We are in the middle of our 21 days Annual Fast; we are in the second week. How many of you are fasting? You will experience the supernatural of God!
Fasting is a choice but also a sign of obedience.
If you say “I will fast when God lays it on my heart,” you never will. You are too cold and indifferent to take Jesus’ yoke upon you.
D.L. Moody
Jesus expects us to fast in the same way He expects us to pray!
We all believe that prayer is very important for Christians, but not everyone believes that fasting has the same importance.
Today’s word: Fasting – A neglected spiritual weapon
Fasting is a spiritual weapon that most Christians do not use and because of that their spiritual lives are stagnant.
Personally, I have seen huge breakthroughs and miracles in my life because of fasting. Miracles come from God and fasting is one of the ways in which we seek God and we must seek God with diligence.
The Bible says:
He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
Fasting is a way to seek God and of humbling yourself before Him.
When you humble yourself before the Lord in fasting, prayer and sacrifice then the gates of heaven are open over your life!
I have seen chains being broken. There were certain things I had battled with and the Lord gave me victory over these areas once I humbled myself through fasting.
Jesus fasted and also taught a lot about fasting, let’s see one of them.
“And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.””
Matthew 17:14-21 NKJV
The Bible speaks about a father whose son had been tormented by evil spirits from childhood.
How many of you have seen a person possessed by demons? It’s very sad and terrifying to see a person possessed by demons.
I have been working on the deliverance ministry for many years and I have set free hundreds of people from demons.
This father longed to see his son set free. He asked Jesus’ disciples for help with his troubled son. But Jesus’ disciples could not set his son free!
Then Jesus came, rebuked the demon, and it came out of him. The boy was set free!
When Jesus and his disciples got home, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
Jesus answered: Because of your unbelief – However “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.”
Mark 9:29
Here Jesus gave us a spiritual key and also a revelation! A spiritual weapon that has been neglected by many Christians.
Prayer is important, but in some circumstances, prayer alone is not enough!
He said there are some situations in our lives and in our family that we are only going to overcome if we Fast end Pray.
What are the situations in your life that you need a miracle?
Some of you need a miracle in your Health.
Some need financial breakthrough, others need papers, a better job.
Some of you are struggling in relationships, situations in your family, with your children.
We as the church are crying out for a new building. We are crying out for revival and for salvation of souls.
According to Jesus: There are some things that will not happen until we fast and pray.
Let’s see now what fasting does in our lives.
“Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.””
Matthew 17:17
Jesus said to his disciples : “O faithless and perverse generation!
Jesus called his disciples unbelievers and wicked.
In another words, Jesus was saying for his own disciples two things:
1st: You are faithless
You have no faith, you are unbelievers, you are walking with me, but disconnected from God.
You are disconnected from the Word of God, you are disconnected from my presence.
Because of your unbelief you’ll also experience fear, anxiety, hopelessness! Then, you cannot trust in God for miracles because of your lack of faith.
2nd: Jesus called his disciples: perverse
Jesus said: you are not connected to God but you are connected to the world, this world has perverted you!
This world contaminated you with sin: immorality, pornography, gossip, rebellion, addictions such as smoking, drinking, infidelity with tithes and offerings, etc.
You are faithless and perverse, but if you Fast and Pray, you will be transformed and the demons will obey you!
Prayer connects you to God. Fasting disconnects you from the World.
Fasting disconnects you from sin, from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
That’s why we are challenging everyone in Church to join in these 21 days of fasting and prayer.
Last week we learned about Daniel fasting. Daniel fasted for 21 days and after three weeks an Angel came and said: because you continued fasting, because you humbled yourself, your prayers were heard!
Fasting and prayer move and change the spiritual realm. The Angel came in response of Daniel’s obedience and sacrifice.
Can you see how fasting releases the Unseen World?
There is the connection between the physical action we do here and the spiritual power that is released.
When you offer your body as a living sacrifice, God releases his favour!
And this is a time in which God is calling you and I to His presence. In these 21 days there should be less of you and more of Him.
This is a strategic moment in our lives when God is challenging us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
You don’t have to do it, you’re NOT going to be “more” saved if you fast, but this is a divine challenge and also a sign of obedience.
Physical acts of obedience to God release the spiritual world.
I want to show you what happens in the unseen world when we fast and pray.
I want to speak about a true story from the book of Exodus because it has a profound lesson to teach us today.
In book of exodus 17 there is a tremendous story about prayer, fasting and the Spiritual World.
This is the story of Moses, Joshua and the children of Israel fighting against the Amalekites.
In this Bible event,
God told Moses to go up the mountain and lift his hands towards heaven
and told Joshua to go the battle field to fight against the Amalekites.
God commanded Moses to keep his hands lifted up to win the battle. Let’s read Exodus 17:11
“And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.”
Exodus 17:11 NKJV
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
As long Moses had his hand up, as God told him to do, as long as he was in physical obedience, He was winning the battle in the unseen world because of his physical obedience!
But when Moses became weary and his hands began to come down the Amalekites would begin to defeat Israel.
As long as he was in physical obedience, he was winning the battle in the unseen world!
This story is important because it reinforces the fact that physical obedience brings spiritual release!
There is a connection between what we do physically and what happens spiritually.
What we do here with our physical body makes a difference in what happens in the spiritual world!
Angels were released in that battle when Moises raised his hand physically!
If Moses’ hands started coming down then the enemy started winning the battle!
The bible is full of mentions of angels, but today we don’t hear much about angels,
the modern church doesn’t talk about supernatural things and we don’t hear about angels.
In these 21 days, we need to seek God with all our heart!
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV
We need to show God that we are hungry for Him and nothing else can satisfy us!
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
Psalms 63:1
How is your thirst and hunger for God? Many people are in church for years but now have no more hunger for God!
The only thing that will move you out of your comfort zone is your hunger for God. And hunger will drive you and push you to have a new life in God’s presence!
Fasting is hungering for God!
It’s the hunger that you have for God that will move you towards the direction and purpose and miracles that God has for you.
There are things that God will do for His people when they hunger for Him, because fasting is hungering for God.
When you begin to hunger for God suddenly you move out of your comfort zone, out of depression, out of self-pity and out of your carnality.
Hunger for God changes our attitude and opens our eyes to bigger things.
This hunger drives you to a point of spiritual desperation that you are going to say: I’m not going to have another year like I did, I cannot sit in this addiction for another year, I refuse to keep living like this.
The price for being used by God is breaking yourself.
That’s how fasting helps us.
Fasting is not trying to get more of God, fasting is about God getting more of you!
The real reason why I fast, to be honest, is because I still feel my own inability, I’m unprepared, I feel unprepared to do what God has called me to do, although I have some gifts, I know they mean nothing if God is not working through them!
When I’m fasting, I’m recognising my dependence on God for this new year!
Because I don’t want to try to do things through the power of my flesh!
When you’re fasting, you’re telling God, I need you, I need the anointing of the Holy Spirit!
Please do not neglect this spiritual weapon, because fasting transforms your life.
When you fast, even if God hasn’t revealed His purpose to you yet, He will guide you, He will close doors that were opened before and He will open doors that are not open right now. He will call you and lead you to His purpose.
God will unlock His will in your life. Why? because fasting is humbling yourself and God exalts those who humble themselves!
Fasting is not showing up, is not saying look at me because I’m fasting. Fasting is about denial not self-glorification.
When you fast, the Bible says He will reveal His perfect will to you.
How many of you receive this word from God? God is calling to fast and pray! Listen to His voice.
God bless you,