Prayer and fasting operate together like two hands clapping.
Prayer alone is powerful.
Fasting alone demonstrates discipline.
But prayer combined with fasting creates spiritual intensity that breaks through barriers that normal prayer seems unable to penetrate.
It’s not that God requires hunger to hear you. It’s that denying physical appetite sharpens spiritual appetite, creating desperation and focus that casual prayer rarely achieves.
Fasting strips away comfortable distractions. No scrolling through social media while mindlessly snacking. No planning meals, preparing food, or cleaning dishes—just you, your hunger, and God.
The discomfort becomes a constant reminder that you’re seeking something more important than temporary satisfaction.
Every hunger pang redirects your attention back to prayer. Every moment you’d normally spend eating becomes time devoted to seeking God.
This is why fasting appears consistently throughout Scripture at critical moments.
Moses fasted for forty days before receiving the Law.
Esther called for fasting before approaching the king.
Daniel fasted while seeking understanding.
Jesus fasted before beginning public ministry.
The early church fasted before making major decisions.
They understood that some spiritual battles require more than casual prayer. They require intentional denial of legitimate needs to express desperate dependence on God.
Modern Christianity has largely abandoned fasting, treating it as an optional religious practice rather than a powerful spiritual discipline.
We pray comfortable prayers while remaining comfortably fed, then wonder why breakthrough feels elusive.
Bible Verses About Prayer And Fasting
1. Matthew 17:21 – This Kind Does Not Go Out Except by Prayer and Fasting
But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
New King James Version (NKJV)
2. Matthew 6:16-18 – When You Fast, Do Not Look Somber
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
New International Version (NIV)
3. Acts 13:2-3 – While They Were Worshiping and Fasting
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.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
New International Version (NIV)
4. Joel 2:12 – Return to Me With Fasting and Weeping
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
New International Version (NIV)
5. Ezra 8:23 – We Fasted and Petitioned Our God
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
New International Version (NIV)
6. Acts 14:23 – With Prayer and Fasting, They Committed Them
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
New International Version (NIV)
7. 2 Chronicles 20:3 – Jehoshaphat Proclaimed a Fast
Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
New International Version (NIV)
8. Nehemiah 1:4 – I Mourned and Fasted and Prayed
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
New International Version (NIV)
9. Daniel 9:3 – I Turned to the Lord God and Pleaded in Prayer and Fasting
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
New International Version (NIV)
10. Esther 4:16 – Fast for Me. Do Not Eat or Drink
Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.
New International Version (NIV)
11. Luke 2:37 – She Worshiped Night and Day, Fasting and Praying
And then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
New International Version (NIV)
12. Isaiah 58:6 – Is Not This the Kind of Fasting I Have Chosen?
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
New International Version (NIV)
13. Matthew 4:2 – After Fasting Forty Days and Forty Nights
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
New International Version (NIV)
14. 1 Samuel 7:6 – They Fasted and Confessed
When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
New International Version (NIV)
15. Psalm 35:13 – I Put on Sackcloth and Humbled Myself With Fasting
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered.
New International Version (NIV)
16. Jonah 3:5 – The People of Nineveh Believed God and Proclaimed a Fast
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
New International Version (NIV)
17. Acts 10:30 – Four Days Ago I Was Praying and Fasting
Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me.”
New International Version (NIV)
18. Daniel 10:2-3 – I Was Mourning for Three Weeks
At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
New International Version (NIV)
19. Luke 4:2 – Jesus Was Led by the Spirit and Fasted
Where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
New International Version (NIV)
20. Judges 20:26 – They Sat Weeping and Fasted Until Evening
Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)
21. 1 Corinthians 7:5 – Devote Yourselves to Prayer
Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
New International Version (NIV)
22. 2 Samuel 12:16 – David Pleaded With God and Fasted
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.
New International Version (NIV)
23. Psalm 109:24 – My Knees Give Way From Fasting
My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt.
New International Version (NIV)
24. Isaiah 58:3 – Why Have We Fasted and You Have Not Seen It?
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
New International Version (NIV)
25. Joel 1:14 – Declare a Holy Fast
Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)
26. Zechariah 7:5 – When You Fasted, Was It Really for Me?
Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?’
New International Version (NIV)
27. Mark 9:29 – This Kind Can Come Out Only by Prayer
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
New International Version (NIV)
28. Acts 27:33-34 – You Have Been in Constant Suspense and Have Gone Without Food
Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”
New International Version (NIV)
29. Exodus 34:28 – Moses Was There With the Lord Forty Days
Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
New International Version (NIV)
30. 1 Kings 19:8 – Strengthened by That Food, He Traveled
So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
New International Version (NIV)
31. Matthew 9:14-15 – The Time Will Come When the Bridegroom Will Be Taken
Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
New International Version (NIV)
32. Psalm 69:10 – When I Weep and Fast
When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn.
New International Version (NIV)
33. Isaiah 58:4 – You Cannot Fast as You Do Today
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
New International Version (NIV)
34. 2 Chronicles 7:14 – If My People Will Humble Themselves and Pray
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
New International Version (NIV)
35. Acts 9:9 – For Three Days He Was Blind and Did Not Eat or Drink
For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
New International Version (NIV)
Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About Prayer And Fasting
Prayer and fasting together create spiritual intensity that breaks through barriers that normal prayer doesn’t seem to penetrate. It’s not that God requires your hunger to hear you. It’s that denying physical appetite sharpens spiritual appetite, creating desperation and focus that casual, comfortable prayer rarely achieves.
Scripture consistently pairs fasting with prayer during critical moments. Moses fasted before receiving the Law. Esther fasted before approaching the king. Daniel fasted while seeking understanding.
The early church fasted before major decisions. They recognized that some situations demand more than casual prayer. They require intentional sacrifice, demonstrating desperate dependence on God.
But fasting without the right heart accomplishes nothing. Isaiah warned against fasting while exploiting workers and quarreling. God desires fasting that leads to loosing chains of injustice, freeing the oppressed, and sharing food with the hungry.
The point isn’t religious performance. It’s genuinely humbling before God that transforms how you live.
When you fast, don’t advertise it. God sees what’s done in secret and rewards accordingly. Fast to seek God, not to impress people. Let physical hunger drive you to spiritual hunger for His presence and power.
Say This Prayer
Heavenly Father, I’ve neglected fasting and limited myself to comfortable prayers while remaining comfortably fed.
I’ve prayed about situations that need a breakthrough, but haven’t been willing to sacrifice comfort to seek You more desperately. I’ve wanted a breakthrough without the intensity that fasting creates. Forgive me for settling for casual spirituality when You offer a deeper encounter.
Teach me to combine prayer with fasting in ways that honor You. Not to manipulate You through hunger, but to express desperate dependence on You by denying legitimate physical needs to focus on spiritual hunger. Help me to fast in ways that genuinely humble me before You rather than impress others.
When I fast, let it drive me deeper into prayer. Let every hunger pang redirect my attention back to You. Let the discomfort create focus that casual prayer doesn’t achieve. Break through barriers that normal prayer hasn’t penetrated.
Show me if there are situations in my life that require this kind of intensity. Give me wisdom about when to fast and how long. Protect me physically during fasting while strengthening me spiritually. Let my fasting lead to genuine transformation, not just religious performance.
Help me to fast Your way. To loosen chains of injustice. To free the oppressed. To share with the hungry. To seek You with a whole heart, not just an empty stomach.
In Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.
Evang. Anabelle Thompson is the founder of Believers Refuge, a Scripture-based resource that helps Christians to find biblical guidance for life’s challenges.
With over 15 years of ministry experience and a decade of dedicated Bible study, she creates content that connects believers with relevant Scripture for their daily struggles.
Her work has reached over 76,000 monthly readers (which is projected to reach 100,000 readers by the end of 2025) seeking practical faith applications, biblical encouragement, and spiritual guidance rooted in God’s Word.
She writes from personal experience, having walked through seasons of waiting, breakthrough, and spiritual growth that inform her teaching.
Evang. Thompson brings 12 years of active ministry and evangelism experience, along with over 10 years of systematic Bible study and theological research.
As a former small group leader and Sunday school teacher, she has published over 200 biblical resources and devotional studies.
She specializes in applying Scripture to everyday life challenges and regularly studies the original Hebrew and Greek texts for a deeper biblical understanding.