The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(2/7/97)
Fasting and prayer is a positive experience. It is a form
of worship especially commended by the Lord. As we fast
with prayer, we demonstrate our deep purpose, commit that
we will do all in our power, and consign the outcome to
the Lord. Commitment to act is the key to exercising any
gospel principle. We must actually do what the principles
require. Doing, in conjunction with fasting and prayer,
is in itself a prayer of faith. The principle of doing is
one of the great messages of the scriptures. Alma did
preach with power after fasting and prayer. The Savior,
being strengthened by fasting, did reject Satan's every
proposition and did rebuke him. When we fast, we must
work in appropriate ways to do everything we can to
accomplish the purpose of our fast. The fast is most
effective when we have done all that is within our power.
Often this commitment involves the willingness to change,
to put aside feelings and attitudes standing in our path,
to forgive, to be strong, to make sacrifices, to exert
energy toward our righteous goal. — Bishop Victor L.
Brown, General Conference, October 1977
(2/8/97)
It is evident that the acceptable fast is that which
carries with it the true spirit of love for God and man;
and that the aim in fasting is to secure perfect purity
of heart and simplicity of intention—a fasting unto
God in the fullest and deepest sense—for such a fast
would be a cure for every practical and intellectual
error; vanity would disappear, love for our fellows would
take its place, and we would gladly assist the poor and
the needy. — President Joseph F. Smith, Teachings of
Latter-day Prophets, p. 199
(2/9/97)
Let me promise you here today that if the Latter-day
Saints will honestly and conscientiously from this day
forth, as a people, keep the monthly fast and pay into
the hands of their bishops the actual amount that they
would have spent for food for the two meals from which
they have refrained; and if in addition to that they will
pay their honest tithing, it will solve all of the
problems in connection with taking care of the Latter-day
Saints. We would have all the money necessary to take
care of all the idle and all the poor. Every living soul
among the Latter-day Saints that fasts two meals once a
month will be benefited spiritually and be built up in
the faith of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ--benefited spiritually in a wonderful way--and
sufficient means will be in the hands of the bishops to
take care of all the poor. — President Heber J.
Grant, Gospel Standards, p. 123
(2/10/97)
It seems to me it is a source of strength, a source of
power, a source of blessing that perhaps as a people we
are not using enough; that it does have tremendous
spiritual value to those who observe the law, and who
apply it faithfully…. The Saints by fasting and
praying can sanctify the soul and elevate the spirit to
Christlike perfection, and thus the body would be brought
into subjection to the spirit, promote communion with the
Holy Ghost, and insure spiritual strength and power to
the individual. By observing fasting and prayer in its
true spirit, the Latter-day Saints cannot be overpowered
by Satan tempting them to evil. — Elder Delbert L.
Stapley, General Conference, October 1951
(2/11/97)
The regularly constituted fast consists of abstinence
from food once each month, from the evening meal of
Saturday to the evening meal on the following Sunday;
that is, it means missing two meals on the first Sunday
of each month. The value of those two meals given as a
voluntary donation for the relief of those who are hungry
or otherwise in distress constitutes the fast offering.
Think what the sincere observance of this rule would mean
spiritually if every man, woman, and child were to
observe the fast and contribute the resultant offering,
with the sincere desire of blessing the less fortunate
brother or sister or sorrowing child! The great Tolstoy,
sensing the need of this bond of sympathetic brotherhood
in Christ, once wrote that he had no right to eat his
crust of bread if his brother had none. Can you not see
associated with this simple act the divine principle of
service as expressed in the Master's words:
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"?
(Matt. 25:40.) — President David O. McKay, Gospel
Ideals, p. 210
(2/12/97)
Our difficulty is that we have not all used the Lord's
plan as we should. What ought that contribution, our fast
offerings, be, to be the equivalent of two meals? I would
like to suggest that there isn't anything that this
present generation needs so much as the power of
self-control; appetite is stronger than will. Men's
passions dominate their lives. If there is one thing that
we need to recover, it is the power of self-control over
the physical body; to deny it good food . . . for two
meals, [is to obtain] a mastery over self; and the
greatest battle any of us shall ever fight is with self.
— Elder Melvin J. Ballard, Sermons and Missionary
Services of Melvin J. Ballard, p. 157
(2/13/97)
Fast with purpose. We must ever remind ourselves and all
members of the Church to keep the law of the fast. We
often have our individual reasons for fasting. But I hope
members won't hesitate to fast to help us lengthen our
stride in our missionary effort, to open the way for the
gospel to go to the nations where it is not now
permitted. It's good for us to fast as well as to pray
over specific things and over specific objectives. —
President Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, April
1976
(2/14/97)
The Lord has instituted the fast on a reasonable and
intelligent basis, and none of his works are vain or
unwise. His law is perfect in this as in other things.
Hence, those who can are required to comply thereto; it
is a duty from which they cannot escape; but let it be
remembered that the observance of the fast day by
abstaining twenty-four hours from food and drink is not
an absolute rule, it is no iron-clad law to us, but it is
left with the people as a matter of conscience, to
exercise wisdom and discretion. Many are subject to
weakness, others are delicate in health, and others have
nursing babies; of such it should not be required to
fast. Neither should parents compel their little children
to fast. I have known children to cry for something to
eat on fast day. In such cases, going without food will
do them no good. Instead, they dread the day to come, and
in place of hailing it, dislike it; while the compulsion
engenders a spirit of rebellion in them, rather than a
love for the Lord and their fellows. Better teach them
the principle, and let them observe it when they are old
enough to choose intelligently, than to so compel them.
— President Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 243
(7/19/01)
"The personal benefits derived from fasting are substantial. The scriptures
tell us that a certain kind of devil goes not out except by fasting and prayer.
(See Matt. 17:21.) The supremacy of the spirit over the appetites of the body is
affirmed by the mental discipline of fasting. This strength fortifies us in our
combat with other temptations prompted by physical appetites that, if
uncontrolled, would be destructive to our welfare. While some have physical
conditions that preclude fasting, most people are not excluded on this basis. To
me, a successfully completed period of fasting from food and drink on fast day
brings a degree of self-confidence. Fasting is real evidence to oneself and to
his maker of gratitude for the gift of health and strength which permits one to
be able to fast. Surely this is a great privilege and blessing."
Russell M. Nelson
"I Have a Question,"
"Ensign," Apr. 1976, p. 33
(7/20/01)
"Periodic fasting can help clear up the mind and strengthen the body and
the spirit. The usual fast, the one we are asked to participate in for fast
Sunday, is for 24 hours without food or drink. Some people, feeling the need,
have gone on longer fasts of abstaining from food but have taken the needed
liquids. Wisdom should be used, and the fast should be broken with light eating.
To make a fast most fruitful, it should be coupled with prayer and meditation;
physical work should be held to a minimum, and it’s a blessing if one can
ponder on the scriptures and the reason for the fast."
Ezra Taft Benson
"Do Not Despair,"
"Ensign," Nov. 1974, p. 66–67
(7/21/01)
"When your stomach begins to growl halfway through fast and testimony
meeting, you probably do not think of fasting as rejoicing, yet this is the way
fasting has been scripturally defined: 'Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or
in other words, rejoicing and prayer.' (D&C 59:14.) Rejoicing means to
express joy, and joy is the reason for man’s existence. (2 Ne. 2:25.) Fasting,
then, is an activity that brings us back to the state of being for which we were
created."
Robert J. Matthews
"What the Scriptures Say About: Fasting,"
"New Era," Sept. 1972, p. 32
(7/22/01)
"Commitment to act is the key to exercising any gospel principle. We must
actually do what the principles require. Doing, in conjunction with fasting and
prayer, is in itself a prayer of faith. The principle of doing is one of the
great messages of the scriptures. Alma did preach with power after [page 84]
fasting and prayer. The Savior, being strengthened by fasting, did reject Satan’s
every proposition and did rebuke him."
Victor L. Brown
"A Vision of the Law of the Fast,"
"Ensign," Nov. 1977, p. 83–84
(7/23/01)
"Sometimes it’s easier to try to work on our relationship with God
through fasting, prayer, and scripture study than to love and serve his other
children or to repair broken human relations. Just as we can sometimes avoid
confronting our real spiritual need to change and repent by intellectualizing
about gospel principles, so also can we escape dealing with pulsating spiritual
needs and service hungers by theatrical and/or excessive fasting. Unless
otherwise directed by the Spirit to fast more frequently, we can gain the
blessings of fasting by following the Church practice of fasting for two
consecutive meals once a month on the designated fast Sunday."
Stephen R. Covey
"Q&A: Questions and Answers,"
"New Era," Sept. 1974, p. 15
(5/22/05)
"We should all give some attention to the matter
of fasting. We haven't really called on the Lord so that we can reach him
intimately if we don't fast occasionally, and pray often. Many of our personal
problems can be solved by so doing. Do you remember what the Savior said to his
disciples who couldn't cast out the evil spirit, after they had asked why they
couldn't do it when Jesus had done it so easily? He replied, 'This kind goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting.' (Matt.
17:21.)" - Marion G. Romney, "The
Blessings of the Fast," Ensign, July 1982, 4