If I can remember, I don’t think I started intentionally praying and fasting until about 4-5 years after I rededicated my life and joined my now home church. It wasn’t until I got baptized and publicly declared my faith in 2020 of being all or nothing, a true disciple and representation of Christ that I started to take these spiritual disciplines seriously.
I would hear past church leaders bring up prayer and fasting often as a child. Especially growing up in a COGIC pentecostal church, I didn’t fully grab ahold of the power and closeness that you can achieve by just being consistent and engaged in periods of these spiritual disciplines.
But my, oh my! My life has been transformed by solely participating in the bi-annual fast that my church does at a community. I’ve also begun to branch out and complete personal fasts on my own especially when I am unclear or seeking clarity regarding an important decision I need to make in my life.
However, I will be honest. I don’t always stay consistent with either. Yet, I still reap amazing internal benefits from my current efforts. Just imagine how my life could be if I was as disciplined and consistent as I should be. I know I will get there with God on my side, though.
What is Prayer?
Prayer is one of the foundational ways of how we communicate and hear from God. This form of communication allows us to have a genuine, personal relationship with God as well as ask for things that we need or need to happen in advance.
Prayer is only has powerful as how much Word we have in us. There are times for crisis prayers, emotional prayers, etc. However, the best prayer is strategic prayer where the Word of God is your authority.
Prayers are a great place to speak His word back to Him. And through prayer, we can change or our circumstances around us can change. This discipline is something we should be doing at all times, without ceasing.
What is Fasting?
Fasting has always been a big adjustment for me. It’s one of those practices that hurts but is so good for you mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Fasting is the decision to submit your body as a sacrifice, pushing back food or any other vice in our life that exalts itself before God for the sole purpose of mastering our body to depend and focus on God alone.
Most people pick various ways to complete a fast, some biblical and some are not. Many people consult God regarding time frame, join a community challenge for support, or complete one spontaneously when challenges arrive in their life.
There are different types of fast:
- Total Fast- Nothing but water only
- Partial Fast – Water and juices only
- Daniel Fast – Vegetables, Fruit, beans, and nuts only
- Social/Media Fast – Turn off Facebook, Instagram, the TV etc. eliminating consumption of media.
- Specific Fast- Eliminating fast food, sugars, meat, etc.
- Intermittent Fasting – Identify certain time frames of no eating and being able to eat healthy, quality foods in the small window of time.
Personally, I’ve done the Daniel Fast, Social Media Fast, Specific and have grown into the intermittent fasting. My goal is to move on to Partial Fast. Total is not a possibility due to my struggles with iron deficiency and working such a fast-pace, high stress job. I need energy to burn in order to not pass out.
However, remember, fasting should never be seen as a detrimental act or as a way of getting something from God. Fasting is an act of worship and a reminder to seek God, continue to draw near, and a desire to hear His voice more clearly.
What does the bible say about prayer and fasting?
Here I share with you from Openbible.info scriptures about fasting and praying:
- Matthew 6:16-18
- Joel 2:12
- Esther 4:16
- Ezra 8:21-23
- Isaiah 58:1-14
- Daniel 10:3
- Acts 13:2-3
Why do we pray and fast together?
I believe we do it together as a church, prayer and fasting, because the bible has shown us multiple times the impact it makes when people get together on one accord and seek God together through fasting and praying.
For example:
Esther’s Story
Before she was to ask and beg the king to spare her people (Jews) , she asked her friends to fast and pray for God’s grace and mercy. They did not eat or drink for three whole days. Though this one task to ask could have cost her life and her people’s life, God gave her courage and led to the saving of her people and destroying of the very person who plotted to kill the Jewish people.
Jericho Fast Story
This example can be found in the book of Joshua chapter 6. God instructed the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership to march around the city of Jericho praying and fasting for 6 times around and on the 7th time march with trumpets and shouting to bring down the walls. In this story, we are provided an example of faithfulness and God’s power to move on your behalf.
In each story, we can see that people gathered together to complete prayer and fasting before decisions, actions, and enemies could take advantage. Seeking God’s guidance protected the well-being of lives and future generations.
What should we pray for while we fast?
In corporate prayer, you are often given prayer topics and scriptures to stand on in which the community deems important to go to God about during that specific year.
However, if you are completing a prayer and fasting on your own, you would have to identify what God wants you to focus on and ways to go deeper in your relationship with Him during your consecrated time.
Once you figure out your topics, always go back to the Word and find scriptures that are in agreement or that you can stand on to pray strategic prayers for that specific desire or need.
Why should single moms participate in prayer and fasting?
The reason for a single mom’s participation in a prayer and fast should be a no brainer but I will elaborate for the case of this post. As single moms, we need God. We need Him more than ever.
As life here on earth gets more and more challenging for us, we must realize how much we are in need of a savior to get back into right fellowship with God.
We can often find the noise of our environment and the pressure from our circumstances leaving us struggling and having difficulty to hear from or make time for God.
For this reason, I encourage single moms to take consecrated time to get back into focus, rooted again, and become clear enough to make sound choices with a sound mind this year.
How can we engage in prayer and fasting?
There are multiple ways you can engage in prayer and fasting. Choose which way works for you. It wasn’t until I joined in and got involved in my church family/community is where I started gaining the muscle and fortitude to complete the 21-day fast.
You can also look online, google, join virtual platforms that are christian/faith-based that put on periodic prayer and fasting challenges. Most importantly, seek God and listen to when He calls you to fast.
I recently was dating a guy and had planned to see family who lives in the same state as him. Before going down there to spend time with family and finally meet him, God called me to fast the 3 days before.
It was amazing because I became clear-headed and focused on staying in-step with Holy Spirit in order to avoid conflict with family and see our interactions clearly for our first time meeting. Below I will share with you the 7 benefits I’ve experienced from prayer and fasting as a single mom.
7 Benefits of Prayer and Fasting
You will grow in your faith.
I grew in faith so much the first time I completed to the Daniel Fast a couple years ago. My desire and hunger for the things of God, including His Word was at an all time high. That same year, the Made New Mama ministry blossomed and I became more confident in myself, operating in the gifts and talents God gave me (started speaking). Lastly, it led to me leaning on more and trusting God to see me through my future endeavors.
You will quick-start and develop your prayer life.
I believe it was January Fast 2023 where my prayer life and boldness in prayer grew. I was in a terrible situation working a contract job that was delinquent with my paychecks, facing eviction, and found myself falling into mountains of debt. I was trying everything I could naturally to fix the situation and it didn’t work.
However, when I could or was out of work, I made my way to corporate noon prayer where I had no choose but to prayer for others when I was in need and to fall on my face, petitioning God to move on my behalf.
Now, I am 2 years removed from that situation and God definitely restored my little family, with a great job, nice affordable place to live, and a plan to conquer all the debt created at the end of 2025. God is so faithful! Praise Him!
You will learn to master your body.
One thing I learned about my body once I started to participate in fasting, is that it was definitely running my life. From the cravings, to the laziness, procrastination, and sexual desires, my body was running the show.
However, as I began fasting, I learned how to gain new strength and how to master over the things my flesh was screaming out for. Every fast, I prayed to overcome the habits of emotional eating and addiction to eating out. My body and my daughter deserves to be treated well with good, quality food.
Most importantly, I don’t want to keep grieving Holy Spirit who lives inside of me with all these inflammatory things I allow in my body. This is my personal conviction though; there may be other things going on in your body that you need to submit to Christ.
You will learn how strong you are to discipline yourself.
As single moms, it can be so easy to throw things to the waste side and end up stressing ourselves out later by not dealing with it first hand. And being a single mom who also has ADHD, self-discipline can sound like a curse word.
However, through actively participating in fasting and praying, I am starting to grow and build habits of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual fortitude that I didn’t know I could ever develop. I believe I allowed the enemy to use my challenges to keep me defeated for so long even though I knew who God created me to be and was leading me.
Prayer and fasting does just that; aid you in your transformation back to the person God created you to be in every area of your life.
You will gain clarity and direction in life.
I believe this is the benefit that I see the most following prayer and fasting. Made New Mama has grown and my role has blossomed in it on multiple occasions following a consecrated time completed with my church family.
Don’t get me wrong, I pray for the single moms that will be touched by the ministry often. It’s when I took dedicated, intentional time to seek out God on what He wants to do through me for single moms, there was so much more revealed than usual.
Prayer and fasting as single moms is an amazing way to regain perspective and gain guidance on which paths to take in every area of your life. You don’t even have to pay for it; ask God and believe that He hears you and He will give you the clarity that you need. That’s it!
You hear God more clearly.
Along with asking for what you need, taking time to fast and pray allows for you to be intentional about quiet time and solitude to get in the Word and get to know God’s voice better.
For some, you may hear God audibly and can discern His voice. However, for a great deal of us single moms, there is so many voices in our heads and ears, including our own that makes us crave peace and quiet long enough to just breath.
I want to encourage you to use your time of prayer and fasting wisely and to get to know God’s voice through His Word. This will help you to better decipher what thoughts are from Him or from something else.
One thing I enjoyed about having the opportunity to pray in a community with my church was that I began to meet people and notice that we were all overcoming something. Through those noon prayer gathers, I was able to feel comfortable praying around and in front of others.
Also, I was able to gain insight and understanding on how I can develop my prayer life by watching others and gleaning from the cadence of prayer from our leaders. If large crowds are not your thing, then try finding a small group to pray with as this is also great for those beginning in the faith.
All in all,
The moral story of this post is to begin a prayer/fasting lifestyle today and continue to grow in your faith, single moms. You won’t regret it.
Encourage your children to participate with you; even though traditional fasting is usually not recommended for them, recommend time away from Youtube, Roblox, etc. Create a culture in your home of seeking and putting God first.