When we fast should we set a definitive timetable to our fasting such as I'm going to fast for 3 days or 7 days etc. Or is it just as acceptable to say I'm going to fast until what I'm seeking is found? I understand that has to have limits but I'm just curious what you think.
Or perhaps a hybrid if the two. I will fast for 7 days but if I find what I'm looking for sooner then I will break it.
There are different kinds of fasting.
If one follows the Church Calendar there are lots of ways and opportunities for fasting. The largest fast on the calendar is the Season of Lent, which comes between Epiphany (the Feast of Christ's Baptism) and Easter. In the West it is a period of forty days excluding Sundays; in the East it is a period of forty days including Sundays.
There are also the weekly fast days of Wednesday and Friday; I recall that John Wesley once said that he would not trust anyone to be a preacher who could not fast at least on these two traditional fast days.
Also, fasting should never cause bodily harm, if by fasting you are hurting yourself then it is better to care for your body and health than to fast. The purpose of fasting is discipline of the bodily appetites, in the same way that we practice chastity to curb lust; we practice fasting and self-control to curb gluttony and excess.
Traditionally fasting is, at the least, excluding meat (fish is not considered "meat" in this context) for the duration of the fast, but also often includes things like dairy, eggs, oil, vinegar, and alcohol. Things like fish and simple bread can still be eaten. By denying ourselves certain things we are disciplining our appetites, we are learning to have less. Fasting is almost always also accompanied by alms-giving. As fasting is not merely about disciplining the bodily appetites in regard to desire for excess; but is also about seeing the weak and vulnerable among us and giving of ourselves to those who have less.
One desiring to take up a practice of regular fasting should 1) do so only if they are healthy 2) simply try cutting out certain things during their fast (the point of fasting is not to starve the body, that would be wrong)--such as meat, eggs, dairy, etc.
And there are other things as well, giving up certain things for Lent is very common--things we ordinarily like to do but which are not essential, and which by a period of their absence we can recognize how much we have compared to those who do not have.
Fasting should therefore be occasion for deep prayer and reflection, discipline and growth as we repent, seek humility, and by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit walk this path of Christian discipleship in the midst of the world, in love toward our neighbor.
-CryptoLutheran
