It’s silly when you put it in perspective. We think about missing a meal or two for the sake of becoming more like Jesus and we get anxious. And yet we willingly miss meals sometimes while shopping, working, recreating, or otherwise occupied. Whenever we believe another activity is at that moment more important, we will go without food fearlessly and without complaint. We need to learn that there are times when it can be not only more important, but much more rewarding to feast on God than food (Matthew 4:4). We should not fear the blessings of fasting.
— Donald Whitney (b. 1954), Theologe, Pastor und Autor
Related Bible passage: MAT.4.4
Topics: Prayer & Silence, Discipleship
Occasions: For Reflection
Donald Whitney
Donald Whitney (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer reformiert-baptistischer Theologe, Pastor und Hochschullehrer, der über viele Jahre am Southern und Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary lehrte. Er steht für eine biblisch begründete Frömmigkeitspraxis und wurde vor allem durch seine Schriften über geistliche Disziplinen wie Schriftbetrachtung, Gebet und Fasten bekannt. Bibellesern vermittelt er praktische Anleitungen, wie biblische Texte – insbesondere die Psalmen – als direkte Struktur und Orientierung für das persönliche Gebet dienen können.
All quotes by Donald Whitney (93)
When we pray, the circumstances often remain the same, but we become different.
Oswald Chambers
Prayer does not change God, but the one who prays.
Søren Kierkegaard
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Corrie ten Boom
To pray is to draw breath from God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Prayer does not equip us for greater works – prayer is the greater work.
Oswald Chambers
God has his ear at your heart.
Augustine of Hippo
Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
Eugene Peterson