fasting as a teen?

[shelbymelon]

hi! i’m a bit new to this so i’m sorry haha. but! i’ve recently felt the need to fast. i’m planning on doing a one meal a day fast to start off. i was wondering how i fast? for example, do i pray the entire day or can i go out and do stuff? again, i’m sorry i’m really new to this. also! school is starting soon and i was wondering if i could also do it during school. thank you!!!

 

[Willie T]

A basic premise is that only you and God are involved. This is not something others (other than your parents and maybe your doctor) should even be aware is happening.

If you wish, I can email you a WORD Format book, Celebration of Discipline, that deals with this. Or, it can be bought online:
https://www.google.com/search?sourc...GGHP_enUS810US810&q=Celebration+of+Discipline

 

[RaymondG]

When I fasted as a teen, I would read the bible as often as possible that day.....pray to start.....before and after reading and then a prayer to end....... Then I'd scarf down my favorite meal right after.....I did 24hr no food/liquid fasts....so I'd limit my activity as much as possible.

 

[Hazelelponi]

hi! i’m a bit new to this so i’m sorry haha. but! i’ve recently felt the need to fast. i’m planning on doing a one meal a day fast to start off. i was wondering how i fast? for example, do i pray the entire day or can i go out and do stuff? again, i’m sorry i’m really new to this. also! school is starting soon and i was wondering if i could also do it during school. thank you!!!

Hi!

So fasting.. that's good. But let me give you some suggestions that are going to be appropriate to your age and physical needs...

So you won't want to fast often, you don't normally fast often even when your older.. its not a daily thing, although monthly isn't a stretch.. You may like to set out one day a month if you can, or two if you really like, in order to devote some time to a fast with extra prayer and study on that/those days.

Yes.. skipping one meal in a day is fine, if your body can tolerate it well, you could instead choose to give up sugar, or caffeine, or television, or gaming for a day as well instead of one meal. (That can change more after you stop growing)

On the day you chose to fast, pray more, and devote more time that day to Bible study. You can be out and about on a fasting day, but I find I enjoy the time with God better when I do it on a day I'm not doing anything else or have any other plans, and then just take the extra time I have from not eating or doing other things, engaged in Bible study and prayer instead.

The time is meant to work on developing a closer relationship with God and/or asking for things like more discernment, or wisdom, or other things that are Godly and helpful to your growth as a Christian and your daily walk with Christ.

(word to the wise - don't ask for patience unless you want tribulation, let God deal with that in His own time.. lol.. )

I hope this was helpful!

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Why do you want to fast?

 

[shelbymelon]

Why do you want to fast?

i really want to grow closer to God, and develop a more personal relationship with Him. i also hear it’s important to fast as a christian.

 

[shelbymelon]

Hi!

So fasting.. that's good. But let me give you some suggestions that are going to be appropriate to your age and physical needs...

So you won't want to fast often, you don't normally fast often even when your older.. its not a daily thing, although monthly isn't a stretch.. You may like to set out one day a month if you can, or two if you really like, in order to devote some time to a fast with extra prayer and study on that/those days.

Yes.. skipping one meal in a day is fine, if your body can tolerate it well, you could instead choose to give up sugar, or caffeine, or television, or gaming for a day as well instead of one meal. (That can change more after you stop growing)

On the day you chose to fast, pray more, and devote more time that day to Bible study. You can be out and about on a fasting day, but I find I enjoy the time with God better when I do it on a day I'm not doing anything else or have any other plans, and then just take the extra time I have from not eating or doing other things, engaged in Bible study and prayer instead.

The time is meant to work on developing a closer relationship with God and/or asking for things like more discernment, or wisdom, or other things that are Godly and helpful to your growth as a Christian and your daily walk with Christ.

(word to the wise - don't ask for patience unless you want tribulation, let God deal with that in His own time.. lol.. )

I hope this was helpful!

Thank you so much!! this helped me out a ton and answered most of my questions!!

 

[Hazelelponi]

Thank you so much!! this helped me out a ton and answered most of my questions!!

If you need anything else or have any other questions you can always ask..

 

[Sketcher]

Isaiah 58 is a rebuke to Israelites who did not fast in a pleasing way to God. Study it.

 

[LoricaLady]

hi! i’m a bit new to this so i’m sorry haha. but! i’ve recently felt the need to fast. i’m planning on doing a one meal a day fast to start off. i was wondering how i fast? for example, do i pray the entire day or can i go out and do stuff? again, i’m sorry i’m really new to this. also! school is starting soon and i was wondering if i could also do it during school. thank you!!!

You do not say how old of a teenager you are. If you are pretty much fully grown now, my belief is that periodic fasting would be good for you. There are studies showing that a once a week fast can actually help your health.

On the other hand, don't overdo it! I have seen some people saying they will fast for 40 d & n like Moses and the Savior. No, no, we are not at their level of spiritual strength.

Fasting, if overdone, can hurt your adrenal glands and if they get weak it is nearly impossible to get them healthy again, and you have chronic fatigue syndrome.

If you are very healthy, a once a week 24 hour water only fast can work wonders. Yes maybe build up to that a bit slowly.

You do not have to pray the whole day, but do pray, especially to grow in faith and love and trust, but for whatever is troubling you too.

 

[shelbymelon]

You do not say how old of a teenager you are. If you are pretty much fully grown now, my belief is that periodic fasting would be good for you. There are studies showing that a once a week fast can actually help your health.

On the other hand, don't overdo it! I have seen some people saying they will fast for 40 d & n like Moses and the Savior. No, no, we are not at their level of spiritual strength.

Fasting, if overdone, can hurt your adrenal glands and if they get weak it is nearly impossible to get them healthy again, and you have chronic fatigue syndrome.

If you are very healthy, a once a week 24 hour water only fast can work wonders. Yes maybe build up to that a bit slowly.

You do not have to pray the whole day, but do pray, especially to grow in faith and love and trust, but for whatever is troubling you too.

thank you so much!! i’m not permitted to by my parents due to my physical state but i look forward to it when i’m an adult!!

 

[Ada Lovelace]

hi! i’m a bit new to this so i’m sorry haha. but! i’ve recently felt the need to fast. i’m planning on doing a one meal a day fast to start off. i was wondering how i fast? for example, do i pray the entire day or can i go out and do stuff? again, i’m sorry i’m really new to this. also! school is starting soon and i was wondering if i could also do it during school. thank you!!!

Let me first roll out the welcome mat for you. There are precious few young people who are active on this forum, so I'm always happy when someone new joins! I haven't been here often recently due to school and other priorities but I do try to pop in.

If you decide on fasting from food I really encourage you to do so prior to the new school year beginning, and only for a short duration. It's the quality of the experience, which will hopefully be edifying and draw you closer to God, rather than the quantity of time that is the most crucial to deriving benefit. You want to begin the new school year spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally rejuvenated so that you can build a strong foundation. First impressions matter, and you want to make sure you are presenting your best self to your new teachers and classmates. When you fast, it causes physical changes to your body that can then alter how well you function mentally. I feel fuzzy brained, less able to remember details, less quick to come up with solutions to problems, less capable of contributing meaningfully to class discussions. It kicks down my immune system so I am much more vulnerable to picking up a cold that will then cause me to have to miss out. I feel much more sensitive, and like I'm in danger of my emotions controlling me than me controlling my emotions. I have to fast from food relatively often for medical reasons, but do try to make a silver lining in it by making it into a spiritual experience. A single day can be sufficient for accomplishing that goal.

At 16 most girls have already gone through their most rapid growth spurts, so fasting isn't as detrimental in that regard, but you could be a slow bloomer like I am. I've grown taller in the past year, and I'm in college. Fasting also impacts adolescent girls in a hormonal way that is very different from how it effects adults and boys. There have been medical studies on young Muslim women who fast during the month of Ramadan to study how that impacts their bodies during that time and afterwards. They do not entirely abstain from food during this time, but restrict their eating to only after the sun has set every evening. It causes a repeated cycle of fasting and refeeding that is taxing on their body. Your cycle regularity is controlled by this axis between your ovaries, pituitary, and hypothalamus, and fasting sort of spins that axis around, which can wreak havoc. The studies showed that young women who fasted during Ramadan were substantially more at risk for suffering from menstrual dysfunction, which does not just immediately resolve itself once the fast is broken. It's also not just confined to.....that direct issue, but also other unpleasant things like sleep disruption, painful hormonal cystic acne breakouts, metabolism issues, severer cramping.

You can fast in other meaningful ways beside refraining from food. The same objective can be achieved by giving up something else that serves as a form of sustenance or pleasure for your life and instead dedicating that time to being in communion with God. I've done social media fasts and music fasts, spending the time I would have been online or listening to music reading scripture or in prayer.

Edit: I hadn't read the post above about how your parents aren't letting you fast when I wrote this post in response to the OP. It's still applicable. When you're 18 you're still going to be more physically sensitive to fasting than older women, but you can still fast through other methods than by abstaining from food.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

hi! i’m a bit new to this so i’m sorry haha. but! i’ve recently felt the need to fast. i’m planning on doing a one meal a day fast to start off. i was wondering how i fast? for example, do i pray the entire day or can i go out and do stuff? again, i’m sorry i’m really new to this. also! school is starting soon and i was wondering if i could also do it during school. thank you!!!

When I was first saved I fasted a single meal and God turned up. If one meal is what you want to do, go ahead and do it. As a note on fasting, one thing I did not know when I was younger was this passage in Isaiah,

Isa 58:5-7 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

You will note fasting is not about getting hungry, and feeling bad. It is about sharing your bread with the hungry. A fast was about giving the food you would normally eat to the hungry. In the modern day sense fasting should involve giving the money we save on food to a charity that helps the poor. But note if you are not in a position to do that right now then don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities to do it in the future.

As for what you do on the day you fast, keep an ear out to the Holy Spirit, do what ever you feel led to do. It need not be about the poor, it could be witnessing, sharing your faith, any number of things. Good luck on the fast.

 

[LoricaLady]

thank you so much!! i’m not permitted to by my parents due to my physical state but i look forward to it when i’m an adult!!

Due to your physical state? In case I didn't communicate clearly enough, a once weekly 24 hour water fast is for those who are very healthy. But maybe when you are older any health issues will be resolved. I pray for you for that.

Now there are other things one can fast from. My personal opinion is that giving up secular entertainment, especially t.v., may be even more important than fasting from food. T.V. and secular entertainment in general are generally promoting non Biblical, even anti Biblical, values. "Garbage in, garbage out." T.V. puts one into a light trance state - as much research verifies - the better to conform you to their values and make you want their products.

 

[LoricaLady]

P.S. I see that someone above quoted from Isaiah 58 regarding fasting. Here is the completion of that passage:

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

These words caused me, personally, to do an historical, linguistic and Scriptural study of what the Bible actually says about the Sabbath, when it actually is and how it is to be honored.

Notice that even those who think the Sabbath is now on Sunday generally think they have done their Christian duty if they go to Church on that day. The concept of resting, as the 4th Commandment states, and of not having others work for us (as with waitresses and shop people who serve them when they leave their Churches) and of keeping the day holy - rather than watching Netflix and going to out to movies etc. - is rarely considered.