Seeking The Holy Spirits 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 didnt know what to do next, but they ached for Gods direction.
And this particular instance of fasting happened after Christs coming.
This fasting was not about legalism.
This was a deep hunger in these people searching for guidance of the churchs next steps.
Inspiring Bible Verses For Fasting
Here are ten of our favorite Bible verses to motivate and inspire you to keep the faith during fasting.
There are many spiritual benefits to fasting and many ways to do so. In the Bible, the prophet Daniel fasted for 21 days, eating only fruits and vegetables and drinking only water. Jesus fasted for 40 days in a period we call Lent. If youre considering a fast, check with your doctor before beginning to make sure its medically safe for you to do so. Perhaps you are considering a different kind of fast. Some people choose to give up technology or a social media platform for a period of time. Whether youre fasting as a personal spiritual exercise or as a community, and whether youre limiting your food or your time on Facebook, the Bible offers many words of wisdom on fasting. Here are ten of our favorite Bible verses to motivate and inspire you to keep the faith during fasting.
Why Should You Fast
According to Dr. Bill Bright, who produced a guide to fasting for cru.org, there are a number of reasons why the practice of fasting can be spiritually beneficial.
- Fasting is biblical. We see examples of biblical fasting in the lives of figures like Moses, Jesus, and King David.
- Fasting and prayer can restore or strengthen your intimacy with God. Many longtime Christians find that fasting helps them rediscover their first love for God again.
- Fasting is a way to humble yourself in the sight of God . King David said, I humbled my soul with fasting . You may find yourself relying on God more fully for strength when you fast.
- Fasting and prayer can help us hear God more clearly. To listen to God as you fast, consider combining a time of fasting with a practice of listening prayer. Together, fasting and prayer can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience of God.
- Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition. When you see your own brokenness more clearly, youre able to move toward repentance.
- When you experience revival in your own life through fasting, the grace and love of God can shine through you into the lives of others.
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Important Bible Verses About Fasting And Prayer
Fasting and Prayer are two important spiritual disciplines that every Christian should practice. When we pray, we are communicating with God and seeking His guidance and wisdom. When we fast, we are denying ourselves earthly pleasures in order to focus on our relationship with God.
The Bible has a lot to say about prayer and fasting. In these verses, we see that prayer and fasting are to be done with a humble and sincere heart for the purpose of drawing closer to God.
Why Is Fasting So Important
Essentially, fasting cleanses our body of toxins and forces cells into processes that are not usually stimulated when a steady stream of fuel from food is always present. When we fast, the body does not have its usual access to glucose, forcing the cells to resort to other means and materials to produce energy.
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Fasting For Guidance And Direction
6. Acts 14:23 Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
7. Acts 13:2-4 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. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
Bible Verses About Fasting And Prayer
Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
Yet even now, declares the Lord,Return to Me with all your heart,And with fasting, weeping and mourning
And all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the Lord your God,And cry out to the Lord.
My knees are weak from fasting,And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.
Then he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.
Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law and if I perish, I perish.
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Powerful Prayer And Fasting Scriptures
One of the strongest weapons of a Christian is Prayer and fasting, discover more with the 40 powerful Prayer and fasting scriptures below.
Prayer and fasting puts a Christian on the fast lane in life, and to fast is to last, get to know more about these activities with the powerful Prayer and fasting scriptures.
if you need want to feels the benefits of fasting and prayer from Holy Scripture, here you can find all the answers you are looking for.
What Does The New Testament Say About Fasting
New Testament fasting is an integral part of our faith. When we fast, we open ourselves up to God’s work in our lives. As a result, we become more sensitive to His voice and expect Him to do amazing things in and through us.
It’s a way for us to consecrate ourselves to the Lord, prepare for ministry, and hear His voice for clarity and direction. New Testament fasting scriptures also remind us of the heart of Christian fasting. It’s not for show, and it’s not about perfect performance. When we fast, we humble ourselves before God, open our hearts to Him, and receive His grace and mercy.
Fasting is a powerful way to connect with God. These New Testament fasting scriptures offer encouragement and insight into this spiritual discipline.
These are just a few of the New Testament fasting scriptures. As you can see, New Testament fasting is about much more than just denying ourselves food. It’s about giving ourselves entirely to God and serving Him with our whole hearts. As we fast and pray together, we can come to understand this even better!
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Fast For Intimacy With God Not Praise From Man
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.But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 1so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
-Matthew 6:16-18
As Christians, our intentions matter. Our faith takes life to a level unseen. It is possible to do everything right on the outside, but without the proper heart, it doesnt serve its purpose.
Fasting is one of those things.
If you are fasting to be seen by others as a good Christian,youre doing it wrong.
If youre fasting with a heart that can only focus on the things you lack and not a hunger that drives you into the arms of your Savior to satisfy your needs, youre doing it wrong.
Dont fast for attention, recognition, or the sake of not-so-silent suffering through the 40 days of Lent.
Fast to draw nearer to God and rely on Him on deeper levels than you have before.
What Is The Meaning Fasting In The Bible
Now we as believer dont fast to loose weight or to detoxify our body but we do it to separate ourselves for God. Religious fasting does not go without prayer and that is what distinguishes our fasting from the other types of fasting. We pray and fast.
Biblical fasting is simply refraining or abstaining from food for a set period of time, not because the food is not available but for the purpose of seeking Gods face with prayer for spiritual growth, breakthrough, or for a revelation etc.
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Where In The Bible Speaks About Fasting
One of the most telling passages in which fasting is mentioned is Matthew 6:16, where Jesus is teaching His disciples basic principles of godly living. When speaking on fasting, He begins with, When you fast, not If you fast. Jesus’ words imply that fasting will be a regular practice in His followers’ lives.
Spiritual Preparation For Fasting And Prayer
In preparation for this special time with God, cru.orgs guide to fasting urges that you examine your heart. Ask God to help you see your brokenness clearly so that you can confess your sins and repent. In Scripture, God frequently calls upon people to repent of their sins before listening to their prayers.
You can look to King Davids example in Psalm 66:16-20:
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.But truly God has listened he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
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What Are The Principles Of Fasting
Fasting is a deliber- ate abstinence from physical gratificationusually going without food for a period of timeto achieve a greater spiritual goal. Fasting is intentionally denying the flesh in order to gain a response from the spirit. It means renouncing the natural in order to invoke the su- pernatural.
Dont Fast To Be Seen As Spiritual
17. Matthew 6:17-18 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
18. Luke 18:9-12 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: God, I thank you that I am not like other peoplerobbers, evildoers, adulterersor even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
Reminders
19. Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
20. Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
21. Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
22. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.
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Bible Verses On Fasting
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9 Bible Verses on Fasting Scripture to show us the value of fasting, praying, seeking, and longing for closeness with God through biblical
Every Lent, I dive 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 be fasting for anyways?
What Does Fasting Do Spiritually
Before we finish together I want to point out something in most of these fasting and prayer scriptures. Look at the examples in Daniel and Esther specifically?
Those people were in a desperate spiritual state as well as a desperate physical state. Their lives were in danger. Life was hard in a way we will never understand in the 21st Century Western Church.
When they needed to draw near to God, when they needed answers, when they needed spiritual breakthrough they took prayer to the next level and fasted.
Those are some amazing fasting scriptures for breakthrough! If God showed up for them He can show up for you. Write those verses out, pray over them, remind God of His promises, and be strengthened in your faith today!
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
What fasting does spiritually is draw your heart in humility nearer to the heart of God.
And when you are humble and near the Father, you can hear His voice answer prayers. You can feel his breath move, you can see the future He has for you in hope and joy.
The reward of fasting in the Bible is always a closer walk with God, healing either spiritually or physically and peace even when life is hard.
Fasting and Prayer can change both your heart and a nations heart
Fasting does so much for us spiritually but a look at this example of fasting in Nehemiah shows us that it is also powerful enough to heal and unite a nations heart to God.
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Return To God With Repentance
Even now, 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 call to repentance, for the people to return to Gods mercy and steadfast love.
And one of the ways to show their truly repentant heart was through fasting.
Even here in the Old Testament, God was not asking for the act of fasting alone. Fasting was a way to show that they desired to return to God with all of their heart.
What Is The Proper Way To Fast According To The Bible
Regular Fast Traditionally, a regular fast means refraining from eating all food. Most people still drink water or juice during a regular fast. When Jesus fasted in the desert, the Bible says, After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. This verse does not mention Jesus being thirsty.
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What Does The Bible Say About Prayer And Fasting
Fasting was a fairly common part of life during Bible times. Found in both the Old and New Testaments, common reasons for fasting included mourning, seeking spiritual revelation, seeking Gods favor, increased sensitivity to Gods voice, an indication of humility, and needing breakthrough or answered prayer for some circumstance of life. The Bible contains direction and many examples to learn from when it comes to prayer and fasting.
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To Express Love And Worship For God
Fasting can show, as John Piper says, that what we hunger for most, we worship.
How should we equip ourselves when God calls us to declare a holy fast? Here are some things to consider as you prepare for fasting:
Pray and confess your sinsA necessary step before fasting is to humble yourself before God and confess your sins . Prayer should be our sustenance throughout the fast, but it is imperative we begin the fast with a contrite heart.
Turn to ScriptureSpend additional time meditating on Gods Word, before and during the fast.
Keep it secretFasting is unbiblical and even spiritually harmful when we do it to show off our spirituality or when we focus more on our own fasting than on the clear needs of others . Dont boast about your fast tell people you wont be eating only if necessary. Fasting should not be done when imposed for false motives .
Prepare your bodyFasting, especially for days or weeks, can have unexpected and even detrimental effects on your health. There is no scriptural warrant for harming yourself to undergo a fast. Be sure to consult a doctor before starting any fasting regimen to make sure you can fast in a healthy manner.
Fasting is an appropriate bodily reaction to the grievous state of our soul. If it is done correctly you can expect many results, including growing closer to God, feeling more solidarity with those who suffer, and increasing self-control.
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