Fasting

Isaiah 58:5
 “Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen,

merely a day for a person to humble himself?

Is it merely for bowing down one’s head,

for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this what you call a fast,

an acceptable day to Yahweh?

Isn’t this the fast that I have been choosing:

to loose the bonds of injustice, 
and to untie the cords of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,

and to bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him with clothing,

and not to raise yourself up from your own flesh and blood?”

Matthew 6:16

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 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.

Luke 12:25

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 

what you will eat or drink; 

or about your body, what you will wear. 

Is not life more than food, 
and the body more than clothes? 

Look at the birds of the air:
They do not sow or reap or gather into barns

and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. 

Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Who of you by worrying 
can add a single hour to his lifespan?