How to Fast - for release, rebuilding, and breakthrough

I love this so much.

In some seasons, you don’t need more effort — you need alignment.

In some seasons, nothing moves because you haven’t moved.

For me, that season was Richmond, Virginia.

Nothing moved.

Not spiritually.

Not emotionally.

Not financially.

Not relationally.

Not professionally.

Everything was stuck because I was stuck — still carrying old agreements, old habits, old identities, old attachments, and old versions of myself.

The Nehemiah Fast was the moment everything shifted.

Not because the fast itself was magical, but because the order of the fast forced me to confront every part of my life that was out of alignment.

“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4

Nothing moved until this process was in full motion.

But once it was — everything moved at once.

Below is the sequence that helped me close out the old chapter reposition my life from the inside out.

A Note on Fasting

It’s important to understand that the Nehemiah Fast is a fast — but fasting is not always about abstaining from food or giving something up. Sometimes fasting is about alignment, not deprivation. It is the intentional act of clearing spiritual, emotional, and mental space so God can rebuild what has been broken. In this fast, the “abstaining” wasn’t from a physical substance — it was from old identities, old agreements, old habits, old emotional patterns, and old spiritual attachments. It was a fast from the old heart. And until I entered this fast fully — not halfway, not casually, but with complete surrender — nothing in my life moved. Once the fast was in motion, everything began to shift at once.

A Note on Prayer Structure

Even now, my prayers are often structured by these same steps. This sequence became the architecture of how I talk to God — repentance first, forgiveness next, intercession, breaking old agreements, establishing new ones, asking for breakthrough, and ending with thanksgiving. It keeps my heart aligned, my mind clear, and my spirit grounded. It’s become a rhythm and habit that has changed the texture of my days and the flow of my life.

Order of Steps

1. Repentance

Repentance is not shame — it is clarity.

It is the moment you stop defending the old heart and turn away from things that do not align.

This step broke the fog I had been living in.  It cleared the air.

2. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is emotional release.

It is the moment you stop carrying resentment, disappointment, self-blame, self-pity, and self‑punishment.  It releases the tremendous psychological burden of unpaid emotional debt and owed apologies that you won’t get anyways.

3. Intercession

Intercession expands your vision.

It shifts your prayers from “fix me” to “heal everything connected to me.”

This step opened my heart to purpose, calling, and responsibility.

4. Denouncing Old Agreements

This was a turning point.

I had to renounce:

• old identities

• old coping mechanisms

• old emotional contracts

• old professional obligations

• old relational commitments

• old spiritual attachments

• old ways of thinking and believing

• old versions of myself

This is where the old heart finally lost its power.

5. Coming Into Covenant With New Agreements

You cannot just break the old — you must establish the new.  Coming out of covenant requires coming into a new covenant.

This is where I agreed with:

• obedience

• purity

• clarity

• maturity

• bravery

• calling

• the new heart

This step stabilized me.  It helped me remember that fear does not hold any power.

6. Breakthrough + Favor

Breakthrough is not the beginning — it is the result of alignment.

Once the old was broken and the new was established, doors opened that had been locked for a long time.

This is when my life finally started moving.

7. Thanksgiving + Praise

Gratitude seals the breakthrough.

Praise protects the new heart.

Thanksgiving keeps you grounded so you don’t drift back into the old patterns.

All Made New

This fasting process was what gave me a new foundation and what continues to give me structure, poise, and equanimity.  Once it was in motion, everything shifted: my clarity, my discipline, my emotional stability, my sobriety, my purpose, my environment, my future.

This fast didn’t just change my habits — it changed my geography, mind, and heart.

And once the heart changes, the life follows.