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

And he said to me, “Do not fear, Dani’ĕ

Set apart a fast. Call an assembly, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, into the House of יהוה  your Elohim, and cry out to יהוה.

And Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and see, a man stood before me in shining garments,

And יהושע  said to them, “Are the friends of the bridegroom able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days shall come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they shall fast.

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your belief let it be to you.”

“Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his being? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to יהוה ?

They say, ‘Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our beings, and You took no note?’ “Look, in the day of your fasting you find pleasure, and drive on all your labourers.

“Yet even now,” declares יהוה, “turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

“And when you fast, do not be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that they appear to be fasting to men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt the oppressed, and to break off every yoke?“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, and cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

“Yet even now,” declares יהוה, “turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”And tear your heart and not your garments, and turn back to יהוה  your Elohim, for He shows favour and is compassionate, patient, and of great kindness, and He shall relent concerning the evil.

Blow a ram’s horn in Tsiyon, set apart a fast, call an assembly.

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt the oppressed, and to break off every yoke?

And the men of Ninewĕ

And as they were doing service to the Master and fasted, the Set-apart Spirit said, “Separate unto Me BarnaḇThen having fasted and prayed, and having laid hands on them, they sent them away.

And he was there with יהוה  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 Words.

But I, when they were sick, I put on sackcloth; I humbled my being with fastings; And my prayer would return to my own bosom.

And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Master in whom they had believed.

“Then, when you call, יהוה  would answer; when you cry, He would say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of unrighteousness,if you extend your being to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted being, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness be as noon.“Then יהוה  would guide you continually, and satisfy your being in drought, and strengthen your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

I then proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahawa, to humble ourselves before our Elohim, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions,for I was ashamed to ask of the sovereign a group of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the sovereign, saying, “The hand of our Elohim is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.”So we fasted and prayed to our Elohim for this, and He answered our prayer.

And יהושע, being filled with the Set-apart Spirit, returned from the Yardĕbeing tried for forty days by the devil. And in those days He did not eat at all, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

And Yehoshaphat was afraid, and set his face to seek יהוה, and proclaimed a fast throughout all YehuḏAnd Yehuḏ

And I wept in my being with fasting, And it became my reproach.

And all the children of Yisra’ĕ

Do not deprive one another except with agreement for a time, to give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again so that Satan does not try you because of your lack of self-control.

And they gathered to Mitspah and drew water, and poured it out before יהוה. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against יהוה.” And Shemu’ĕ

And after having fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

And they said to Him, “Why do the taught ones of YoḥAnd He said to them, “Are you able to make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?“But days shall come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they shall fast in those days.”

“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months all these seventy years, did you truly fast for Me – for Me?

And it came to be, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days. And I was fasting and praying before the Elohim of the heavens,

“Then, when you call, יהוה  would answer; when you cry, He would say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of unrighteousness,if you extend your being to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted being, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness be as noon.

And Yehoshaphat was afraid, and set his face to seek יהוה, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Yehuḏ

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Master, and He shall lift you up.

“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months all these seventy years, did you truly fast for Me – for Me?‘And when you ate and when you drank, was it not for those eating and for those drinking?

And the men of NinewĕAnd the word reached the sovereign of NinewĕAnd he proclaimed and said throughout Ninewĕ“But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and call mightily to Elohim. And let each one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.“Who knows whether Elohim does turn and relent, and shall turn away from the heat of His displeasure, so that we do not perish?”And Elohim saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And Elohim relented from the evil which He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.

And in those days it came to be that He went out to the mountain to pray, and was spending the night in prayer to Elohim.

With what shall I come before יהוה, bow myself before the high Elohim? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?Is יהוה  pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my being?He has declared to you, O man, what is good. And what does יהוה  require of you but to do right, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?

Then the taught ones of YoḥAnd יהושע  said to them, “Are the friends of the bridegroom able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days shall come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they shall fast.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you desire to do.

I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim.

Do not worry at all, but in every matter, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to Elohim.And the peace of Elohim, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds through Messiah יהושע.

but those who wait on יהוה  renew their strength, they raise up the wing like eagles, they run and are not weary, they walk and do not faint.

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into trial. The spirit indeed is eager, but the flesh is weak.”

But I, when they were sick, I put on sackcloth; I humbled my being with fastings; And my prayer would return to my own bosom.I walked about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down mourning, as one mourning for a mother.

I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship.

‘I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’

For the weapons we fight with are not fleshly but mighty in Elohim for overthrowing strongholds,overthrowing reasonings and every high matter that exalts itself against the knowledge of Elohim, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to the Messiah,

As a deer longs for the water streams, So my being longs for You, O Elohim.My being thirsts for Elohim, for the living Ě

My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh grows lean from fatness.

We too, then, having so great a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,

In those days I, Dani’ĕI did not eat desirable food, and meat and wine did not come into my mouth, and I did not anoint myself at all, till the completion of three weeks of days.

For many – of whom I have often told you, and now say to you even weeping – walk as enemies of the stake of Messiah.Their end is destruction, their mighty one is their stomach, and their esteem is in their shame – they mind the earthly.

“Watch then at all times, and pray that you be counted worthy to escape all this about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Aḏ

He does give you according to your heart, And fills all your plans!

“But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His righteousness, and all these matters shall be added to you.

Create in me a clean heart, O Elohim, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Set-apart Spirit from me.Restore to me the joy of Your deliverance, And uphold me, Noble Spirit!

And I say: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not accomplish the lust of the flesh.For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you desire to do.

So we fasted and prayed to our Elohim for this, and He answered our prayer.

And He said to them, “It is impossible for this kind to come out except through prayer and fasting.”

I then proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahawa, to humble ourselves before our Elohim, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions,

“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

“But this kind does not go out except through prayer and fasting.”

“And when you fast, do not be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that they appear to be fasting to men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward.

And everyone who competes controls himself in every way. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we for an incorruptible crown.Therefore I run accordingly, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.But I treat my body severely and make it my slave, so that when I have proclaimed to others, I myself might be rejected.

So I set my face toward יהוה  the Elohim to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

Prayer