“What Is the Power of Fasting?,” Liahona, June 2023, United States and Canada Section.
What Is the Power of Fasting?
For many years I have sought to find why there is power in fasting. Here is what I have learned.
Illustration by Mike Dunford
I was just a little girl when my ward gathered in the chapel to break a fast with prayer. The collective faith and pleading were in behalf of a young woman with cancer, and the fast provoked an outpouring of prolonged love and support shown to the woman and her family by a chapel full of praying Saints. The young woman passed away—but not before she had been wrapped in a warm blanket of love and service by disciples of Jesus Christ.
Looking back on that experience, I realize that I learned something of the power of fasting and prayer that had nothing to do with God healing the young woman of cancer.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that “fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful.”1 Over the years, I have given a lot of thought and study to understanding what I might expect from the act of fasting. My search has been to answer this simple question: What is the power of fasting?
Stronger in Humility, Firmer in Faith
The Bible Dictionary provides meaningful insight into the question when it teaches that fasting is “a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ for developing spiritual strength.”2 The focus of that statement is on how fasting changes you and me, not how it changes God.
One way that fasting changes us is taught in this verse from the book of Helaman: “They did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation” (Helaman 3:35).
This scripture associates fasting and prayer with developing stronger humility and becoming firmer in the faith of Christ. Elder L. Tom Perry (1922–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles confirmed that humility and spiritual strength are derived from fasting,3 and President David O. McKay (1873–1970) said that spiritual strength is “the greatest of all [its] benefits.”4 As the Gospel Principles manual states, “When we fast wisely and prayerfully, we develop our faith. With that faith we will have greater spiritual power.”5
In fasting, you may recognize a need in yourself or in others. You are aware of your personal insufficiency to meet the need. Without food or drink, you pare yourself down in meekness to your eternal, spiritual core. You pray in humility and in a spirit of submissiveness. In that attitude of dependence, you are reminded of what God knows and what He can do. You ponder God’s character—His power, His knowledge, His attentiveness, His objectives, His perspective, His timing, His kindness and love. You deepen your faith in who He is and your relationship to Him. That knowledge brings you hope and allows you to feel faith and trust growing stronger, even though your knowledge is still incomplete.
Helaman 3:35 also speaks of the joy and consolation that can be found through fasting and prayer. As you draw near to the Lord, He will “draw near unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63). Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a metaphor for this closeness: “Just sit with the Lord and let Him warm you like a fire in winter.”6 I have experienced times when fasting and prayer have been like coming to a hearth and just resting in the warmth of knowing that God had things in hand. I have known that I was kneeling at the feet of my Heavenly Father, who possesses perfect love and infinite power. I’m not describing a prayer that is filled with answers or solutions; I am just talking about feeling comfort in His company.
Fasting is the opportunity to bring ourselves to God, and in doing so, our faith in Christ grows into spiritual strength. As we humbly remember His glorious character, our souls can be filled with perspective, trust, comfort, and joy. This is one powerful outcome of fasting and prayer.
Fasting Invites Revelation
A second indication of spiritual power from humble and faith-filled fasting and prayer can be found in a description of the sons of Mosiah. These men were “strong in the knowledge of the truth. … They had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation” (Alma 17:2–3).
This scripture teaches that one outcome of much prayer and fasting is that we can be filled with the Holy Ghost. With the Spirit’s companionship, we can be guided and receive revelation. President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) said that fasting and prayer “will do more to … permit the Spirit to operate through you than anything I know.”7 And Elder James B. Martino, while serving as a member of the Seventy, taught that “prayer and fasting will allow us to be susceptible to spiritual promptings.”8 In the humble, grateful spirit of fasting, we are filled with the Spirit, and He will show unto us all things that we should do (see 2 Nephi 32:5).
“Magnify Me; Send Me”
President Benson taught another way that the Holy Ghost empowers us: “Fasting for specific strength or special blessings can strengthen us beyond our normal ability.”9 Where does this strength come from? President Russell M. Nelson taught: “The ultimate source of spiritual power is God our Father. The messenger of this power is the Holy Ghost.”10
Our ability is magnified with spiritual power that comes from our Heavenly Father, through the Spirit. With that endowment of knowledge and power, the Holy Ghost can make us an instrument in God’s hands (see Alma 17:9)—a tool in the miracle, a part of the solution to the need that was being fasted over and prayed about.
Additionally, Moroni 10 teaches other ways that we might be magnified: “teach the word of wisdom,” “teach the word of knowledge,” “exceedingly great faith,” “gifts of healing,” “work mighty miracles,” “prophesy concerning all things,” “the beholding of angels and ministering spirits” (see Moroni 10:8–14). This is an amazing partial list of the things that we can do with a bestowal of power from God to use on His errand. And just think of the tremendous spiritual power when many individuals unite their spiritual effectiveness in a cause!
In the case of the young woman in my ward, fasting produced an army of inspired Saints to comfort and serve her. I have summer-evening memories of my cheery, compassionate mom walking down the street to visit with the family often. We took nutritious meals and shared books and movies. I know that my mother was guided in how to help, as were many others. To be healed was not God’s will for the person in this case, but for her to be sustained with love was.
Fasting and prayer remind us of our dependence on the God of the universe and help us to be in tune with His Spirit so that we can be guided in His work. In these acts of humility, we plead for the spiritual strength to be part of His cause. In essence, we are saying, “There is a need that pains me, baffles me, and is bigger than me. I know Thou art aware and hast the solution in hand, but I am asking to help. Magnify me; send me.”
So what is the power of fasting? I believe it is found in the comfort, peace, and perspective that come from increased humility and faith. It is the blessing of being enhanced in spiritual effectiveness through the Holy Ghost. With God’s power and the Spirit’s guiding influence, we can be part of the solution to the need.
The author lives in Arkansas.