Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Nothing sets the focus for the picture as clearly as fasting and prayer.
Jesus Himself set the example. Fasting means that we are saying to the Lord that we hunger more for His spiritual food than for our natural food. We decide to use the time that we would have spent eating to pray and seek the Lord's face. This kind of fast was practised in the Old Testament and is still widely practised today. Unless God gives supernatural protection, seven days without food or water could result in physical damage.