 Hello David Digger Hernandez here and you are watching Spirit Church on the Encounter TV Network. Now last week I talked about how to fast and pray, but this week I want to talk to you about the power of fasting and praying. What happens in the spirit realm? What happens in the earth when we fast and pray? There is power and that power is intensified when we fast and pray. Last week I covered the what. This week I'm covering the why and we're going to look at the scripture and explore what happens when we commit ourselves to prayer and fasting. But first, Stephen Moctezuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship and then we're getting right into this message here is Stephen Moctezuma. I want you to remember these two spiritual truths. For every natural act of faith there is a divine reaction and whatever strengthens my spirit weakens my flesh. So if whatever strengthens my spirit weakens my flesh and if there is a divine reaction for every act of faith that we take then that means that prayer and fasting brings about a great power and whatever is caused by increased power in prayer and whatever is caused by a weakening of the flesh you can obtain during prayer and fasting. So let's take a look at what the scripture says here. I'm going to show you 15 purposes of prayer and fasting. Number one, mourning. Joel chapter 2 verse 12 says that is why the Lord says turn to me now while there is time give me your hearts come with fasting weeping and mourning. Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 4 when I heard this I sat down and wept in fact for days I mourned fasted and prayed to the God of heaven. In the Old Testament mourning often accompanied prayer and fasting. Number two, repentance. Verse Samuel chapter 7 verse 6 says this. So they gathered at mis-pa and in a great ceremony drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. Now here we see in the Old Testament that repentance was often accompanied by prayer and fasting. These people were turning from idolatry and toward the Lord. Now fasting I have to clarify is not a means by which we punish ourselves for our wrongdoing. In fact we don't need to punish ourselves for any wrongdoing because Christ received the fullness of the wrath of God upon the cross. So if God poured out all his wrath upon Christ when he was on the cross that means there is no more wrath left over for you and I. So this type of repentance with prayer and fasting is not a way of punishing ourselves. It's not a way of giving ourselves lashes. It's not a way of so to speak crucifying ourselves. This is a time where you can restart. This is a time where you can refresh yourself. After repentance it's good to fast because this puts the flesh into subjection. This is somewhat of a spiritual reset that takes place. When you fast and pray you weaken the flesh. So after you repent of a sin or a sinful habit it's a good practice to fast so that you can put the flesh in a weakened state and get a fresh start. Number three clarity Acts chapter 13 verse 2 says one day as these men were worshiping the Lord in fasting the Holy Spirit said a point Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them. This is not the only verse where we see the Holy Spirit speaking clearly after the disciples fast but we see often in church history especially in the book of Acts that when people committed themselves to prayer they positioned themselves to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly than if they had not positioned themselves with prayer and fasting. Often you'll see that prayer and fasting is followed by a time where the Holy Spirit speaks clearly. So fasting can be used to bring clarity to the voice of the Holy Number four ministry establishment Acts chapter 14 verse 23 says Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church with prayer and fasting they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they had put their trust. When you fast before the establishment of a ministry or the appointment of people into ministry you set them up with a firm foundation. Number five favor Esther chapter 4 verse 16 says go and gather therefore all the Jews of Suza and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days night or day. My maids and I will do the same and then though it is against the law I will go in to see the king if I must die I must die. Of course many of us know the story of Esther where she went to go approach the king on behalf of her people. She risked her life but before she entered that place of risk she had people fast and pray that she might obtain favor. So that's number five favor. Number six healing Psalm chapter 35 verses 13 through 14 say yet when they were ill I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them but my prayers returned unanswered. I was sad as though they were my friends or family as if I were grieving for my own mother. Now here the scripture is showing us that you can fast and pray for somebody's healing. Now of course in this context the individuals that were prayed for were not healed but we see that the individual was surprised by the fact that they weren't healed despite that he had prayed and fast. Look at what the scripture says yet when they were ill I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them but my prayers returned unanswered. Also in 2 Samuel chapter 12 verse 16 the Bible says David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground so you can pray and fast for healing. Number seven spiritual preparation Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 4 say this then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights he then became hungry and the tempter came and said to him if you are the Son of God command that these stones become bread but he answered and said it is written man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that precedes out of the mouth of God. So Jesus had just been baptized in the river the Holy Spirit descended upon him people witnessed it and heard the voice of the father when it happened and then he moved into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil this was a season of preparation just before Jesus went into ministry just before Jesus began to carry out his assignment he went into a time of prayer and fasting prayer and fasting prepares you spiritually for what God has for you next. Number eight prayer and fasting teaches you dependence upon God from the same portion of scripture we read during that time the devil came and said to him if you are the Son of God tell these stones to become loaves of bread but Jesus told him no the scriptures say people do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God when you fast it teaches you to depend upon the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit this by the way is why I don't believe necessarily in juicing while you fast because when you're juicing while you're fasting you're actually bringing nutrition and energy into your body the point of the fast is to give up food to abstain so that you can practice a spiritual discipline if you are juicing during a fast then you're depending upon the juice and not upon the power of the Holy Spirit so prayer and fasting teaches us to depend upon the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Number nine prayer and fasting is practice for temptation now using the same portion of scripture we just read Matthew chapter we see that Jesus came out of a time where he had fasted for 40 days and then became hungry it was during this time that the enemy came to tempt him now Jesus had just resisted food for 40 days so he had practice in resisting the cravings of the flesh now again I want to emphasize this is not about punishing yourself but prayer and fasting is good practice for temptation it teaches you how to put the flesh into subjection it teaches you how to say no to that which you crave number 10 you can pray and fast for protection Ezra chapter 8 verse 21 says there by the Ahava canal I Ezra proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children with all our possessions so you can pray and fast for protection number 11 prayer and fasting increases your spiritual authority Matthew chapter 17 verses 19 through 21 say then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said why could we not drive it out and he said to them because of the littleness of your faith for truly I say to you if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you will say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you but this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting what did Jesus mean by this kind he was talking about the demon this kind of demonic power or this level of demonic power can only be pushed out through prayer and fasting number 12 prayer and fasting intensifies the power of prayer now this we can infer from all of the scriptures that we're reading I'm not necessarily going to present one portion of scripture that shows you this we see it as we've read all of these scriptures there is something about prayer and fasting that intensifies your prayers and the power of those prayers you can pray for the sick without fasting but when you pray and fast there's more power behind it you can pray for protection without prayer and fasting but when you pray and fast there is an intensified power behind it number 13 prayer and fasting weakens the flesh John chapter 3 verse 30 says I must decrease but he must increase in Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 says the sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants and the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires these two forces are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your own good intentions therefore as we said earlier whatever strengthens my spirit weakens my flesh so if prayer and fasting strengthens your spirit it also weakens your flesh number 14 prayer and fasting teaches you discipline now for this one also i'm not going to bring you to any one specific portion of scripture but if you pray and fast you will know and you will learn very quickly that prayer and fasting teaches you discipline it teaches you to structure your day it teaches you to make choices that you don't necessarily want to make so number 14 prayer and fasting teaches you discipline and finally number 15 prayer and fasting brings deliverance Isaiah chapter 58 verse 6 says is not this the kind of fasting i have chosen to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke prayer and fasting can break bondages in the spirit now listen to me very carefully here if you are struggling with the habitual sin something that's being repeated in your life again and again and again you would benefit from prayer and fasting prayer and fasting breaks the power of the flesh prayer and fasting breaks the power of the demonic through elevated authority prayer and fasting does something in the spiritual realm to intensify the power of the Holy Spirit in your life no you're not receiving more of the power of the Holy Spirit but prayer and fasting positions you to be surrendered to the working of that power so then we must practice prayer and fasting prayer and fasting disconnects you from this world it causes you to be removed from this realm and placed in the realm of the spirit prayer and fasting an act of faith that we carry out in obedience to the word of god yields powerful results so i encourage you now fast and pray i want to pray with you and i want to pray that the Holy Spirit would lead you into a time of prayer and fasting father in the name of Jesus i pray for that one receiving this now and holy spirit i ask that you would count them worthy to be drawn further into the depths of the spirit reveal yourself to them speak to them and lord i pray for those who are fasting and praying even now strengthen them encourage them help them to see what is before them in the spirit they might persist in the name of Jesus i want you to say it because you believe say amen well that is it for the lesson i want to welcome now the new members of spirit church there you are up on the screen we love you and we are praying for you i always say that because i always mean it if you like information on how you can join the spirit family go to david hernan's ministries dot com slash spirit church when you sign up to spirit church you're going to get an email from me every single week depending upon your time zone you'll receive that email on sunday mornings and the best part when you get that email you can reply to that email for prayer support from our ministry staff i want to read now your comments and these comments are from last week's teaching remember the what fast and pray the biblical way if you haven't done so already go back and watch that teaching it's a great foundation this is the second part that you just heard go and watch that and while you're at it if you're watching us on youtube make sure you subscribe click the notification bell so that you don't miss any of our content and if you'd like me to potentially read your comment on next week's edition of spirit church then go ahead and leave a comment in the comment section right now so here are the comments from last week's teaching fast and pray the biblical way t beauty writes this message is so on time i am on my second day of fasting and i believe i'm not watching this by coincidence melissa alegria writes hi david i've been watching and counter tv for a couple months now ever since i've given my life back to jesus i find your messages so encouraging i've learned so much and i thank you the next commenter writes well this teaching on fasting is amazing i've never ever in my whole life heard such a great and accurate teaching on fasting and finally leslie jones writes god bless you david i've been waiting for you to speak on fasting so this came at the perfect time can't wait for next week's video this is so the holy spirits channel thank you for always surrendering to him glory to god and our lord jesus christ and truly this is the holy spirits 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