fasting is not starvation starvation is involuntarily fasting is your choice you
choose that starvation is you don't control that fasting you control that
Amen I'm gonna give you just briefly a four benefits four doors that fasting can
unlock in your life one is calamities of life where fasting
can change the calamities of life calamities of life are the things that
come unexpected it's the challenges that we can experience in our life it's the
problems that we are facing when you start to fast something begins to happen
these challenges invite the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to see
change in that area of your life when you fast the challenges that you may
experience maybe you have something coming against you that you cannot
change on your own maybe something is risen against your family or against
your health maybe something is risen against your marriage or against your
finances when you say you know what I pray I've done everything but Lord what
I do now is I humble myself before you you will see God's intervention you may
say why is this so important because the Bible says biblical definition of
humility is fasting in scriptures it says David says I humbled myself with
fasting this is what happens when you humble yourself before God Bible says
God gives you grace grace is unmerited favor grace is this force that helps you
to get ahead to get out and to get through that grace it's not given to
people listen up who need it that grace is given to people who are
humble and the best way to humble yourself is by fasting and so first is
calamities of life number two is it's in our connection to God we fast to
establish connection or renew connection with God with our connection with God is
like a it's like you're your TV receiver you know if the football is going on and
you have a bad receiver sometimes the TV starts flickering how many of you just
enjoy watching the last two minutes of the game with the TV flickering you
let's just get a kick out of it amazing I'm just glory no you got mad you get
upset and you know the problem is not with the football the problem is with
your TV the problem is not with with with the team that is playing right now
the problem is with the receiver with time out hard gets corroded with times
our hearts get dull our passion for the Lord just kind of dines our passion for
Netflix awakens with time you know our zeal for macchiato gets strong and our
passion for the Holy Ghost just kind of gets weak and sometimes it's reflected
by how we attend church it's reflected how we pick our nose during the worship
we look for the flies there's none of them here but you're still looking for
them somewhere it's noticeable and it's not to judge you it happens by default
we all by default get complacent in our relationship with God when you fast this
is what happens your passion for the Lord your hunger awakens when they came
to Jesus and they said Jesus your disciples are not fasting John's
disciples are fasting we are fasting the Pharisees and your disciples aren't
fasting and Jesus said this and I love this thing Jesus says when I am gone
they will fast you know what that means when you feel that Jesus presence is
withdrawn start fasting to always stay close to him you gotta maintain not just
once in a while not just when you have problems but for your relationship with
Jesus to be close you gotta continue fasting Jesus says when I am gone they
will fast and so the idea that Jesus paid for everything on the cross I no
longer need to pray I no longer need to fast I no longer need to live holy guys
that is not biblical positionally we have everything in Christ but Christ
tells us as his disciples we are to embrace a lifestyle of fasting point
number three what fasting does is an unlocks our calling the calling of God
so not only it helps in our connection to God not only it helps to get us out
of calamities but it begins to unlock our calling our calling
Jesus who tells us to fast he did not fast because of a problem he fasted
because of a purpose he went for forty days too fast to
unlock the purpose that God has given him and that purpose is to save souls
we see in the New Testament something very interesting I was yesterday and few
days before observing the New Testament and I noticed there was very few fast in
the New Testament because of problems in the Old Testament is full of you know
the city of Nineveh fasting because they had they had a wrath of God Ahab was
fasting because God says you know I'm gonna destroy your descendants and we
see Israelites fasting and we see you know Esther fasting and we see different
people fast see because there was problems in the New Testament we see
people fasting a lot but not because of problems because of a purpose of God on
the life of the church in book of Acts we see the church gathered too fast to
please God and God send out the missionaries we see Cornelius fasting
not because he had a problem he just wanted to know more of what God wanted
to take him and God's angel comes we see Ana staying in a temple as a widow
instead of saying God send me a husband she says God send the Messiah and God
sends Jesus Christ - to Israel see Jesus did not just come an accident there were
people who dedicated their life to seek and pray to God to send a revival to
Israel and Jesus was an answer to that Jesus was also fasting not because he
had he needed a wife or he needed a breakthrough it's because he was fasting
say God and anoint me for the ministry that you called me for God wants you to
fast for your ministry that you have as a mother as a father as a grandfather as
a businessman as the person of influence in your community and in your family
that has to be a time when it's not the pain that motivates you to seek God but
your purpose motivates you to seek God some people they need God constantly to
give them trouble for them to stay on there knees God doesn't want to send you
trouble to get you close to him God wants to whisper to you in your
pleasures but seldomly he is hurt sometimes he will scream in our pain but
he doesn't want to scream he wants to develop a close relationship with you
well he can whisper to you and you can hear him but sometimes we are so deaf
because we only we only hear when something is hurting something is broken
and then we are on our knees then we are in the morning prayer then we are
fasting God says come on grow lets mature when you have everything pray fast
seek my face learn how to be passionate when you're comfortable and the last and
I want you to write down is to conquer the devil we fast to conquer the devil
there was many examples of that the battles of israelites against the
Benjamin and they couldn't conquer them and then when they fasted they conquered
them when Jesus says about little boy the disciples were trying to pray for
deliverance who had epilepsy who had heard this problem and disciples prayed
and prayed couldn't receive couldn't break through and Jesus said this kind
goes not but by prayer and fasting I want you to see this verse in Isaiah if
you can put out the verse in Isaiah 58 6 this is this not the fast that I have
chosen now typically this verse is used to discredit fasting because God you
know talks about the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur the one that we read in the
beginning and God you know looks at people who just simply go without food
and they bind people they hurt people and God is saying come on guys fasting
is not just going without food you gotta release the prisoners you gotta help but
I want you to read this in a new light God says is this not too fast I have
chosen to lose the bonds of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens to let the
oppressed go free so that you break every yoke God has chosen a fast to be
as one of the things you can do to be bonds of wickedness
meaning wicked things you continuously do but you cannot stop doing you feel
like stuff to undo heavy burdens do you feel heavy
burdened do you feel like the world is crushing on you God says is this not the
fast that I have chosen so I can remove heavy burdens so that I can break the
bonds of wickedness means the sins you keep falling into you my say but Vlad
I've been through a Prayer Line try a prayer life this is what the Bible says
to let to let the oppressed go free do you feel oppressed God says is this not
the fast I have chosen to let the oppressed go free and that you not to
you not the anointing water now not the anointing oil not the pastor you break every yoke
guys is this not the fast I've chosen that I remove your heavy burden that I
break the constant sin that you fall into they just say I've tried I've tried
I've tried and I have people all the time right to me especially young men
and they say Vlad I've tried everything to stop this particular sin and what
they usually mean is I have an accountability partner
I installed a software and I went to the pastor for confession God says is this
not the fast I've chosen to break the bonds of wickedness to shatter them out
of your life and for you to walk out free in Jesus name