May 29 • PRAYER
Scriptures from the book, A Hunger for God
Here is a curated, categorized list of scriptures to meditate on while fasting with God's all-satisfying nature as the central theme throughout.
These passages form a powerful arc to hold during fasting: from **thirst and hunger for God** → **the danger of substitutes** → **Jesus as the true Bread** → **humility and surrender** → **longing for his return** → **the Spirit as the overflowing spring**.
Together they turn every hunger pang into a prayer.
***
God as the Only True Satisfaction
These are the bedrock texts for fasting meditation — declaring with the whole person that God himself is the longed-for object and fulfillment of the soul.[1]
- **Psalm 73:25–26** — *"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."*[1]
- **Psalm 63:1–5** — *"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water... My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food."*[1]
- **Psalm 42:1–2** — *"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."*[1]
- **Psalm 34:8** — *"Taste and see that the Lord is good."*[1]
- **John 6:35** — *"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."*[1]
***
Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone
These texts sit at the very heart of Jesus' own fasting in the wilderness — the declaration that God's word sustains more than food ever can.[1]
- **Deuteronomy 8:2–3** — *"He humbled you and let you hunger... that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."*[1]
- **Matthew 4:4** — *"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."*[1]
- **John 4:32–34** — *"I have food to eat that you do not know about... My food is to do the will of him who sent me."*[2]
***
Warning Against Idolizing God's Gifts
Fasting exposes the subtle idolatry of letting good things replace God as the source of satisfaction.[1]
- **Philippians 3:8** — *"I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."*[1]
- **Philippians 3:19** — Warning against those *"whose god is their belly."*[1]
- **Mark 4:19** — *"The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful."*[1]
- **1 Corinthians 6:12** — *"All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything."*[1]
***
Humility, Hunger, and the Posture of Fasting
Fasting is the physical posture of a soul that says, *"More than my stomach wants food, my soul wants you"*.[1]
- **Psalm 35:13** — *"I humbled my soul with fasting."*[2]
- **Psalm 69:10** — *"I humbled myself with fasting."*[2]
- **Isaiah 58:6–11** — The God-prescribed fast: loosing bonds, feeding the poor, and receiving God's guidance, healing, and satisfaction of soul[2]
- **Matthew 6:16–18** — Jesus' teaching on fasting in secret before the Father who sees[2]
***
Longing for the Bridegroom
Fasting is the ache of those who love Jesus and long for his return — it is homesickness for God made physical.[1]
- **Matthew 9:15** — *"The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."*[2]
- **Revelation 22:20** — *"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"*[1]
- **2 Timothy 4:8** — *"...to all who have loved his appearing."*[1]
- **Luke 2:36–38** — Anna, fasting and praying night and day, awaiting the Redeemer[1]
***
The Spirit as the True Spring
These texts anchor fasting in the New Covenant reality: we fast not from emptiness, but because we have tasted Christ and want all of him.[1]
- **John 7:38–39** — *"Whoever believes in me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."*[1]
- **Colossians 1:27** — *"Christ in you, the hope of glory."*[1]
- **Ephesians 3:19** — Paul's prayer to *"be filled with all the fullness of God."*[1]
- **1 Peter 2:2–3** — *"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk... if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."*[1]
***
Sources
[1] a-hunger-for-god-en.pdf
[2] Celebration-of-Discipline-Spec-Richard-J.-Foster.pdf
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Scriptures from the book, A Hunger for God
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