Category
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 there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will fast.’
Then he said to me, ‘Daniel, do not be afraid. God has listened to your prayers since the time that you first turned to him. You wanted to understand about God. You put yourself under his authority. So I have come to bring the answer to your prayers.
Tell people that they must fast. They must meet together to worship the Lord. Speak to the leaders and all the people who live in this country. Tell them all to come to the house of the Lord your God They must call to the Lord for help.
Then Cornelius said, ‘Three days ago, I was in my house at this time of the day. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was praying to God. Suddenly, a man appeared and he stood in front of me. He was wearing bright clothes that shone.
Jesus answered them: ‘When a man marries, his friends cannot be sad. They cannot refuse to eat food while he is with them. But there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will choose to fast.’
So Jesus touched the men's eyes. He said to them, ‘Because you believed in me, you will now see again.’
The way that you fast does not please me at all: You make yourselves humble for a day. You bend down your head, like a piece of weak grass. You lie down on sackcloth and ashes. Do you think that you are really fasting when you do that? Do you think that it pleases me, the Lord?
They say to me, “We have fasted to please you, but you do not see it. We make ourselves humble and you do not even look.” Listen to me! Yes, you fast, but you do it to please yourselves. At the same time as you are fasting, you are being cruel to the people who work for you.
The Lord says, ‘Even now it is not too late! Show that you are sorry and return to me. Fast, weep and cry to show that you are sad.
Jesus then said, ‘You may decide to fast for some time. But do not look sad so that people know you are doing a special thing. Hypocrites want people to see how good they are. They make their faces dirty. Then other people can see that they are fasting. I tell you this: people have praised them and that is the only gift that they will get.But when you fast for some time, you should wash your face. Make your hair look nice.Then other people will not know that you are doing a special thing. But God, your Father, will know. You do not see him but he sees what you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.
This is the way that I want you to fast: You must remove the chains from prisoners who should not be in prison. You must stop being cruel to the people who work for you. You must let people who are in pain go free. You must break the yoke of work that is too hard for weak people. Instead, share your food with hungry people. Give a place in your home to poor people who have no home. Give clothes to people who have nothing to wear. If people in your own family need help, do not refuse to help them.
The Lord says, ‘Even now it is not too late! Show that you are sorry and return to me. Fast, weep and cry to show that you are sad.Show me that you are really upset. Do not only tear your clothes. That is not enough.’ Return to the Lord your God. He is kind and he forgives people. He does not quickly become angry, and his faithful love is very great. He does not like to punish you.
Make a loud noise with a trumpet in Zion! Tell the people that they must fast. Tell them to meet to worship the Lord.
This is the way that I want you to fast: You must remove the chains from prisoners who should not be in prison. You must stop being cruel to the people who work for you. You must let people who are in pain go free. You must break the yoke of work that is too hard for weak people.
The people who lived in Nineveh believed God's message. They told everyone that they must not eat any food for several days. Everyone had to wear sackcloth to show that they were sorry. The most important people and the ordinary people all did that.
One day, the believers were meeting together. They were praising the Lord God and they were praying. They also fasted for a time. During that time, the Holy Spirit said to them, ‘I have chosen Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. Let them go now and do it.’All of these things happened during about 450 years. After this, God gave to his people leaders who were called judges. They ruled Israel until the time when God's prophet Samuel was alive.Then the people of Israel asked Samuel to choose a king for them. So God gave Saul to them as their king. Saul was the son of Kish and he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He ruled Israel for 40 years.Then God removed Saul as king. He caused David to be their king instead. God said this about David: “I have watched David, the son of Jesse. He does things that make me happy. I know that he will do everything that I want.” God promised to send to the people of Israel someone who would save us. Jesus is the man that God sent to save us. He is a descendant of King David.Before Jesus began his work in this world, John spoke a message to all the people of Israel. He told people to stop doing wrong things and to turn to God. Then he would baptize them.When John had almost finished his work, he said to the people, “Perhaps you think that I am the special man that God will send. I am not that man. But listen! That man will come soon. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him.” ’ Paul then said, ‘I speak to all you people here. Some of you, like us, have Abraham as your ancestor. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. God has sent this message to all of us. It tells us how he will save us.The people who were living in Jerusalem, and their leaders, did not understand about Jesus. They did not know that he was God's special man. Every Jewish day of rest, someone reads aloud the messages of God's prophets. But the people in Jerusalem did not understand. Instead, they said that Jesus had done bad things. They said that he should die. In that way, they caused the message of the prophets to become true.The Jewish leaders could not find any reason to kill Jesus for what he had done. But they continued to say to Pilate, “Your soldiers must kill him.”When the soldiers did that, it happened just like the prophets had written about him long ago. After that, some of Jesus' disciples took him down from the cross where he had died. They took his body and they buried it.The believers continued to fast and to pray. Then the leaders put their hands on Barnabas and Saul and they prayed for them. They sent them away to start this new work.
Moses was there on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He did not eat anything or drink anything during that time. He wrote the words of God's covenant on the flat stones. Those were God's ten special commands.
When they were ill, I wore sackcloth and I stopped eating food. I bent down my head as I prayed for them.
Paul and Barnabas chose leaders for each group of believers in these places. They fasted and they prayed to God for some time about this. They asked the Lord Jesus to help these leaders who trusted in him.
We were all waiting by the Ahava River. I told the people not to eat any food, so that we could pray to God for help. We asked him to keep us safe on the journey, with our children and all our things.I was ashamed to ask the king to send his soldiers with us to keep us safe. He could have sent soldiers who rode on horses with us, or other soldiers. But we had said to the king, ‘Our God helps people who trust him and he keeps them safe. But he is very angry with people who turn away from him and he punishes them.’So we ate no food and we prayed to our God about this. He answered our prayers.
Then Jesus returned from the Jordan River. He was full of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness.You know that the Bible says: “God will tell his angels to keep you safe.They will hold you safely in their hands. They will not let you hurt your foot on a stone.” ’ Jesus replied, ‘No! The Bible says, “Do not test the Lord your God, to see what he will do.” ’ In those ways, the devil tried to make Jesus do many wrong things. When he had finished this, he left Jesus alone. He waited for another chance.Then Jesus returned to Galilee. The Holy Spirit continued to give him power. Everyone who lived near there heard the news about him.He taught people in the Jewish meeting places. Everyone said good things about him. Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. On the Jewish day of rest, he went to their meeting place. This was what he usually did. He stood up to read aloud from the Bible. They gave him the scroll that had the messages of God's prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the scroll. He found the place where Isaiah wrote:‘The Spirit of the Lord God is on me. He has chosen me to tell good news to poor people. He has sent me to tell people who are in prison, “You can go free!” He has sent me to tell blind people, “See again!” He has sent me to let people who are like slaves become free.He has sent me to say, “This is the year when the Lord God will be kind to his people.” ’ He stayed there for 40 days and he did not eat anything. During this time the devil tried to cause Jesus to do wrong things. At the end of 40 days, Jesus was very hungry.
Jehoshaphat was afraid. So he decided to ask the Lord what he should do. He commanded all the people in Judah that they must fast.There was a time of peace in Jehoshaphat's kingdom. God kept them safe from the nations all around.So Jehoshaphat continued to rule Judah as king. He was 35 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 25 years. His mother's name was Azubah. She was the daughter of Shilhi.Jehoshaphat lived in the good way that his father Asa had lived. He only did things that the Lord says are right.But he did not remove all the altars that were on the hills. The people still did not want to be completely faithful to the God of their ancestors.The other things that happened while Jehoshaphat was king are written in a book. Hanani's son Jehu recorded all of them in his book, which is part of ‘The history of Israel's kings’.While Jehoshaphat was king, he became a friend of King Ahaziah of Israel, who did evil things.They agreed to build big ships that would bring things from countries that were far away. They built the ships in Ezion-Geber.Dodavahu's son Eliezer from Mareshah warned Jehoshaphat with a message from the Lord. He said, ‘You should not have become a friend of Ahaziah. Because of that, the Lord will destroy the things that you have made.’ A storm destroyed the ships and they never went anywhere.Judah's people came together to ask the Lord for his help. They came from every town in Judah to pray to the Lord.
Then the whole Israelite army went back to Bethel to meet with the Lord. They sat there and they wept. They did not eat any food that day until evening. They offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord.
Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you will have more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else.
So they all met together at Mizpah. They got water from a well and they poured it out for the Lord. They did not eat food that day. They prayed and they said, ‘We have done bad things against the Lord.’ Samuel became leader of the Israelite people at Mizpah.
Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of this time, he was very hungry.
Then the Jewish leaders said to Jesus: ‘The disciples of John the Baptist often choose to fast for a time. Then they can pray to God a lot. The disciples of the Pharisees also do that. But your disciples never do that. They continue to eat and drink every day.’Jesus answered them, ‘When a man marries a wife, you cannot stop his friends from eating. They will continue to eat while he is with them.But there will be a time when people take that man away from his friends. Then they will decide to fast.’
He said, ‘Speak to all the people in this land and to the priests. Tell them, “You were prisoners in another country for 70 years. At that time, you were sad and you fasted in the fifth month and in the seventh month of each year. But you did not really do this to give me honour.
After they told me this, I sat down and I wept. I was very sad for many days. I did not eat or drink anything and I prayed to God.
Jehoshaphat was afraid. So he decided to ask the Lord what he should do. He commanded all the people in Judah that they must fast.
He said, ‘Speak to all the people in this land and to the priests. Tell them, “You were prisoners in another country for 70 years. At that time, you were sad and you fasted in the fifth month and in the seventh month of each year. But you did not really do this to give me honour.Also, when you eat and you drink at special times, you do that to please yourselves.” ’
One day Jesus went up a mountain to pray. He remained there all night and he was praying to God.
When I come to meet the Lord, what offering should I bring with me? I bend down low to worship him, the mighty God. Should I bring young cows that are one year old to make burnt offerings to him?Perhaps he will accept a gift of a thousand male sheep, or ten thousand rivers of olive oil. I have turned against God. Should I offer to God my firstborn son to pay for my sin? If I give my own child to him as a sacrifice, will that be enough to pay for my sin?No! The Lord has told each of you what is good. He has shown you how he wants you to live. You must do what is right and fair. You must always be kind to other people. And you must be careful to obey your God.
Then the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus. They said to him, ‘We often decide to fast for a time. The disciples of the Pharisees also do that. Why do your disciples never do that?’ Jesus answered them: ‘When a man marries, his friends cannot be sad. They cannot refuse to eat food while he is with them. But there will be a time when people will take the man away from his friends. At that time his friends will choose to fast.’
The things that your human nature wants to do are completely different from the things that God's Spirit wants. The things that God's Spirit wants are completely different from the things that our human nature wants. Our own thoughts fight against what God's Spirit wants us to do. As a result, you are not free to do the things that you really want to do.
My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have, and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God.Love each other truly like brothers and sisters. Be happy to give honour to other Christians.Do not be lazy, but always work hard. Serve the Lord well.Be happy, because you can trust God to do what he says. Be patient when you suffer. Always continue to pray.When God's people need anything, share what you have with them. Always be happy to welcome people into your home.Ask God to bless people who cause trouble for you. Yes, do not curse them, but bless them!If you are with someone who is happy, you should be happy too. If you are with someone who is sad, you should be sad too.Always try to be friends with other people. Do not be proud. Agree to help people who are not important. Do not think that you know everything.If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way, so that people will respect you.If it is possible, always try to live in peace with other people.My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry with them and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible: ‘The Lord God says, “When people do something wrong, I am the one who will punish them. I will pay them back.” ’ Do not become like the people who belong to this world. But let God completely change the way that you think, so that you live differently. Then you will understand what God wants you to do. You will know what is good. You will know what pleases God. You will know what is completely right.
Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray to God about everything. Ask him to help you with the things that you need. And thank him for his help.If you do that, God will give you peace in your minds. That peace is so great that nobody can completely understand it. You will not worry or be afraid, because you belong to Christ Jesus.
But people who wait for the Lord to help them will receive new strength. They will rise up high, as if they have the wings of eagles. They will run and they will not become tired. They will walk and they will not become weak.
You must stay awake and pray. God can help you, so that you will not do something wrong. You really want to do the right thing, but your bodies are weak.’
When they were ill, I wore sackcloth and I stopped eating food. I bent down my head as I prayed for them.I wept as I prayed, as I would weep when a friend or my mother had died.
My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have, and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God.
It is like we are fighting in a war, but we do not use human weapons. Instead we use God's weapons. Those weapons are powerful enough to destroy the enemy's strong places. We use those weapons to destroy people's wrong ideas.People may speak proud ideas that stop other people from knowing God. We show that those ideas are completely wrong. We change the way that people think, so that they want to obey Christ.
God, I need you so much! I look for you, as a thirsty deer looks for streams of water.My enemies laugh at me all the time. It is like they are breaking all my bones. They are always saying, ‘Where is your God?’I ask myself again, ‘Why am I so sad and upset?’ I must wait patiently for God to help me. Then I will praise my God once again, because he is the one who saves me.Deep down inside me, I am very thirsty! You are the God who lives for ever, and I need life from you! When will I be able to come near to you and see you face to face?
So we have learned about many people who trusted God. They are like a very big crowd all around us to show us what is right. We must be like people who run in a race. We must throw away everything that stops us from running well. The sins that we do make us fall down very easily. We must not let those sins rule us. We must continue to be strong as we run the race that God has prepared for us.
At that time I, Daniel, was very sad for three weeks.Then the angel said to me, ‘I will tell you why I have come to you. I will explain to you what the words in the book of God's truth mean. But now I must return to fight a battle against the ruler of Persia. After I have won that battle, the ruler of Greece will appear. Only Michael will help me. He is the angel who keeps your own people safe. Nobody else will be there to help me fight against God's enemies.I did not eat any special food. I ate no meat and I drank no wine. I did not put any sweet oil on my skin or my hair until the three weeks had finished.
Many people live in a way that shows they do not agree with God's message. I have told you about these people many times before. And now I am crying when I tell you about them. I am very sad, because they hate Christ's death on the cross.Finally, God will destroy them. Their stomach is what they worship. They are proud of things that should make them ashamed. Their thoughts are full of things that belong to this world.
So be ready all the time! Continue to pray that you will be strong. Then you will remain safe through all these things that must happen! You will stand in front of the Son of Man and you will not be afraid.’
May God give to you all the things that you really want. He will help you to do everything that you want to do.
Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of heaven. Always do what God shows you is right. Then he will also give you the things that you need each day.
God, please make me completely pure, deep inside me. Make my spirit strong and true.Do not send me away from you. Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.Give me joy again, because you have made me safe. Make me strong and ready to obey you.
So this is what I say: Let God's Spirit show you how to live in a good way. Then you will not do the wrong things that your weak human nature may want to do.The things that your human nature wants to do are completely different from the things that God's Spirit wants. The things that God's Spirit wants are completely different from the things that our human nature wants. Our own thoughts fight against what God's Spirit wants us to do. As a result, you are not free to do the things that you really want to do.
Jesus said to them, ‘You must pray. This kind of spirit will not leave a person unless you pray.’
We were all waiting by the Ahava River. I told the people not to eat any food, so that we could pray to God for help. We asked him to keep us safe on the journey, with our children and all our things.
But when you fast for some time, you should wash your face. Make your hair look nice.Then other people will not know that you are doing a special thing. But God, your Father, will know. You do not see him but he sees what you do secretly. In return, he will give you good things.
[Jesus then said, ‘This kind of spirit will not leave a person unless you pray and you do not eat for a time.’]
Jesus then said, ‘You may decide to fast for some time. But do not look sad so that people know you are doing a special thing. Hypocrites want people to see how good they are. They make their faces dirty. Then other people can see that they are fasting. I tell you this: people have praised them and that is the only gift that they will get.
People who run in races prepare their bodies well. They make themselves work very hard. They do this so that they will win a prize that will quickly become spoiled. But we work hard to receive a prize that will never become spoiled.Because of that, I do not run without any purpose. I do not fight like someone who only hits the air.I make my body do what I want it to do. I make it like my slave. I have told God's message to other people. Now I do not want to lose the prize myself. So I try very hard to obey the rules of the race.
So I turned to my Lord God, to ask him for help. I prayed to him and I fasted. I wore clothes made of sackcloth. I put ashes on myself to show that I was upset.