Have you ever fasted? Fasting is hard because food is GOOD! Fasting is temporarily going without food (or anything really) for a determined amount of time in order to devote yourself to prayer and spiritual meditation. The Greek word for fasting is nesteuo = not eating. You temporarily give up food for a good spiritual reason – for the sake of intensifying your expression of need for something greater that you need from God. That’s what biblical fasting was – not for losing some of your excess fluffiness, doing some kind of cleanse, or earning spiritual brownie points.