Bible Verses About Prayer and Fasting
Introduction
Prayer and fasting appear together in the Scripture so consistently that the pairing is almost assumed: the two practices are the specific combination of the turning toward God in the prayer and the turning away from the ordinary sustenance in the fasting that together constitute the comprehensive act of the seeking of God. The fasting is not the hunger strike that pressures God into the response but the specific practice of the person who is so preoccupied with the seeking of God that the ordinary appetite for the food has been temporarily displaced by the appetite for the presence and the provision of God.
The Isaiah 58 is the most sustained biblical treatment of the fasting, and it begins with the surprising word of the God who says your fasting ends in quarreling and strife and striking each other with wicked fists (Isaiah 58:4): the fasting that is only the external practice without the internal transformation is the fasting that God does not accept. The fasting that God chooses, the Isaiah 58:6-7 continues, is the specific practice of the justice: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, to share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter. The fasting is the specific practice that produces the specific generosity: the person who has displaced the appetite for food in the seeking of God is the person who is freed from the possession of the food and is freed to share it with the person who has none.
The New Testament's most concentrated teaching on the fasting is the Matthew 6:16-18's when you fast do not look somber as the hypocrites do: the when establishes the assumption that the fasting is the practice of the follower of Jesus rather than the if. The fasting of the Matthew 6 is the fasting that is done in the secret rather than for the audience: the Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you is the specific promise of the fasting that is practiced in the relationship with the Father rather than the performance for the religious community.
These verses speak to anyone who is considering the practice of the prayer and fasting for the first time, anyone who has practiced it and needs the specific biblical grounding for why the two practices belong together, and anyone who needs the pastoral honesty of the Isaiah 58 about the fasting that God accepts and the fasting that God does not.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Prayer and Fasting
The Hebrew word tsum describes the fasting: the specific abstaining from the food as the act of the seeking of God or the mourning or the repentance. The Hebrew word anah describes the humbling of the soul that the fasting produces: the Psalm 35:13's I humbled myself with fasting uses the anah to establish the connection between the fasting and the humility. The Greek word nesteia describes the fasting of the New Testament: the specific abstaining from the food. The Greek word proseuchomai describes the praying. The pairing of the two in the specific contexts of the seeking of God and the spiritual warfare and the setting apart for the specific mission establishes the comprehensive character of the combination.
Bible Verses About Fasting and Prayer Together
Matthew 17:21 — ("But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.")
The this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting is the specific statement of the combination of the prayer and the fasting as the specific provision for the spiritual warfare that the ordinary prayer alone does not address: the kind of opposition that the disciples could not overcome in the Matthew 17:14-20 required the specific combination. The does not go out except establishes the necessity: the prayer and the fasting together are the specific provision for the specific intensity of the spiritual opposition.
Acts 13:2-3 — ("While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.")
The while they were worshiping and fasting the Holy Spirit said establishes the specific connection between the prayer and fasting and the hearing of the Spirit: the setting apart of Barnabas and Saul for the missionary work happens in the context of the community's worship and fasting. The after they had fasted and prayed they sent them off establishes the commissioning character: the prayer and fasting is the specific practice of the community that is setting apart the workers for the specific mission of God.
Acts 14:23 — ("Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.")
The with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord is the specific practice of the commissioning: the appointing of the elders is accompanied by the prayer and fasting that commits them to the Lord in whom they have put their trust. The committed them to the Lord establishes the specific act of the entrusting: the prayer and fasting is the specific practice of the community that is releasing the leadership to the Lord rather than depending on the human capacity of the appointed elders.
Bible Verses About the Fasting That God Accepts
Isaiah 58:6-7 — ("Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?")
The kind of fasting I have chosen is the specific statement of the divine preference for the fasting that produces the justice and the generosity: the loosing of the chains and the sharing of the food are the specific acts of the fasting that the God of the Isaiah 58 accepts. The is not this establishes the rhetorical character: the God who asks the question already knows the answer and is pressing the people to see the connection between the fasting and the justice that they have missed. The fasting that has not produced the justice and the generosity is the fasting that is only the external practice rather than the internal transformation.
Isaiah 58:9-11 — ("Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I... The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.")
The then you will call and the LORD will answer establishes the specific promise attached to the fasting that God accepts: the fasting that is accompanied by the justice and the generosity is the fasting that produces the specific responsiveness of the LORD who says here am I. The well-watered garden and the spring whose waters never fail are the specific images of the flourishing that the fasting that God accepts produces: the person who has practiced the fasting that loosens the chains and shares the food is the person who is like the well-watered garden rather than the sun-scorched land.
Bible Verses About Fasting in the Practice of Jesus
Matthew 6:16-18 — ("When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.")
The when you fast establishes the assumption: the fasting is the practice of the follower of Jesus rather than the exceptional act of the extraordinary person. The do not look somber as the hypocrites establishes the specific warning: the fasting that is performed for the religious audience has already received its reward. The only to your Father who is unseen and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you establishes the specific character of the fasting that Jesus commends: the fasting is the practice of the relationship with the Father rather than the performance for the religious community.
Matthew 4:2 — ("After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.")
The after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry is the specific statement of the Jesus who fasted in the wilderness before the temptation: the forty days and forty nights of the prayer and the fasting is the specific preparation for the specific temptation of the Matthew 4:3-11. The he was hungry establishes the honest acknowledgment: the fasting is the real hunger of the real person rather than the spiritual exercise that transcends the physical. The Jesus who fasted and was hungry is the Jesus who knows the specific cost of the fasting from the inside.
Bible Verses About Fasting and Humility
Psalm 35:13 — ("Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered...")
The I humbled myself with fasting is the specific statement of the connection between the fasting and the humility: the fasting is the specific act of the person who is humbling themselves before the God they are seeking. The humbled myself establishes the active character: the humility of the fasting is not the passive condition of the person who has been humbled by the circumstances but the active choosing of the posture of the dependence and the need before God.
Ezra 8:21-23 — ("There, by the Ishahia canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions... So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.")
The we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him establishes the specific purpose of the fast that Ezra proclaimed: the humbling and the asking together are the specific acts of the prayer and fasting that produces the answered prayer. The so we fasted and petitioned our God and he answered our prayer establishes the specific connection: the fasting and the petition together are the specific practice that the God of the Ezra 8 answered. The by the canal with all our possessions establishes the honest vulnerability: the prayer and fasting is the specific practice of the person who is acknowledging the dependence on the God rather than the sufficient provision of their own resources.
Bible Verses About Communal Prayer and Fasting
Joel 2:12-13 — ("'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.")
The return to me with all your heart with fasting and weeping and mourning establishes the comprehensive character of the communal fasting: the fasting is the specific expression of the return to God with all the heart. The rend your heart and not your garments establishes the specific warning against the external performance: the garment rending is the outward sign of the inward grief, and the God who says rend your heart is the God who wants the inward reality rather than the outward performance. The for he is gracious and compassionate and abounding in love establishes the ground of the return: the return is possible because of the character of the God who is being returned to.
Nehemiah 1:4 — ("When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.")
The I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven is the specific statement of the Nehemiah who received the news of the destruction of Jerusalem: the mourning and the fasting and the praying are the three specific acts of the person who is bringing the weight of the situation to the God of heaven. The for some days establishes the sustained character: the prayer and fasting is the specific practice of the sustained seeking rather than the one-time act.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Prayer and fasting is most honestly practiced from the honest acknowledgment of what the person is seeking God for and the specific choosing of the fasting as the particular expression of the hunger for the God who is sought.
Isaiah 58:6 — ("Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice?") Response: "Let the fasting be the kind you have chosen. Not the performance of the religious duty but the practice that produces the justice and the generosity. Let the hunger of the fasting be the hunger that feeds the person who has no food. Let the loosing of the chains be the specific act that the fasting produces in me."
Matthew 6:18 — ("Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.") Response: "Let the fasting be done in secret. Not for the audience that rewards the performance but for you who see what is done in the hidden place. Let the reward be yours to give rather than the community's to observe. Let the fasting be the practice of the relationship with the Father rather than the display of the religious discipline."
Acts 13:2 — ("While they were worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said...") Response: "I am worshiping and fasting. I am creating the specific space of the seeking that displaces the ordinary appetite for the hunger for you. Speak. As you spoke to the community that was worshiping and fasting, speak to the specific thing I am bringing before you in this fast."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about prayer and fasting? The Bible consistently presents prayer and fasting as the paired practices of the specific seeking of God, the mourning and the repentance, and the commissioning for the specific mission. Matthew 17:21's this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting establishes the spiritual warfare dimension. Acts 13:2-3's while they were worshiping and fasting the Holy Spirit said establishes the hearing dimension. Isaiah 58:6-7's the kind of fasting I have chosen establishes the justice and generosity dimension. Matthew 6:16-18's when you fast establishes the character of the fasting Jesus commends. And Joel 2:12-13's return to me with all your heart with fasting establishes the repentance dimension.
Why did Jesus fast? The Matthew 4:2's after fasting forty days and forty nights he was hungry establishes the specific context: the Jesus who fasted in the wilderness was preparing for the specific temptation of the Matthew 4:3-11 in the power of the Spirit. The fasting was the specific practice of the human Jesus who was seeking the Father in the specific preparation for the ministry. The Matthew 6:16-18's when you fast establishes the assumption that Jesus' followers will fast as he fasted: the when rather than the if establishes the expectation that the fasting is the practice of the community that follows the one who fasted.
What is the purpose of fasting according to the Bible? The biblical fasting serves several specific purposes: the seeking of God in the specific crisis or the specific decision (Acts 13:2-3, Ezra 8:21-23), the humbling before God (Psalm 35:13, Joel 2:12-13), the mourning and the repentance (Joel 2:12-13, Nehemiah 1:4), the spiritual warfare (Matthew 17:21), and the commissioning for the specific mission (Acts 14:23). The Isaiah 58:6-7's the kind of fasting I have chosen establishes the comprehensive purpose: the fasting that God accepts is the fasting that produces the justice and the generosity that reflect the character of the God who is sought.
How long should you fast according to the Bible? The biblical fasting ranges from the one day of the Esther 4:16's fast for three days and nights to the forty days and forty nights of the Moses (Exodus 34:28) and the Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) and the Jesus (Matthew 4:2). The specific length of the fast is not prescribed by the Scripture but is determined by the specific purpose and the specific leading of the person who is fasting. The Matthew 6:16-18's when you fast establishes the assumption of the regular practice rather than the prescribed length. The Isaiah 58 establishes the character of the fasting that God accepts rather than the duration.
Can Christians fast today? The Matthew 6:16-18's when you fast establishes the assumption that the followers of Jesus will fast: the when rather than the if establishes the expectation of the ongoing practice. The Matthew 9:15's the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them and then they will fast establishes the specific statement of Jesus that the disciples will fast after his departure: the current season is the season of the fasting that Jesus anticipated. The Acts 13:2-3 and the Acts 14:23 establish the practice of the early church community. The prayer and fasting is the specific practice of the ongoing community of the followers of Jesus rather than the exceptional act of the extraordinary person.
