Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough

A Guide to the Biblical Facts

By Elmer l. Towns
Foreword by Bill Bright
Regal Books, $10.99

ISBN 0830718397

(No) Food for Thought

Review by Candy Paull

With the growing interest in spiritual disciplines of the church, Christians who want tools to help them delve more seriously into their faith will welcome this book on fasting. Written by a staunch evangelical, Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough offers ideas and guidelines for meaningful fasting and prayer.

Why a book on fasting? To combat our complacency, our "feel-good" religiosity, and to recover a discipline that has been a center of spiritual power for believers throughout history. The author, Elmer Towns, writes, "This book is intended to describe the purposes and show you the results of fasting. It is written to show how fasting can enable you to be an overcomer, to increase your faith, and to accomplish great things in the lives of others. Although I do not think fasting is mandatory for believers today, I do believe the discipline is available to strengthen you spiritually and to help you overcome barriers that might keep you from living the victorious Christian life."

Outlining nine different types of fasts, Towns uses Isaiah 58 as the springboard for understanding why we need to fast and how to approach our fasts. He chose nine biblical characters whose lives personified the literal or figurative theme of each of nine aspects of fasting highlighted in Isaiah 58:6Ð8. "These suggested fasts are models to use and adjust to your own particular needs and desires as you seek to grow closer to God."

The nine fast patterns are:

The Disciple's Fast: Fasting for freedom from addiction
The Ezra Fast: Fasting to solve problems
The Samuel Fast: Fasting to win people to Christ
The Elijah Fast: Fasting to break crippling fears
The Widow's Fast: Fasting to provide for the needy
The Saint Paul Fast: Fasting for insight and decision making
The Daniel Fast: Fasting for health and physical healing
The John the Baptist Fast: Fasting for an influential testimony
The Esther Fast: Fasting for protection from the evil one.

Each pattern is outlined in a full chapter. It includes insight on the biblical story, preparation and purpose, specific choices and attitudes (do I fast alone, for how long, etc.) and prayer directions. All through the book Towns offers rich insight into the spiritual walk, using fasting as the action that leads us into a deeper walk with God and other people. He constantly emphasizes that fasting is a process, not a quick fix. It is a way to develop relationship, a form to give physical reality to spiritual truth.

Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough not only outlines particular fasts and the reasons for fasting, but tells about the rich history of fasting in the Christian church over the centuries.

Without glossing over the abuses of fasting in the past, the author shows how the early church made fasting a vital part of a serious and devout life. Also included is information on the health benefits of fasting, how to keep a fasting journal, biblical references to fasting, an annotated bibliography, and comments about fasting by Christian leaders. Readers will want to read Bill Bright's foreword in which he describes his own remarkable December 1994 experience with fasting.

One of the most valuable sections is about keeping a fasting journal to record observations and to chronicle spiritual growth. The journaling process offers a flexible way to express daily prayers, create a personal history book, log answers to prayer, prepare for fasts, and even keep a record of phone calls and meetings. The discipline of the fast and the need to record spiritual insights gained in fasting make this a natural time to create a journal.

If you want to explore a new way to grow spiritually and to pray effectively, Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough will give you food for thought.