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.