Throughout the Bible, fasting is a deeply spiritual activity that represents devotion, repentance, and seeking God’s will. Scripture emphasizes the effectiveness of fasting in strengthening one’s faith and bringing one closer to God, whether one is fasting for strength, healing, or a breakthrough.
The Bible teaches that prayer and fasting together result in spiritual rebirth and divine involvement, as demonstrated by Jesus’ sojourn in the desert and the petitions of prophets and disciples. Learn how Scripture supports fasting as a sign of humility, worship, and spiritual discipline in this compilation of 35 potent Bible scriptures about the practice.
The Biblical Importance of Fasting
Throughout the Bible, fasting is mentioned as a potent spiritual practice that is frequently connected to prayer, repentance, and seeking God’s direction. It develops spiritual discipline, fortifies faith, and draws believers nearer to God.
Fasting is emphasized by both Jesus and the prophets of the Old Testament as a means of seeking God’s wisdom and lowering oneself before Him. Many passages in the Bible highlight the importance of fasting and how it can result in spiritual growth, healing, and divine intervention. For individuals who want to include fasting in their spiritual path, these scriptures offer support and direction.
The Spiritual Significance of Fasting in the Bible
The Bible makes reference to fasting as a potent spiritual discipline that emphasizes humility, devotion, and seeking God’s direction. It is a period for introspection, prayer, and becoming closer to the Lord. Scripture emphasizes fasting as a means of demonstrating one’s dependence on God, seeking divine intervention, and fortifying one’s faith.
Fasting is demonstrated as a way to gain insight and strengthen one’s relationship with God through the lives of Jesus, Moses, and Daniel. These Bible passages on fasting offer support and insight into the practice’s spiritual advantages.
35 Powerful Bible Verses about Fasting
Here are 35 powerful Bible verses about fasting, along with messages to inspire and guide you in your spiritual journey:
Matthew 6:16-18
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”
Message: Fasting should be a private act of devotion to God, not a display for others.
Joel 2:12
“Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Message: Fasting is a way to turn back to God with sincerity and repentance.
Isaiah 58:6
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
Message: True fasting leads to justice, mercy, and transformation in our lives.
Acts 13:2
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”
Message: Fasting helps us hear God’s voice and receive divine direction.
Psalm 35:13
“Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered.”
Message: Fasting is an act of humility before God in times of need.
2 Chronicles 20:3
“Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he resolved to seek the Lord. He proclaimed a fast for all Judah.”
Message: Fasting helps us seek God’s help in difficult situations.
Nehemiah 1:4
“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
Message: Fasting is a way to express deep sorrow and seek God’s intervention.
Ezra 8:23
“So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer.”
Message: Fasting brings powerful breakthroughs and answered prayers.
Luke 4:2
“Where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry.”
Message: Jesus fasted before beginning His ministry, showing us the power of fasting in preparation.
Daniel 9:3
“So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
Message: Fasting is a way to seek God earnestly through prayer.
Esther 4:16
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.”
Message: Fasting unites people in intercession for deliverance.
Jonah 3:5
“The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”
Message: Fasting is a sign of true repentance and seeking God’s mercy.
Mark 9:29
“This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.”
Message: Fasting strengthens our prayers and faith to overcome spiritual battles.
Exodus 34:28
“Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.”
Message: Fasting prepares us for deep encounters with God.
1 Kings 19:8
“So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.”
Message: Fasting can prepare us for divine revelation and guidance.
Leviticus 16:29
“This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work.”
Message: Fasting is a biblical way of humbling ourselves before God.
Judges 20:26
“Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening.”
Message: Fasting is a way to seek God in times of crisis.
Acts 14:23
“Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord.”
Message: Fasting plays a crucial role in spiritual leadership and decision-making.
Matthew 4:2
“After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.”
Message: Fasting strengthens us for spiritual trials and breakthroughs.
Daniel 10:3
“I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”
Message: Fasting can be partial, focusing on removing certain luxuries.
1 Samuel 7:6
“When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed.”
Message: Fasting is a time for repentance and renewal.
Matthew 9:15
“Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.’”
Message: Fasting is a practice for times seeking deeper communion with God.
Zechariah 7:5
“When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?”
Message: Fasting should be done with the right heart and motive.
Acts 10:30
“Cornelius answered: ‘Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me.'”
Message: Fasting opens the door to divine encounters.
Jeremiah 36:9
“In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem.”
Message: Fasting can be a communal act of worship.
Nehemiah 9:1
“On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.”
Message: Fasting is an expression of repentance.
Psalm 69:10
“When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn.”
Message: Fasting may not always be understood by others, but God honors it.
Isaiah 58:4
“Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.”
Message: Fasting must be accompanied by righteous living.
Ezra 10:6
“Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.”
Message: Fasting can be a sign of mourning and intercession.
Matthew 17:21
“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Message: Fasting brings spiritual power to overcome challenges.
1 Corinthians 7:5
“Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
Message: Fasting can include abstaining from certain activities, such as intimacy, to focus on prayer and devotion.
Daniel 1:12
“Please test your servants for ten days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.”
Message: The Daniel fast demonstrates how a partial fast can still be spiritually powerful.
Jonah 3:7
“Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.'”
Message: Even an entire city can fast in repentance and seek God’s mercy.
2 Samuel 12:16
“David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.”
Message: Fasting can be an earnest plea for God’s intervention in desperate situations.
Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Message: Fasting should always be accompanied by prayer and thanksgiving to strengthen faith and trust in God.
Summary
Fasting is a potent spiritual discipline that improves faith, develops one’s relationship with God, and provides insight when one needs it most. The 35 Bible passages pertaining to fasting emphasize how important it is to ask for divine direction, confess one’s sins, and show one’s reliance on God.
Scripture emphasizes that prayer, humility, and a heart seeking God’s will should accompany fasting, as demonstrated by Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2) and Daniel’s partial fast (Daniel 1:12). Fasting involves more than just giving up food; it also involves getting closer to God, resisting temptation, and experiencing spiritual rejuvenation.
