Why Fasting?

1. It’s God’s command

Joel 1:2

Hear this, you elders,
 And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
 Has anything like this happened in your days,
 Or even in the days of your fathers?

2. God has chosen

Isaiah 58:6

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
 To loose the bonds of wickedness,
 To undo the heavy burdens,
 To let the oppressed go free,
 And that you break every yoke?

3. Example of Jesus

Matthew 4:2

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

4. Example of the church

Acts 14:23

So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

5. To pray with

Daniel 9:3

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

6. To worship God

Luke 2:37

And this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

7. For the leading of the Spirit

Acts 13:2

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”