What Does the Bible Say About Fasting Gives Us Clarity Of Mind?

Acts 13:2 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

Daniel 10:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.

Acts 14:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Matthew 6:17-18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Joel 2:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

Esther 4:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Luke 2:37 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

Matthew 6:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Ezra 8:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Ezra 8:21-23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Acts 13:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Luke 4:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

Joel 2:12-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Psalm 35:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Exodus 34:28 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Luke 4:1-2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

Jonah 3:5-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

Daniel 9:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Isaiah 58:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

Isaiah 58:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.

Ezra 8:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Colossians 3:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Acts 9:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 18:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Luke 15:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Matthew 9:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Matthew 6:1-16:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 4:1-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ...

Daniel 9:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

Isaiah 58:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? ...

Isaiah 55:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Proverbs 19:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Psalm 69:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

Psalm 35:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.

Esther 4:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

1 Kings 21:25-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.) And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.

2 Samuel 12:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

2 Samuel 1:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

1 Samuel 7:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.

Judges 20:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

50 Bible Verses about Fasting Gives Us Clarity Of Mind

Acts 13:2 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 10:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 14:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:17-18 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Joel 2:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Esther 4:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 2:37 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezra 8:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezra 8:21-23 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 13:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 4:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Joel 2:12-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 35:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 34:28 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 4:1-2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jonah 3:5-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 9:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezra 8:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 9:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 18:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 15:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 9:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:1-16:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 4:1-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 9:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 58:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 55:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 19:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 69:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 35:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Esther 4:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Kings 21:25-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 12:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 1:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 7:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Judges 20:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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