Scripture is in the CSB translation unless otherwise noted.
// Fasting is
from any or all food or drink, in order to shift your focus from yourself to God.
> Old Testament Examples of Fasting:
Adam and Eve (Genesis 2)
Moses (Exodus 34)
Hannah (1 Samuel 1)
Samuel (1 Samuel 7)
1 Samuel 7:5-6, 10
Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” …They fasted that day, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
…Samuel was offering the burnt offering as the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel. The Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines that day and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.
David (2 Samuel 12)
Jonah (Jonah 1-4)
Joel (Joel 2)
Joel 2:12-18
Even now—this is the Lord’s declaration—
turn to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
Tear your hearts,
not just your clothes,
and return to the Lord your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in faithful love,
and He relents from sending disaster.
Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind Him,
so you can offer grain and wine to the Lord your God.
Blow the horn in Zion!
Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim an assembly.
Gather the people;
sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children…
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say:
“Have pity on Your people, Lord,
and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace,
an object of scorn among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
Then the Lord became jealous for His land and spared His people.
Daniel 1:8
Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief official not to defile himself.
Daniel 1:12-13
“Please test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.”
Daniel 9:2-4
In the first year of [Darius’] reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be 70. So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed…
Esther (Esther 4)
Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1)
> New Testament Examples of Fasting:
1. Jesus
// Jesus fasted
in the wilderness (Matt. 4, Luke 4).
// Jesus taught on fasting in his
on the
(Matt. 6).
Matthew 6:16-18
“Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you fast, put oil on your head, and wash your face, so that you don’t show your fasting to people but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
// Jesus was
about fasting (Matthew 9, Luke 5)
2. The Early Church
Antioch (Acts 13)
Galatia (Acts 14)
> Why should we fast?
// It
us.
Psalm 35:13
I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer was genuine.
// It
our need for God.
> How should we fast?
// Not to be
by others
// Not as a
// Not without true
Isaiah 58:3-11
[The people say:]
“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”
[God says:]
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.
You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you,
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,
and if you offer yourself to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
The Lord will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden
and like a spring whose waters never run dry.”