“Continuing in Fasting and Prayer”
I give unto you a commandment, the Savior stated in 1832, “that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth” (D&C 88:76). Though the Saints of the Most High are counseled to employ the law of the fast to break the heavy burdens of sin and sickness and personal struggles (see Isaiah 58); though the people of the Lord are encouraged to fast and pray for deeper spirituality; though the household of faith fast and pray often for those who know not God or who have strayed from the path of peace (Alma 6:6; Moroni 6:5)—despite the importance of this counsel it is not to be taken to extremes. We can continue in the spirit of fasting and prayer without overstepping the bounds of reason and thereby threatening our physical health or even becoming so excessive in our zeal as to become gospel hobbyists (see Gospel Doctrine, pp. 116-17, 122). Indeed, the Saints can “continue in fasting and prayer” in the sense that they hunger and thirst after righteousness (see D&C 59:13).
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