Where is fasting and prayer in the bible

One of the most telling passages in which fasting is mentioned is Matthew , where Jesus is teaching His disciples basic principles of godly living. Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian life. Such customs have only one purpose — to make the disciples more ready and cheerful to accomplish those things which God would have done.

Fasting prepares you for the works God has ordained for you to do. Fasting is just as biblical and normal a part of a spiritual walk of obedience with God as are these others. People fast for a number of reasons.

Following are seven circumstances in the Bible in which believers sought God through this discipline. To prepare for ministry. Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted for the elders of the churches before committing them to the Lord for His service Acts To show grief. To seek deliverance or protection. Ezra declared a corporate fast and prayed for a safe journey for the Israelites as they made the nine-hundred- mile trek to Jerusalem from Babylon Ezra To repent.

After Jonah pronounced judgment against the city of Nineveh, the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust. He then ordered the people to fast and pray. To gain victory. After losing forty thousand men in battle in two days, the Israelites cried out to God for help. To worship God. Luke 2 tells the story of an eighty-four-year-old prophetess named Anna.

Ezra Matthew Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. Isaiah Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Jonah A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.

Will he keep putting them off? However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Sandra Hamer Smith. Emma Danzey. How Long Should a Pastor Preach?

Clarence L. Haynes Jr. Britt Mooney. Jason Soroski. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Read More Acts - And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Joel - Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: Mark - And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Joel - Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, Acts - And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Esther - Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.