We wanted to share some testimony and encouragement from others in the church who’ve had experience of fasting in their walk with Jesus. Chinelo Uwaga said:
Here is my experience on fasting. Personally, I start with the mindset that fasting done right in accordance to the will of God yields much results.
Fasting is a lifestyle for me. In Nigeria, different churches will have different fasting days; at the start of the year, the start of the month and most importantly there’s a day in the week where all members are to fast. These church fasting exercises have shaped my fasting life because while it can be easy enough to go without food at times, it wasn’t easy to deliberately fast and pray.
I personally have found it helpful to use specific bible verses coupled with fasting to tackle what I see as problems. One was breaking negative family patterns. And also with midnight deliverance prayers.
Thank you for the opportunity to give this little of my fasting experience.
You can see the benefit of a church culture of fasting – what can be a hard discipline becomes much more accessible when you know that you’re doing it together with others.
Benny Annor likewise wanted to encourage us not to be put off if fasting for longer periods of time is particularly difficult. She said that in Ghana the day of the week you were born on is significant to people – often that day will be one of their names, their ‘name day’ – and many people would fast each week on their name day. If longer periods of fasting are hard to stomach then you could think about fasting until evening on a given day each week – whether year round, or for a season. While that might sound tough, it’s actually quite a straightforward habit once you get going.
If you’ve got questions, do feel free to speak to Chinelo or Benny or me and we’d be happy to talk, whether about the practical questions or about the spiritual benefits!
Dan Jones, 21 January 2026