What are the different types of fasting?

Usually, fasting is the abstaining of food for a certain period of
time. There are different types of fasting in the Bible, however, and
not all of them involve food. Many people in the Bible fasted,
including Moses, David, and Daniel in the Old Testament and Anna,
Paul, and Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The recognition of the
importance of fasting has continued to today, with many important
figures in Christian history attested to fasting's value ans
throughout church history fasted and witnessed to its value.

Biblical fasting is often closely linked to repentance, as in the
examples of David, the nation of Israel, and the city of Nineveh.
Fasting is also related to passionate prayer, as in the examples of
King Jehoshaphat and Queen Esther. Biblical fasting comes from a
humble heart seeking God (Isaiah 58:3–7). John MacArthur comments on
Isaiah 58: "The people complained when God did not recognize their
religious actions, but God responded that their fastings had been only
half-hearted. Hypocritical fasting resulted in contention, quarreling,
and pretense, excluding the possibility of genuine prayer to God.
Fasting consisted of more than just an outward ritual and a mock
repentance, it involved penitence over sin and consequent humility,
disconnecting from sin and oppression of others, feeding the hungry,
and acting humanely toward those in need."

The regular fast is done by abstaining from all food, both solid and
liquid, except for water. This is the type of fasting Judah's King
Jehoshaphat called for when his country was confronted with invasion
(2 Chronicles 20:3). The Lord defeated their enemies, and the men of
Judah blessed the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:24–27). After the Babylonian
Captivity, the people returning to Jerusalem prayed and fasted, asking
God for His protection on their journey (Ezra 8:21). The Lord Jesus
fasted during His forty days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan
(Luke 4:2). When Jesus was hungry, Satan tempted Him to turn the
stones into bread, to which Jesus replied, "Man shall not live by
bread alone" (Luke 4:4).

Another type of biblical fasting is the partial fast. The prophet
Daniel spent three weeks fasting from certain foods. In Daniel 10, the
prophet says, "I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice
food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all
until the three weeks were over" (Daniel 10:2–3). Note that Daniel's
fast to express his grief on this occasion only omitted "choice" food,
and it also involved relinquishing the use of oils and "lotions" for
refreshment. Today, many Christians follow this example and abstain
from certain foods or activities for a short time, looking to the Lord
for their comfort and strength.

Also mentioned in the Bible is the absolute fast, or the full fast,
where no food or water is consumed. When Esther discovered the plan
for all the Jews to be killed in Persia, she and her fellow Jews
fasted from food and water for three days before she entered the
king's courts to ask for his mercy (Esther 4:16). Another example of
an absolute fast is found in the story of Saul's conversion. The
murderous Saul encountered Jesus in His glory on the road to Damascus.
"For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything" (Acts
9:9). Immediately following that time of blindness and fasting, Saul
dedicated his life to preaching Jesus Christ.

In the cases of Esther and Saul, the absolute fast only lasted three
days. However, Moses and Elijah took part in miraculous, forty-day
absolute fasts. When Moses met God on the mountaintop to receive the
tablets of stone, he ate no bread and drank no water (Deuteronomy
9:9). And, after Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel,
infuriating Queen Jezebel, Elijah fled for his life and spent forty
days of fasting in the wilderness (1 Kings 19).

The Bible also mentions a sexual fast, although not by that name. In
Exodus 19:15, the people of Israel were to prepare for their encounter
with the Lord at Mt. Sinai, and part of their preparation was to
abstain from sexual relations for three days. And in 1 Corinthians 7:5
Paul says that a married couple can mutually agree to abstain from sex
for a short period of time in order to devote themselves to prayer.
But then they are to "come together again so that Satan will not tempt
you because of your lack of self-control."

The purpose of fasting is not to get God to respond as a genie in a
bottle to grant our every wish. Fasting, whether it is regular,
partial, absolute, or sexual, is a seeking after God's heart, all
other blessings and benefits being secondary to God Himself. This is
what sets apart biblical fasting from other religious and cultural
practices around the world.