38 Bible Verses about Fasting And Prayer

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’

“Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?

Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

[But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]

Now she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people;

“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.

Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.

“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.”

I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’

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.

My knees are weak from fasting,
And my flesh has grown lean, without fatness.

So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.

Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments,

David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.

Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Then the disciples of John *came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

“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.

so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.

Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face

“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.