Week 2 || Day 4
PURPOSE OF FASTING: TO OBTAIN BREAKTHROUGH/PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS
Fasting helps with deliverance from bondage, sin and circumstances we find ourselves in. Psalm 69:9 TLB “My zeal for God and his work burns hot within me.” Are you burning hot today for Jesus, or are you just lukewarm? Are you coming to God to check a box, to see what He has to offer you, or to give God a grade on a scale of 1-10?
We are called to more than that! We are called to be on fire. WHITE HOT FOR GOD.
The common denominator in past revivals is that the church was white hot for God. They weren’t the smartest or the most gifted. But they were passionate about the things of God, and they were passionate about seeking his presence through prayer and fasting. And praying and fasting is the avenue God’s chosen to do this because those things don’t discriminate. Anyone can pray. Anyone can fast.
If we keep reading in Psalm 69:9-14 TLB “And because I advocate your cause, your enemies insult me even as they insult you. How they scoff and mock me when I mourn and fast before the Lord! How they talk about me when I wear sackcloth to show my humiliation and sorrow for my sins! I am the talk of the town and the song of the drunkards. But I keep right on praying to you, Lord. For now is the time—you are bending down to hear! You are ready with a plentiful supply of love and kindness. Now answer my prayer and rescue me as you promised. Pull me out of this mire. Don’t let me sink in. Rescue me from those who hate me, and from these deep waters I am in.“
Today, some of you are in deep waters, and you feel like you’re suffocating and you feel like your circumstance are about to pull you under. Cry out to God. If you turn and seek the lord and pray and fast he will hear your cry. He will answer. He rewards those that diligently seek him. There is nothing too hard for him to pull you out of this morning.
Some of you are caught up in addictions. No matter what your addiction is: lying, substance abuse, people-pleasing, stealing, gossiping, pornography, drunkenness. We have the ability to humble ourselves and pray and fast and break these addictions. If sin has you broken down, I want to tell you that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus isn’t here to make you feel bad about your situation. He is here to pull you out of it and rescue you from it. If you will submit your will and your flesh to him, he will help you. You will be enlightened through the Holy Spirit to receive revelation from God and his Word will come alive to you.
Isaiah 58:6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?” EVERY YOKE. Some of you have been going around in bondage for five, ten, twenty years. You’ve been battling the same thing. You’ve had the same struggle your whole life. That’s not how you’re called to live. The Bible says, “He who the son has set free, is free indeed.”
In Matthew 17 Jesus comes into town and there’s a fuss happening and Jesus steps in to see what’s going on. A man runs up to him and says his son is demon-possessed. He had asked Jesus’ disciples to get rid of the demon, but they couldn’t. So Jesus commands the demon to leave and then later tells the disciples, who have commanded demons to flee before, that THIS kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:21 NKJV
THIS kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. Are there things in your life, that you have tried everything to get rid of, that can only come out with fasting? This thing you’ve been battling? How long have you hung onto it? Are there things in this community, in this nation...that we have tried everything to figure out? The government, the businessmen, the military...they can’t solve it for us. There are some KINDS that will only be overcome through prayer and fasting. And we have to recognize that our temptation to sin is not unique; everyone faces temptation. Maybe you, however, feel chained to it like a compulsive slave. Well, scripture promises 'a way out' in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT. Fasting can be the very way of escape for you.
Keep going. Don’t lose heart. A breakthrough will come.
Illustration: “About 28 years ago, sores developed inside my mouth. At first I did not pay much attention to them as I thought the sores would pass, but still they persisted and steadily became worse.
After some time, I entered the hospital for examination and treatment. Even with the treatment my mouth was not healed. Every time I ate any food, the pain in my mouth was excruciating. I felt so sorry for those of my family who constantly had to care for me that I wanted to die. I began to wander from hospital to hospital seeking some way to cure this dreadful disease.
Many skills of medicine were tried, but no one could cure my disease. During my wandering from hospital
to hospital, I spent all my money and had to sell all my property to pay the medical expenses. I gave up all hope of living and hated myself and this disease that was destroying my life. Weeping and writhing in agony and pain, I waited for death to relieve me of this misery. During this time, many of my Christian friends advised me to come to church and trust in Christ, but I doubted the power of God. How could a God that I could not see heal me of a sickness that all medical science had no cure for?
Finally, after much persuasion, because I knew. I was dying I ventured out to the prayer mountain. As I stayed there, my doubts began to fade. I listened to many testimonies from different ones of how God healed them of all types of diseases. The desire to seek God with fasting and prayer became so intense that I could not resist any longer and decided to fast for nine days. As I began to fast, I confessed all my sins of the past. I came unprepared to meet the Lord but He loved me, called me, and met me as I prayed. On the third day the unhealthy flesh inside my mouth began to fall off, and the pain began to disappear. All the sores were completely healed as I fasted and prayed.
Although I did not know before that God was living, I met Him personally and experienced His power in my life. I came to the prayer mountain with unbelief, but the testimonies of those around me generated faith within me. As I fasted and prayed, God completely healed me. I know that Jesus is the Physician that is above every physician. I give all glory and praise to God.” -Myung Hee Byan
Seomyan, Sihung
Kyangido, Korea
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Kids SEEK, too!
Kids’ Illustration: There was a story of a young girl from long ago who had never traveled. Finally, her grandparents picked her up to take a trip. She stepped onto a train to travel throughout the countryside. The journey would take them across two large rivers and numerous wide streams. From a long ways off, the view of the approaching water scared the little girl. Never having traveled before, she could not understand how the water would be safely crossed. As they got closer and closer to the river, however, a bridge appeared, and the train would safely cross the water. This same feeling was repeated in the girl two or three times until, finally, the child leaned back with a sigh of relief.
“Somebody has put bridges for us all the way!” she said in trusting content.
That is life. It can be easy to fear things, and those troubles may look dark ahead; but as we move forward in prayer and confidence we find that there is a way through them. God has built bridges for us all the way.
Kids’ Activities for Today’s Prayer Focus:
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Bible:
Isaiah 58:6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6 NLT)
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV)
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT)
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Quote for Today:
If a man has nothing to eat, fasting is the most intelligent thing he can do. - Hermann Hesse
“Fasting breaks the spirit of heaviness.” - Jentezen Franklin
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Points to Ponder:
What spiritual battles are you experiencing in your life? Do you need breakthroughs in your personal life, your family, your finances, your church or your community? Follow Jesus’ example. Pray and fast for a move of God’s power in your life.
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CLOSING PRAYER: Father God, we come before you in the name and authority of Jesus Christ, asking you to destroy every thing, every stronghold, every Goliath, and every mind-oppressing spirit that seeks to keep us bound. As Jericho’s walls crumbled, we pray that the enemy’s plans against us, in all forms, will be demolished and and be shattered by your great strength. We thank you for giving us a way to overcome by the willing sacrifice of your precious son, Jesus, who paid for our sins with his life. It’s in his powerful, and yet oh, so wonderful, name we pray. Amen.
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