How to Fast
Reward Sibanda
6 min read ⭑
Let me pose a hypothesis to you. If you knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that the arc of heaven’s will bent toward your prayers, would you pray more or less? What type of prayers would you pray? The phenomenal news I have for you today is that Jesus, without reservation, clearly states that to be the case. There is a place in prayer where, to state it again, “nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20, NKJV). And that place is in the combination of prayer and fasting.
We know that fasting humbles the soul. That truth is the linchpin and the secret to powerful prayer: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16, NKJV).
That scripture captures the caliber of prayer we should all aspire to, doesn’t it? It implies a prayer that is active, impactful and filled with power. The big question then becomes, how does this seemingly simple act of fasting unlock the profound potency where impossibility becomes our norm?
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We have established that the spirit, which is the part of the tripartite man that comes from and communicates with God, is the primary engagement faculty when it comes to prayer. This faculty (the spirit) has no issue at all being convinced of the impossible becoming possible because it emanates from the spiritual realm, the realm of impossibilities. All the things we pray and petition for here on earth — all wonders and miracles — are commonplace occurrences in heaven’s realm. Our super is their natural. So it follows that whenever we pray in the faculty of the spirit, there is no interference, no resistance, no hesitance.
In the same way, I believe the prayer of faith that James talks about is one that rises from and is anchored to the promises of God, Spirit to spirit: “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (verse 15).
When we pray in faith and when the spirit is in ascendance, it’s a direct, uninterrupted, static-free line to a God who is willing — and, in fact, desires — to give us good things. For the spirit to be in a state of ascendancy, something else must be in a place of subservience, and that is the soul.
Remember, the soul is the rational you and, at least while anchored in this broken world, is antithetical to things of the spirit because things of the spirit are not logical or tangible and, therefore, cannot be explained rationally. We have all seen that. Whenever we are prompted to pray the prayer of faith, maybe in praying for a healing miracle or restoration in a fractured relationship, the moment we begin to engage in prayer, the mind (which is part of the soul) instinctively goes into overdrive to make a logical case as to why the things we are asking for are impossible. And it seems the stronger that voice gets, the weaker our faith conviction becomes. Our senses, our memories, and historic and scientific fact, along with our fears of embarrassment and rejection, immediately build a bullet- proof case for why our appeals to the divine are not practical, not justified, not warranted and will never materialize. We all have, in those moments, felt the doubt rise and coagulate into unbelief, and right then, we fail to ask boldly, confidently, fearlessly or in a state of any of the divinely prescribed synonyms that make the prayer of faith a guarantee.
What happens internally is that our souls are in a place of ascendancy, and our spirits are in a state of subservience, and as long as that is the dynamic, differential or status quo, we are what the Bible calls “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (NKJV, James 1:8) and unable to receive anything from the Lord (see verse 7).
I know I echo the frustrated sighs of billions who experience that sad state. If only there were something — a spiritual tool, an ancient practice — that could recalibrate the imbalance and put things right side up. If only there were something that could tame and humble the soul.
There’s an old story about a gambling man who had two dogs he would race, and with startling accuracy, he could predict which dog would win the race that day. Upon his retirement from his lucrative enterprise, people asked him the secret of his accurate predictions, and he said, “Oh, I would alternate feedings on the morning of the race, and whichever dog I fed won the race.” What we feed gets stronger, and what is stronger dominates. So is the case with the spirit and the soul: Whatever is fed rises to ascendancy, and we glean the fruit of that faculty, whether faith or unbelief.
“Of the myriad benefits the Lord gives us through our fasting, I believe humility is the most important. Fasting humbles our soul so our spirits can truly connect with God and his Spirit.”
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, puts it this way: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” (6:7,8).
Now, in that and a few other contexts, Paul and other New Testament authors use that term the flesh. Even though most people take the flesh to mean the physical body, deeper study proves that it is much more than that. The flesh has works (see 5:19–21) and desires and cravings (see Ephesians 2:3).
In those verses (and the many others throughout Scripture), the whole disposition of the flesh is almost always expressed in contrast to, and even as antagonistic to, the spirit. First Peter 2:11 tells us, “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul” (NIV). There is an internal war being waged between faculties.
Please don’t look at those scriptures and envision a permanent divide within our tripartite makeup. Rather, they specifically refer to the ongoing struggle within all Christians between the renewed nature, which desires God, and our sinful nature, which seeks expression in contrary directions.
In most cases, that dynamic between the soul and the flesh is the root of many issues with our humanity. But through the process of sanctification, Christ brings our whole beings into harmony on the journey of becoming Christlike. First Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) says, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is interesting to note that the body itself undergoes its own transformation process, as we shall see in upcoming chapters. A prideful soul, in ascendancy over the spirit, is prone to unbelief, and unbelief is an ironclad guarantee for unanswered prayer. That is why Jesus, when explaining the cause of the disciples’ inability to heal the boy in Matthew 17:14–21 (NKJV), spoke to the perversity of their unbelief and landed his whole discourse with this statement: “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (verse 21).
Of the myriad benefits the Lord gives us through our fasting, I believe humility is the most important. Fasting humbles our soul so our spirits can truly connect with God and his Spirit. We’ve all experienced moments when we failed to connect with the peace and calm of the reassurances of God’s presence and his promises simply because we were too close to the problem — too rattled, distracted or distraught. A soul humbled through fasting does away with all that. Think of fasting as an anchor for our minds and our emotions for the times when we have no faith, conviction or cognitive clarity to pray. Fasting negates the paralyzing power of our brains overriding what our spirits know to be true.
Hailing from Zimbabwe, Reward Sibanda is the author of How to Fast: Rediscovering the Ancient Practice for Unlocking Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Renewal as well as being a speaker, writer, pastor at Saddleback Church and senior director of national church engagement and ministry partnerships with World Vision. Renowned for his transformative insights that challenge conventional thinking, Sibanda empowers people to transcend limitations and pursue God’s best for themselves. He speaks at churches and events around the country and resides near Los Angeles, California with his wife and son. Visit him at RewardSibanda.com & @rewardsibanda on social media.
Taken from “How to Fast” by Reward Sibanda. Copyright © 2025. Used by permission of WaterBrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
