Jesus Said, “Come into the Desert with Me"
Spiritual fasting is going without food to cultivate spiritual hunger for God.
The fasting that I am talking about is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. The purpose of spiritual fasting is to replace food with prayer and communion with God. Whenever one feels a hunger pain, that is a reminder to pray and press into God.
Fasting is really all about feasting upon God. It is a way to accelerate our walk with Him. It is an invitation to greater levels of intimacy. It is also a powerful weapon we can use to tear down strongholds, set the oppressed free, heal the sick, align destinies, and stir up hunger for more of God. In all of the spiritual disciplines, including fasting, our motives should be to seek the face of Jesus above all else (Joel 2:12; Zechariah 7:5; Acts 13:2).
Though fasting is not explicitly stated as a commandment in the Bible, this is likely because most believers already fasted as a regular part of their spirituality. There seems to be an assumption in Scripture that if people were followers of Jesus, then they regularly fasted because He fasted. In a similar way in which Jesus said, “when you give to the needy,” implying that was normal and an expected part of spirituality, Jesus also said in Matthew 6:16, “When you fast.” He did not say “if ” you fast. If Jesus is our model and He regularly fasted, then we ought to follow in His footsteps.
The Gospels record a time when Jesus fasted for forty days after the Spirit led Him into the desert in preparation for a new season (Matthew 4:1–11; Mark 1:9–13). Immediately after He returned from His extended fast, He was launched into His ministry and called His disciples to partner with Him. Longer fasts have proven significant for many leaders in propelling them and their ministries into a greater destiny.
Different Types of Fasts
There are many different types of fasts out there. While some fasts are done for health reasons, to detox, or for cleansing, our focus is specifically on biblical fasting connected to Christian spirituality for the purpose of growing in our relationship to God. The following are some of the spiritual fasts mentioned throughout Scripture:
Absolute fast (also known as the Esther fast): no food or water (usually only three days, sometimes done in emergencies: Esther 4:16; Acts 9:9; Deut. 9:9, 18; Exod. 34:28)
Full fast: water only fast (Matt. 4:2)
Partial fast (also known as abstinence or the Daniel fast): restriction of diet but not completely abstaining from food (Dan. 1:15; 10:3)
Private fasts: the most common of fasts, should be done undercover (Matt. 6:16)
Regular fasts: done once or twice each week as a discipline (Zech. 8:19; Luke 18:12)
Public/corporate fasts: sometimes called in times of group or national emergencies (Joel 2:15; 2 Chron. 20:1–4; Ezra 8:21–23)
The Fire Fast: any of the spiritual fasts above done with the primary focus of intimacy, consecration, and revival (John 5:35)
Beyond the list above, you can also fast for a time from things like television, social media, shopping, sugar, sweets, coffee, alcohol, etc., which are likewise good practices. I did a social media fast one whole summer that helped clear my mind to write my book Walking on Water: Experience a Life of Miracles, Courageous Faith and Union with God. You can also fast from speaking like I did while working on this manuscript during a silent retreat at a monastery. There is also a fasting of time to come away with the Lord exclusively for a season.
Some people have medical conditions that prohibit them from certain kinds of food fasts, so these alternatives are great for those who still want to participate. It is important to realize that God can use anything to stir up hunger. While alternative fasts are good, the greatest desperation, spiritual hunger, and impact I have experienced have come while I was on a food fast.
Below, Heidi Baker shares about one unique fast God called her to right before the global pandemic of 2020 broke out. She had no idea why she was being invited to cancel everything, but God knew the whole time!
Fasting Time by Heidi Baker
In 2019, the Lord wooed me and called me to cancel my schedule to spend forty days with Him in the desert in Israel. As I share this now, I am nearly crying just thinking about this because God knew what was coming in 2020 and He was preparing me.
He first showed me that He wanted to woo me away while I was deep in worship in Brazil at a massive meeting. I was face down on the carpet, lost in worship. Then everybody left but a little baby named Grace who prayed for me for forty-five minutes.
The Lord wooed me in that time and said, “Heidi, will you come with Me into the desert?”
My brain started to kick in, thinking, Well, how long is that going to be? and Is that another forty-day fast? What are You asking of me?
He said, “I am not commanding you, but I am wooing you into the desert. Will you come?
I just lost it and started weeping. I said, “Yes, Lord. Whatever it costs, I will come.”
I thought for sure that He would tell me to fast, but instead He said, “I am calling you to feast with Me in the desert.”
Then I said, “How, Lord? And when?” I told Him how I was leading a ministry in thirty-some nations, living in Mozambique, and traveling around the world and that I had a very full schedule. All of these details started going around in my head.
Then He said, “I am wooing you in, will you come?” At that moment, before I knew what it would mean, how much it would cost me, where it would be, how long it would be, or what we would be doing there, with everything that is in me, I said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow You anywhere.”
I had so many meetings on my calendar in Mozambique and in other parts of the world during that time. But He said, “I want forty days in the desert. I want you to come and worship and feast on Me. I want this time.” There was no way I could do it in the natural, but I was determined to obey the Lord to give Him forty days in Israel. I was determined to completely fast that time and give it totally over to Him. I put a big eraser through my schedule over those forty days. I obeyed Him to fast my schedule to feast on Him in the desert. This was in 2019 just before the world went into lockdown. Having just gone through 2020, I now realize how prophetic and powerful this time away was.
During that time, I got so deep in the Word of God. He showed me things to come. He showed me extraordinary hunger. He showed me more conflicts and war situations. He showed me so much about 2020 and gave me strength in that time. It was a time of fasting but also a time of feasting. I was so full of Him. I pushed away all the meetings and everything else.
One crazy thing that happened during my fasting to feast upon God in the desert season was that the defense for our Iris University was due to happen at that same time. This was the meeting that would give us permission to officially become a university. It was something I had prepared over ten years for, and it was planned to happen right in the middle of my wooed-away season with the Lord. I nearly broke my fast to hop on a plane back to Mozambique to be there for the defense, thinking, I’ll just go over there and defend the university, in Maputo, and then just fly back and finish the forty days in the desert.
And the Lord said, “Is that what I asked of you?”
Birthing Iris University was one of my biggest dreams and one of my greatest challenges. It was a big “baby.” I was pregnant for over ten years with this dream! But I said, “No, Lord, I will obey You. I will stay here.”
I remember fasting from food all that day. I climbed up into the desert mountains by myself and worshiped at the top of my lungs. I wept as my team was there in Maputo to defend the university without me. I was obeying the Lord by not participating in seeing the dream He had given me so many years before come to fruition. It wasn’t even like it was my idea in the first place; it was His.
After I came down the mountain back to where I was going to stay, I called my team. They told me that the defense never happened because some of the government officials in the education department did not show up. And there I was in the desert with the Lord, just worshiping, fasting, and adoring Him. He knew all along. I cried. I was so grateful that I obeyed God in that moment.
Later on in 2020, after three tries, the real defense happened and I was there! I was prepared in the Spirit. I was prepared in prayer. I was prepared in the depth and anointing that the Lord put on us for this dream fulfilled. In 2020, we passed that defense and got approved to officially launch Iris University.
Fasting is a beautiful thing. It actually has a lot to do with obedience.
Do you love Him more than your schedule? Do you love Him more than being connected with people? More than food? More than comfort? It’s not that we’re never going to have those beautiful blessings. It’s just that He knows why, and He knows how He wants to call you to fast. When He is leading, fasting actually becomes a delight. This is what I am discovering for myself. Fasting time, when I don’t meet with anybody and I just meet with Him, has been some of the most powerful and precious fasting ever.
