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

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

Set apart a fast; call a solemn gathering; gather the elders and all the people of the land into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to the Lord,

And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour I prayed 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 shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.

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

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?

They say, Why have we fasted, and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your laborers.

Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. 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 fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke?Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil.

Blow a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn gathering.

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke?

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

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, So, then, separate Barnabas and Saul to Me for the work to which I have called them.Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they let them go.

And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread, nor drank water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.

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

Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

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

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wildernessforty days, being tempted by the Devil. And in those days He ate nothing. And they being ended, He afterward was hungry.

And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek Jehovah, and called for a fast throughout all Judah.And Judah gathered themselves to ask of Jehovah. Even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.

When I humbled my soul with fasting, it turned to my reproach.

And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah.

Do not deprive one another, unless it is with consent for a time, so that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again so that Satan does not tempt you for your incontinence.

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

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry.

And they said to Him, Why do John's disciples fast often and make prayers, and also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?But He said to them, Can you make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

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 I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.

Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.

And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek Jehovah, and called for a fast throughout all Judah.

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

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 the eaters, and for you, the drinkers?

And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. And he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.And he cried out and said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his great ones, saying, Do not let man or beast, herd or flock taste anything; do not let them feed, nor drink water.But let man and animal be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. And let them each one turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.Who knows? He may repent, and God may have pity and turn away from the glow of His anger, so that we do not perish.And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God was compassionate over the evil that He had said to do to them, and He did not do it.

And it happened in those days that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He was spending the night in prayer to God.

With what shall I come before Jehovah, to bow myself before God the Most High? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?

Then the disciples of John came to Him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but 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 shall be 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 contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.

I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

but those who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.As a friend, as to my brother, I walked; as one who mourns for a mother, I was bowed down, mourning.

I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies 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 give tithes of all that I possess.

For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts 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 hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God.My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

My knees stumble from fasting; and my flesh is losing its fatness.

Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.I ate no food for delight, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.

(For many are walking, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ;whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, those who mind earthly things.)

Watch therefore, praying in every season that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which shall occur, and to stand before the Son of Man.

May He grant you according to your own heart, and fulfill all your plans.

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

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.

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

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

Then 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, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

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

And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.

And everyone who strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Then those truly that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.So then I run, not as if I were uncertain. And so I fight, not as one who beats the air.But I buffet my body, and lead it captive, lest proclaiming to others I myself might be rejected.

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

Prayer