Fasting like Jesus

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

MaryM

Well-known member
Nov 25, 2022
445
253
63
#1
A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to copy Jesus by fasting for 40 days. He died long before reaching his target.

Actually, 40 days is a very very long time. Is it actually possible for any human being to do this? I can only presume Jesus did drink as humans die within a few days without water.
John the Baptist existed on locusts and honey, so he deprived himself of proper nutrition as far as we know.

So, why did Jesus do this and why did none of his disciples do similarly? As for as I can see, His disciples never fasted and were criticised for this by the priests of the temple.
 

shittim

Senior Member
Dec 16, 2016
13,633
7,664
113
#2
We know Jesus said He only said what He heard the Father say, and He only did what He saw the Father do.
The pastor from Mozambique may not have been called into the fast and did it based on his own fleshly desires.:):unsure:(y):coffee:
 

soberxp

Senior Member
May 3, 2018
2,511
482
83
#3
One of the main rules of fasting is to do it away from other people and not to think about how hungry you will be,Try meditating on some scriptures and thinking about the mysteries of God. You can't have someone constantly asking you if you are hungry, and you can't have someone preparing food for you, because that will immediately make you desperately hungry. It could be a mechanism, and perhaps only God knows how it works.

When you're hungry even when nothing else is bothering you, it's time to stop.
 
Feb 4, 2023
38
19
8
#4
A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to copy Jesus by fasting for 40 days. He died long before reaching his target.

Actually, 40 days is a very very long time. Is it actually possible for any human being to do this? I can only presume Jesus did drink as humans die within a few days without water.
John the Baptist existed on locusts and honey, so he deprived himself of proper nutrition as far as we know.

So, why did Jesus do this and why did none of his disciples do similarly? As for as I can see, His disciples never fasted and were criticised for this by the priests of the temple.
Moses, like Jesus, also fasted 40 days and 40 nights without food and water. God said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from his mouth.

We are warned of Jesus not to fast like the hypocrites. Showing a sad face to show that they fast. The fast that God really wants is to break every yoke and to help the poor.

Isaiah 58:6-7 KJV
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [7] Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
56,019
26,143
113
#5
Actually, 40 days is a very very long time. Is it actually possible for any human being to do this?
I can only presume Jesus did drink as humans die within a few days without water.
Fasting for forty days is definitely possible, and yes, taking fluids is necessary :)

I know someone who fasted for forty days. I was able to go ten days without food.
 

Gideon300

Well-known member
Mar 18, 2021
4,947
2,870
113
#7
A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to copy Jesus by fasting for 40 days. He died long before reaching his target.

Actually, 40 days is a very very long time. Is it actually possible for any human being to do this? I can only presume Jesus did drink as humans die within a few days without water.
John the Baptist existed on locusts and honey, so he deprived himself of proper nutrition as far as we know.

So, why did Jesus do this and why did none of his disciples do similarly? As for as I can see, His disciples never fasted and were criticised for this by the priests of the temple.
Jesus explained both points in the gospels. It's worth doing a study. I used to fast for part of a day, twice a week. I developed a health problem (not from fasting) so I stopped. I miss it.

Many people have died from fasting for too long, often because they don't know how to break a long fast. Derek Prince wrote an excellent book on fasting. It's worth a look.
 
Feb 5, 2023
698
230
43
#8
Not ong ago I read of a man who is a Breatherian. He lives on air alone.

Sounds like fiction yet various laboratories and researchers have tested him to see if it is true. It is.

Jesus was God. We aren't. We can't live without water for 40 days. The exception being the man I mentioned.

Also, it could be an allegory, Jesus fasting. Notice how certain numbers repeat in the Bible?

Noah and 40 days of rain. Jesus 40 days of fasting. Numbers play an important role in Judaism.
 

jb

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2010
4,940
589
113
#9
A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to copy Jesus by fasting for 40 days. He died long before reaching his target.

Actually, 40 days is a very very long time. Is it actually possible for any human being to do this? I can only presume Jesus did drink as humans die within a few days without water.
John the Baptist existed on locusts and honey, so he deprived himself of proper nutrition as far as we know.

So, why did Jesus do this and why did none of his disciples do similarly? As for as I can see, His disciples never fasted and were criticised for this by the priests of the temple.
A 40 day fast is NOT something to be entered into lightly, and I would think that it should only be entered into upon hearing expressly to do so from God!