Many people believe that when we fast, it’s prayer pro max — that if we want something to move, we need to go on a fast (or hunger strike) to God. Fasting is powerful with prayer, and we see multiple examples in the Bible where fasting is put into practice:

• Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights after He gets baptised — this was before any ministry and was time to be alone with God (Matthew 4:1–7).
• Esther calls for a corporate fast for favour before she goes to the King on behalf of the Jews (Esther 4:15–17).
• Ezra fasted for divine protection before a long journey. Ezra 8:21,23 — “And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled... So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.”

Scripture has so many accounts where fasting is used for consecration to God, particularly when it comes to a need or ask. Many of us apply this principle (as we should) in our own lives when we’re praying for a situation to change, deliverance, or even just wanting to get closer to God. But what happens when what you’re fasting for doesn’t happen or come through?

This could look like a couple struggling to conceive who have prayed and fasted and are still waiting for that positive test. Or fasting for a particular job or opportunity that you genuinely believed and had faith for, but you didn’t get it. Or the one that hurts many: you pray and fast over a loved one who is sick, and they pass away. Or praying and fasting for revival in a marriage, but things are still looking dead, and the other party wants out.

In all these cases, and beyond, there’s an attempt to activate faith through fasting, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. What happens then?

I don’t think we talk about being disappointment after we have faith enough as the body of Christ. You fast for something and the outcome you had faith for doesn’t happen, and now you’re questioning if God can hear you or if He is even fair. It’s important that as children of God we address this feeling. If not, several things can happen:

1. You can start to form a faith that believes God CAN do something, because you still believe in His sovereignty, but you don’t have faith He WILL do something. You’d rather not be disappointed, so you manage your expectations, sitting in the camp of: “I know He can, but whether He will is a different story.” This is often due to the hope deferred that Solomon mentions in Proverbs 13:12.
2. You stop believing God hears your prayers, or you start thinking you’re not Christian enough compared to others.
3. You stop believing altogether.

James tells us quite clearly that sometimes we do not receive things because our motives are wrong and they’re simply there to give us pleasure (James 4:3). Although this is not every case, many of us have developed this understanding that if I pray and fast, God will do what I want at my beck and call.

Faith is powerful and so is God, but remember that God is sovereign. He knows today, tomorrow and 10 years from now, which we do not. Sometimes there is a reason why something hasn’t happened yet, or why it isn’t presenting itself in a certain way. Although this can be very difficult to accept, we need to walk through it with God.

I know this sounds really lofty, but more faith looks like more faith in your God, more faith in the working hand of God, more faith that God knows what He’s doing, and more faith in His Word that His plan for you is good and not for evil.

When you’re navigating disappointment, it can chip away at your faith. Praying for more faith is recognising that you’re weak at the moment and in need of a boost. It also recognises that you want to be a good steward and operate as a child of God, but you need more faith because this is hard right now.

Jesus says, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He literally warns us that this life isn’t going to be easy. In Ecclesiastes, we read about there being a time for everything. So thinking we’re going to go through this life without any difficulty or hardship is quite laughable. The problem is we don’t know how we will experience it, especially when it’s not our own doing.

It is the devil’s plan to kick you when you’re down without you noticing. You’re experiencing grief? To the devil, now is a perfect time to start talking to that ex you know very well you shouldn’t be speaking to. You’ve been looking for a job for a while? To the devil, now is a perfect time to stop being part of community and start to isolate.