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Glory · Prayer
Fasting is the deliberate giving up of food, usually for a season, in order to devote ourselves to God. Scripture shows it joined to prayer, humility, and seeking the Lord, and Jesus assumed His followers would fast even as He assumed they would pray and give. Fasting is not a way to earn favor or twist God's arm; it is a discipline of dependence, an expression of hunger for God Himself, that belongs naturally with prayer.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-is-fasting · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Matthew 6:16-18
As you read: Jesus speaks of fasting as a normal practice, to be done before God in secret, not for show.
16“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
18so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Luke 5:33-35
As you read: Jesus says His disciples will fast after He is taken away: fasting belongs to life in this age.
33They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”
34He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
35But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.”
Acts 13:1-3
As you read: As the church served the Lord and fasted, the Spirit spoke; they fasted, prayed, and sent out missionaries.
1Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Isaiah 58:3-7
As you read: God's word on fasting: it must be more than afflicting the soul, reaching outward to the hungry and the poor.
3‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.
4Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
5Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?
6“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
7Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Joel 2:12-13
As you read: The prophet calls God's people, with fasting, weeping, and mourning, to turn to the LORD with all their heart.
12“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
13Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
Fasting is not dieting or penance; it is the deliberate setting aside of food for a time to seek God. Jesus spoke of it as a normal part of devotion, 'when you fast,' alongside when you pray and when you give, and He taught it to be done before the Father in secret, not to impress people. Paul and the earliest church fasted while they worshiped and prayed. It is a way of turning our natural hunger toward God.
““Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.”Matthew 6:16
“so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”Matthew 6:18
“As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.””Acts 13:2
“Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”Acts 13:3
In Scripture, fasting is rarely alone; it is joined to prayer, humility, and seeking. The church in Antioch 'served the Lord and fasted' when the Spirit spoke, and 'had fasted and prayed' when they sent out Barnabas and Saul. Elders were appointed after they 'had prayed with fasting.' Moses and Elijah fasted on the mountain as they drew near to God. Fasting empties us of distraction that we might be full of God, and so it pairs naturally with prayer.
“As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.””Acts 13:2
“Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”Acts 13:3
“When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.”Acts 14:23
“When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.”Matthew 4:2
When we fast, we are saying with our bodies what we believe with our hearts: that we need God more than we need bread. Moses said of Israel in the wilderness, God humbled you and let you hunger 'that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh's mouth.' Jesus, fasting in the wilderness, answered the tempter with exactly these words. Fasting is the discipline of living by every word of God.
“He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.”Deuteronomy 8:3
“But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’””Matthew 4:4
“When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.”Matthew 4:2
God's word through Isaiah rebukes a fasting that is merely a ritual of self-denial while hearts remain hard: the people ask why God does not notice their fasting, yet in it they still oppress and quarrel. The fast God chooses is one that loosens the bonds of wickedness, feeds the hungry, shelters the poor, and covers the naked. Fasting that does not lead to love is hollow; the discipline of self-denial is meant to make us more like the self-giving God.
“‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.”Isaiah 58:3
““Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?”Isaiah 58:6
“Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?”Isaiah 58:7
““Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.””Joel 2:12
Jesus said that His disciples would fast 'in those days' after the Bridegroom was taken away, marking life in this present age as a time for such dependence. Fasting may be for special seasons of seeking, for confession, for major decisions, or for the church's united prayer, and it is joined to humility of heart. Like all disciplines, it is not a way to earn God's favor but a way to receive more of Him, and it is never a substitute for love.
“But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.””Luke 5:35
““Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.””Joel 2:12
“so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.”Matthew 6:18
“Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?”Isaiah 58:7