What Does The bible Say About Fasting and Prayer

Last Updated on December 29, 2023 by Fiverr Fiverr

Today we will be dealing with what does the bible say about fasting and prayer.

Fasting is abstaining from all kinds of drinks and foods or things you’re addicted to when you need to completely focus on God to ask Him for something or to pray for something very important.

You May Also Like To Read: 20 Bible Verses About Fasting And Prayer

When you fast it’s like telling God that you washed your soul clean from every impurities and seeking God’s face diligently.

Prayer is the master key as Jesus said in one of His preachings. Jesus Himself started all He did while on earth with prayer and ended all with prayer too. After committing Himself to His Father in Heaven He died.

When you pray to God it’s like a solemn request to God for help or sometimes an expression of thanks addressed to God. Fasting and praying goes hand in hand. As Christians we pray to God for so many things, when we are in trouble we pray and fast to ask God for help, when we are sick, when we are down, when we are troubled, when we need to make peace with our creator or ask for something importing we need God to do for us.

In “Daniel 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:”, we see that Daniel humbly asked God for help by seeking his face , he gave himself totally to God by fasting and mourning. The bible says those who mourn are blessed for they shall be comforted. There are many bible verses that supports fasting and prayer and also shows the benefits of fasting.

Some benefits of fasting and prayer are mentioned below

1. Mark 8:3

And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.

This bible verse shows that when you fast and pray to God wholeheartedly, God won’t make you go back empty handed or make you fasting and prayer goes to waste , He will definitely give you a lot of blessings. Here, after the people had fasted and prayed with Jesus they were all hungry and Jesus said He must look for something for them to eat to break their fast so that they won’t faint which means that Jesus has the interest of His children at heart , when you fast you touch the heart of God and find favour with Him. Many areas that you’ve been asking God for blessings from will never go unnoticed by God.

2. Acts 10:30-31 

“And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.” We see the evidence here that Cornelius prayed to God and fasted too and he got the signs that his prayers has been heard and God. This is to show us the importance of fasting and prayer too. If you have been asking God for something for so long , have you tried asking wholeheartedly and dedicating your day , moment and time to God and see how He will answer you just has He appeared to Cornelius and gave him answers to his prayers.

3. Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:5

“Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.” , we see that it shows you that praying and fasting is a sword believers use to fight against the wiles of the devil and win. When you pray and fast a lot of miracles happens, and just as we read in the verse that when we give ourselves to prayer and fasting, the devil will have no power over us nor will he be able to control us as we have God by our sides who will be there to fight our battles and win for us to make us conquerors and victorious.

Reasons Why Fasting and Prayer is Important

• To get answers to our prayers
• We also pray and fast to get strength from God to fight the devil and every evil arrows that might be thrown at us by the evil ones . Just as we saw in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”, we need the power of Jesus to fight and overcome. Also through the help of the Holy spirit we can overcome.
• When we pray and fast chains are broken, the captives are free , those who mourn begin to smile and be comforted, for instance we see that when Paul and Silas were in prison they fasted and prayed and they were freed and released.

In one of Jesus preaching on fasting and prayer He said in the book of Matthew 6:16

“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”

We see that here the bible already told us how to go about fasting and prayer . When we fast it should be between us and God and the bible says God who hears in secret will reward you greatly in public and the world will rejoice with you and all those things you have been crying to God and asking God for will surely be answered because our God said and I quote “if my children will humble themselves to ask me for what they want I will do it for them”. As Christians fasting and praying is an important aspect of our christian growth, it’s also part of our christian journey as it takes us to different levels of growth bringing insight, understanding and wisdom which will enhance our growth as Christians.