What are the types of biblical fasting?
Fasting is usually carried out with the primary aim of drawing us closer to the Almighty so that we can get to know him more. There are many types of biblical fasting I will only highlight a few.
- When the people of God prepared to return to Jerusalem after being in captivity in Babylon, they fasted and asked God for protection (Ezra 8:21)
- When his country was on the verge of being invaded, King Jehoshaphat called everyone to fast (2 Chronicles 20:3)
- Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness as He prepared for three years of ministry (Luke 4:1–13)
- Moses and Elijah also endured miraculous forty-day fasts (Deuteronomy 9:9; 1 Kings 19)
- Esther called all Jews to a total fast for three days before she asked the King of Persia to spare them from destruction (Esther 4:16)
- In the New Testament, Saul fasted for three days after encountering Jesus on the Road to Damascus and being struck blind (Acts 9:9)