Short Answer
Fasting is not a required command for Christians today, and God is not disappointed if you have never fasted. It is a voluntary practice meant to help focus on prayer—not a way to earn favor with God.
The Overview
Fasting is often misunderstood as a mandatory spiritual duty, but the Bible does not present it as a required practice for Christians under the new covenant. While Jesus spoke about fasting, His words reflected a context where fasting was already a common practice under the Old Testament system—especially on the Day of Atonement. This was part of the old covenant law, which was fulfilled in Christ.
Throughout Scripture, many instances of fasting were connected to specific circumstances—such as grief, repentance, or national crises. People often fasted as a response to intense situations rather than as a regular obligation. In some cases, fasting happened naturally when individuals were so burdened that they lost their appetite.
For Christians today, fasting can still be meaningful, but it is optional. It should never be viewed as a way to manipulate God or earn His approval. Instead, it can be used as a tool to focus more deeply on prayer and spiritual reflection—redirecting attention from physical needs to spiritual priorities.
Ultimately, God is not disappointed in believers who have never fasted. He has provided food as something to be received with gratitude and enjoyed. Fasting, if practiced, should come from personal conviction and wisdom—not pressure or misunderstanding of Scripture.
Key Takeaways
- Fasting Is Not a Requirement
It is not commanded for Christians today. - Context Matters
Many biblical fasts were tied to the Old Testament or specific events. - It Is a Voluntary Practice
Believers may choose to fast, but are not obligated. - Purpose Is Spiritual Focus
Fasting helps deepen prayer and dependence on God. - Not a Way to Earn Favor
It does not make God more pleased with you. - God Provides Food for Enjoyment
Gratitude, not guilt, should shape your approach.
Read Full Raw Transcript
[00:00:00 – 00:00:59] say, “Jesus commanded us to fast.” He said, “It is not a suggestion, but a command. I’ve never fasted before. How do I know when I should do a fast? Will God be disappointed in me if I’ve never fasted before?” Okay. Well, the only place, Marissa, that your pastor would get that uh is a passage in in Matthew, and uh let me just look this passage up so I quote it accurately here in Matthew uh 6:E 16. And the [snorts] only way, right, your pastor’s going to say that
[00:00:30 – 00:01:21] is because the text says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces.” And and the pastors sometimes get up in the pulpit and they say, “Okay, it says when you fast, don’t look gloomy.” He doesn’t say, “If you fast,” he says, “When you fast, that implies that you’re going to fast.” Okay, that’s um that’s weak at best. Okay, that’s implying that people, at least in Jesus’s day, and this is a then uh
[00:00:55 – 00:01:52] always now observation because in that day, okay, that was the pattern. Why was it the pattern in Matthew chapter 6? Well, because in Matthew chapter 6, there was one day under the old covenant system when every Jew was supposed to fast. It was the day uh called the um the day of atonement, uh Yam Kapor. And Yam Kapour, everyone was supposed to deny themselves or afflict themselves, it was called. And the rabbis were clear what that meant. And that was you were not supposed to eat that day. That was
[00:01:24 – 00:02:20] afflicting your stomach. denying your stomach what it was used to and that’s food. And so everyone was fasting on that day of Yam Kapoor. So on that day of afflicting yourself, not eating, right? Everyone was assumed to not be eating that you’re afflicting, you’re fasting. So in that day, Matthew 6, right? When you fast, everyone was assuming if you’re a Jew in the first century working under the old covenant, which everyone was in Matthew chapter 6, they were going to fast. So, I’m going
[00:01:52 – 00:02:46] to say the command certainly was under the old covenant law because that was going to be in effect until the veil was going to tear in in the end in Matthew 27 when Jesus dies on the cross. And I know that because even when Jesus was healing people, think about the the man uh who was healed of of leprosy. He says, “Now go show yourself to the priest. Take the the sacrifice that you’re supposed to give to the priest and and and you will go and be clean and be assumed back into the community.” He
[00:02:19 – 00:03:18] was still telling people to bring the sacrifices to the temple and do all that the old covenant promise >> [snorts] >> uh or the uh commands told you to do. So, we’re still living under the Old Testament uh laws until the temple veil was torn, until the new covenant age began. And so, that was going to begin when Jesus said on the cross, it is finished and all the Old Testament was fulfilled. and and and that wasn’t going to happen until the end of the New Testament or the end of the Old
[00:02:48 – 00:03:44] Testament really came to a came to fruition with the death of Christ. So we had at least at the beginning of the gospels a couple more years, three more years until that was going to happen. So you had at least three more mandated fasts according to the Old Testament. So let’s just start with that. Marissa, I can’t say that Jesus commanded that we were going to fast, had to fast. And if your pastor said Jesus commanded us to fast, well, he commanded the people in that day, I guess, assumed that they
[00:03:16 – 00:04:17] would fast under the old covenant law. So, I don’t think you have to fast. As a matter of fact, most of the fasts in the Bible, except for the fast on Yam Kapor, were all I shouldn’t say all, many of them uh were uh responses to grief or responses to some terrible event. And I bet you have fasted, Marissa, when something bad has happened in your family or in your life. and out of grief or some horrible event, you’ve just skipped meals because you’ve been in in in some tragedy. And if not, you will
[00:03:47 – 00:04:32] because you’ll you’ll say, “I don’t feel like eating. I’m gonna throw up if I eat.” And I’ve had plenty of those situations in my life. And a lot of times in the Bible, that’s what happens. People are in some tragic situation and they don’t eat because they don’t want to eat. They they refuse food. And so, that’s a kind of fast that we do see in the Bible as well. Sometimes it’s commanded by leaders in the nation because someone important has died. And
[00:04:10 – 00:05:02] so they call a fast in the nation sometimes because they’re repenting, right? The nation is repenting of some national sin or because of something that’s happened and so they call a fast in the nation. So that’s not happening anymore. Our government doesn’t call for a fast. So just remember that, Marissa. I think we’ve got to be careful if your pastor says Jesus commanded us to fast. The closest he got was that passage in Matthew chapter 6. Okay. If you want to fast, that’s your decision. Uh number
[00:04:36 – 00:05:34] one, you should be careful with your health that you can fast. If you want to fast, that’s fine. Fasting is not twisting God’s arm to do anything. Uh if you want to fast, okay, you can. But it should just be something that you’re doing to try and focus yourself on praying. That’s usually the way we go about focusing our attention on praying. We’re denying ourselves something, in this case, food, to focus our our our attention and our our kind of our our minds on on saying, I’m going to I’m
[00:05:05 – 00:05:56] going to be really focused here on on giving myself fully to prayer, and when my stomach starts grumbling for food, I’m going to turn my attention even harder on prayer. Okay? So, no. You ask the question, will God be disappointed in me if I you’ve never fasted? The answer is no. No, of course not. And matter of fact, God has created food for you to enjoy. And that’s that’s certainly what the Bible teaches. And uh it’s to be enjoyed by people who believe and know the truth. And that’s you. I
[00:05:30 – 00:06:27] trust Marissa. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ and that’s what the Bible says. So um I think your pastor has overstated it. And I think in the original context of Matthew 6, I I’ve explained that I think uh maybe ad nauseium at this point as long as we’re talking about fasting. Adnauseium. All right. Okay. Hope that helps Marissa. 877-913-5357. All right. Believe the gospel prayer request. Thank you for your current series and focal points been helping me through my joblessness this year. Uh can
[00:06:01 – 00:06:49] I ask [snorts] you to pray for me and my job interview? Yeah. Uh let me just ask our whole listening audience. I don’t have a name here, but your handle [snorts] on YouTube is believe the gospel. And I hope everyone in the chat can pray for you. Uh maybe even drop your name in there, your first name at least, and we can pray more specifically for you. But yeah, we’d love for you to get a job. That’s the biblical thing. You should get a job and you should definitely um be earning your own bread
[00:06:25 – 00:07:12] and uh we’d love for you to get off of whatever you’re doing to earn to pay for your bread and and be earning uh your wages. It’s dignifying. It’s the right thing. And we pray you’ll get a job tomorrow. That would be great. Hope you secure a job tomorrow. And uh I pray that our uh listeners even right now will will pray for you if you give us your name. Uh that’ll help us pray even more specifically.
Question Variations
Does God Expect You to Fast?
