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.

But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

And he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you gave your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

Set apart a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the elders, all those living in the land, into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah.

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

And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken from them, and then they will fast.

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

Is the fast I choose, a day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow his head down like a bulrush, and he spreads sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day of delight to Jehovah?

They say, Why have we fasted, and You did not see? We have afflicted our soul, and You did not know. Behold, on the day of your fast you find pleasure; and you drive all your laborers hard.

Yet even now turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with wailing, a statement of Jehovah.

And when you fast, do not be as the hypocrites, with sullen face, for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you that they have their reward.

But you in fasting, anoint your head and wash your face,

so as not to appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father in secret. And your Father, the One seeing in secret, will repay you in the open.

this is not the fast I have chosen: to open bands of wickedness, to undo thongs of the yoke, and to send out free the ones being oppressed, and that you pull off every yoke?

Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, that you should bring the wandering poor ones to your house? When will you see the naked ones and cover him, and you will not hide yourself from your flesh?

Yet even now turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with wailing, a statement of Jehovah.

And tear your heart, and not your clothes; and turn to Jehovah your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He has pity concerning you.

Blow a rams’ horn in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.

this is not the fast I have chosen: to open bands of wickedness, to undo thongs of the yoke, and to send out free the ones being oppressed, and that you pull off every yoke?

And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackclothes, from the greatest even to the least of them.

And they doing service to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate both Barnabas and Saul to Me, for the work to which I have called them.

Then, having fasted and prayed, and placing hands on them, they let them go.

And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

But in their sickness, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned to my bosom.

And having hand-picked elders for them in every assembly, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord into whom they had believed.

Then you shall call, and Jehovah will answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Behold Me. If you put the yoke away from your midst, the sending out of the finger, and the speaking of iniquity;

and if you let out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the soul of the afflicted one; then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noonday.

And Jehovah shall always guide you, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters which do not prove to be deceiving.

And I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our goods.

For I was ashamed to ask of the king troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good; but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

and we fasted and prayed to our God for good. And He was pleased to hear us.

And full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the deserted place, forty days, being tried by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days, and they being ended, He afterwards hungered.

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set his face to seek to Jehovah, and proclaimed a fast over all Judah.

And Judah was gathered to inquire of Jehovah; also they came in to seek Jehovah from all the cities of Judah.

And I wept in the fasting of my soul, it also was to my reproach;

And all the sons of Israel went up, even all the people, and came to Beth-el, and wept. And they sat there before Jehovah, and fasted on that day until the evening, and caused burnt offerings and peace offerings to ascend before Jehovah.

Do not deprive one another, if not by agreement for a time, that you may devote yourselves to fasting and to prayer. And come together again on the same place, that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control.

And they were gathered to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured out before Jehovah. And they fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He hungered.

But they said to Him, Why do John’s disciples fast often, and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but the ones close to You eat and drink?

But He said to them, You are not able to make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them.

But days will come, even when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then in those days they will fast.

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?

And it happened, when I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.

Then you shall call, and Jehovah will answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Behold Me. If you put the yoke away from your midst, the sending out of the finger, and the speaking of iniquity;

and if you let out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the soul of the afflicted one; then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noonday.

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set his face to seek to Jehovah, and proclaimed a fast over all Judah.

Be humbled before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?

And when you ate, and when you drank, was it not for you, those eating, and for you, those drinking?

And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackclothes, from the greatest even to the least of them.

And the word touched even to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he passed his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.

And he cried and said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and of his great ones, saying, Do not let man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them feed nor let them drink water.

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. And let them call with strength to God. And let them each man turn back from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their palms.

Who knows? He may turn, and God may be moved to pity and turn back from the anger of His face, that we will not perish.

And God saw their deeds, that they turned back from their evil way. And God was moved to pity of the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.

And it happned in these days, He went out into the mountain to pray. And He was in prayer of God through the night.

With what shall I come before Jehovah, to bow down before the loftiness of God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves, sons of a year?

Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of torrents of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?

O man, He has declared to you what is good. And what does Jehovah require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to be humble to walk with your God?

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, and Your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken from them, and then they will fast.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another; that not whatever you may will, but these things you do.

Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, in order to prove by you what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

Be anxious about nothing, but in everything by prayer and by petition with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known to God;

and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

but the ones waiting for Jehovah shall renew strength; they shall go up with wings as the eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not be faint!

Keep awake, that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

But in their sickness, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned to my bosom.

I walked as a friend, as to my brother; as one who mourns a mother; I was bowed down mourning.

Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

I fast twice on the sabbath; I tithe things, as many as I get.

for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God to the demolition of strongholds,

demolishing reasonings and every high thing lifting up itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ,

To the chief musician. A Contemplation for the sons of Korah. As the deer pants after the channels of water, so my soul pants after You, O God.

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

My knees stumble from fasting, and my flesh grows lean from fatness.

So therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses lying around us, having laid aside every weight and the easily surrounding sin, through patience let us also run the race being set before us,

In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three weeks of days.

I ate no desirable food, and flesh and wine did not come into my mouth. I did not anoint myself at all until three weeks of days were fulfilled.

For many walk as hostile to the cross of Christ, of whom I often told you, and now even weeping I say it,

whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and who glory in their shame, the ones thinking earthly things.

Therefore keep awake in every time, praying that you be counted worthy to escape all these things, the things being about to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.

He will give you according to your heart, and He will fulfill all your plans.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me out from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another; that not whatever you may will, but these things you do.

and we fasted and prayed to our God for good. And He was pleased to hear us.

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

And I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our goods.

But you in fasting, anoint your head and wash your face,

so as not to appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father in secret. And your Father, the One seeing in secret, will repay you in the open.

But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

And when you fast, do not be as the hypocrites, with sullen face, for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you that they have their reward.

But everyone striving controls himself in all things. Then the ones truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

Therefore, so I run, as not uncertainly; so I fight, as not beating air;

but I buffet my body and enslave it, lest having preached to others I myself might be disapproved.

And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Prayer