18 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline

And on the morrow, as they were going on their journey, and were drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the house top to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry, and desired to eat; but while they were making ready, he fell into a trance; and he saw heaven opened, and some vessel, like a great sheet, descending, bound by the four corners, and let down to the earth.read more.
In this were all kinds of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said: By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing common or unclean.

Now there were certain prophets and teachers in the church that was at Antioch; Barnabas, and Simeon, who is called Niger, and Lucius of Gyrene, and Manaen, who was brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to the work to which I have called them.

Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and was there forty days, to be tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days; and when they were ended, he was afterward hungry.

Then came to him the disciples of John, saying: Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them: Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then will they fast.

And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were in the habit of fasting; and they came, and said to him: Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them: Can the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can not fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they will fast in those days.

And they said to him: Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink? And he said to them: Can you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them; then shall they fast in those days.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity: and she was a widow of about eighty-four years, and she departed not from the temple, but served, day and night, with fastings and prayers.

And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

He that regards the day, to the Lord he regards it; and he that does not regard the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord; for he gives God thanks: and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any one determines to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them: Whoever determines to follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

And he said to them all: If any one determines to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and fol low me.

Let us walk in a becoming manner, as in the day; not in riotings and in drunkenness, not in lewdness and in wantonness, not in. contention and in envy:

For these reasons, my judgment is, that we give no trouble to those who, from among the Gentiles, have turned to God; but that we write to them to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from lewdness, and from what is strangled, and from blood.

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do any thing by which your brother stumbles, or is ensnared, or is made weak.

And when you fast, do not put on a sad countenance, as the hypocrites do; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting. Verily, I say to you, They have their reward.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess.