As we enter a new year and new season, we must get ready for all the great things in store for us!
As we do every year, we must start the year off by placing God first!
Today I want to encourage you all to start our annual 21 Days of Fasting from 8th to 28th January.
When you fast, you partner up with God. He wishes to have a divine partnership with us, especially in fasting and prayer. We must pray daily for our families, our lives, and His purpose on earth.
Fasting is a powerful spiritual discipline that aligns our hearts more closely with the heart of God and empowers us to have breakthroughs in some very specific areas.
When we fast, miracles happen, strongholds are broken and God liberates us from prisons. Through fasting our vision shifts and God is able to release His power our life.
I challenge you not only to change the food you eat – give up desired food, but also to try a period of time without any food, because fasting is abstinence from food.
What can fasting do in our lives?
Fasting – going without food and seeking God, is a hunger strike against hell.
Fasting causes us to seek and see vertical solutions to horizontal issues.
Fasting will fast-track your prayers.
Fasting will break the yoke of bondages.
Fasting will release God’s power and will bring about His supernatural.
Fasting will bring divine wisdom to life’s perplexing problems.
Fasting will humble our heart and bring us to walk in new awareness of God’s divine purpose in our lives.
Fasting brings about supernatural protection and miraculous provisions.
Fasting will give you renewed favour with people.
Fasting brings heavens answers and hell’s defeat.
Fasting makes all the difference!
What happens in the unseen world when we fast and pray?
There is the connection between our physical action and the spiritual power that is released through them.(Fast and pray)
When you offer your body as a living sacrifice, God releases His favour. And during this time God is calling you and I to His presence.
It’s less of you and more of Him.
There is a time and strategic moment in our lives which God comes not with a demand but with a challenge!
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 sign of obedience.
What you do physically in obedience to God has repercussions in the spiritual world.
I want to show you what happens in the unseen world when we fast and pray. I want to tell you a true story from the book of Exodus because it has profound lessons to teach us today.
In the book of exodus 17 there is a tremendous story about prayer, obedience and the Spiritual World.
This is the story of Moses and the Amalekites. Moses, Joshua and the children of Israel was fighting against the Amalekites. (Their enemies)
In this Bible event, God told Moses to go up the mountain and lift his hands towards heaven and told Joshua to go to the battle field to fight against the Amalekites meanwhile.
God commanded Moses to keep his hands lifted up so Joshua could 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 up, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites would start winning.
As long Moses as had his hands up, as God told him to do, as long 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 defeat Israel would be defeated.
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 victory!
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!
Remember that it was God who told Moses to do this and whenever he felt tired and stopped following God’s instructions the Angels would withdraw and the enemy would begin to win.
It is your prayers, your fasting, your life of worship, your faithfulness in tithes and offerings, your surrender and consecration to God that will release the supernatural and the angels of God in your favour!
Malachi 3:10 speaks about it: Because of your obedience and faithfulness in tithes and offerings God will rebuke the devourer!
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!“. Malachi 3:10
““And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,” Says the Lord of hosts;” Malachi 3:11
God said: Try me! Put it to a test! If you do it, I will rebuke the devourer!
Some people may say to me: Pastor I don’t give my tithe because I don’t have enough!
But don’t you give to God because you don’t have enough?
Or You don’t you have enough because you don’t give anything to God?
Our physical obedience brings spiritual release!
The bible is full of mentions of angels, but today we don’t hear much more about angels, the modern church doesn’t talk about supernatural things anymore.
Let’s read some Bible verses which mention angels.
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve (to render service) those who will inherit salvation?”
Hebrews 1:14
“And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”
Hebrews 1:7
“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
Psalms 34:7
The angels of God are spirits who render services for those who have been saved! God said: I will release Angels and they will be dispatched into the situation.
As long as Moises obeyed God’s commands – as long as he did what God told him to do, a physical act – the battle was won because of what he was doing physically.
If his hands went down they began to lose the battle!
Many defeats in our lives are not God’s will, they may have happened because our lack of fasting, prayer and faithfulness.
Some people say “I don’t need to do anything to show that I love God because He knows I love Him in my heart!”
“I feel that I love the Lord and I worship Him on the inside, on my heart. I don’t need to go to church, I don’t need to take part in Cell Meetings, I don’t need to fast, I don’t need to pray, because God knows everything and He knows I love Him”
But if you tell your wife or husband: “I love you on the inside so I don’t need to prove it to you with my actions”. They are are going to question you! Do you really love me?
Jesus asked to Peter : Peter do you love me ? Yes I do Sir, then feed my sheep! John 21:15
Do you love Jesus? Offer your body as a living sacrifice!
Do you love Jesus? Then invest your time in the kingdom of God!
Do you love Jesus? Come to Prayer meetings.
Do you love Jesus? Take part in a Cell Meeting.
Do you love Jesus? Give back to God your tithes and offerings
We should express our love to God with physical acts.
Nowadays, everything gets reduced down to feelings and there is no more emphasis on physical obedience.
God says: sometimes I demand of my people a physical act of obedience before I release a spiritual reward.
There is a connection between the physical action here and the spiritual power that is released because of it.
Physical obedience releases help, protection, healing, miracles and spiritual power!
When you begin to fast and pray, you release God’s supernatural power and forces of heaven.
Fasting is an act of obedience and a way of humbling yourself!
Fasting is a way of saying: I don’t want pride in my life!
Some people are proud and they don’t even know it.
I usually say it: Pride is like bad breath. Everyone knows you have it, except you.
Those who are near you, know it. They can smell your pride !
If you want to know, ask those around you, your parents, leaders and pastor, because they know !
Did you know that the first sin ever committed was because of pride? The first sin after creation was pride! Pride got turned an angel into the devil!
According to the scriptures, Lucifer was an arch Angel that was in a holy place, in a high position, and because of his arrogance he was cast out of there!
Think about it! Pride can turn an Angel into a devil!
Pride also prevents many people of entering the Kingdom of God!
Pride can destroy your ministry, your calling, your spiritual life, your financial life and your health.
I don’t want pride to get a hold of me!
If we were to be honest, we would all have to say: there are times where we begin to feel self-sufficient!
That’s why fasting is so powerful!
That’s why in the beginning of this year we are saying: Holy Spirit I need you, Holy Spirit fill me up again, I humble myself!
Humility is not putting yourself down, Humility is lifting Jesus up in your life!
I challenge you to keep fasting and keep your faith in these next 21 days. If you are on holidays and cannot fast now, start your 21 days next month or when you’re back, but please have your 21 days of fasting.
I also challenge you to make fasting part of your routine, don’t only fast once a year, take every week to have a day of fasting. In the same way that we tithe and pray and read Bible daily, we have to fast frequently.
Remember praying and fasting releases an spiritual action, releases the angels to work and help you .
Fasting is an act of obedience, it’s a way of humbling yourself!
Do you love Jesus? Then offer your body as a living sacrifice.
How to start your 21 days of fasting?
1- Writing down your fasting plan. Writing it down is a good preparation!
This is a public fasting invitation for this church, but in the private you should determine how you’ll do it.
2- Determine how you’ll do it. You should determine how many days are you going to give up food (not eat) during this period of 21 days, how many meals are you going to fast, when you eat, what exactly are you going to be allowed to eat? What kinds of food will you give up?
3- We’re fasting food but we also should avoid distractions. We advise you to stay off the internet, facebook, instagram, limit watching the news, you need to use your time wisely, avoiding social activities and using this time for time with God mainly and prayer.
4- Take time to listen to praise and worship. Pray as often as you can throughout the day. Get away from the normal distractions as much as possible and keep your heart and mindset on seeking God’s face.
Your physical obedience will release the supernatural of God on your life!
At the end of this Fast you will have the opportunity to share many miracles that happened and will happen this year!
May the Lord bless and keep you!