The information that you have been getting from our team regarding the 21 days fast that we encourage the church to engage in is like the briefing we have given at the beginning of our tour each day before we retire for the night. We want to give you as much information so you can prepare for it and in wisdom join with gladness of heart. So you are not lost in the journey. We want you to experience the Lord during the fast. In a lot of cases, the leader of the group will summon the people to fast. For CLG this year, it will be the Daniel Fast – eat no meat, no sweets, no sweetened bread, DRINK WATER AND PURE JUICE, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
There are seasons in life when some things can only be done with prayer and fasting.
EXAMPLE: MATTHEW 17:21 Jesus said
21 [a][But this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.]” Amplified Bible (AMP)
I COULD NOT THINK OF A BETTER PERSON IN THE BIBLE WHO UNDERSTOOD WHAT JESUS HAD IN MIND. THIS GUY IS ONE OF THE MANY HEROES THAT I LIKE IN THE BIBLE. HIS NAME IS DANIEL. GOD USED HIM EXTRAORDINARILY. READ DANIEL 10:1-3.
1. DANIEL RECEIVED A REVELATION
(v1) ITS MESSAGE WAS TRUE – DANIEL WAS ABOUT 90 YEARS OLD - A REAL BAD ONE – A WARNING; A SUMMON FOR HIM TO DO SOMETHING –WARNINGS AND REVELATIONS LIKE THESE ARE NOT FOREIGN TO DANIEL. This guy had unquestionable track record. Daniel had seen and experienced God performed signs and wonders; had given him prophetic insights and revelation, including angelic deliverance. He was old enough in the Lord to know that Surely, this vision is not something that he would take for granted!
GOD IS THE REVEALER OF SECRETS (Daniel 2) God’s power revealed the dream of the king. None of the wise men of Babylon could do it. (Chapter 2) Daniel and his 3 friends, nearly got executed because the king ordered to kill all the wise men in his kingdom because one could interpret his dream. Daniel stepped up! Offered to interpret it …. Got his friends to have a prayer meeting with him.
(19) mystery revealed to Daniel in the night – all wise men were spared
2. COMPELLING REASON - THERE IS A COMING GREAT WAR – He knew the impact of this great war on people, lives, nation. He was in Babylon because of a great war. If you knew they were in danger, there was a great war coming in that place, would you not do anything? Just ask the families of the 50 people massacred in New Zealand the other week.
3. DANIEL CARED SO MUCH. AT A YOUNG AGE OF 16, DANIEL’S LIFE FELL APART. IN A DAY, HIS ONCE HAPPY AND WELL OFF FAMILY (DANIEL BELONGED TO A FAMILY OF HIGH RANK) WAS TORN BY WARS. THE BABYLONIANS TOOK THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR LANDS, THEIR COUNTRY, THEIR FREEDOM, AND EVERYTHING THEY ONCE ENJOYED. DANIEL WAS TAKEN CAPTIVE TO BABYLON AND HAD LIVED THERE ALL HIS LIFE. Surely, at 16 years of age, Daniel could not fully grasp what was happening. He did not question God, nor blame God. He didn’t give in to the thinking that if God abandoned him, he would not want to stay with God.:
So, it makes sense why Daniel fasted for 21 days. He didn’t eat the food that he usually ate, the one to his liking (choice food) – he abstained himself from what his body wants because there is a great war coming and he could not make sense of it.
A MAN OF PRAYER – prays 3 times a day, pray and fast often
PRAYER IS HIS FRIEND. TALKING TO GOD IS HIS FAVORITE HIS LIFELONG OBSESSION. No threat in his life can stop it… Daniel 6:10 – “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel lived there all his life but HE REMAINED A JEW IN HEART – PHYSICALLY, HE WAS IN BABYLON BUT HE DID NOT LET BABYLON CHANGED HIS HEART AWAY FROM THE GOD OF ISRAEL. HE REMAINED FAITHFUL TO GOD.
4. Daniel chose to sacrifice for the people. He fasted during the Passover celebration - For three weeks, in the month of Nisan – the Passover month – the most memorable month in the life of the nation of Israel – the month where they celebrate their freedom – SOMEWHERE AROUND THIS TIME OF THE PASSOVER, DANIEL WAS AGONIZING IN PRAYER AND FASTING FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL. DANIEL DIDN’T THAT WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO HIM WAS A FORESHADOWING OF THE AGONY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE – FOR THE SAME REASON – LORD, NOT MY WILL BY THINE BE DONE.
Gethsemane – (A PRIVATE PLACE WHERE THERE IS AN OIL PRESS) – IT IS A PLACE that is isolated in the region – a place OF ISOLATION! A GETHSEMANE EXPERIENCE! GOD MEETS US IN OUR GETHSEMANE!
TRUST GOD! GOD IS THE KEEPER of his life (Daniel 1); HE KEPT HIM SAFE IN A FOREIGN LAND.
GOD IS A BLESSER. God can bless anyone anywhere.
GOD IS THE DELIVERER - God can bless you even in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:18)
God can bless you even in the lion’s den. In Daniel 6
GOD IS THE REVEALER OF SECRETS (Daniel 2) God’s power revealed the dream of the king. None of the wise men of Babylon could do it.
A couple received an unexpected message from an old pastor friend. They haven’t heard from this pastor for a very long time that they almost have trouble remembering him. After a long thought, they remember this pastor friend as one who fasted for 40 days at the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain when he was just starting a small church, around 20 adults. After brief introductory pleasantries, and telling them that the church he’s pastoring had been blessed and has now grown by around 300, this pastor friend mentioned that his father was in ICU. The bills were mounting, and the pastor friend was pushed to the edge. He thought to ask all the people he knew could help. He didn’t want to approach this couple but he was desperate! In a perfect world, not many would do what this pastor friend did; It was a hard call to lower his pride, humble himself, and ask for help. It was a huge effort. He wanted to for his love for his father. He wanted his father to get the medical attention he needs to recover, to get back to normal, to have a longer life, to enjoy his grandkids longer. The couple could not say “NO.” When this pastor friend obeyed/love God to help his father, to honor the life of his earthly in this way, our Father in heaven knows the way. And He’ll show you the way. Our God is a good God!
1 Samuel 15:22 - “Yes, OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE.” BUT has it ever occurred in your heart and mind that to pray and fast is what the Lord could be asking you to obey?
What if your prayer and fasting this year is what could intercept an impending catastrophe in your family, what could end an enduring feud in your family, a cycle of demonic oppression, a perennial sickness, the attack of locust in your finances? What if your obedience to go on 21-days prayer and fasting is what God had been waiting from you to bring order back in your household, a breakthrough in your marriage, your wayward children, your long lost relationships with your children?
And even if not, if that will make you closer/intimate with God, would you think twice?
“Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.” Daniel 1:8
To young men like these, God could tell His secrets and demonstrate His power. Psalm 25:14 says, “The Lord confides in those who fear Him.”
I have called the Church of the Living God to fast and pray for the protection of yourself and your loved ones, for your spiritual development, to deepen our relationship with God; to do away with religion, to go back to the heart of worship; and for you to inquire of the Lord so you won’t miss the greater life experiences in store for you by God this year. What if your obedience to fast for 21 days is what God has been waiting to hand down revival in this place; to bring fire in this altar, in this community; in this region, in this nation. WOULD YOU DO IT?
