Fasting And Prayer
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly, I say
to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen
by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees
in secret will reward you.
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with
prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had
believed.
Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the
Lord your God, and cry out to the
Lord.
“Yet even now,” declares the
Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my
behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my
young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though
it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
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.”
And then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart
from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the
Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them,
“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then
they will fast.
“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their
sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they
were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of
their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw
near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we
humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day
of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked
fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard
on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble
himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth
and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to
the
Lord?
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a
limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come
together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of
self-control.
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of
wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go
free, and to break every yoke?
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might
humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for
ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the
king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the
enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is
for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all
who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he
listened to our entreaty.
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to
you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to
this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing
will be impossible for you.” As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus
said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of
men,
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for
days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in
order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your
Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no
trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they
have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving
may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love
to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they
may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their
reward.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
That your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who
is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.
But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
Matthew 6:1 helpful votesast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might
humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for
ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
Acts 13:2-3 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.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on
them and sent them off.
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and
put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled
ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your
fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the
Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the
Lord.
In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he
was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of
God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered,
“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God.’”
So he was there with the
Lord forty days
and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on
the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a
man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the
temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and
each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her
conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does
not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise
the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife
does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a
limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come
together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of
self-control.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.”
Joel 2:15
ESV / 20 helpful votes
Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no
delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at
all, for the full three weeks.
Ezra 10:6
ESV / 20 helpful votes
Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the
chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night,
neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the
faithlessness of the exiles.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you
may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by
this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly
the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks
to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing
abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is
increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of
God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the
afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous
judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which you are also suffering—
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to
quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while
the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise
the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on
the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment
on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands
or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another
esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own
mind.
Mark 2:18
ESV / 19 helpful votes
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people
came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the
Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
Daniel 6:18
ESV / 17 helpful votes
Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no
diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.
Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have
done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the
child died, you arose and ate food.”
James 1:5
ESV / 16 helpful votes
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went
to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot
out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse
me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before
me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your
judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss
of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart
for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his
prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended
from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God
in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from
the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and
apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his
name among all the nations,
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Luke 4:2
ESV / 14 helpful votes
For forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing
during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted
and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy
years, was it for me that you fasted?
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Luke 5:33
ESV / 13 helpful votes
And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer
prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and
drink.”
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he
was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of
God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered,
“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy
city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the
Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that
food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
Acts 27:9
ESV / 12 helpful votes
Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,
Isaiah 58:7
ESV / 12 helpful votes
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the
homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and
not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on
him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the
road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and
be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales
fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was
baptized;
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in
the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who
came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the
Lord.
Of David. To you, O
Lord, I call; my rock,
be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who
go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to
you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak
peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Give to them
according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give
to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due
reward. Because they do not regard the works of the
Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel
were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their
heads.
And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the
Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve
tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of
your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full
effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any
of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all
without reproach, and it will be given him.
Acts 10:30
ESV / 10 helpful votes
And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying
in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in
bright clothing
And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer
prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and
drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while
the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is
taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into his harvest.”
And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as
the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is
taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member
of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 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.” Then after
fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of
the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs
that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can
he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus
answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Luke 18:1
ESV / 9 helpful votes
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. In you, O
Lord,
do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness
deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of
refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! For you are my rock and my
fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me; you take me
out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into
your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O
Lord, faithful God.
Esther 4:3
ESV / 9 helpful votes
And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree
reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and
weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah
fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick;
so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god
of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.” But the angel of
the
Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise,
go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them,
‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire
of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the
Lord,
You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you
shall surely die.’” So Elijah went. The messengers returned to the
king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?”
Then all the people of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba,
including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man
to the
Lord at Mizpah.
“And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh
month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and
shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among
you.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy
our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of
your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the
saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have
heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member
of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 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.” Then after
fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and
from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they
proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had
John to assist them.
Thus says the
Lord concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the
Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”
After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down
the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. And on the third
day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt
on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid
homage. David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him,
“I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” And David said to him, “How
did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle,
and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his
son Jonathan are also dead.” Then David said to the young man who told
him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
So he was there with the
Lord forty days
and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on
the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses
came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his
hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the
skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines
Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away
from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
Acts 27:33
ESV / 7 helpful votes
As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food,
saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense
and without food, having taken nothing.
Luke 12:32
ESV / 7 helpful votes
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the
bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is
taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to
you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to
this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing
will be impossible for you.” As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus
said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of
men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
And they were greatly distressed.
Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the
inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain
of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put
sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about
dejectedly.
And the
Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the
Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor
your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly
masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would
Christ,
Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
John 14:8
ESV / 5 helpful votes
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the
Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the
Lord
your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all
these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the
voice of the
Lord your God. Blessed shall you be
in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be
the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of
your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
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