Prayer with Fasting is Powerful!
Scripture: Matthew 17:1-17:21
READ: Mark 2:18-20 (NKJ) 18The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days
Note Jesus’ words - “Then they will fast”.
Charles Spurgeon said the condition of the church
can be accurately gauged by its prayer meetings
1. Jesus knew there would come a time when He would not be
physically present any longer with His disciples / with the
church.
2. Perilous times would come when supernatural strength
would be needed. “Then they will fast IN THOSE DAYS.”
3. Church, we are living in such days today - the Bridegroom is
absent and our needs for spiritual power are SO very great.
4. Jesus intends for us to seek after God with great prayer and
fasting.
5. I believe that there is great power in the principles of
prayer with fasting. But so many people either
a.) ignore fasting (“it’s not for me”), or
b.) misunderstand what fasting is all about, and what is
required for true Christian fasting.
6. In order to see something of the power of prayer and fasting, we need to turn to another passage of Scripture: MATTHEW 17:1-21. [READ.]
7. Jesus returns from His transfiguration, having been aside in
the mountains with Peter, James and John.
8. Upon His return down, they are met by the other disciples
and the crowd of people who were following Jesus to see
the miracles He might perform. And the first thing that
we see is waiting for Jesus is:
1. AN UNMET NEED.
READ v16. 16So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
A. There was a need that Jesus’ disciples could not
meet - it was beyond their resources (human or
spiritual).
1. Previous to this, Jesus had already given His disciples the authority to heal the sick and cast out demons in His Name.
2. And they went about preaching Jesus’ message of the Kingdom of God, and they healed and delivered just as Jesus said that they would.
B. BUT NOW they have struck a need that is obviously too great for them.
1. This young man, so violently afflicted with a devil that tormented him - and the disciples, no matter what they attempted, had been unable to deal with it.
2. There was an UNMET NEED.
C. Let’s not be too quick to criticize the disciples for their inability here.
1. Haven’t we all been in those places where we have tried with all that we have to find an answer in our lives, or in the life of some other poor friend needing help?
2. We’ve tried everything; we’ve exhausted all our spiritual resources, and still the need is left seemingly unmet.
3. The sickness remains; the situation is unchanged; the person is unaffected/unsaved/unchallenged. The need is unmet! What are we to do?
D. Jesus came down from the mountain, where He and His closest associates had been in the presence of God, to be faced with this unmet need.
1. They come down from the presence of God where anything and everything is perfect and the possibilities are unlimited - back to the grim realities of life.
(Ever been in a powerful church meeting where you experienced such a touch of God that you felt you could turn the world upside-down, only to go out and bump into someone down the street that you’ve been praying for and there’s no discernible change in them - in fact they seem worse than ever?! You feel the wind leave your sails very quickly. You are confronted by the dilemma - the failure - the tragedy.)
2. Jesus and His associates came down the mountain to face AN UNMET NEED.
a. BUT I praise God that Jesus is the MASTER OF THE UNMET NEED.
b. If you have some situation in your life today that you have no answer for - my friend, your hope is JESUS. He is the Master of the unmet need! Nothing is too hard for Him. Hallelujah!
READ v17-18.
17Then 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.” 18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
c. In a moment of time, Jesus turns the situation around. What seemed impossible has been accomplished!
d. When all resources were expended - Jesus reaches out His miracle hand and supernatural power flows. (Don’t you love it.)
It’s all very wonderful, but it starts the disciples minds racing. There’s no longer an unmet need, but now they have been left with:
2. AN UNANSWERED QUESTION.
READ v19. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
A. They’d had answers to prayer before, you see. They’d ministered effectively at times - they’d had SOME successes.
1. So what was different this time? “Why could WE not cast out this demon?”
“Oh, Lord, we tried everything we knew how. We prayed just as we’ve heard You pray for people. We got louder and louder, and sweatier and sweatier. What went wrong? We were so frustrated! Where did we go wrong?”
2. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been right where those
disciples were so many times. “Why Lord?” UNANSWERED
QUESTIONS.
2. The disciples had an unanswered question: “Why could WE not cast him out?”
But to their question, Jesus gives:
3. AN UNEXPECTED REPLY.
READ v20-21. 20So 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. 21£However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
A. The enemy will do anything to keep Christians from fasting! Let me read the verses to you again from the New King James Version … [read].
Jesus says, “Lads, you only need a little bit of that faith of yours and you can move mountains - let me encourage you. Don’t doubt the power of faith in God for a moment. HOWEVER (I’m going to let you in on a little tip), this kind of demonic problem does not go out EXCEPT BY PRAYER AND FASTING.”
B. There are needs that are especially great - obstacles that have a whole different dimension of difficulty about them.
SOME things require a specific breakthrough in the heavenlies - they are spiritual problems, spiritually discerned, and they require spiritual power to break them.
C. And Jesus says that there is a way to obtain the spiritual power to break through such needs - and here is the substance of my message to you today …
GODLY PRAYER, WITH FASTING, RELEASES BREAKTHROUGH SPIRITUAL POWER.
D. When Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil, He entered into a prolonged season of prayer and FASTING - 40 days in all
1. Luke 4:14 says that after that time He returned “IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT”.
2. Jesus was clearly anointed of God from the time of his Baptism by John in the Jordan.
3. But something was clearly released in a whole new dimension through that period of prayer and fasting.
4. Otherwise Luke wouldn’t have mentioned it the way that he does.
GODLY PRAYER, WITH FASTING, RELEASES BREAKTHROUGH SPIRITUAL POWER.
D. Jesus knew this great value of fasting, and He developed a lifestyle of prayer and fasting.
1. He’d been fasting prior to this incident with the demon-possessed boy
2. (He cast it out and said the reason He’d been able to was because “this kind only come out by prayer and fasting”. What’s the implication? Jesus had been fasting.)
E. Jesus was ready for every occasion of life and ministry BECAUSE He developed a lifestyle of prayer with fasting.
THERE IS GREAT POWER RELEASED THROUGH THESE PRINCIPLES.
A. Now you ask me “WHY?” Well, to be honest, I don’t understand it all.
1. But then there’s a lot about prayer that is divine mystery.
a. Why does God move in answer to prayer?
b. Why does He require us to pray? I don’t know! But I know the truth of it.
E.M. Bounds wrote: “God’s cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men. PRAYING MEN are the vice regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans”.
B. I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PRAYER! I believe it is ordained of God! God does NOTHING except in answer to believing prayer.
1. And why is FASTING so productive in releasing spiritual power?
2. I don’t have the full answer to that, but the Word of God teaches it is so.
3 Things that fasting does for the BELIEVER!I see fasting as vital in prayer because of THREE things:
A.) FASTING REMINDS US OF OUR HUMANITY.
1. It reminds us we are human-by that we are limited in our abilities. We are in fact, helpless without GOD!
2. It casts us upon God. It makes us dependent - and, oh, how most of us hate to feel dependant!
B.) FASTING HUMBLES US.
1. There is a self-denial involved.
2. We deny the physical appetites of our body for a time, to humble ourselves before God who has all the answers for our lives.
C.) FASTING IS A SIGN OF OUR DESIRE.
1. When we fast we are saying to God that it is more important to us than the daily routine of finding food for ourselves.
2. We have a passion for God that supercedes everything else. (NOT trying to twist God’s arm, but a genuine display of the earnestness of our desire.)
3. So, fasting is VERY significant. But, sadly, it’s overlooked by so many Christians today.
Illust:
David Yonggi Cho pastors the largest church in the world (to be the largest church in history) - over 700,000 members! He and his staff have such a belief in the power of prayer and fasting that they rarely, if ever, counsel people. If someone comes to them with a great problem or urgent need, their standard answer is, “go to prayer mountain and fast and pray for three days”. If they return with the problem still unmet, they tell them to go and fast and pray for a week. (Then for ten days/then for forty days.) They do not think it possible that a person would ever return to them again with the problem still!
GODLY PRAYER WITH FASTING RELEASES BREAKTHROUGH SPIRITUAL POWER
Let me give you some practical things you need to observe about how you ought to approach fasting:
1. FASTING MUST NOT BE “AS THE HYPOCRITES” (see Matthew 6:16). 16“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. (NLT)
2. FASTING SHOULD BE IN SECRET (see Matthew6:18).
17But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so 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.
On most occasions, only your partner needs to know. The exception to this rule is CORPORATE fasting - of which there are numerous Biblical examples - times that God called His people to prayer.
3. FASTING IN THE BIBLE IS ALWAYS COUPLED WITH FERVENT PRAYER.
There is no spiritual value in hunger alone! DIETING IS NOT FASTING!
CONCLUSION:
Jesus said that His disciples would not always have the the Bridegroom (speaking of Himself). He said, “THEN they will fast”.
In this day we have great need of His power in our lives, in our church, in our families, etc. I believe that Jesus means for us to fast and pray.
