How was your 2025? What were your highs and lows, accomplishments and shortfalls? What pushed you forward, and what ground you to a halt? How did you plan? Make decisions? Did your actions stem from wants and desires or from your God-given purpose? Did you have peace through the ups and downs or did chaos creep in and take over?

When you look back over the last twelve months, did the year go as it was meant to or did “self” get in the way, keeping you from the year that had been perfectly envisioned for you?

This year could be different. You could step into 2026 with the decision to not go it alone, to not bow to self, and to not miss out on a single thing that has been imagined specifically for you. What if you start the year by decluttering? Not your closets or your junk drawer, but your mind, your body, and your spirit.

Fasting can help you do that.

What a fast does for your body

A fast in itself has the miraculous ability to clear out toxins and jumpstart healing. Perfect Keto  breaks down what occurs inside your body during a simple 24-hour fast, consuming only water, coffee, or unsweetened tea.

During the first 8–12 hours
Your blood glucose begins to dip. Once you’re past the initial hunger hurdle you begin to tap into your sugar stores, stabilize your glucose levels, and use stored body fat.

12–18 hours
Your liver begins converting your stored fat into ketones that fuel your muscles, heart, and brain. Your appetite is suppressed, and your mental clarity increases.

24 hours
Your body goes into repair mode, recycling cells and reducing inflammation. Beyond 24 hours, there’s an increase in human growth hormones, muscle repair, and muscle mass.

While what happens to the body is truly mind-blowing, it’s only part of it.

A fast with preparation, intention, and a heart of humility, can do even more

A biblical fast is refraining from food for a spiritual purpose. Whether you are a believer in Jesus, used to believe, or have never believed, a fast can clear the way for a deepening, a coming home, or a door opening to your Creator.

According to the Bible, fasting is supposed to be a part of our lives. In Matthew 6:16, it says, “when you fast.” It doesn’t say, “if you fast.” We were designed to fast. If you doubt that, reread what it can do just for our bodies.

Every December, my pastor encourages our church family to kick off the new year with a fast. Not just any fast, but a dedicated, 21-day period where we are all in. Why 21 days? It’s what Daniel did in Daniel 10. What it doesn't mean is no food or water for three weeks, that would be harmful. Rather, we are encouraged to seek what God might be calling us to or calling us to work on during our time of self-denial/fast.

In the Bible, people fasted for clarity about what God wanted from them, for strength and deliverance as they prepared for battle, for healing for themselves and others, or simply out of obedience. Following their example, we are called to fast.

(If talking and listening to God are foreign concepts for you, start with making time to just think about your fast. There may be a word that comes to mind, an action, something that repeatedly pops into your head that feels like a direction. Go with that.)

Once you feel some intentionality—a theme in the Bible you want to explore or maybe questions you want to dwell on and place before the One who knows you best—think about what your fast will look like. (And if no intention has come to you yet, that’s OK. Still move on to the next step of what it will look like.)  

You might decide that during your fast you will skip a meal on certain days, or commit a full day here and there to having no food, or refrain from a certain food group during the 21 days, or maybe you want to do what Daniel did, often called a "Daniel fast," and cut out meats, sweats, and wheats.

Perhaps you feel led to do a different amount of time than 21 days. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah fasted from food and water for 40 days (a feat that would be fatal unless God directed it), David for 7 days, and Paul and Esther for 3 days, while others fasted 24 hours.

Do your best to discern your direction and move forward.

Start!

Once you have the particulars in mind of how you want to go about it (and even if you don’t), start.

Use the days you're setting aside to pray more, read your Bible more, listen more. If you were given a word to focus on, find that word or theme throughout the Bible. Meditate on it. BibleGateway allows you to search words and themes throughout the Bible.

(For those who don’t know how to start talking to God, carve out time to sit quietly or read aloud your questions, your worries, and hesitations. God will meet you where you are. All you need to do is show up, humble yourself, and make yourself available.)

And if in the course of your fast you happen to momentarily veer off the path you've set for yourself, don't give up. Regroup and continue on.

Still feel lost or need more direction? There are resources to help. Life West church offers fasting tips and pastor messages, as well as daily readings and thought prompts. There’s also a book by Jentezen Franklin called Fasting, which not only gives a multitude of biblical references on why we fast, but story after story of people whose lives were changed through fasting.

Starting off the new year with a fast won’t guarantee a year of wealth and prosperity. What it will do is remind you to look ahead with a sense of purpose that goes far beyond your wants and desires. Sharpening your sensitivity to the nudgings of the Father who created you, loves you, and has a perfect plan for you, will make your 2026 so much closer to what God intended.  

Happy New Year!

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