When I Finally Took Fasting Seriously: A Testimony of Clarity and Change

I’ve mentioned in a few of my blog posts that I’ve fasted before. But if I’m being completely honest, my past fasts didn’t involve much prayer, and I wasn’t reading the Bible the way I should have. The whole point of cutting something out—whether it’s food or social media—is to replace that time with prayer and meditating on the Word. I wasn’t doing that. I was just… fasting.

That changed a little over a month ago when a video about fasting popped up on my YouTube feed. This woman was explaining different types of fasts: a 7‑day fast from 6am–3pm, an Esther fast with no food or water for three days, and more.

For some reason, watching that convicted me. I needed a breakthrough. I needed change. I needed to take fasting seriously instead of reading the Bible for half an hour and loosely praying throughout the day.

So the next morning, I started a 7‑day fast.

I woke up at 5am, showered, grabbed some crackers for breakfast—definitely not ideal, but I hadn’t planned anything—and began my fast at 6am, ending at 6pm of just water.

Was it a struggle? Absolutely.

Before this fast, my biggest issue was reading the Bible and praying without getting distracted by my phone or getting bored. Actually, there were several issues: I couldn’t get out of bed early no matter what I tried. I’d set alarms, go to bed earlier, adjust my routine… nothing worked. I could never get up before 7:30.

But this time, I persevered. I made a decision not to give up, because honestly, I was tired of being stuck in the same cycle. And instead of doing what the children of Israel did in the wilderness—complaining and prolonging the journey—I wanted to do something different.

By day five, I realised it had become surprisingly easy to wake up early and start my fast at 6am. But on day six, I slept in and woke up at 6am. I don’t know if I slept through my alarm or forgot to set it, but I felt terrible. I rushed to shower and eat something so I could start at 7am, but I felt so defeated that I quit the fast altogether.

Later, I thought to myself: If it was that easy to get into fasting—even though I struggled with 12‑hour fasts before—maybe I should try again, but better prepared.
So I did. I started again the next week… and I made it all the way through.

During that second fast, I realised something important: fasting was helping me break habits I didn’t even know were holding me back. Before, I had no urgency in the mornings. I’d wake up whenever, eat whenever, shower whenever, and start work at 10. But fasting forced me to plan—what time to wake up, what to eat, how to structure my morning. I wasn’t wasting time on my phone because I had a clear starting point: 6am.

Another breakthrough was prayer. I started praying for my business every single day — something I had never done before. Before I began fasting again, my work routine was opening my computer and getting straight into tasks without asking the Holy Spirit for help. I’d try to figure out how to bring more people to my website, but nothing worked. I wasn’t seeing the results of my hard labour because I wasn’t inviting God into it.

But because I had more free time — and because I was doing a longer fast during the day — I realised the best way to use that extra time was to open my social media stats and pray over them. I would talk to the Lord about my business goals and the numbers I wanted to reach on my socials. I had never prayed over my business like that before, and honestly, I was kicking myself for not realising sooner how important that was.

So, if you’re wondering what the point of fasting is—or if you think going without food for several hours won’t help—I get it. I used to think the same way.

To be honest, the main reason I fasted still hasn’t been resolved. But fasting exposed issues I didn’t realise were blocking me. Looking back at how I’ve been running this business, I can’t believe how little I prayed about something I wanted God to bless. I wanted breakthrough, but I wasn’t living like someone stewarding a God‑given assignment.

Fasting changed that.

It helped me reset my habits, confront my distractions, and invite God into areas I had been handling on my own. And I would recommend fasting to anyone who is at a point in their life where they need change, healing, or freedom from something that’s been holding them back.