Fasting is mentioned over 70 times throughout Scripture. In the Old Testament, there were two types of fasting: public and private. Both types offer great spiritual benefits.
Something happens when we fast! Let this be your confirmation. God is going to do it for you!
Matthew 6:16-18 - “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.
Joel 2:12 - “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Daniel 10:3 - I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. (Learn more about the Daniel Fast)
Ezra 8:23 - So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
Isaiah 58:6 - “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?
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.”
Psalm 69:10 - When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Acts 14:23 - 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.
Exodus 34:28 - 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.
Nehemiah 1:4 - 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.