New Lutheran Quote of the Day

If prayer in the last analysis is nothing but the manifestation of the life and activity of the new man God has created within us, who will not be restricted in his activity, so fasting (understood as self-discipline in the widest sense of the word) is the exercise that is continually demanded by the presence of the old man, whose activities still continue even in those who are in a state of justification and sanctification. The neglect of such necessary efforts means the denial of the presence of the ungodly opposition that still clings to us. It would be a veiling of the true situation and a presumptuous deception, an unallowable anticipation of the final perfection of the parousia, an attempt to be what we are not, and a refusal to admit being what we are. Köberle, *Quest for Holiness* p. 184