The power of fasting and prayer
- Tomorrow we begin 1½ week of fasting and prayer.
- I am trusting God that it is going to be an awesome time of blessings [e]
- I am believing God that many of you are going to receive your breakthrough and your blessings [e]
- But I also feel strongly that before we can go into a time of fasting and prayer, we need to properly understand what happens when we fast and pray. [e]
- We need to know the power of fasting and prayer, and how this spiritual discipline can radically change our lives [e]
- By definition “fasting and prayer” is when we intentionally stay away from our regular physical sustenance for the express purpose of seeking the Face of God [e]
- Lets look at the power of fasting and prayer
1. God gives us clear direction when we fast and pray
- Deut 9: 9 – 10 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
- We were created to have a relationship with God in prayer [e]
- But as time has passed, mankind has replaced his relationship with God with other priorities and associations [e]
- We have become estranged (defn) from God [e]
- This means that we have become strangers with God [e]
- And because this relationship has been broken, we need to fast and pray and seek God’s Face to restore this broken relationship [e]
- Our broken relationship with God has resulted in us not knowing God’s plan for our lives [e]
- We always wonder why things don’t work out for us [e]
- We wonder why we live life unfulfilled [e]
- We always wonder why we are in a state of constant problems [e]
- We wonder why we don’t achieve in this life [e]
- The answer is simple…
- We don’t have direction from God [e]
- Moses went before God in fasting and prayer (explain)
- And God Himself gave Moses a word for the people [e]
- A word that was to direct their lives [e]
- We need God to speak to us [e]
- We need God to direct our lives [e]
- We need a word from God [e]
- How many of you feel you need a word from the Lord?
- Let’s come together and fast and pray [e]
2. Fasting and prayer to break the chain of constant sin
- Ezra 10: 6 – 7 : The Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning the faithlessness of the exiles. And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should return to Jerusalem,…
- One of the biggest problem in the church today is constant sin [e]
- It is people who do the same thing over and over again [e]
- And while it is easy to condemn these people and say that they are unfaithful, we need to go deeper than that [e]
- In most cases, constant sin, unbreakable habits, addiction, alcohol, pornography are symptoms of a deeper spiritual problem [e]
- This is a chain that satan has people bound with [e]
- It is what the Bible terms “a yoke of bondage” [e]
- The reason we cannot seem to break free from these constant sin…
- The reason we always go back and do the same thing over and over again…
- Is that there is a spiritual chain that satan has used to yoke us to these habits and addictions [e]
- The Scripture above teaches us that the children of God were in a state of constant sin [e]
- They were bound by these sins and couldn’t break free [e]
- And the prophet Ezra had to come before in fasting and prayer to ask God to free the people from these sins [e]
- What about us?
- Are any of us bound by unbreakable habits?
- Tobacco?
- Alcohol?
- Pornography?
- Unfaithfulness…yes this is a bondage
- Every now and then, we get convicted…we promise God and ourselves “No more…I will never do it again…I will never go back” [e]
- But then these sins overcome us again and we slip back into these bondages [e]
- These things will not go unless we fast and pray [e]
- These bondages can only be broken by fasting and prayer [e]
2. Fasting and praying and upholding one another
- What does uphold mean? [e] (holding something higher than oneself)
- This is one of the most sacrificial types of fasting and prayer [e]
- When you deny yourself and uphold someone else without an expectation of getiing something back in return [e]
- Its no secret…there are many here that are in desperate need of a touch from God
- For healing [e]
- For deliverance [e]
- For a blessing [e]
- For a job [e]
- For provision [e]
- Fasting and praying for someone else is a type of prayer that touches the heart of man and God alike [e]
- Why?...it is a prayer born out of compassion for someone else [e]
- It touches your heart [e]
- It is a prayer of compassion that moves the Hand of God [e]
- Why? Because God is moved by the passionate plea that rises before Him [e]
- He sees that the man or woman who is praying has nothing to gain from this prayer [e]
- Esther 3:13 - Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
- Ether 4: 12 – 17 - When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
- When Esther heard that the Jews were about to be destroyed, she went on three days of fasting and prayer.
- History teaches us that Esther was living in the palace of King Ahasuerus [e]
- She was in a privileged position [e]
- She could have easily said that it was not her problem [e]
- But compassion moved her to uphold those who needed prayer [e]
- Today’s church needs to come back to hospitality, love and compassion [e]
- When you read the book of Esther, you will find that Esther’s fasting and prayer worked.
- The Jews were saved and the person who wanted them destroyed was himself destroyed [e]
- This tells me that fasting and prayer turns a disastrous situation around in your favour [e]
- [Also mentioned King Darius who fasted and prayed when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den]
4. God gives us an answer to our prayers when fast
- Daniel 10: 1 – 3 : 10 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war.[a] The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. 2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
- Daniel 10: 10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
- God is a good God [e]
- But in order to reach the heart of God, sometimes we got to go beyond the ordinary [e]
- Sometimes we got to step and leave our mundane prayers behind, and say “Lord I am fasting and waiting upon You”
- Maybe we can deal with the fasting, but it’s the waiting that gets us down [e]
- Daniel persevered in his fast for 21 days before the answer came [e]
- The devil did not want Daniel to get his breakthrough [e]
- The devil does not want you to get your breakthrough [e]
- Some of you have been stuck in the same place for years, because that’s exactly where satan wants you to be…
- Living in poverty [e]
- Always having problems [e]
- Always sick [e]
- Always having your children go wayward [e]
- Always having unfaithful alcoholic husbands [e]
- You are now so sick and tired of being sick and tired [e]
- You feel that God is not answering your prayers [e]
- This is not a physical problem…it’s a spiritual problem [e]
- The devil is withstanding against the answers to your prayers [e]
- It’s time to step it up a gear [e]
- It’s time to fast and pray [e]
- If you are identifying with me this morning, I want you to take this 1½ week of fasting and prayer and I want you to start praying:
- Earnestly…with your whole heart [e]
- Fervently….from deep within your heart [e]
- Constantly…without giving up
- Expectantly…exercising your faith [e]
- Biblically…claiming the promises of God [e]
- Joyfully…like your answer is coming; because it is [e]
Conclusion
- In conclusion, I want you ask you to make a sacrifice [e]
- I know that many of you are working people [e]
- But I am calling upon you nevertheless to take this one and a half week
- Fast and pray and wait upon God [e]
- And expect your miracle…
