Abstinence
_ Moses was there (Mount Sinai) with the LORD for forty days and forty nights, eating neither bread nor drinking water. The LORD wrote on two tablets of stone the words of the covenant, the ten commandments (Exodus 34 : 28 )
_ David prayed to God for his children and fasted; Then he went back into the house and lay on the ground all night (II Samuel 12:16).
_ …The Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Maonites who were with them, came together to fight against Jehoshaphat – Jehoshaphat was afraid, and prepared to seek the Lord, and preached everywhere that Judah should fast for a day – Judah gathered together to pray. Jehovah helps; People from all the cities of Judah came to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:1; 3-4).
_ There, by the river Ahava, I commanded fasting, that we might humble ourselves before our Lord, and ask Him to show us the right way, our children, and our property. go – Yes, we fast and ask Him for it; Then He heard us (Ezra 8:21; 23).
_ In every province where the king's command and his decree had come (the command to exterminate the people of Judah by Haman, the prince of King Ahasuerus), there was sadness among the people of Judah, fasting, weeping and crying. valve ; And many took sackcloth and ashes for their beds (Esther 4:3).
_ Then Esther replied to Mordo, saying, Go and gather together the Jews who are in Shushan, and fast for me for three days and nights, neither eating nor drinking anything; I and my maids will also fast; so I will go in to the king, which is against the law; If I must die, I die (Esther 4:15-16).
_ …Behold, on the day you fast, you also seek your own pleasure, and cause suffering to the hired worker - Indeed, you fast to seek quarrels and quarrels, to the point of holding hands and fighting harshly; If you fast on such a day, your voice will not be heard on high (Isaiah 58:3b-4).
_ Isn't the fast that I choose to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the yokes, to set the oppressed free, to break every yoke? - Is it not true that you share your bread with the hungry, that you bring home the poor who have been driven away, that you clothe the naked when you see them, and that you do not spit on your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58: 6 - 7)
_ Establish a fast, and call a solemn council, and gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land together to the house of the LORD your God; and cry to the LORD! (Joel 1:14)
_ Now return to me also with all your heart, saith the LORD, with fasting, and with weeping, and with sorrow: Rend your hearts, and do not tear your garments. Return to the LORD your God; For He is merciful and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, turning His mind about evil (Joel 2:12-13).
_ The people of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed fasting and sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them (Jonah 3:5).
_ When you fast, do not pretend to be sad like the hypocrites; because they grimaced, letting everyone know that they were fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward - But when you fast, anoint your head with oil and wash your face - so that it may not be seen that you are fasting, but only to your Father. He who is in secret sees and sees only; And your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:16-18).
_ While the disciples were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work to which I have called them." After fasting and praying, the disciples laid their hands on them. , then let it go (Acts 13:2 – 3).
_ When the two apostles (Paul and Barnabas) chose elders in each church, after praying and fasting, they presented them to the Lord in whom they had believed (Acts 14:23).