Fasting

The (voluntary) renunciation of food and earthly pleasures as well as the conscious renunciation of earthly and natural things in order to devote oneself fully and free from earthly influences and distractions to prayer or service for the Lord (cf. Lk 2:37). Fasting was often also associated with humiliation before the Lord and showed that one was serious (cf. Neh 1:4; Dan 9:3)