FASTING
Jonah 3:1-4 = God said he was going to destroyed Nineveh
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah 3;10 = God did not bring upon Nineveh the destruction he has threaten.
Jonah 3:5-10 = the elements of the fast.
- Nothing was eaten whether food nor water
- Covered in sackcloth
- Pray (call ungently on God)
- Repent of sin
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.
Deuteronomy 9:9 -10 / 25-26 = Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. (Did not eat anything nor drink water / prayed)
Esther 4:16 = they faster for 3 days and night without food and water (dry)
Matthew 4:2 = After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
1 Corinthians 7:5 = Fast over time
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency
Psalm 35:13 = we humbled (afflicted) ourselves when we fast.
Isaiah 58:3 /5 = You fast you afflict (humbled)your soul
1 kings 21:27-29 = we humble ourselves before the lord by fasting.
Ezra 8:21 = when we fast, we humble ourselves to god.
Matthew 6:16-18 = “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.
Matthew 9:14-15 = Jesus Questioned About Fasting
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 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.
Matthew 17:19-21 = Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 4:2 = After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Matthew 6:16-18 = “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.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15 = If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
Matthew 23:12 = For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
1 Peter 5:6 = Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time
2 Chronicles 33:23-24 = But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the Lord; Amon increased his guilt. Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace.
Proverbs 29:23 = Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.
James 4:6 = But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.
Proverbs 15:33 = Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.
Matthew 18:4 = Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Jonah 3:10 = Nineveh was spared from destruction
Deuteronomy 10:10 -11 = Israel was spared from destruction
Matthew 17:19-21 = This type goes out by fasting and prayer
Luke 4:1-2/14 = Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit
Esther 4: / 10-11 / 15-16 / 5:1-2 = Esther was saved and Israel was saved
Jeremiah 14:12 = God said though they fast, he will not listern to them.
Matthew 6:16-18 = “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.
Isaiah 58:1-12 = the kind of fast that God wanted.
Matthew 6:16-18 = “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. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 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.
Isaiah 58:3-9 = Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Zechariah 7:1-12 = In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “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? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry
2 Chronicles 20:3 = Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
Ezra 8:21 = There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
Joel 1:14 = 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.
Joel 2:15 = Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
Jonah 3:5 = The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Esther 4:16 = 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.”
Daniel 6:18 = Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.
Acts 10:30 = And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
Acts 13:2-3 = 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.
Acts 14:23 = 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.
Mark 2:18-20 = Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
1 Samuel 14:24-30 = we must be lead in fasting.
1 Samuel 12:23 = timing and practicality of prayer and fasting.
Daniel 10:2-3 = At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 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.