“God humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 8:3
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Matthew 5:6
Are you hungry for God? Do you want more of Him?
We are starting tomorrow our Annual 21 days of Fasting!
I’m so excited for what God is going to do after these 21 days!
He’s gonna do something mighty in your life !
I’m expecting great things from God in this new year! But you need to get ready!
I’m expecting miracles, the salvation of many people, Spiritual release, God’s favour, Spiritual Power of the Holy Spirit, health , protection, healings, blessings, a new building for our church, revival in Ireland and a strong and tangible presence of God in our Services in 2020!
But in order to receive all of this, we need to be prepared, we need to get ready!
We are going to start fasting tomorrow on 3rd February (Monday) and finish it on 24th February.
The challenge in these 21 days is to give up some meals in weekdays and instead just eat vegetables, fruit and water.
No meat, no bread, no sweets, no desserts, no coffee, no desirable food.
This is not an obligation, every one should pray and decide how to fast, because some people cannot fast for a long time – due to health problems, for example, but every one should do their best for God’s Glory!
You’re fasting food but you should also limit internet, and give up on facebook, Twitter, instagram and social media.
Also try to limit watching the news, Why?
Because you need to use your time wisely, you should have your time with God everyday.
You should give up Facebook and instead try FaceBible!
This fasting is not for you to receive things from God, but if you fast, your spiritual life is going to be radically transformed!
This fasting is very healthy, it’s very good for your body (because you are probably going to lose weight) but the main benefit is the spiritual growth that you are going to have if you do it right, if you do it for Him! Because it’s possible to fast but without doing it for Him!
“so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:18
But if you fast to draw near to Jesus, it will profoundly affect your life because when you make time for God, when you sacrifice for God you receive from Him the reward.
During the fast focus on the Word of God, and also have time for personal prayer and come to prayer meetings then you are going to see many miracles.
What we are saying to God when we fast is: We put you first, we’re seeking your direction, we seek you Jesus and we’re hungry for you.
I want to ask you a question: Are you hungry for God? Are you willing to say in 2020, I’m not willing to finish this year like I did last year.
I’m not willing to sit here and repeat the same mistakes I did last year because I’m hungry and fasting is being hungry for God.
In our journey 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 there is no more hunger for God!
Sometimes the least likely people are the most hungry, because hunger can do for you what talent and gifting cannot do for you.
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 live like this again.
For better or worse, hunger will always drive you to take desperate measures! Hunger can bless you or destroy you!
There is an example in the Bible in Genesis 25 about Esau and Jacob.
Esau came home from a hunting trip.
The bible said he was so hungry that his brother Jacob came out and said: I offer you a bowl of lentils if you give me your birthright.
“Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?””
Genesis 25:31-32
In a moment of weakness, he did not think of God, he tried to use carnal things to satisfy his hunger for God.
He exchanged spiritual things for food!
That’s why fasting is so important, this is for you dad, this is for you mum, this is for you college student.
God says: There are things that you will never reach until you hunger for God.
Matthew 5:6 says: Those who hunger for righteousness shall be filled.
The Bible said that Esau lost his birthright because he fed that real hunger with silly things instead of spiritual food from God.
Now I’m going to show you another example in the bible.
Do you remember the story of the prodigal son? He decided to go out from his father’s house and that destroyed his life.
What got the prodigal son out of the pig pen? What made he come back home to his father? What was it?
It wasn’t the smell of pigs! It wasn’t the disappointment of having his friends abandon him after he spent all of his money!
There was only one thing that brought him back to the Father!
Luke 15:17 he asked a question :
““When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”
Luke 15:17-18
I perish with hunger, I’m starving to death!
The thing that drove the prodigal son out of the Pigpen to the love and Grace of his father’s house was: he was hungry!
It’s hunger that will cause prodigal sons and daughters to return. It will happen when somebody is fasting for them.
Hunger will wake them up in the pigpen. Hunger will wake them up from their addictions, hunger will wake up the backslider.
When we begin to fast, when we begin to pray for our families, for our sons, our daughters, when we do that, God says: I will use hunger as the force that drives and pushes them on to the path back to the father’s house.
When nothing else works Jesus said Fasting and Prayer is the only solution !
28 When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could not we cast it out?”
29 He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.””
Mark 9:25-29
Jesus said there are some circumstances that cannot be changed except by fasting and praying.
There are some situations we are facing that look impossible to be solved, there are some of our family members, our friends, people that we work with, people that we meet every day, and they are lost, they are on their way to hell and the only thing that’s gonna get them out of the darkness and into the father’s house is hunger!
When nothing else works Jesus said Fasting and Prayer is the only solution !
Fasting is hungering for God.
My brothers and sisters, there are some situations in your life, in your family, your health, your finances, your marriage, your spiritual life that the Bible said: This kind of evil spirit will only lose and release its grip from the people you love and the situation will only change with fasting and praying!
When we begin to pray and fast, our hunger will heal our families.
Do you know why you have difficulty in relationships with people ?
Why don’t you talk to certain people? Why do you keep fighting with others and cannot fix broken relationships?
Because your flesh is so strong and alive and only fasting will kill and destroy your flesh and your old self.
We need to quit devouring one another! Only hunger for God will fix your attitude, fix your words, fix your anger, your bad temper, fix your bitterness and your unforgiveness.
When we begin to pray and to fast we stop consuming one another and we start consuming God.
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Seek first means early in the new year, seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things – dreams, direction, papers, documents, healing , protection, blessings, wisdom, favour… All these other things will be added to you when you seek me first!
He sought you when you were lost and now you have to seek Him !
PRAYER
I’m going to ask you to pray this prayer and to say to the Lord :
Lord I really want you to awaken something in me because I want to be changed and transformed.
I want to to be thirsty and hungry for you Lord.
Just like I crave delicious food I want to crave Your Word and Your presence.
I want to crave the seasoning of prayer when I get broken.
Lord I come before you these 21 days, I’m going to do something that I’ve never done, I want you to do something you have never done in my life.
I want you to touch me, I want you to move me, I want to move out of my comfort zone.
I want you to make me hungry, to align me for your divine purpose and plan.
May this be a year of breakthrough, a year that mighty things happen, may this be a year that you God visit my life and I will look back and say in 2020 you opened my eyes, you showed me what I had never dreamed of, you showed me your will, you showed who you are!
In the mighty name of Jesus Lord we give ourselves to fast and to pray and seek your face, to humble ourselves before you.
Would you break us, I’m coming after you the next 21 days, I’m going to seek your face oh God and I’m asking you to visit Shalom Ministry and visit our lives, visit our families, and visit our homes . God we need you in this new year, I’m hungry for you!
In Jesus mighty Name!