15 Popular Quotes about Prayer and Fasting

Fasting and prayer quotes are filled with motivational and inspirational quotes written by pastors, authors, and scripture on the topic of fasting.

Prayer and fasting are forms of deeper meditation and connection with the Lord. If you are looking for the right fasting and prayer quotes, this article might help you learn about prayer and fasting. Summarized in this article are direct quotes about prayer and fasting in the Bible as well as those written by authors and pastors.

Fasting and Prayer Quotes

What are Fasting and Prayer Quotes

Fasting is the form of abstinence from food, drink, or habits of pleasure that is customarily observed by pious or religious people. Christian fasting is observed by Christians for a specified period focusing solely on God. Christians fast by eliminating foods or drinks from the usual three meals. Fasting can also be cutting on habits of pleasure. The main purpose of fasting is to please one’s spiritual hunger. Fasting reduces the time spent on worldly pleasures. This makes one closer to God by allowing pure attention and focus to spend time with the Lord.

Christians substitute prayer and reflection for food during their regular meal time. They usually fast whenever they are seeking guidance at crossroads in their life. Fasting is also appropriate when they have a collective prayer they want to come true.

Quotes about fasting and prayer are guidance when one takes interest in practicing fasting. It can also be a supplement to a prayer and fasting perspective for those who are already practicing it. Prayer and fasting quotes are from the Bible itself. First-hand accounts from those who have practiced fasting are also a good reference. These are from either a senior pastor or a biblical fasting commentary author.

Significance of Fasting and Prayer Quotes

In the Bible, whenever men wanted to seek God’s guidance, they would pray and fast. The same is true for us Christians. When we make a major decision, we pray for guidance. But not all Christians fast. Prayer and fasting quotes help introduce what fasting means in its biblical sense. These quotes also strengthen prayer time as a result of the enlightenment of Christian fasting. 

Fasting helps express repentance, too. It goes to show that fasting submits our faults and our sinfulness to God. In a way, fasting cleanses us and renews our spirit when our soul learns about the right way toward God. Also, fasting confirms and affirms our dedication to spend more time focusing on our Lord.

Popular Fasting and Prayer Quotes

Fasting is a broad term. Some people fast in practicing their religion such as Christians and Muslims. Other people fast as a result of health consciousness. There are a lot of sources to learn about fasting and prayer-related quotes. We have summarized the popular and inspirational fasting and prayer quotes. Read on to see what the Bible, pastors, and authors say about fasting and prayer.

5 Fasting Quotes from the Bible

Both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, people pray and go to a quiet place such as a mountain to fast. Here are the five most popular and powerful fasting quotes taken from the Bible.

Matthew 6:16-18

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Jesus, Himself taught us how to behave while we fast and pray. Matthew 6 is also known as the Sermon on the Mount shared by Jesus to His disciples. One of the sermons includes how to fast. Jesus instructed that when we fast, we must do it quietly, in private humility, and more personal with God. This is to remind ourselves that when we fast, we quit playing with the glory of affirmation from men. We center our fasting and prayer on God alone, so that God may reward our devotion.

Daniel 9:3

“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” 

Daniel’s prayer for his people through fasting yielded a powerful result. He prayed for God’s deliverance of his people from harm. In Daniel 9, we can see Daniel’s determination and humility before the Lord. He manifested it through fasting and prayer. In his prayer, Daniel praised God for his glory and confesses the sins of his people. 

As he understood the prophecy of God’s wrath over Jerusalem, he asked for God’s forgiveness. Through prayer and fasting, God heard his plea and sent the angel Gabriel to deliver the good news. Fasting and praying diligently indeed make us closer to God and gives us more than what we ask for in prayer.

Psalm 35:13

“But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.”

The Psalm of David in Psalm 35 focused on David’s plea to God for judgment according to God’s righteousness. David has shown concern for his enemies as though they were his ally or brother. In the Bible verse quoted above, David has expressed grief as he speaks of his enemies’ betrayal. If David can fast and pray for his enemies’ deliverance from sickness and harm, then so can we! Fasting and praying for another regardless if they are with the enemy increase godly sorrow. It also gives us a heart contrite like God’s.

Luke 2:36-37

“And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”

In his account of the Gospel, Paul mentioned a female prophet, Anna, a widower early in her marriage. Widowed women in the early days customarily take on to find another man to marry. But Anna stayed loyal to God, and she did not stay away from the temple. Instead, she devoted herself to worshipping God and prayed and fasted every day. Anna is a representation for Christians that fasting can be a holy habit. Anna’s dedication to God reminds us that all good things and God’s protection. God will reward those who are devoted to loving and serving him.

Acts 14:23

“And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

In their commitment to making new Christians, the apostle Paul and Barnabas went to the Syrian Antioch to introduce Jesus’ life and work. To make a home where they can worship God, Paul and Barnabas made churches and appointed elders in every church. While the people pray in the newly built churches, they were wary about the health of the church when they will depart. 

So, Paul and Barnabas together with the appointed elders prayed and fasted. They offered prayers for their commitment to the Lord and their belief in His word and promises. It goes to show that fasting requires faith and commitment to God. And an astonishing amount of grace will befall upon us and what answers for what we are praying and fasting for.

Fasting and Prayer Quotes

5 Fasting Quotes from Pastors

Pastors from all over the world revolved their sermons on fasting. Some sermons were given and delivered to inspire their church. Others offered challenges and motivation to act and practice fasting. Here are five fasting quotes from pastors that might inspire you to begin the holy habit of fasting.

Benjamin Suulola

“Three things are essential in fasting:

  1. Purpose of Fasting
  2. Mindset of Fasting
  3. Effects of Fasting

Don’t ignore any of these three pillars of fasting.”

Benjamin Suulola is a Nigerian pastor devoted to helping people fulfill Godly purposes in life through sharing and preaching. His works and sermons are available on Apple Podcast.

Ole Hallesby

“The purpose of fasting is to loosen to some degree the ties which bind us to the world of material things and our surroundings as a whole, in order that we may concentrate all our spiritual powers upon the unseen and eternal things.”

Ole Hallesby is a Norwegian theologian author and educator. He has written 67 books centered on ethics and theology, but he is widely known as a Nazi opponent in the second world war.

William Law

“Although these abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, that even these severities of religion, when practiced with discretion, add much to the comfortable enjoyment of our lives.”

William Law is an English author and speaker famous for his works on Christian ethics and mysticism. The quote above was lifted from what is considered his best work, the Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728).

Minister Andrew Bonar

Fasting is abstaining from anything that hinders prayer. 

Andrew Bonar served as a minister for the Free Church of Scotland. He is best known for his classics on evangelical literature.

Andrew Murray

“Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.”

Andrew Murray is a South African pastor and author. He also served as an educator and speaker and he is best known for his work “Christ in the School of Prayer.”

5 Fasting Quotes from Authors

Dr. Dan B. Allender

“Fasting from any nourishment, activity, involvement, or pursuit—for any season—sets the stage for God to appear. Fasting is not a tool to pry wisdom out of God’s hands or to force needed insight about a decision. It is not a tool for gaining discipline or developing piety (whatever that might be). Instead, fasting is the bulimic act of ridding ourselves of our fullness to attune our senses to the mysteries that swirl in and around us.”

Dr. Dan B. Allender is a devoted Christian author and professor. His works are famous for marriage and family. He is also a counselor for trauma and abuse therapy using the Gospel to heal those who needed healing. He is the founder of the Allender Center, a nonprofit foster center for those who suffer trauma and abuse.

Dr. Wesley L. Duewel

“Fasting in the biblical sense is choosing not to partake of food because your spiritual hunger is so deep, your determination in intercession so intense, or your spiritual warfare so demanding that you have temporarily set aside even fleshly needs to give yourself to prayer and meditation.”

The late Dr. Wesley Duewel (1916-2016), is a Christian author who devoted his life to the Church mission ministry. His books and masterpieces revolved around evangelism and the mission call of the church to call back people towards God in prayer.

C.S. Lewis

“This Man (Jesus) suddenly remarks one day, ‘No one need fast while I am here.’ Who is this Man who remarks that His mere presence suspends all normal rules?”

Clive Staples Lewis is a British writer and lay theologian. He has over 40 books written about Christian apologetics. He is also famous for his The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series which has several movie adaptations.

David Platt

“One day, all of our praying and all of our fasting in pursuit of God will culminate in the goal of our salvation: everlasting, uninterrupted, uninhibited, unimaginable, indescribable, all-satisfying, communion with God.”

David Platt is a DC-based evangelical Baptist pastor. He is currently serving as pastor at McLean Bible Church. He authored a New York Times Best Seller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.

Dallas Willard

“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.”

Dallas Willard is an American philosopher and author who devoted his writings to Christian spiritual formation. He also delivered lectures and speeches about Christianity. One of his most famous books was the Divine Conspiracy.

Fasting and Prayer Quotes

In Summary

Fasting is giving up some of our worldly needs and desires for a certain amount of time. Time supposedly spent for these earthly things is given back to God as we focus on the purpose of our fasting – spending time with Him in prayer. Fasting can also make us more aware and understanding of God’s commands as we start praying for the true light. Also, fasting helps express our devout affection for praying. The mere presence of God and the Holy Spirit guarantees the intense work of God’s grace for what we pray for.

Christians’ fasting submits and surrenders all our self-will and practice self-control and discipline. Sometimes, when we rely on our own imagined strength, we missed out on God’s more intense work in our lives. Through fasting, our body learns to disassociate itself from the greatest hindrance of our earthly lives. It is important to fast and pray and humble oneself before God. Through praying and fasting, one can ask for guidance and repentance. More so, to experience God’s spiritual powers through His divinely appointed means.

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Alex Shute
EDITOR
Alex Shute, MBA
Alex is a family man and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. His passion is to serve the global Church and bring people of diverse backgrounds together to learn & grow.


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