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“A HEART FOR FASTING”
As we begin this New Year I know in my own heart I feel a sense of
urgency, I always do, to examine my heart and to examine my life and to examine
how I feel about God. Is He number one in my life? Is He the top priority and goal
and dream that I have for the New Year?
I’m going to teach you some brand new material that the Lord has given me
on the subject of fasting. Why do we begin every year here at the ministry with a
21 day fast? Simply because it releases God to do the unusual and to do what He
will not do until people fast and pray. I am convinced of that. Every year we begin
with a 21 day fast because the Bible said, “seek first the kingdom and then things
will be added to you.” That’s spiritual, physical, and emotional; in every area I
believe the addition comes as we seek the Lord in fasting and prayer at the
beginning of the year.
I want to teach you about preparing your heart for this fast. Most people by
this time at the beginning of the year are tired of overeating. You’ve eaten cakes,
pies, turkey and dressing and everything that you can imagine. And that’s all great
and that’s all fine and we should celebrate the season, but now its time to set
yourself apart to seek God for His agenda in your life for the New Year.
First of all, I want you to know that there are some things you need to ask
yourself before you begin a fast, three specific things. Number one you need to
ask yourself, “What are my motives for fasting?” Why are you fasting and is your
motive pure? To be very honest, some people do it, especially in a church like we
have here, because everybody else is doing it. Well, that’s good and I know that
there are fasts that are called and you ought to jump in on those fasts but I really
believe that you need to be led by God. I really believe that our motive needs to be
looked at. Some people fast to lose weight because they ate too much and their
pants are tight at the beginning of the year. So they see it as a good way to lose
weight and there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re certainly going to lose weight
but that should not be why you’re fasting. The primary goal should not be, “I’m
going to lose weight.” If you go into a fast with a frivolous attitude that says, “I’m
going to fast chocolate” or something like that, then you won’t get serious results.
This is not about losing weight. This is about consecrating ourselves, examining
ourselves, seeking God’s face, emptying ourselves and saying, “God I desperately
need you.” “I don’t want to do this year without your best released into my life.”
Fasting releases God’s best into your life. You can do what you can do, but you
can’t do what God can do. Fasting releases God’s best for your family, God’s best
for your career, God’s best for your ministry. And so I want you to first of all,
examine your motive.
Secondly, you should consider some things before fasting. What results are
you looking for? What are the specific needs that you’re fasting for? Always in the
Bible when people fasted they did so for specific needs. They didn’t just go on a
fast to go on a fast. You should write your needs down. You should pin-point or jot
down what I call “a hit list.” Be it fasting for your children, your finances or
healing; target those areas with fasting and prayer.
And thirdly, you should ask yourself. “Am I determined on this fast to
minister to the Lord?” We always want the Lord to minister to us, but in Acts
Chapter 13 the Bible said, “and they ministered unto the Lord.” What thrills me
about what we’re doing as we go into this fast is that we are going to minister unto
the Lord. For some joining us it will be a partial fast. For some it will be a total
fast. Many of us will be fasting the whole 21 days either total fast or partial fast.
The bottom line is this: when you fast it’s a time that you minister unto the Lord
according to Acts the 13th chapter.
Zechariah 7 verse 5 is a very strange Scripture that explains why you need to
be very careful about your motive on a fast. It says, “Speak unto all the people of
the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and
seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?”
He is asking, “are you fasting for the things that glorify me or are you fasting for
the things that I desire?” “Are you fasting for me or are you fasting to get what you
want?” Check your motive as you begin this fast because it’s very important. First
Corinthians 10:7 says, “Don’t be as the idolaters who sat and ate and drank and
rose up to play and whose bellies are their gods.” Did you know that’s in the
Scripture? God said one way that we can become an idolater; a false worshipper is
to allow our belly to become our god. So what fasting does is it tears the flesh off
of the throne, fasting brings the flesh off of the throne, it dethrones king stomach.
First Corinthians 9:27 says, “I bring my body under subjection.” Do you know that
as you fast you bring your body under subjection and you get stronger in areas that
you’ve been weak? In those areas that you’ve been letting slide such as the lust of
the flesh; those areas as you fast, begin to surface and you get stronger in the Lord.
The Bible says, “Present your body as a living sacrifice.” There ought to be a time
every year when we present our body. I don’t know of any other way we present
our physical body to God greater than through fasting. I like what Paul went on to
say, “… as a living sacrifice.” Isn’t that powerful? A sacrifice was something they
killed and it was given to God forever. Well, I submit to you that when you fast,
the meals that you give up, you give to God forever, they’re forever as a memorial
before His throne…hallelujah. You can’t ever take back the days that you fasted
you can’t ever get back the sacrifice that you made. They become living always
before the throne of God. Do you have any living sacrifice? Have you presented
your body ever in your Christian walk as a living sacrifice to God? That’s what
we’re doing these 21 days.
Every time I fast, I get closer to God… every time. I’ve never gone on a fast
whether it’s a one day fast or a three day fast or a 21 day fast, that I didn’t draw
closer to God. And the presence of God will become more real to your life. My
prayers take on a power edge when I fast. My prayers become empowered.
There’s something about prayer and fasting that go together. You need to pray and
focus and have seasons of prayer on the fast whether you feel like it or not. Pray,
pray, pray because fasting gives fuel to your prayers. It energizes, it activates your
prayer life.
I want to give you seven biblical reasons to fast. You may be asking yourself,
“Should I fast?” “Why should I fast?” Well there are certain times when the Bible
is very clear of when people should fast.
Reason number one, people should fast when they’re in crisis. In the book of
Esther the 4th chapter and the 16th verse, Queen Esther says to Mordecai, Haman is
going to kill all of the Jews. She tells Mordecai to have all the people fast three
days with her so that she would have favor to go into the presence of the king. Do
you know one thing that the three day fast will do for you? It will put favor on your
life in the time of crisis. When you get in a crisis the Bible is very clear that one of
the greatest things that you can do when you feel overwhelmed, when you’re being
threatened, when it seems like the enemy’s coming in like a flood, the thing that
stops him in his tracks is fasting. It worked for Esther. The attack turned around.
You know the story; Haman was hung on the gallows that he meant to destroy
Esther and her people with. Are you in a crisis? Are you facing overwhelming
odds? Fast, because it brings God on the scene.
In Acts 9:9, Paul fasted three days. He was in a major crisis because he was a
Pharisee who had been converted and the Pharisees were looking to kill him. So
Paul fasted for three days. I believe that if Paul had not fasted those three days
right after his conversion, that he would have been killed by the Pharisees. In their
eyes he was a traitor. But fasting brought deliverance in time of crisis. It will work
for you, right now.
Reason number two is found in Daniel the 10th chapter the 2nd and 3rd verse. It
says, “in those days I, Daniel was mourning three full weeks, (that’s 21 days), I ate
no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine to my mouth til three whole weeks
were fulfilled.” Daniel fasted for three weeks or 21 days. He ate no bread, he ate no
meat and he drank no wine. Therefore, when you do the Daniel Fast you are to not
eat bread, no meat of any type: fish, chicken, steak, and drink only water.
Why was he fasting? Daniel the 9th chapter 3rd verse, says, “I set my face into the
Lord to seek the Lord about the vision.” I want you to notice something here, God
had given him a vision. Do you have a vision? Just because God has given you a
vision, it doesn’t mean that it will come to pass. It could be a vision about our
families, a vision about our ministries, a vision about the call and the purpose of
God upon our life. But notice that Daniel went on a 21 day fast to seek the Lord
and the angel showed him that he was greatly loved and received understanding
about the vision. It’s a powerful thing when you understand that fasting releases
revelation and understanding and clarity about the vision God has for your life.
Many of you have a vision but you don’t know how to get there. Many of you have
a vision but it seems like you’re stuck in the same place. When you fast,
miraculously God will release it. I’ve watched God do it in this ministry. There
were many times that I didn’t know how to get from one level to the next. I had the
vision. One time I had a vision for TV, but we didn’t have money, we didn’t have
cameras, we didn’t have any of that. But as you fast He releases divine ideas and
insights. He releases understanding; He releases the right people into your life.
Fasting releases the understanding of how to accomplish the vision. Without a
vision people perish. If you want clarity, if you want to know how to go to the next
level in the vision God has given you for the New Year, you need to fast.
The third reason is found in Leviticus 23 and 27. Here it speaks of a one day fast.
He said, “also on the tenth of the seventh month then shall there be a day of
atonement for you and it shall be a holy convocation and you shall afflict your
souls and fast and offer an offering.” Notice what God was saying, He was asking
his people to fast for one day for consecration. It’s an annual fast to re-examine our
life spiritually. Isn’t that a powerful reason to fast? That’s what we are doing to
begin the year. We are fasting to consecrate ourselves and to re-examine our lives
spiritually. How am I doing spiritually? You need to ask yourself that. How close
am I to you God? How is my heart? Am I being loose? Am I living as consecrated
as I used to? Am I reading my Bible? How are you doing spiritually? That’s what
this fast ought to do in your life. It’s confirmed in Jeremiah 6:36, “therefore during
this day of fasting he said, therefore go and read the scroll of the words of the Lord
in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day.” There ought to
be fasting days in your life where you just use them to re-examine your life, to re-
examine your self spiritually. We’re in the fasting day and we’re going to commit
to focus on His Word. When you read the Word and focus on prayer and re-
examine yourselves spiritually, God will bless you.
According to book of Matthew the 9th chapter the Pharisees fasted two days a
week, and Jesus said, our religion ought to exceed that of the Pharisees. I’m not
saying that you have to fast two days a week, but I’m just telling you that it was
part of their life. Martin Luther told converts, new converts, to fast at least once a
week. Isn’t that something? Once a week he had new converts to fast. Now we
have to follow up on them, we have to beg them to come back to church. But
Martin Luther taught that if you want to be a Christian, after you get washed in the
blood of Jesus and you want some power and some stability in your walk, fast one
day a week. I love that, I wished we’d get back to that. What will happen is things
will surface in our lives during the fast that have been grieving the Holy Spirit.
In Ezra, 8:23, he said, “so we fasted and besought our God for this and He was
entreated of us.” Why did they fast and seek Him? Because God always responds
to people who fast.
The fourth reason is found in Judges the 20th chapter. This is one of the most
amazing stories. It’s the story of Israel going against the tribe of Benjamin because
they had greatly sinned against God. God told Israel and the other tribes to fight
the tribe of Benjamin. The Bible said they asked God, “Should we go?” God said,
“Yes.” So they go and fight the battle and Israel lost 22,000 men in one battle. It’s
amazing to me that God could lead them to a battle and yet they were defeated.
God told them to go but instead of victory they had defeat. Some of you are in
circumstances that God lead you to; God told you to do it and yet you’re defeated.
But go back and read what happened. The Bible says they wept. They wept for 24
hours; they cried. Have you ever cried all day and cried all night? Your heart was
so heavy; you were so humiliated by what was going on. Maybe it was a situation
with one of your children and you were defeated. Even though you knew God told
you to do it, you tried and you failed. The Bible said they went back to God the
next day and they said, “God, shall we go?” “Should we go?” “Did we miss you?”
“God, what did we do wrong?” And God said. “Go, I’m telling you go fight them.”
They went and guess what happened? The next day and they lost 18,000. That’s
40,000 people! God spoke twice, gave them the direction, told them what to do and
yet they encountered disaster. Some times we know God has spoken to us and we
rush in to do what He’s told us to do but we’ve not prepared ourselves like we
should. Therefore, we suffer defeat. Verse 26 says, “…and all the children of Israel
went and sat before the Lord and wept and watched and fasted that day.” What did
they do? They fasted. The only difference between what had happened the
previous two times and this time when they’re about to go to battle is that they put
a day of fasting behind it. They offered burnt offerings before the Lord. They
fasted and they gave an offering and they completely defeated their enemy in the
next battle. What happened? What was the difference? The Lord told me to tell
you… never go into a major battle even when God’s given you the direction; never
go into a major battle without fasting. God didn’t say fast because they should’ve
known to fast. In verse 28 the Lord said, “go up for tomorrow I will deliver them
into your hand.” He said this after they had fasted. You see, you fast for
deliverance. Mark chapter 9 teaches that there are certain kinds of evil spirits who
hold and power will never be broken over people’s lives without fasting and
prayer. I believe that would include such spirits as drug addiction, alcoholism, and
sexual perversion. Deliverance from demons comes only through fasting and
prayer. See, they prayed and nothing happened. But when they prayed and fasted,
the victory came.
The fifth reason to fast is found in I Kings 21 verses 27-28. Ahab was wicked and
he was married to a wicked woman. He was a weak man married to a wicked
woman; that’s a dangerous combination. The Bible said that God pronounced
judgment on Ahab. He said, “the dogs will lick up your blood Ahab.” In I Kings
21: 27-29 it says, Ahab humbled himself and fasted and God said because he
humbled himself in fasting, I will not judge him. Even the most wicked people,
when they fast, can see judgment lifted. Do you know someone who’s living
wickedly and they know better? Fast for them on these 21 days because you can
lift the judgment off of their life and provide a space of grace.
The sixth reason is found in I Samuel chapter 30. Here we read about an Egyptian
who was sick and fasted for three days. Afterwards and he was healed. Fasting
helps the body eliminate itself of toxins. I believe fasting is one of the healthiest
things you can do for your body. Many physicians agree. You seek the advice of
your physician if you’re on medication. If you are having health issues, there are
certain diseases that would prevent you from fasting. But the bottom line is we
have watched it year after year there are some miracles of healing that come when
people fast. And I agree with you for your healing. Healing is released through
fasting.
Reason number seven to fast is found in Luke chapter 4. Fasting releases
dominion. Jesus went on a 40 day fast because Adam lost dominion by eating. The
first thing that Jesus did during his earthly ministry was go on a 40 day fast to
recapture the dominion Adam lost in the garden. Jesus got power back in the
wilderness. You can fast and see your breakthrough. The Lord told me to tell you
that you would see breakthrough on this fast. For those who participate in the 21
day fast there will come breakthrough answers to problems. Breakthrough ideas
will be released; insight and creativity. There will be breakthrough financial
provision; blessing of the Lord; unusual financial provision is tied to fasting.
There will be a breakthrough in health. Fasting is going to bring His presence, His
power and His provision. His best will be released in your life.
Father, I thank you that thousands of people are hearing the call to join us on this
fast. I thank you that you are going to give them the grace and the help to do it. We
agree for everything that we’ve learned to be released into people’s lives and that
this will be a time for great spiritual awakening in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen and
amen.
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