Fasting Challenge

FEBRUARY 23 - APRIL 3

We are asking everyone in our church family to do two things in this season of Lent:

• Give Something Up. Choose one thing (a specific food, social media, television, etc.) to abstain from for the entire 40 days.
• Fast Weekly. Choose one day each week to engage in a Full-Day or Partial Fast (giving up food) as outlined below.

The goal is not legalism or “checking a box,” but rather an honest posture of surrender. When we feel the hunger for what we’ve given up, we let it prompt us to hunger for God instead.

Fasting is not just “not eating”; it is replacing physical food with spiritual food. Use this guide to choose the fast that is right for your health and your current spiritual walk.

1. Choose Your Fasting Type

• The One Meal Fast: skipping one specific meal to spend that hour in prayer and Scripture.
• The Half-Day Fast (Sunup to Sundown): skipping breakfast and lunch, then breaking the fast with a modest dinner.
• The Full-Day Fast: skipping all meals for a full 24-hour period.

2. The Fasting Rhythm: Replace, Don’t Just Remove
If you simply skip a meal but go about your day as usual, you are just hungry. To truly fast, you must replace the physical activity with a spiritual one.

• In place of cooking/eating: Read the verse of the day and contemplate the questions.
• When your stomach growls, pray, “Lord, my hunger reminds me that I need You more than food.”
• In place of meal time, go for a prayer walk, sit in silence before the Lord, or meditate on scripture.

3. Important Practical Tips

• Hydrate. Drink plenty of water. Biblical fasting from food usually includes drinking water to stay clear-headed.
• Don’t draw attention. Jesus teaches us not to look miserable while fasting (Matthew 6:16-18). Keep your fast between you, God, and an accountability partner.
• If you fall, if you give in and eat a cookie on Wednesday, don’t quit! Fasting is a grace-based discipline, not a legalistic test. Just start again the next day.

What is your plan? 
We encourage you to actually write down your plan.

• The day of the week you will fast
• The type of fast
• Who your partner will be (for encouragement and accountability)
•  What will you give up