37 Quotes About Fasting and Prayer for Christians
Who inspires you when you think about prayer and fasting? Over the years, I've been greatly encouraged by stories and quotes from heroes of the Christian faith. Quotes about fasting and prayer serve to inspire, encourage, and teach us more about these vital spiritual disciplines.
This post shares some of the best quotes about Christian fasting and prayer I've come across (while always looking for more).
Whether you're a pastor looking for fasting quotes for sermon prep or simply fasting yourself, encouraging quotes make a big difference. My hope is that these quotes will give you a little inspiration and guidance in your own faith journey!
37+ Christian Fasting and Prayer Quotes
The powerful quotes below are about more than Christian fasting—they guide us in the Christian life as we navigate unseen and eternal things.
Fasting and prayer are spiritual disciplines that help us draw closer to God, understand our internal reality, build endurance in suffering hardships, and find spiritual joy in the midst of all things.
We progress in the journey of discovering what it means to live a devout and holy life. Letting our souls feast on God's commands and mere presence while we navigate the world.
Quotes About Holy and Legitimate Fasting
What are our motivations for fasting?
Do we want to lose weight? Look good in front of others? Build up our self-discipline? Or fast because someone told us we should?
The Bible presents fasting as a personal practice that brings us closer to the Lord as we focus on Him. It's not a hunger strike; demanding God's attention so He will meet our needs on our terms.
Biblical fasting also isn't about empty rote practices or religious routines.
Legitimate prayer and fasting honors God. Fasting submits our bodily appetites and subjects one's flesh to the higher path of being led by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
Augustine of Hippo
Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.
John Calvin
"Let us say something about fasting, because many, for want of knowing its usefulness, undervalue its necessity, and some reject it as almost superfluous; while, on the other hand where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into superstition. Holy and legitimate fasting is directed to three ends; for we practice it either as a restraint on the flesh, to preserve it from licentiousness, or as a preparation for prayers and pious meditations, or as a testimony of our humiliation in the presence of God when we are desirous of confessing our guilt before him."
Andrew Murray
"Prayer is reaching out and after the unseen; fasting, letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepens, confirms the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."
Arthur Wallis
“God is not merely concerned with what we do but why we do it. A right act may be robbed of all its value in the sight of God if it is done with a wrong motive.”
Ole Hallesby
"[The purpose of fasting is] to loosen to some degree the ties which bind us to the world or material surroundings as a whole in order that we may concentrate all our spiritual powers upon the unseen and eternal things."
Quotes on the Work of the Holy Spirit in Fasting
In fasting, our soul learns to submit to God's Spirit in us. Though we experience physical weakness, temptation, and trial, we find spiritual joys we never knew before.
Fasting helps us separate from the physical world and deepen our connection with the spiritual realm, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us.
Through fasting, those moments when we're aware of our physical weakness continually remind us to turn to our supernatural God for strength, not rely on our own strength.
We become more aware of our dependence on God and our need for His guidance and direction.
Bill Bright
“Fasting reduces the power of self so that the Holy Spirit can do a more intense work within us.”
Silouan the Athonite
"By obedience a man is guarded against pride. Prayer is given for the sake of obedience. The grace of the Holy Spirit is also given for obedience. This is why obedience is higher than prayer and fasting."
Bill Thrasher
"The abstinence is not to be an end in itself but rather for the purpose of being separated to the Lord and to concentrate on godliness. This kind of fasting reduces the influence of our self-will and invites the Holy Spirit to do a more intense work in us."
Elmer Towns
"If you are serious enough to take up the discipline of fasting, you can expect resistance, interference and opposition. Plan for it, insofar as you are able. Do not be caught unawares. Remember that you are attempting to advance in your spiritual journey and to gain ground for the Kingdom. That necessitates taking ground away from the enemy - and no great movement of the Holy Spirit goes unchallenged by the enemy. "
John Wesley
And fasting is chiefly an aid to prayer, so much so, that it has frequently been found a means, in the hand of God, of confirming and increasing, not one virtue, but also seriousness of spirit, sincerity, sensitivity and tenderness of conscience, deadness to the world, and consequently a love of God, and of every holy and heavenly feeling.
Quotes on How to Fast in the Biblical Sense
Isaiah 58 lays out the heart of God's chosen fast. It's not just about ourselves, but others too.
Fasting in the biblical sense is often a way to express godly sorrow. Nehemiah, King David, the prophet Daniel, and others turned to fasting because of repentance and mourning.
Their prayer wasn't: dear Lord, please bless me to make me stronger and greater...
No, God's servants were ready to sacrifice anything to be in the mere presence of God; to cry out and intercede on behalf of others, for repentance and salvation of immortal souls.
Matthew 6:16-18 also talks about fasting with the right heart. It's not a show for others or for personal gain. Fasting should be done in secret, between you and God, with an attitude of humility and submission.
Here are some further quotes about making fasting a holy habit.
Matthew Henry
"If the solemnities of our fasting, though frequent, long, and severe, do not serve to put an edge upon devout affections, to quicken prayer, to increase Godly sorrow, and to alter the temper of our minds, and the course of our lives, for the better, they do not at all answer the intention, and God will not accept them as performed to Him."
David Livingstone
"Fastings and vigils without a special object in view are time run to waste."
Martin Luther
"Of fasting I say this: It is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body. For when the stomach is full, the body does not serve for preaching, for praying, or studying, or for doing anything else that is good. Under such circumstances God’s Word cannot remain. But one should not fast with a view to meriting something by it as by a good work."
Elmer Towns
“The goal of any discipline is freedom. If the result is not greater freedom, something is wrong."
Arthur Wallis
“When we fast, how long we fast, the nature of the fast and the spiritual objectives we have before us are all God’s choice, to which the obedient disciple gladly responds.”
Donald Whitney
"Fasting does not ensure the certainty of receiving clear guidance from God. Rightly practiced, however, it does make us more receptive to the One who loves to guide us."
Fasting and Spiritual Hunger Quotes
Worldly distractions surround us. We're faced with the basic daily necessity of ordering our priorities — we have too much to do and not enough time!
Maybe you can relate to being concerned about work, finances, and relationships. Or, perhaps it's something as simple as the latest TV show or social media updates that distract us from our spiritual walk.
Fasting is a powerful way to put aside these distractions and focus on our hunger for God. It allows us to quiet our minds and hearts, humbling ourselves before Him and seeking His guidance.
We can more clearly see what hinders prayer and how to seek for the kingdom first and above all else.
Quotes about Spiritual Hunger and Fasting
David Brainerd
"My soul was drawn out very much for the world, for multitudes of souls. I think I had more enlargement for sinners than for the children of God, though I felt as if I could spend my life in cries for both. I enjoyed great sweetness in communion with my dear Saviour. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world and so much resigned to God in everything."
Elisabeth Elliot
"One way to begin to see how vastly indulgent we usually are is to fast. It is a long day that is not broken by the usual three meals. One finds out what an astonishing amount of time is spent in the planning, purchasing, preparing, eating, and cleaning up of meals."
D.L. Moody
"If you say “I will fast when God lays it on my heart,” you never will. You are too cold and indifferent to take the yoke upon you."
Andrew Murray
"Prayer needs fasting for its full growth. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible. Fasting is the other hand, the one with which we let go of the visible."
John Piper
"Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us. Fasting reveals the measure of food’s mastery over us – or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger for God. A real lived-out human act of preference for God over His gifts is the actual lived-out glorification of God’s excellence for which He created the world. Fasting is not the only way, or the main way, that we glorify God in preferring Him above His gifts. But it is one way."
A.W. Tozer
"I fast just often enough to let my stomach know who's boss."
Donald Whitney
"Fasting must always have a spiritual purpose – a God-centered purpose, not a self-centered one- for the Lord to bless our fast. Thoughts of food must prompt thoughts for God. They must not distract us, but instead remind us of our purpose. Rather than focusing the mind on food, we should use the desire to eat as a reminder to pray and to reconsider our purpose."
Dallas Willard
"Actually fasting is one of the more important ways of practicing that self-denial required of everyone who would follow Christ (Matt. 16:24). In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God. "
Quotes on Our Spiritual Powers in Fasting
Fasting is a powerful tool for spiritual warfare. By denying ourselves and seeking God's will through prayer and fasting, we are able to break strongholds, overcome temptation, and experience victory over the enemy.
Through prayer and fasting, we are able to align our will with God's will, and tap into the spiritual power that He has given us as believers. We are able to discern His voice more clearly, receive guidance and direction in our lives, and experience a deeper level of intimacy with Him.
However, it is important to remember that fasting is not a magic formula for getting what we want from God. It is not a way to manipulate or control Him, but rather a way to humble ourselves before Him and submit to His will.
In fact, fasting can often reveal the idols in our lives – the things that we have put above God in our hearts and minds. It is a time for self-examination and repentance, turning away from those idols and seeking after
Bill Bright
"I believe the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world."
Richard Foster
"Fasting must forever center on God. More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us."
William Secker
"By fasting, the body learns to obey the soul; by praying the soul learns to command the body."
Charles Spurgeon
"I will fast from anything so that I may but bring him to the feet of Jesus, that he may be saved." We who love the Lord are, I trust, all agreed on that matter, that no cost on our part should be spared to win a soul from the dominion of Satan, and bring him into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Arthur Wallis
“Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importance into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest.”
Donald Whitney
"Fasting, rather than fleshly efforts, should be one of our first defenses against "persecution"...But instead of political maneuvering, gossiping, and imitating the worldly tactics of our enemies, we should appeal to God with fasting for protection and deliverance."
Quotes on the Powerful Combination of Prayer and Fasting
Perhaps you've heard the saying that prayer without fasting is just a diet. Rarely do you see examples of fruitful fasting when it's only about the food.
Spiritual fasting is about more than having the self-will to resist food or to continually sacrifice and suffer.
Fasting should be a time to fill yourself with heavenly food as you engage in spiritual practices.
When God lays it on someone's heart to fast, He will also quicken prayer. Here is a great resource for bold prayer and fasting.
You can take time out from the usual three meals a day to seek for the kingdom through prayer, intercession, praise, worship, and meditation on God's Word.
A.C. Dixon
“When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. And so on. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.”
Johnathan Edwards
“There is no way that Christians, in a private capacity, can do so much to promote the work of God and advance the kingdom of Christ as by prayer.”
D.L. Moody
"Man can as well live physically without breathing, as spiritually without praying."
John Piper
“The key to praying with power is to become the kind of persons who do not use God for our ends but are utterly devoted to being used for His ends.”
Tertullian
"Feed prayers on fasting."
Arthur Wallis
“At the heart of every revival is the spirit of prayer.”
Arthur Wallis
"Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest… Not only so, but he is expressing his earnestness in a divinely-appointed way. He is using a means that God has chosen to make his voice to be heard on high."
Fasting and Prayer Examples in the Bible
God's Word contains many examples of powerful fasting and prayer. Here are just a few:
Moses fasted for 40 days while receiving the Ten Commandments from God (Exodus 34:28).
David fasted and prayed for his son (2 Samuel 12:16).
Daniel fasted and prayed for understanding and revelation from God (Daniel 10:2-3).
Esther called for a fast while seeking favor from the king (Esther 4:15-16).
Jesus fasted for 40 days before beginning His ministry (Matthew 4:1-2).
Paul and Barnabas fasted and prayed before selecting leaders in the church (Acts 14:23).
These examples show that fasting and prayer were common practices among God's people, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Here is a blog post to help you dive deeper into scriptures on fasting: Read more in 52 Bible Verses About Fasting
Conclusion
This blog post provides a compelling insight into the spiritual significance of fasting, as emphasized by renowned figures and biblical characters. Quotes from John Piper and Tertullian highlight the spiritual devotion and selflessness linked with fasting. Arthur Wallis underscores the integral role of fasting in amplifying the spirit of prayer, while examples from the Bible illustrate the transformative power of fasting and prayer in the lives of figures like Moses, David, Daniel, Esther, Jesus, and Paul.
We pray this post will be a blessing and inspiration to you as you fast!