How Do You Prepare for Prayer and Fasting?

How do I pray?

Prayer comes first, with or without a fast. Start with who God is, then bring what you need. The Lord's Prayer gives you an outline for both, and it fits in a ten-minute prayer time.

What pattern can I follow?

Use the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) as a guide, one line at a time, and put your own words under each line.

1. Praise. God is our Father, and his name is holy. Spend a few minutes on who God is before you ask for anything.
2. Surrender. Ask for God's kingdom and God's will to show up in your home, your work, and Palo Alto.
3. Ask. Ask plainly for what you need today. That is the daily bread line, and it covers rent, health, a job, and peace of mind.
4. Confess and forgive. Tell God where you have fallen short, and let go of what you are holding against someone else.
5. Ask for protection. Ask God to keep you from temptation, including the pull to quit the fast on a hard day.

How do I pray with Scripture?

Pray a passage back to God in your own words. Read slowly, stop on the line that catches you, and turn it into a prayer. The Psalms give words for every season, including joy, grief, confusion, and feeling overwhelmed (Cornwall United Methodist Church). The passages in the 21-day plan below work well for this.

What should I pray for?

Pray for your own heart first, then let your prayer widen. A fast is a good time to carry other people before God.

• Your household. The people you live with, by name.
• Our church. Wisdom for Pastor and our leaders, unity in the congregation, and strength for Team Amazing.
• Our city. Families, schools, and people in Palo Alto who are lonely, grieving, or out of work.
• People far from God. One or two friends, coworkers, or classmates you want to see come to faith.

Keep worship at the center. Bill Bright's fasting guide at Cru warns against getting so busy with requests that you forget to simply praise God (Cru).

What if I do not know what to say?

Short, honest prayers count. A few intentional minutes each day matter more than long ones. Bright teaches a simple habit he calls spiritual breathing: breathe out by confessing a sin as soon as you notice it, and breathe in by asking the Holy Spirit to take the lead again (Cru).

Keep praying when the answer is slow. Jesus told a parable so his followers would pray always and not lose heart (Luke 18:1-8).

What is prayer and fasting, and why do Christians fast?

Christians fast to make room for God. Going without something we lean on every day reminds us that we lean on God more, and the time we would have spent eating becomes time to pray.

Jesus expected his followers to fast, and he taught them how to do it:

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret.”

Matthew 6:17-18, NRSVue

In Scripture, people fasted for a handful of clear reasons:

• To pray with focus. Ezra and the people fasted and asked God for protection on a dangerous road (Ezra 8:21-23).
• To ask for direction. The church in Antioch was worshiping and fasting when the Holy Spirit sent out Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2-3).
• To turn back to God. Joel calls the people to return to God with all their heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning (Joel 2:12-13).
• To remember who feeds us. Jesus answered his own hunger with Scripture: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, NRSVue).
• To worship. Anna, at 84, stayed in the temple and worshiped God with fasting and prayer night and day (Luke 2:37).

Fasting without prayer is only going hungry. The fast clears space, and prayer is what fills it.

Which kind of fast should I choose?

Choose the fast that stretches your hunger for God without harming your body. For most people starting out, that means skipping one meal a day or taking a break from their phone. Pick one and keep it for the whole fast.

Food fasts below are for healthy adults. If anything in the safety section applies to you, choose a soul fast.

A soul fast works best when it is specific. “Less phone” is hard to keep. “No social media apps from 6 AM to 6 PM” is something you can actually do.

Whatever you choose, write it down before you start: what you are giving up, for how long, and what you will do with that time instead.

How do I get ready in the week before a fast?

Get ready on purpose, body and spirit, about a week out. Planning ahead makes the first few days much easier.

1. Name what you are asking God for. Write one sentence. It might be a decision you face, healing in your family, a friend who is far from God, or our church.
2. Pick your fast and check your health. Use the table above. If anything in the safety section applies to you, talk with your doctor this week.
3. Taper your body. Eat smaller meals, drink more water, and cut back on caffeine and sugar a few days ahead. Skip the big last meal before you start. Coming off coffee cold on day one is a common reason for headaches.
4. Move prayer into your calendar. Put it where the meal or the scrolling used to be. If you skip lunch, block that hour on your work calendar.
5. Set up your phone. For a soul fast, delete or hide the apps and turn on a focus mode. Save a few verses and a worship playlist where you can reach them.
6. Tell one person. Ask a friend, spouse, or small group member to pray with you and check in. Tell your household so meals and plans make sense.
7. Start clean. Confess what you know is between you and God. Then stay quiet long enough for the Holy Spirit to show you what you missed (Psalm 66:16-20), and ask the Spirit to lead the fast.

What does a day of prayer and fasting look like?

A fasting day has a few short prayer times built around the meals or habits you gave up. It fits around work, school, and kids.

Morning

Before the fast starts for the day, read the day's Scripture and pray through it. During the 21 Days, check the church calendar for shared prayer times.

Commute

Turn off the podcast. Pray for the people at your work, your school, or your kid's school by name.

Midday

In place of lunch, take a prayer walk or pray for others on your list.

Evening

Write down what you noticed. Thank God for one thing. If you eat, eat light and slowly.

Keep it simple. Ten honest minutes, a few times a day, is a strong fast. You can add more as you go.

What do I do when I feel hungry?

When hunger hits, use it as your cue to pray. Every craving, for food or for your phone, becomes a reminder of what you are actually hungry for.

• Pray one name. Say the name of Jesus, or pray for one specific person right then.
• Read your verse. Keep one on your lock screen. Psalm 42:1 works well: “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God” (NRSVue).
• Put on worship music. Let it move your attention off the empty feeling and onto God.
• Write it down. Note what you are craving and what God might be showing you about it.
• Walk. A ten-minute prayer walk around the block helps body and mind.
• Say thank you. Thank God for what you do have, even while you feel the lack.
• Drink water. Some hunger is thirst.

What should I expect in my body and spirit?

Expect the first few days to be the hardest, then expect God to meet you in the quiet. Both are normal.

In your body, you may feel hunger pangs, tiredness, lower energy, or colder than usual. Headaches and lightheadedness are common, especially if you gave up caffeine or sugar. Cut back on hard workouts and get more sleep.

In your spirit, you may notice God's presence more once the noise drops. Scripture may read differently. Feelings you have been too busy to face may come up, like worry, grief, or the habits that have a hold on you. Bring those to God. That is part of the fast.

Some days will feel flat, and that is fine. Fasting is an act of worship, and God sees it even on the days you feel nothing.

If you slip, do not quit. Eat the meal or open the app, ask God's grace, and pick the fast back up at the next prayer time. God is looking at your heart.

How do I take a prayer walk?

A prayer walk is praying with your eyes open as you walk through the places you live, work, and go to school. You pray for what you see. The prophet Jeremiah told God's people to seek the welfare of the city where they lived and to pray to the Lord on its behalf (Jeremiah 29:7).

How do I prayer walk on my own?

Walk slowly and pay attention. Pray quietly or out loud, whichever lets you focus.

• Pause at homes, schools, and intersections and ask God for safety, healing, and faith for the people inside.
• Pray for strangers you pass, even without knowing their names.
• Pray over your own spots: your kid's school, your office, the Caltrain platform, the coffee shop where you always see the same faces.
• Pray a verse over a place, such as Jeremiah 29:7 over your street.

How does a group prayer walk work?

A group prayer walk starts together, spreads out, and ends together. Here is how we run ours:

1. Gather and pray out loud as one group to start.
2. Split into pairs or small clusters to cover more ground.
3. Give each pair a focus: families, schools, safety, or people who do not know Jesus yet.
4. Stop often to pray aloud for the homes, businesses, and needs you see. Speak blessings over them.
5. Come back together and close in prayer, thanking God for what he is already doing.

Prayer walks are part of our 21 Days of Prayer. For times and meeting places, check the church calendar or email prayer@uamez.com.

How does UAMEZ pray and fast together?

UAMEZ holds a church-wide 21 Days of Prayer every January and August, and we gather for prayer monthly throughout the year. Dates, times, and places are posted on the church calendar as they are set.

You do not have to be a member to join, and you do not have to fast from food to take part.

Can families, kids, and teens fast together?

Yes, families can fast together, and kids and teens should fast from something other than food. Children and teens under 18 should not skip meals for a fast (Johns Hopkins Medicine). A shared soul fast lets the whole house take part.

What can a family fast from?

A family can fast from screens at dinner or a favorite show, and use that time to pray together. Keep it short and concrete for younger kids.

• Put every phone in a basket at dinner and let each person name one person to pray for.
• Swap one evening of shows for a family prayer walk around the block.
• At bedtime, pray for one classmate, teacher, or neighbor by name.
• Talk at breakfast about the day's verse in a sentence or two.

On Sundays, kindergarten through 6th grade can join Amazing Kids during worship.

How can Gen Z and college students take part?

Gen Z and college students can fast from the apps that eat the most hours, with a friend holding them to it. Pick a window, like no social media before noon, and pair up with someone in your small group or Young Adults group to text a prayer each day.

If you are a teen, talk with a parent about your fast and keep eating your meals. Your offering counts.

How do I end a fast well?

End a fast slowly with your body and on purpose with your spirit. The last day matters as much as the first.

With food, start light. Fruit, vegetables, and broth or light soup are easier on your stomach than a big or greasy meal. Ease back to normal portions over a day or two.

The longer the fast, the slower the return. After even a few days, start with thin vegetable broth and fresh fruit like melon, and restart hard workouts gradually too (Cru).

With your phone, add apps back one at a time, if at all. Notice which ones you did not miss.

With your spirit, look back before you move on:

• Read through what you wrote down. What did God show you?
• Tell someone what happened. A short testimony at small group or on Sunday encourages others.
• Keep one practice going, like a weekly fast, a morning prayer time, or a phone-free dinner.
• Come to Sunday worship and thank God with the church.

What does a 21-day prayer and fasting plan look like?

Our 21-day plan moves from you, to our church, to the people God is sending us, one week each. Each day has a focus and a passage to read and pray through. Read the passages in the NRSVue on Bible Gateway, or your own Bible.

We close by giving thanks with Ephesians 3:20: God is able to do far more than all we can ask or imagine.

Want to run the plan with a friend or group? Pick one day's focus, read the passage aloud, and each pray for a minute. That is enough.

Why does UAMEZ practice prayer and fasting?

We fast because it is one of the ordinary ways God meets and changes people, and our Wesleyan tradition has always treated it that way. John Wesley called fasting one of the means of grace, and he warned against making too much or too little of it: “It is not the end, but it is a precious means thereto” (Sermon 27).

Wesley taught that a fast should always go with prayer and with mercy toward others. He pointed to Isaiah 58, where God describes the fast he wants:

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”

Isaiah 58:6, NRSVue

For a church in the AME Zion tradition, known as the Freedom Church, that verse is close to home.

Prayer and fasting are also part of the rule of life Methodists have kept since Wesley. His General Rules of 1743 ask members to show their faith “by attending upon all the ordinances of God” (Ask The UMC). The rules name six:

• The public worship of God
• The ministry of the Word, read or preached
• The Lord's Supper
• Family and private prayer
• Searching the Scriptures
• Fasting or abstinence

When you pray and fast, you keep the same practices that have formed Methodists for nearly three centuries, alongside Sunday worship and Communion.

UAMEZ has been praying in Palo Alto since 1918. When we fast, we join the people who prayed this church through every season before us, and we pray for the families, students, and neighbors God is bringing next.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue), Bible Gateway. Scripture quotations are from the NRSVue, copyright 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• Intermittent Fasting: What Is It, and How Does It Work?, Johns Hopkins Medicine, updated April 7, 2026.
• Sermon 27: Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse Seven, John Wesley, Wesley Center Online.
• What does The United Methodist Church say about fasting?, Ask The UMC, on Wesley's General Rules and fasting or abstinence.
• Your Personal Guide to Fasting and Prayer, Bill Bright, Cru.
• How to Pray: A Biblical Guide, Cornwall United Methodist Church, February 16, 2026.
• UAMEZ 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting guides, January 2025 and August 2025.