The past few days I was involved with a nationwide three-day fast for an organization calling a million women to D.C. to pray over our nation this coming October. Honest confession, I broke it the third day for supper (It was my first fast past 8 hours). I had become fragile and was missing the nourishment of food. Curiously, I hadn’t had any hunger pains the whole time, just random food combo thoughts (Texas Roadhouse Rolls being one of them). After I finished, I realized I had never even studied why fasting was necessary or even why we did it along with if it’s supposed to be done in a group or individually. So this morning, I did what I do. I studied. 

Questions like “Why did the Old Testament Prophets fast?” “Is it because they wanted to be closer to God?” “But then how does that fit with us because we have the Holy Spirit IN us whereas He only rested on some people back then?” “Yet, if that’s the case, why did Jesus tell us how to fast in Matthew 6? Or why did people all throughout the early church and Christian history fast?”

So I went to the scripture that intrigued me the most, Mark 2:18-20.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

Upon recognizing the bridegroom concept, I researched Jewish wedding traditions around fasting from which I discovered a beautiful parallel. 

According to tradition, the wedding ceremony is a day of fasting and celebration. In Jewish culture, marriage is seen as a day of forgiveness, commitment, and purity. To honor this, the bride and bridegroom will fast the entire day up until the meal after the Chuppah (the “I do” part) ceremony, breaking their fast with their first small meal as a married couple during the yichud. This is a time of separation for just the married couple before the group meal when they break a humongous loaf of bread and wine among other food items. That food description is intriguing but I’ll touch on it later.

So after researching the traditional fasting around the wedding ceremony and realizing fasting isn’t some moral/religious obligation to make God hear you but is instead to show spiritual purity and commitment, I looked into the more physical effects of fasting.

During the first 24 hours, your body benefits largely from fasting. It begins to break down fat (of course), reduce your insulin levels, and even increase your body’s HGH (human growth hormone). The latter means your body undergoes cellular repair and regeneration. Between the 24 and 48-hour mark, your body starts to realize some things. It decreases leptin levels and increases ghrelin (you feel hungry). Your gluconeogenesis (your liver begins to maintain blood sugar) and ketone levels increase as well. Studies have shown that increased ketone helps anti-inflammatory and neurological healing while also starting your body’s weakening process. From the 48-hour mark and on, your body begins to break down protein and decrease glycogen levels, becoming dehydrated and losing electrolytes.

Mentally, the first 24 hours actually lead to increased cognitive function, reduced inflammation and oxidative stress (an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants), increased BDNF (which plays an important role in neuronal survival and growth, aiding learning and memory), and is sometimes therapeutic for neurological disorders.

Now, I’m no physician nor am I even remotely medically inclined, but those facts are intriguing. It appears that while fasting is beneficial spiritually, it’s also incredibly helpful (for the first 48 hours) to the body and mind. Which are we not body, mind, and soul/spirit? It’s interesting how that works.

As Christians, we shouldn’t do a fast to get something out of God but to realign ourselves with the Holy Spirit and to filter the mind of impure thoughts. It’s not a time of religious obligation but rather us wanting to intentionally focus on spiritually committing in purity to our Bridegroom. We choose to pursue His presence, not because He is far away from us, but to recenter ourselves on the Holy Spirit. Maybe your helmet of salvation gets a little off-kilter, or the flesh whispers to you. Our thoughts often become loud; our mind gets confused easily. Fasting is a choice to focus on asking God for forgiveness, committing to spiritual purity, and regaining that unbroken relationship while rejoicing and reaching toward the day of the marriage supper.

Getting back to the bridegroom analogy, Jesus said:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives – Matthew 26:26-30

He will drink the wine at the marriage supper of the Lamb… when is that? When Heaven comes to earth as described in Revelation 19. So as Christ said, “But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”, we fast now only to show our commitment and purity to Him as we are in this world. We are the body of Christ, His temple on earth. The focus is not only to remain holy and pure but to also be nourished. Do not focus on trying to become religiously superior to others, and don’t go pining after Him for answers. Do it only out of a heart to be pure and committed before Him as He guides you.

This is just my findings and current understanding. Have any thoughts? Feel free to comment or contact me.