What 200 Days of Fasting Taught Me About Real Christianity

Sometimes God uses a people who fast 200 days a year to show you that you've turned a sacred discipline into a spiritual diet. This is the story of how three years of real fasting brought me to my knees.

Frei was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, and that meant something I didn't understand until she lived with me for 2 years in Addis Ababa.

Wednesdays: no animal products. Fridays: none either. 55 days before Easter: complete Lenten fast. 40 days before Christmas: Advent fast. 15 days of the Apostles' Fast. 16 days of the Assumption Fast.

Frei fasted more than 200 days a year. More than half her life.

And she did it with the same rhythm that I brushed my teeth.

Meanwhile, I came from an evangelical tradition where fasting was something you did when you had a spiritual crisis, when you needed to "break something" with God, or when you wanted to lose weight "Christianly."

The difference completely humbled me.

The Confrontation I Didn't Expect

"Salime," Frei said to me one day, after watching me decline her invitation to fast for the third time, "why don't Evangelicals fast?"

"We do fast," I defended automatically. "I fast when I have special needs, when I'm seeking God's direction..."

"No," she interrupted gently. "That's not fasting. That's... how do you say... occasional. We fast because we are Christians. You fast when you want something from God."

Her observation pierced me like an arrow.

"What's the difference?" I asked, though I already knew her answer would make me uncomfortable.

"Sister," she said with that infinite patience, "we fast to know Jesus. You fast to use Jesus."

Silence. A silence that split me in two.

The Reality I Didn't Want to See

That night, lying in my bed, I had to face a devastating truth: I had turned fasting into a technique for spiritual manipulation.

My fasting history read like a list of demands to God:

• I fasted three days for Sam to get the job in China
• I fasted a week when we needed adoption documents
• I fasted 24 hours every time the kids got sick
• I fasted when I wanted clarity about ministry decisions

Everything transactional. Everything utilitarian. Everything centered on getting God to do what I wanted.

But Frei fasted simply because it was Wednesday. Or Friday. Or because the universal church had been fasting during Lent for 1,600 years.

Her fasting had no agenda. It only had hunger...hunger for God.

What the Orthodox Know That We've Lost

During the following months, as I observed the entire Orthodox community in Addis Ababa, I discovered truths that revolutionized my understanding of fasting:

The Orthodox fast as a rhythm of life, not as a special event. For them, Wednesdays and Fridays without animal products was as normal as Sunday at church. They didn't wake up deciding whether to fast; they lived in a rhythm established by centuries of Christian wisdom.

They fast for preparation, not manipulation. The long periods of fasting before Easter and Christmas weren't to get something from God, but to prepare their hearts to receive what God wanted to give them during those sacred celebrations.

They fast in community, not for individual performance. The whole community fasted together. There was no spiritual pride because there was nothing special about doing what your entire Christian community had done for 16 centuries.

They fast gradually, not dramatically. It wasn't all or nothing. During fasts, they simply avoided certain foods but ate others. It was sustainable, practical, centered on constant discipline rather than occasional heroism.

The Decision That Changed My Life

"Frei," I said to her one afternoon, after weeks of observing her practice, "I want to learn to fast like you."

Her smile lit up the entire room.

"Are you sure, sister? It's not easy. You want quick results. Orthodox fasting is slow and... normal."

"I want to try." And with those 4 words, my three-year journey began...one that would change me forever.

Year 1 in Ethiopia: Brutal Awakening

Frei guided me patiently:

Wednesdays and Fridays: No animal products. Only vegetables, fruits, grains. Preparation periods: 40 days before Easter and Christmas with the same pattern.

The first months were brutal: not only physically, but also spiritually.

My flesh protested constantly: "What's the point of this? What are you getting? Why can't you just pray more?"

But Frei taught me something that transformed my perspective: "Sister, fasting is not to get something. It's to know that you need something...that you need Him."

After six months, something changed. Wednesdays and Fridays began to feel different. Not because God was giving me dramatic answers, but because my heart was becoming more sensitive to His presence.

Years 2 and 3 in Tampa: The Real Test

When we returned to the United States, the real test began. Continuing to fast like the Orthodox in a culture that not only didn't understand it, but saw it as religious extremism.

But I continued. Wednesdays and Fridays, no excuses. Complete Lent. Complete Advent.

The results were devastating...in the best sense possible:

My prayer life was transformed. Instead of coming to God with lists of petitions, I began coming simply to be with Him. Fast days became sacred spaces where my soul quieted in ways I had never experienced.

My relationship with food changed completely. I realized how much I had been using food to manage emotions, stress, boredom. Regular fasting taught me the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger.

My spiritual sensitivity sharpened. On fast days, I could hear God's voice more clearly. Not because He spoke louder, but because I was less distracted by constant physical satisfaction.

My dependence on God deepened. Every pang of hunger became a reminder that my soul has deeper hunger that only God can satisfy.

My worship intensified. When your body is slightly deprived, your spirit becomes more receptive to God's presence.

The Lessons I Never Learned in Seminary

After three years of regular fasting, I understood truths that my theological education had never taught me:

Fasting is spiritual training, not an emergency technique. Like any athletic discipline, it works through constant repetition, not occasional heroic efforts.

Fasting reveals, it doesn't create. It doesn't create false spirituality; it reveals the true condition of your heart when comforts are removed.

Fasting is preventive, not just corrective. Like taking vitamins, it maintains your spiritual health before you have crises, not just during crises.

Fasting is communal, not individual. When you fast as part of a rhythm established by the universal church, you connect with centuries of believers who have walked the same path.

The Confrontation with Western Christianity

During those three years, it became painfully obvious why Western Christianity is spiritually weak compared to communities that maintain historic disciplines:

We want spirituality without inconvenience. They understand that inconvenience IS spirituality.

We seek techniques that work quickly. They practice disciplines that work slowly.

We fast to get something from God. They fast to get more of God himself.

We turn fasting into a Christian diet. They maintain fasting as sacred discipline.

The Cultural Resistance I Faced

Maintaining Orthodox fasting in America was harder than in Ethiopia, not because of the discipline itself but because of cultural pressure:

Christian friends: "Isn't that legalism? We're under grace." Family: "You're becoming extreme. God doesn't require that." Culture: "That sounds like an eating disorder disguised as religion."

But three years of results spoke louder than objections: my faith was stronger, my prayer deeper, my dependence on God more real than ever before.

The Challenge I Have For You

After three years of fasting like the Orthodox, I have to ask you the same question Frei asked me:

Why do you think you can have strong faith without the disciplines that have strengthened Christians for 2,000 years?

Why have you reduced fasting to a crisis technique instead of adopting it as basic spiritual hygiene?

How do you expect to develop self-control and dependence on God if you never practice saying "no" to your physical desires?

The uncomfortable truth is this: we've created a version of Christianity that deliberately avoids the disciplines that Jesus himself practiced (Matthew 4:2, 6:16-18) and that the historic church has maintained for millennia.

And then we wonder why our faith staggers at the first temptation, why our prayers are superficial, why we can't hear God's voice amid cultural noise.

An Action Plan Based on Three Years of Experience

If God is challenging your concept of fasting, here's a plan based on what I learned:

Month 1: Start with the basic Orthodox rhythm Wednesdays and Fridays, abstain from animal products. Eat vegetables, fruits, grains, but no meat, dairy, eggs. It's not complete fasting; it's gradual discipline.

Month 2: Adopt preparatory periods 40 days before Easter, maintain the same pattern. Use it to prepare your heart for celebration, not to get something from God.

Month 3: Extend to other traditional periods Add the fast before Christmas. Begin to understand the annual rhythm of spiritual preparation.

Month 4 onward: Make it part of your Christian identity Stop seeing fasting as something you "do" and start seeing it as something you "are": A Christian who lives in the rhythm of discipline established by the universal church.

The Warning I Must Give You

This type of fasting will confront everything Western Christianity has taught you about comfort:

Your culture will call it "legalism." Your comfort will protest against regular inconvenience. Your pragmatism will demand immediate "results." Your individualism will reject communal discipline.

But if you persist, as I persisted for three years, you'll discover what Frei knew: that fasting isn't deprivation, it's preparation to receive more of God than you thought possible.

The Promise I Can Give You

Based on three years of personal experience:

Your prayer life will transform from desperate petitions to genuine communion.

Your spiritual sensitivity will sharpen to the point where you can discern God's voice amid cultural noise.

Your self-control will strengthen in all areas of your life, not just food.

Your dependence on God will deepen because you'll regularly experience your need for Him, not just in crises.

Your worship will intensify because your heart will be more receptive to divine presence.

Are you willing to adopt a discipline that 98% of American Christianity has abandoned but that billions of Orthodox Christians maintain as normal?

Start this week. Fast this Wednesday as Frei taught me. And join a 1,600-year tradition that knows something we've forgotten: that fasting isn't religious extremism; it's normal Christianity.

Are You Ready For More Than Just Information?

If Frei's story and the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have confronted your understanding of fasting, then you're ready for something deeper than just reading about spiritual disciplines.

You're ready to live them.

The fasting I learned from the Orthodox wasn't just a technique, it was part of a radical faith that doesn't negotiate with comfort. A faith that understands spiritual disciplines aren't optional for the Christian who wants to burn for God.

Download our "7 Days to Live a Radical Faith" - you'll find the link in the menu under "A Gift for You."

This isn't another soft devotional. It's a brutal awakening for those who are tired of Sunday morning Christianity and hungry for a faith that costs something.

Because the uncomfortable truth is this: you can't fast like the Orthodox if you keep living in Comfortable Christianity. You can't adopt radical disciplines with a comfortable heart.

But if you're willing to be confronted, challenged, and ignited for 7 consecutive days...

If you're ready for your faith to hurt a little because it's finally alive...

If you want to join a generation that refuses to domesticate the gospel...

Then download the challenge today.

Because as Jim Elliot said: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Do you dare to burn?

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Have you experienced fasting as regular discipline versus crisis technique? What cultural resistance have you faced in adopting historic disciplines? Share your experience in the comments.

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Download "7 Days to Live a Radical Faith" in the menu under "A Gift for You" and join thousands who have decided to leave comfort behind for a faith worth living.