In the Bible, abstaining from food and drink is a spiritual discipline that helps believers focus on God and seek His guidance. Jesus teaches His followers how to fast with humility in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew. The Old Testament also provides examples of fasting, such as in Joel and Ezra, where it is often accompanied by prayer and repentance. Additionally, Daniel's and Isaiah's writings highlight the importance of self-denial and devotion to God, emphasizing that true fasting is not just about abstaining from food, but also about caring for the needy and the oppressed.
Relevance Score
23%
When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
I ate no rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with oil until the three weeks were completed.
Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
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 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish! ”
“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high. Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control.
When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.