> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Four Ways to Fast and Pray in August - URL: https://blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com/four-ways-to-fast-and-pray-in-august/ - Published: 2026-07-30T22:56:50.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-30T22:56:50.000Z - Description: Complete, selective, partial, or soul fast … or a mixture of several. - Author: Amy Lykosh - Tags: Rest, Time & Hurry, Healing & Freedom In January, Bob and I like to lead the F(e)ast, 21 days of some form of fast. In August, the focus is less on fasting and self-sacrifice, and more on a little boost in prayer, a reset. More pressing in to hear the Lord's voice. If you feel no desire to fast, that's totally fine. In 2023, my husband and I were in Europe for a week during Pursue, and I celebrated by eating lots of pastries that don’t work for me in the States. Over the next few days, let’s check in with the Lord around what topics he might be offering for additional prayer, and what foods (or not) for fasting. Sometimes I have instructions for multiple categories from the four main options below, so feel free to pick and choose, if one or more options call to you. And several of these options don’t require calorie restriction. We can eat enough to avoid hunger pangs, and several are safe for pregnant and nursing women—which I would have been happy to know during my childbearing years. **1) A Complete Fast.** With this option, people drink only liquids. Some do only water. Others add fresh-pressed juices, bone broth. This is generally not the place to start. To be safe, this type of fast requires fairly intense attention to your health and well-being. Or consider this for one day a week, evening to evening, skipping only breakfast and lunch. **2) A Selective Fast.** You might think of this like a Lenten fast. Many people give up something during Lent. You might give up one thing (sugar, chocolate, wine). Or you might give up a category of things (like all beverages other than water and coffee). Or you might choose a specific set of ingredients to focus on (a Daniel Fast, with foods sown or grown, or the Whole30, with only whole, unprocessed foods). **3) A Partial Fast**, also called an intermittent fast. With this fast, you opt to only eat during certain hours of the day. For example, “I will eat for eight hours and not eat for sixteen hours.” So with this, you’d stop eating at, say, 8pm, then you would eat again at noon the next day. If you are used to grazing during most of your waking hours, it could be that you start with 12 hours on and 12 hours off, and every few days adjust the window by a half hour. **4) A Soul Fast.** You might step away from a particular social media that has gotten a bit out of control, or stop critical self-talk, or believing that the scriptures don’t apply to you. You might decide to focus well on forgiving. As often as angry thoughts arise, you consciously forgive. You might do a negativity fast, where you turn away from negative self-talk. Basically, in any way that you feel the Lord is calling you to turn away from something and renew your mind towards a new thought pattern. \*\*\* With a 21-day fast, you don’t necessarily have to do the same thing the whole time. You could do a fast for the five workdays and skip the weekends. You could do different options during different days or weeks: a Daniel fast five days of the week, and a complete fast on Tuesday and Friday. So many different possibilities. Listen to the Lord and ask him what he would have you do for these three weeks. If the answer is “Just pray,” then “just pray” with thanksgiving. *Lord, bless our time to focus on you these next three weeks. We love you, Lord! Amen.* Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with the gospel, Amy Joy P.S. Just a reminder: [a book to follow along](https://happybooks.me/pursue?ref=blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com). --- You are invited! Sign up for the Prayer Refresh, an email series with short prayers to pray as you go about your day. The first five readers all wrote me at different times and said, “This is changing my life.” [Sign Up for the Prayer Refresh](https://skilled-motivator-1346.ck.page/b3dbfa4530?ref=blog.makeprayerbeautiful.com)