The Fast God Desires

Have you ever fasted and prayed, yet wondered why heaven seemed silent? The people of Israel asked God that exact question: “Why have we fasted and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?” (Isaiah 58:3). God’s answer in Isaiah 58 is both challenging and liberating — and it may change the way you fast forever.

Here is the truth I want to plant in you: there is a way to fast according to God — a God-kind of fast. And there is a way of fasting that seems right to man but is, frankly, a waste of time. Paul says such things are religious activities that are “of no value” (Colossians 2:23). Scripture warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

God is calling us to his ways — not just to experience his miracles and wonders, but to know his ways so we can repeat his acts. “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel” (Psalm 103:7). Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; show him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. God wants to show you how to fish.

Waiting on the Lord means moving with God

Too often we approach prayer and fasting with a mindset of learned helplessness, passively waiting for God to intervene. But fasting is not about waiting — it is about moving. It is faith in action.

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

Think about the phrase “waiting on the Lord.” The picture is a waiter in a restaurant. A waiter is not sitting down doing nothing; he is paying attention to the needs and desires of the guest and partnering to meet them. He is on the move! That is why the people who wait on God in this passage are flying, running, and walking. Fasting is not about waiting for God to move. Fasting is about moving with God.

And here is the beautiful truth: when we focus on God using us to meet his needs — what God needs done for others — God meets our needs in ways we could never imagine. Let me share three lessons I see in Isaiah 58 on the kind of fast that unlocks God’s revival in our lives.

The wrong fast: seeking our own pleasure

God is not impressed by rituals that center on us. He is not moved by mere abstinence from food while we continue in selfishness, quarrels, and neglect of justice. We cannot seek God with our lips while our hands remain idle in serving others. Fasting is not a religious duty; it is a spiritual awakening — a time to shift our focus from ourselves to those around us.

James asked believers, why do you pray and not have? Because you pray amiss, that your selfish needs may be met (James 4:3). I have concluded that one of the reasons we do not see the power of God in our churches today as we ought is that a majority of our prayers are self-centered. We worship God because we want to use God to meet our needs, rather than asking him to use us to meet his needs.

Let me tell you how this changed my own praying. I used to beg God to grow this church, to bring people, to make people stay. Then I realized the way God thinks about his church is far higher than the way I was thinking. Jesus says, “I will build my church.” That tells you two things: it is not my church, and the One who owns it is far more interested in building it than I could ever be. So why was I begging him to do what he has already declared he is eager to do? I repented. Now I pray: “God, anoint me to minister to your people. Anoint me to love the people you call your church — which includes me. Remove everything in me that hinders you from moving through me — my pride, my anger, my temper, my bigotry, my tribalism, my sense of entitlement.” I can tell you something: if God answers that prayer, there will not be space in Grace Life Center to contain the people.

Any prayer I am praying for things to change must first change things in me. If you are praying for your husband to change, or your circumstance to change, ask: “What must change in me because of this prayer?” The fasting and prayer God approves of is centered on meeting God’s needs, not yours. Or did you not know God has needs? God has sick people he needs healed, hungry people he needs fed, homeless people he needs housed, and broken people he needs made whole.

The fast God has chosen

Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:6 (NKJV)

This is the fast God approves of — a fast of freedom, compassion, and generosity. Let me walk you through what it looks like.

We loose the chains of oppression through intercession. When we were students on campus, we held one prayer meeting a week for our own needs — but every single day, for one hour at night, we held intercessory prayer where we did not utter a word about ourselves. You would see people wailing and weeping for souls they had never met and might never meet. I remember a brother who said he would fast for one year — not to pass his exams, not to find a wife, not for a six-figure breakthrough job — but that Pope John Paul II would be born again. God says: this is the fast I desire — when you fast so that the chains of wickedness are loosed from people. Who will you weep over and cry to God for — someone sick, depressed, or bound?

We lift burdens by showing up for people — especially the least deserving. It amazes me how, when a pastor or prominent member is bereaved, we start a chain of contributions. Which is good — but when it is someone less prominent, we ask, “Is he really our member? Is she tithing?” Yet Jesus says it is what you do for the least deserving person that you have done for him. The fast that pleases God is not just about what you give up but who you lift up. I know you have plenty of burdens of your own — but can you slow down long enough to notice someone who needs help with theirs?

We share our bread with the hungry. Can I be honest? How is it that we know how to fast for 21 days, but we don’t know how to share 21 pieces of meat at a love feast? How can we host a Christian conference where some attendees go home without food while others go home with three or four portions? What God really wants you to fast away is not food — it is your self-centeredness, your greed, your lack of generosity. God wants to overload you with bread, but he will not do it if all you will do is keep it for yourself, your family, and the people you like. Can you make up your mind that for every meal you give up, you will find someone to give it to?

We welcome people into our lives — hospitality. Contrary to what you may have been taught, hospitality is not a gift; it is a command, and a fruit of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is hospitable. And I preach this to myself first, because I am the chief defaulter in this area.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)

We all love our private space. We all hate to find things in our own space out of order because we accommodated someone. But I have news for you: heaven — that heaven you want to go to — is God’s private space. And you want the whole perfect, sinless God to accommodate you there? That is why hospitality is a fruit of his Spirit, and why Peter says to offer it without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). We cannot gather every week asking God to send people to our church and yet not be ready to host visitors. When people visit, it is our job to make them feel welcome — it is not the guest’s job to adjust. So identify someone you will make room for in your life, with all their shenanigans. If you can only accommodate people like you, or people who like you — you need to fast.

We clothe the naked. On one level this means meeting physical needs — helping someone find a job, get clothing, get on their feet. The devil sells you the lie, “Me that needs help, how will I help others?” But remember who first clothed the naked in the Bible: God himself, who made tunics of skin for Adam and his wife (Genesis 3:21) — covering the nakedness their sin had exposed. To clothe the naked, then, is to be committed to bringing mercy, grace, and dignity to those being destroyed by sin — to partner with God to help a person out of the disgrace of sin into the grace of salvation. It means discipling someone, leading them to follow Jesus. Ask God for at least one person you can clothe — in body and in spirit.

The promise: when you fast God’s way, you feast God’s way

When we embrace this kind of fasting, we become living extensions of God’s love and mercy — and that is when we truly mount up with wings like eagles. Instead of merely denying ourselves food, we look for people to feed. We find sick people to pray for, oppressed people to minister to, sinners to rescue. And when we do, God responds with breakthrough power:

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily.

Isaiah 58:8 (NKJV)

Did you hear that? When we focus on others, God shines his light on us — because his light is shining through us. This is God’s divine principle, God’s way of working: if you want healing, start healing others. If you want provision, start giving. If you want revival, start being the revival in someone else’s life. Our breakthrough comes as we help others break free. We walk out of darkness by being a light to others.

And when we stop pointing the finger — when we stop blaming circumstances, or our village people, or ancestral curses, or the government — and pour ourselves out for the hungry and the hurting, God makes an incredible promise: “The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones” (Isaiah 58:11). God will be your guide, your provider, and your sustainer. No more feeling helpless. No more waiting on the sidelines. When you fast God’s way, you will feast God’s way.

A call to 21 days of transformational fasting

So I am calling you to 21 days of fasting — not just a fast of avoiding food, but a fast of doing good. Let this be a season where:

• We actively look for ways to help those in need.
• We choose kindness over judgment.
• We step out in faith to share our resources.
• We partner with God to be the answer to someone’s prayer.

Shift your mindset. Instead of asking, “God, why aren’t you moving?” ask, “God, how can I move with you? How can you move through me?” As you do, I declare over you: your healing will come, your light will shine, your prayers will be answered, and God will guide you into a life of victory and purpose. Step out in faith and fast God’s way — because when we focus on others, we will see God move in miraculous ways in our own lives.