How to Spiritually Prepare for a Fast: Essential Steps to Deepen Your Connection with God

This is foundational. The purpose of fasting is to seek God, understand His will, and get a response quickly (because fasting removes distractions and shows complete devotion, which gets God’s attention!). It’s exciting to think about all the amazing things that can happen spiritually during a fast, but if you’re new to fasting, your everyday habits might derail you before you even start.

If you’re planning a fast—whether it’s on your own, with a group, or with your church—here are some tips to help you prepare spiritually so you can have a successful fast.

1. Remove the Distractions

Netflix, Hulu, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook (yes, people still use it!), Pinterest, WhatsApp groups—whatever your distractions are, you know them better than I do. Now’s the time to start cutting them down. If you’re spending 10 hours a day on your phone, start reducing it to five hours. Fasting is a time to focus solely on God and His will, and it’s a lot easier to maintain focus during a fast if you’ve already minimized those distractions.

You can’t control everything, like what happens at work or caring for family, but you can control entertainment distractions. Do yourself a favor and start reducing them now, while you’re still eating and functioning normally. Trust me, trying to remove those distractions and food at the same time will only make things harder on yourself. Remember, God said, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). I’m just here to share these tips to make your fasting experience easier!

As the Bible says, "Obedience is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22). So, take this advice and start preparing now.

2. Set Aside Time for God Now

If you say you want to seek God and hear from Him, start by setting aside time now to read His Word (the Bible). Yes, fasting and prayer deepen our connection with God, but you can hear from Him every day by simply reading the 66 books He’s already given us in the Bible.

You can’t seek God apart from His Word. Practice makes perfect, and God doesn’t just want us to seek Him when we’re in trouble or need a breakthrough. He desires a relationship with us—and that comes from spending time with Him. Think about when you first met someone you liked. You’d stay on the phone for hours, talking about nothing, just to be in their presence or hear their voice. Shouldn’t we give that same energy to the God we say we love?

God doesn’t just want us to come to Him in desperation, though He will answer. He wants us to come to Him in all things—good, bad, or in between. God has always wanted a relationship with us, just like any loving father would. In the Garden, He walked with Adam and even spoke with Cain. When He brought Israel to Mount Sinai, He intended to communicate directly with them, but they were scared and asked for Moses to act as their intermediary.

Now, thanks to Christ, we are redeemed and can communicate directly with God, with Christ as our mediator and the Holy Spirit as our advocate. Yet, so many of us struggle to pick up the Bible and read His Word. As a result, we’re perishing as God’s people (Joel 2:25), and our spiritual power is diminished.

So, whether you’re fasting or not, you need to be reading God’s Word. If you’re planning to focus on deepening your personal time with God during a fast, start practicing now. It will make your fasting experience much easier.

If you do these two things—removing distractions and setting aside time for God—you’ll be spiritually prepared for your next fast. You’ll experience a deeper understanding and revelation of God, His Word, and even yourself.

I pray that God blesses, keeps, and protects you as you seek Him first, and that all things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

Blessings and shalom!

Lyn