Welcome to Vlad's Subject podcast.

Our mission at Vladimir Subject Ministries

is to reach the world globally

and disciple them digitally.

Let's dive into this episode. Today I want to walk you through the ABCs of fasting

and answer some of the biggest questions that people ask. What is fasting? What kind of a fast

should I do? Is sunrise to sundown fast biblical? How long should I fast? Can I drink coffee? Do married couples

need to abstain from sex while fasting? And what should I avoid while fasting? We're going to keep this

simple, biblical and also very practical so that you can fast with confidence, not with confusion. So first of all, what is fasting and what is not fasting?

Let's start with basics. Fasting is voluntarily giving up food for a spiritual purpose.

It's not a diet, it's not a hunger strike, it's not a way to impress God, it's not a punishment to your body. Biblical fasting focuses

on humility, it focuses on prayer, it focuses on connecting with God, it focuses on repentance,

and it's spiritually in focus. It's not a weight loss issue. Psalm 35, 13, David said, I humbled my soul with fasting. So fasting is not

starving your body, it's more feeding your spirit. Now that we covered A, let's cover B. Biblical

examples of the lengths of fasts. Now, the Bible doesn't actually give us one right number of days to fast. God honored all kinds of fast.

One of the most common fasts in the Bible was one day fast. Israel fasted in repentance for Samuel 7.6.

They had a day of atonement which was commanded. Leviticus chapter 23, 27 when they fasted.

Then there was three day fast.

Esther fasted for three days.

Esther 416.

Paul after encountering Jesus fasted for three days, Acts 9.

There was a seven day fast when they were mourning for Saul for Samuel 31.13.

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