Scriptures for Reading While on a Fast

9 Bible Verses on Fasting – Scripture to show us the value of fasting, praying, seeking, and longing for closeness with God through biblical examples.

Every Lent, I swoop a little bit deeper into the idea of fasting.

• Is fasting still relevant today?
• How does fasting bring me closer to God?
• What should I exist fasting for anyways?

Whether yous are choosing to fast for Lent or every bit a regular spiritual subject in your life, information technology is so encouraging to await back over the people who fasted in the Bible.

Seeing the reasons they fasted and how God responded to them renews your excitement for this do and inspires you lot to deepen your human relationship with God in this way.

At that place are examples of fasting in both the New Testament and the Sometime Attestation to show united states the value of this spiritual discipline.

In the Bible, fasting is when people accept given up food or drink and spent that time praying, mourning, and seeking God's will.

Below, you'll find 9 Bible verses on fasting and be able to see the different purposes backside their fasts to inspire, motivate, and give you more purpose in your own fasting.

Fasting in Scripture

ane. Seeking God'due south Management

Moses was there with the Lord twoscore days and xl nights without eating bread or drinking h2o. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

-Exodus 34:28

Moses fasted with the Lord for forty days, leaning on God for direction, wisdom, and guidance in writing the Ten Commandments.

This is known as 1 of the "supernatural absolute" fasts in the Bible where Moses went xl days without eating or drinking.

Information technology's labeled "supernatural" or sometimes "miraculous" since that is quite dangerous usually and he was sustained miraculously only by God during that time.

God not simply sustained Moses during his fast, only too gave him wisdom and management.

two. Fasting For Humility

…I proclaimed a fast, and so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions….And then we fasted and petitioned our God near this, and he answered our prayer.

-Ezra 8:21-23

Here, fasting was a means to humility.

It was a mode to humble themselves earlier the Lord every bit they sought Him in prayer for protection.

They fasted humbly, prayed fiercely, and God answered.

3. Fasting for Freedom

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to ready the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?

– Isaiah 58:6

The purpose of fasting is and then much deeper than merely giving upwards food for a while.

It'due south not just an outward exercise, simply an inner transformation.

It'due south about addressing the deep, ugly sins of your life, untying the cords of that yoke, and breaking gratuitous.

4. Return To God With Repentance

"Even at present," declares the Lord,
    "return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Joel 2:12

Return to me.

What a powerful phrase coming from our Almighty God.

This was a telephone call to repentance, for the people to return to God's mercy and steadfast dear.

And one of the ways to evidence their truly repentant heart was through fasting.

Even here in the Old Testament, God was not request for the act of fasting solitary. Fasting was a manner to show that they desired to return to God with all of their center.

five. Fast For Intimacy With God, Not Praise From Man

"When yous fast, do non look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to bear witness others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they accept received their reward in total. Merely when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,¹so that information technology will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, simply simply to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in hush-hush, will reward you."

-Matthew 6:16-18

Equally Christians, our intentions matter. Our faith takes life to a level unseen. It is possible to do everything right on the exterior, but without the proper heart, information technology doesn't serve its purpose.

Fasting is 1 of those things.

If yous are fasting to be seen by others as a "good Christian," you're doing it incorrect.

If you're fasting with a heart that can but focus on the things you lack (food, in this case) and not a hunger that drives you into the artillery of your Savior to satisfy your needs, you're doing information technology wrong.

Don't fast for attention, recognition, or the sake of not-so-silent suffering through the 40 days of Lent.

Fast to depict nearer to God and rely on Him on deeper levels than you have before.

6. Grow in Spiritual Strength

Afterward fasting forty days and forty nights, he [Jesus] was hungry.

Matthew 4:2

Jesus fasted for twoscore days.

Forty days.

Information technology's hard for me to fathom what His body would have felt like during that time.

I'm imagining His human form felt quite weak.

Yet, He stood strong against the relentless temptation Satan kept shoving in His face.

He wasn't relying on a poly peptide-filled breakfast or a good night of sleep for his mental sharpness to stand up to the devil.

He relied completely on God's strength (and God's Word) during His fast.

Fasting can strengthen united states of america spiritually when we choose to stand on God'southward Word in our ain man frailty.

7. New Wine Into New Wineskins

And so John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast oft, but your disciples do not fast?"
Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will exist taken from them; then they will fast.
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk fabric on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into former wineskins. If they practice, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

Matthew nine:xiv-17

The entire purpose of the disciples' and the Pharisees' fasting was to show a longing for the day God would show upward and show favor to Israel again.

But Jesus was right there with them! There was no need for fasting at that moment.

But immediately after, Jesus said, "the time volition come up when the bridegroom will be taken from them; and so they volition fast."

He wasn't putting an end to all fasting.

He specifically said the time to fast would be coming once more!

Only now, our fasting isn't filled with mourning as information technology was for the Pharisees. Instead, it'due south filled with longing because we know Jesus came and will come up again!

8. Seeking The Holy Spirit's Guidance

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Acts 13:3

It would seem that the church here fasted for guidance from the Holy Spirit. They didn't know what to practice next, but they ached for God'southward management.

And this particular instance of fasting happened subsequently Christ'due south coming.

This fasting was non about legalism.

This was a deep hunger in these people searching for guidance of the church'due south next steps.

9. Praying and Fasting

..and so was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped nighttime and day, fasting and praying.

-Luke 2:37

And then many of the Bible verses that talk most fasting also mention prayer. The two seem to become manus-in-hand.

Jesus prayed and fasted. So did the disciples, followers of John the Baptist, and then many others.

This spiritual discipline of fasting and praying was of import in the One-time Testament, impactful in the New Attestation, and is however a powerful fashion to arroyo God on a deeper level.

Pivot This Postal service for Later!

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Source: https://soveryblessed.com/9-bible-verses-on-fasting/#:~:text=Fast%20For%20Intimacy%20With%20God%2C%20Not%20Praise%20From%20Man&text=But%20when%20you%20fast%2C%20put,secret%2C%20will%20reward%20you.%E2%80%9D

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