Is Fasting Still Necessary?
One question naturally follows everything we’ve discussed about prayer:
- If we are already accepted by God…
- If Christ has already secured every spiritual blessing…
- If prayer is about communion rather than convincing God…
Then why should we fast?
For many years, I associated fasting with getting breakthrough. If there was a difficult situation, I would fast. If I wanted God to answer, I would fast. If I there was a situation I felt needed more power, I would fast longer. Sometimes fasting almost became a way of proving my seriousness to God. As though the longer I went without food, the more likely He was to answer. Yet the more I began to understand the finished work of Christ, the more I realised something profound.
God’s willingness to answer prayer has never depended on how hungry I become.
It has always depended on His goodness.
One of the greatest shifts grace has brought to my understanding is this:
Fasting does not change God’s heart toward me.
His heart was already fully revealed through Jesus.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
Notice the wording. It doesn’t say He “WILL” bless, it says, He “HAS” blessed. Past tense, it’s already done. That changes everything! I am not fasting to persuade a reluctant God. I am responding to a loving Father.
Then Why Did Jesus Fast?
Jesus Himself fasted. Not because He needed to earn the Father’s approval or get His attention. At His baptism, before His forty-day fast, the Father had already declared,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
The Father’s pleasure and attention came before the fast, not because of it. Jesus entered the wilderness:
- Already loved.
- Already accepted.
- Already affirmed.
- Already with God’s attention
That is the same position from which we fast today.
Jesus also expected His followers to fast. Notice what He said in the Sermon on the Mount:
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do… But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face…” (Matthew 6:16–18)
Jesus didn’t say “IF” you fast, He said “WHEN” you fast. He expected fasting to remain part of the believer’s life. Later, John’s disciples asked Jesus another interesting question.
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14)
Jesus answered,
“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:15)
I love this answer because Jesus gives us the heart behind Christian fasting. The disciples were not going to fast because God would suddenly become more willing to answer them. They would fast because the Bridegroom would no longer be physically present with them. Their fasting would flow from relationship and not transaction.
What About “This Kind Does Not Go Out Except by Prayer and Fasting”?
Whenever Christians discuss fasting, one verse almost always comes up:
“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:21 (NKJV))
Before discussing the verse itself, it is worth noting that many modern Bible translations either omit this verse entirely or include it only in a footnote because it does not appear in some of the earliest Greek manuscripts. This is why you will not find Matthew 17:21 in translations such as the ESV, NIV, NLT, and several others. Whether or not one believes the verse formed part of Matthew’s original Gospel, I don’t believe it changes the main lesson of the passage. Because Jesus Himself tells us why the disciples failed. When they asked Him privately,
“Why could we not cast it out?” (Matthew 17:19)
Jesus answered,
“Because of your unbelief…” (Matthew 17:20)
His explanation was not, “Because you hadn’t fasted.” It was because they did not believe and that is important.
Even if we assume that Jesus also said, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting,” I don’t think He was giving the disciples a new formula for dealing with difficult demons. Earlier in His ministry as referred in Matthew 9:15 above, Jesus had deliberately not required His disciples to fast while He was physically with them. It would seem strange for Jesus to criticise them for not fasting when He had specifically said that this was not yet their season to fast.
Instead, I believe the issue was the condition of the believer rather than the strength of the demon.
We have already seen that before Jesus began His public ministry, He spent forty days fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–2). Was He fasting because Satan was too powerful? Of course not! Jesus had already been declared the beloved Son of God before He entered the wilderness. His fast was not about gaining power. It was about yielding Himself fully to the Father and walking in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit as He prepared for the ministry ahead. The disciples, on the other hand, struggled with unbelief. That is exactly what Jesus addressed.
The lesson, then, is not that certain demons require a longer fast. The lesson is that a life continually yielded to God leaves little room for unbelief. Fasting can certainly help quiet the distractions of the flesh, sharpen our spiritual sensitivity, and deepen our dependence on God.
But the power itself does not come from fasting.
It comes from Christ and it is already given. As we have seen throughout this series, victory is never produced by our spiritual effort. It flows from trusting the finished work of the cross, yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit, and standing in faith on what God has already accomplished.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, fasting is not a way of convincing God to act or earning His favour. We fast because Jesus expected His followers to fast, but He also showed us that fasting is rooted in relationship, not religious performance. Even the often-debated passage about “prayer and fasting” points us back to faith and wholehearted dependence on God rather than to a formula for breakthrough.
Under the New Covenant, our confidence rests in the finished work of Christ. We do not fast because God is distant, but because He already lives within us. Fasting is not about trying to obtain His power; it is about yielding ourselves more fully to the power of His Spirit already at work in us.
In the next post, we’ll explore what fasting looks like in everyday life and how it becomes less of an emergency response to life’s problems and more of a lifestyle of intimacy, preparation, and communion with God.
Prayer
Father,
Thank You that I do not have to earn Your love or persuade You to act on my behalf.
Thank You that through Jesus I can come to You with confidence, knowing that You have already accepted me.
Help me to understand fasting through the lens of Your grace and not through striving or performance.
Teach me to trust Your finished work and to walk by faith in every situation.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen. ❤️
Last modified: 20/07/2026