Should Christians fast?<\/a>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: What is the significance of 21 days of fasting? Four of us are fasting and praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, our families’ salvation and for our friends nearby. I saw on your web site about the importance of 40 days and thought of asking you. Answer: Under the Old Testament, God…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[545],"class_list":["post-11030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fasting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-fast\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":0},"title":"Should Christians fast? (Answer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend who asked about fasting. All I could quote was\u00a0Matthew 6:16\u00a0and\u00a0Matthew 15:17-20. Can you tell me where it says that all food is good for you? I can't remember the passage. Also, could you explain Matthew 17:21? Does it mean you should fast? Is it something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63466,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-fast-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":1},"title":"Should Christians Fast? (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 58:1-12\u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once in a while someone will ask if they ought to fast. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is it something acceptable in the New Testament, or was it only a part of the Old? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you fast just to be doing, or does it serve some purpose? II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Purpose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/prayer-and-fasting\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":2},"title":"Prayer and Fasting","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward Smith How many Christians do you know who practice fasting for religious reasons? The people who have a conviction to fast are often the very ones who also have a conviction not to do it to be seen by men - so their fasting goes unnoticed (Matthew 6:16-18).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-fasting-required-to-communicate-with-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":3},"title":"Is fasting required to communicate with God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding fasting: some pastors say that when you want God to communicate with you, you have to fast for three days or more, and if you want to be delivered from certain things fasting has to be involved. Is it really true? Secondly, in Matthew 17:19-21, may I ask\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18082,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-kind-of-oil-should-be-used-for-anointing-during-fasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":4},"title":"What kind of oil should be used for anointing during fasts?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please explain Matthew 6:17? It says \"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face\" but many people say something like do not take this verse literally, anointing one's head is not really important, what really matters is his\/her attitude towards God. But I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10438,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-significance-of-the-number-40\/","url_meta":{"origin":11030,"position":5},"title":"What is the significance of the number 40?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the significance of the number forty in the Bible? In my reading, I have notice numbers to be very significant. For example, the twelve Israelites went to search out the promised land and it took them 40 days, but because of their bad report, they spent the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}