66 Bible verses about the power of Fasting

The power of fasting really lies in honestly opening your heart to the Lord. It's in that space where His love shines through and transforms every part of who you are. Fasting is something you do when you’re truly seeking Jesus, when you're willing to sacrifice physical needs to ask for a deeper connection with Him.

It strengthens your spirit, grows your faith, and draws you closer to God. By saying "no" to the physical demands of your body, you're saying "yes" to a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. It's about prioritizing that connection above all else.

When you abstain from food or drink for a set time, it’s like a spiritual and physical cleanse. It helps to clear away anything that might be holding you back or weighing you down.

Remember what Matthew 6:16-17¹ says – it's not about showing off or seeking attention when you fast. It's about humility and sincerity before the Lord.

And the days shall come when the bridegroom should he taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

And he will say to me, Thou shalt not fear, Daniel: for from the first day that thou gavest thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I came for thy words.

Consecrate a fast., call an assembly, gather together the old men, all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah.

And Cornelius said, From the fourth day till this hour I was fasting; and the ninth hour praying in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.

Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it to you.

Will this be the fast I shall choose? a day for a man to humble his soul? to bend his head as a bulrush, and he will place sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast and a day of acceptance to Jehovah.

For what did we fast, and thou sawest not? we humbled our soul and thou wilt not know? Behold, in the day of your fasting ye will find desire, and ye will exact all your labors.

And also now, says Jehovah, Turn back even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping and with wailing.

And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward.

And thou fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;

That thou mightest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father which in secret; and thy Father which in secret, will give back to thee openly.

Is not this the fast I shall choose? to loose the bands of injustice, to shake off the bundles of the yoke, and to send away the broken free, and ye shall break every yoke?

Is it not to break thy bread to the hungry, and thou shalt bring the wandering poor to thy house? when thou shalt see the naked and cover him; and thou shalt not hide from thy flesh.

And also now, says Jehovah, Turn back even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping and with wailing.

And rend your heart and not your garments, and turn back to Jehovah your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, slow of anger and of much kindness, and lamenting on account of the evil.

Clang ye the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast, call a restraining.

Is not this the fast I shall choose? to loose the bands of injustice, to shake off the bundles of the yoke, and to send away the broken free, and ye shall break every yoke?

And the men of Nineveh will believe in God, and they will call a fast, and put on sackcloth, from great and even to small.

And they serving the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate to me Barnabas and Saul to the work which I have called them.

Then having fasted and prayed, and put hands upon them, they let go.

And he will be there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he ate not bread and drank not water. And he will write upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words.

And I, in their being sick, my clothing sackcloth: I humbled my soul in fasting, and my prayer shall be turned back upon my bosom.

And having chosen them elders in the church, having prayed with fasting, they set them before the Lord, in whom they had believed.

Then shalt thou call and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry for help, and he will say, Behold me. If thou shalt take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the extending of the finger, and the word of vanity;

And thou shalt give out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the humble soul; and thy light rising in darkness,, and thy thick darkness as the noon.

And Jehovah led thee continually, and he satisfied thy soul in dry places, and he will make thy bones strong: and thou wed as a watered garden, and as a spring of water which its waters shall not deceive.

And I shall call a fast there, upon the river Ahava, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

For I was ashamed to ask from the king strength and horsemen to help us from the enemy in the way: for we said to the king, saying, The hand of our God upon all seeking him for good; and his strength and his anger against all forsaking him.

And we will fast and seek of our God concerning this; and he will be entreated for us.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, turned back from Jordan, and was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert,

Being tempted forty days by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days: and they having ended, he afterward hungered.

And Jehoshaphat will fear, and he will give his face to seek to Jehovah, and he will call a fast for all Judah.

And Judah will gather together to seek from Jehovah; also from all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.

And I will weep with fasting of my soul, and it will be for reproaches to me.

And all the sons of Israel and all the people will go up, and they will come to the house of God, and they will weep, and they will sit there before Jehovah, and they will fast in that day till the evening, and they will bring up burnt-offerings and peace before Jehovah.

Deprive ye not one another, except somewhat of an agreement for a time, that ye might have leisure for fasting and prayer; and again upon the same ye might come together, lest Satan tempt you for your want of self command.

And they will gather together to Mizpeh, and draw water and pour out before Jehovah; and they will fast in that day and say there, We sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel will judge the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.

And they said to him, Wherefore do the disciples of John fast frequently, and make prayers, and likewise they of the Pharisees; and they to thee eat and drink

And he said to them, Ye cannot make the sons of the nuptial-chamber fast, when the bridegroom is with them.

But the days will come also, when the bridegroom shall be carried away from them; then shall they fast in those days.

Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this seventy years, fasting, fasted ye to me, me?

And it will be in my hearing these words, I sat down, and I shall weep and mourn days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens,

Then shalt thou call and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry for help, and he will say, Behold me. If thou shalt take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the extending of the finger, and the word of vanity;

And thou shalt give out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the humble soul; and thy light rising in darkness,, and thy thick darkness as the noon.

And Jehoshaphat will fear, and he will give his face to seek to Jehovah, and he will call a fast for all Judah.

Be ye humbled before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this seventy years, fasting, fasted ye to me, me?

And when ye shall eat, and when ye shall drink, are ye not eating, and are ye not drinking?

And the men of Nineveh will believe in God, and they will call a fast, and put on sackcloth, from great and even to small.

And the word will reach to the king of Nineveh, and he will rise from his throne, and he will take away his wide cloak from off him, and he will cover with sackcloth, and he will sit upon ashes.

And he will cry out and say in Nineveh from the edict of the king and of his great ones, saying, The man and beast, the herd and flock shall not taste of anything; they shall not feed and they shall not drink water.

And man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry with strength to Jehovah: and they shall turn back each from his evil way, and the violence which is in their hands.

Who shall know God will turn back and lament, and turning back from the burning of his anger and we shall not perish?

And God will see their works that they turned back from their evil way, and God will lament for the evil which he spake to do to them: and he did it not

And it was in those days, he went out to the mount to pray, and he was passing the whole night in prayer to God.

With what shall I come before Jehovah? I will bow to the high God; shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves, the sons of a year?

Will Jehovah delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of torrents of oil? shall I give my first-born my transgression? the fruit of my belly, the sin of my soul?

He announced to thee, O man, what was good; and what did Jehovah require of thee but to do judgment and to love mercy, and being humbled, to go with thy God?

Then came to him the disciples of John; saying, Wherefore do we and the Pharisees fast much, and thy disciples fast not?

And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.

For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are adverse to one another: that not the things ye would, these should ye do.

I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service.

And be ye not conformed to this life, but be transformed by the renovation of your mind, for you to prove what the good, and the pleasing, and the perfected will of God.

Rave anxiety about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with gratitude let your desires be made known to God.

And the peace of God, surpassing all understanding, shall watch your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And they waiting for Jehovah shall change power; they shall go up on the wing as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall go and not faint.

Watch and pray, lest ye come into temptation: truly the spirit of a ready will, and the flesh weak.

And I, in their being sick, my clothing sackcloth: I humbled my soul in fasting, and my prayer shall be turned back upon my bosom.

As a friend, as a brother to me: I went about as mourning a mother: being darkened, I bowed down.

I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service.

I fast twice of the Sabbath; I pay tithes of all I possess.

(For the weapons of our warfare not fleshly, but powerful to God to the taking down of fortified places;)

Taking down reckonings, and every elevation lifted up against the knowledge of God, and taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ;

To the overseer instructing for the sons of Borah. As the stag will long for the channels of waters, thus will my soul long for thee, O God.

My soul thirsted for God, for the living God: when shall I come and see the face of God?

My knees were weak from fasting, and my flesh failed from fatness.

Wherefore we also having such a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, having laid down every weight, and sin easily captivating, by patience we should run the race set before us,

And in these days I Daniel was mourning three weeks of days.

Bread of desires I ate not, and flesh and wine came not into my mouth, and anointing, I did not anoint myself even to the filling up of three weeks of days.

(For many walk, of whom I said to you often, and now also say weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ:

Whose end destruction, whose God the belly, and their glory in shame, having in mind earthly things.)

Watch therefore, in all time praying, that ye be deemed worthy to escape all these about to be, and to stand before the Son of man.

He will give to thee according to thy heart, and fill up all thy counsel

But seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these shall be added to you.

Create for me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in my midst,

Thou wilt not cast me away from thy face, and thou wilt not take thy holy spirit from me.

Turn back to me the joy of thy salvation, and thy willing spirit shall uphold me.

And I say, Walk in Spirit, and complete not the desire of the flesh.

For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are adverse to one another: that not the things ye would, these should ye do.

And we will fast and seek of our God concerning this; and he will be entreated for us.

And he said to them, This kind can go, out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

And I shall call a fast there, upon the river Ahava, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

And thou fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;

That thou mightest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father which in secret; and thy Father which in secret, will give back to thee openly.

But this kind goes not forth but by prayer and fasting.

And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward.

And every one contending for the prize, has self command in all things. These surely therefore that they might receive a corruptible crown; and we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so practise I pugilism, as not laying stripes upon air:

But I give my body a blow under the eyes, and reduce to bondage: lest having proclaimed to others, I myself be rejected.

And I will give my face to Jehovah God to seek prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes:

Prayer