Abstain from Food

After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

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

so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?”

Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast.

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”

Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them?

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

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.”

And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.

By now much time had passed, and the voyage had already become dangerous because it was after the Fast. So Paul advised them,

in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;

in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.