Fasting with prayer is a sacrificial exchange for your own desires, your own needs, your own personal gain…For the gain of the Kingdom, benefit of the Kingdom.
And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:3-4
During Israel’s exile fasting became a norm. Righteous men became vexed and grieved with the sins of Israel. Nehemiah mourned over the people of God and the shame that had come upon the Kingdom of God.
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all, until the entire three weeks were completed. And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.
Daniel 10:1-5
We too have reason/cause to fast and remind God of what He has said about the church. Daniel went on to remind God of his promises and what He said concerning Israel.