Fasting
Fasting is one way of humbling yourself, showing yourself to be remorseful before God. By fasting often we humble our spirit before God, and that is one of the things required of us, a humbled spirit before God.
Psalm 35:13 "I humbled myself with fasting;"
Daniel 6:18 "The king went to the palace, and spent the night fasting,"
Matthew 6:16-18 "When you fast, do not act like the Pharisees with a sad look, for they disfigure their faces, so that every one knows that they are fasting. Yet I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, brush your hair, and wash your face, that you appear not to be fasting, but to your father which is in secret only. And your father, which sees, will reward you openly."
Matthew 9:14-15 "Then came the disciples of John asking, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? Jesus answered them, can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast."
Matthew 17:21 "How is it this kind is removed only by prayer and fasting."
Mark 9:29 "And he answered them, This kind can be removed only by prayer and fasting."
Fasting, like prayer, is to be personal between you and God, there should never be an outward appearance to others that you are fasting. In some way the act of fasting actually strengthens you spiritually. There is also a health aspect to fasting, it provides a personal cleansing. Most foods we eat today, they are loaded with chemical preservatives and salt making it unnatural and unhealthy. The body tends to build up toxins because of this; fasting helps to flush these toxins out. When fasting is used in conjunction with prayer, it becomes very effective in achieving that which we are seeking.
Luke 5:33-35 "Then they asked him, Why do the disciples of John fast and pray often, also the disciples of the Pharisees, but you eat and drink? So he said to them, can you make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days."
Acts 14:23 "When they had ordained elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord whom they believed."
1 Corinthians 7:5 "Do not hold back from each other, except that it be with agreement and for a short time, so that you may devote yourselves to fasting and prayer."
2 Corinthians 6:4-5 "In all things maintain yourselves as the ministers of God, in patience, in trials, in need, in difficulties, in stripes, in confinement, in commotions, and in your labors, watching and fasting."
Apocalypse of Elijah 1:13-14 "Hear, O wise men of the land, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times so that they will set down for themselves doctrines which do not belong to God, setting aside the Law of God, those who have made their belly their God, saying, The fast does not exist, nor did God create it, making themselves strangers to the covenant of God and robbing themselves of the glorious promises. Now these are not ever correctly established in the firm faith. Therefore don't let those people lead you astray."
Fasting involves abstaining from both food and water.
There is also a day each year called Atonement for fasting.
This is a Sabbath day of fasting, no food or water.
Leviticus16:29-34 "And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you... It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever... And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses."
Leviticus 23:27-32 "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls,...And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath."
Numbers 29:7 "And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:"
New Testament Observance
Even Paul observed it:
"Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast [atonement] was now already past, Paul admonished them,"Acts 27:9