started when he stayed home during the season when kings went off to war (2 Samuel 11:1). He wasn't where he was supposed to be. Here's some free advice: go where you're supposed to go, and you'll face a lot less temptation.

From his balcony, he saw Bathsheba and slept with her, and when she became pregnant, he had her husband Uriah killed to cover it up. Sin will make you lose your mind. You start lying to yourself and to everyone around you, and you'll let someone else pay the price for what you did.

Nobody wanted to confront the king except the prophet Nathan. He told David a story about a rich man who stole a poor man's only lamb. David was furious and demanded justice. Nathan looked at him and said, "Thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7, KJV).

David didn't get defensive. He repented. When the baby became sick, David refused food and lay on the ground for seven days, begging God to spare his son. On the seventh day the child died, and his servants were afraid to tell him. When David found out, he got up, washed, changed his clothes, went into the house of the Lord to worship, and then sat down and ate.

He explained, "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" (2 Samuel 12:22). Then he said, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:23).

David didn't get the miracle he asked for. He got God back. This is the season Psalm 51 comes out of, where he prays, "Take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11).

Some of you need this kind of fast. You've been answering texts you shouldn't answer and going places you shouldn't go, and that isn't who you are. Get on your face and ask God to restore what was on your life to begin with.

I believe God changes outcomes, but we don't demand it. We ask, and then we trust Him with whatever comes, because sometimes the thing He's changing is us.

Fasting That Builds Spiritual Authority (Mark 9)

The disciples tried to cast a demon out of a boy, and it didn't work. Jesus came and did it with a word. Later, in private, they asked Him what everybody was thinking: "Why could not we cast him out?" Jesus answered, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:28-29, KJV).

There's truth in the idea that prayer and fasting unlock spiritual power. But I think Jesus was saying something deeper. He didn't cancel His schedule for two weeks to go fast once the situation got hard. Prayer and fasting were already part of how He lived.

The disciples were trying to exercise in a moment what they had failed to cultivate in their lifestyle. They probably just got louder. Authority doesn't come from volume.

So don't wait until you need to be ready to start getting ready. Maybe that looks like fasting one meal every week. You can fast for a marriage you're still believing God for. You can fast for a business that isn't incorporated yet. God "calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4:17), and we can pray with that same kind of faith.

Fasting That Prepares You for What's Next (Matthew 4)

Right after Jesus was baptized and the Spirit came down on Him like a dove, the very next thing He did was go into the wilderness and fast forty days and forty nights.

He was looking ahead at three and a half years of ministry. Then, when He was hungry, the devil showed up offering bread. Forty days without food, and the enemy brings bread. I picture warm Texas Roadhouse rolls with that cinnamon honey butter on the side. That's just evil.

Jesus answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). The devil kept coming with power and kingdoms, and every time Jesus answered with Scripture. He was ready because He'd already been telling His flesh no. Eventually "the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him" (Matthew 4:11).

Some of you are standing on the edge of something new, maybe a ministry or a whole new season for your family. It might be time for a wilderness season of your own, where you find out what really has a hold on you.

How to Start Fasting This Week

I'd love for you to start a fast this week. Grab a journal and write out a plan before you begin.

  1. Choose your purpose. Why are you fasting? Maybe you want to be more aware of God's presence. Maybe you need a breakthrough in your marriage or your finances. Write it down.
  2. Choose your commitment. One meal, one day, or longer. Write down exactly what you're setting aside.
  3. Plan your time with God. If you skip breakfast and then play video games all morning, you missed it. Set a specific time for prayer and Scripture, and cut back on entertainment and screens so the space you create has a purpose.
  4. Prepare your heart. Let go of unforgiveness and anything you know isn't right, and turn that physical hunger toward the Lord.

In January we're doing a church-wide fast to start the year together, and I believe there's going to be a lot of power in it. Think of October as your warm-up.

READY TO TAKE YOUR NEXT SPIRITUAL STEP?

Growth doesn't happen in isolation. Whether you are seeking a breakthrough through prayer and fasting, or simply looking for a church family to walk alongside you, there is a seat waiting for you at City of Life Church.

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