 So, yes. Good morning. I would like to request one of us to please lead and pray. Anyone? Okay. Yes. Yes. Can you please go ahead? Father, we come to the throne of grace. Thank you a lot for the day you have given us. Thank you for this. How we're going to spend it learning about fasting and prayer and decision. Lord, we thank you for the day you have given us. We are as we are going to learn about Lord your word. Lord, whatever we are going to learn, Lord, let it should be added to our knowledge and it should be used for your kingdom expansion or your glory Lord. All glory to be given to you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. So in the last class, we talked about fasting and you know that it can be, it should be done the way God wants us to do it and we talked about the chosen fast and so how it was not so much about the schedule to follow, the things to eat and not to eat but it was more about heart attitudes. It was more about our relationship with God. It was more about our relationship with people, being righteous, being fair. Okay. And that God sees the life and God is more concerned about our life rather than just our activities. So that is to help us understand that we must not become like Pharisees. You know, sometimes faith is, we make it ritualistic. We make it very, between God and us and people, we make things very complicated. We make it religious and traditional. God is not interested in those things but he goes for the real deal. He goes for the very life, the attitude and the motivation. So that is what we understood. We read from Isaiah chapter 58 and we saw how, you know, beautifully that passage tells us that fasting is to be obedient to God. You know, we don't try to impress him and say, oh God, look what we have done and why is it that you're not listening to us and God wants us not to do it out of selfish interests. But we do it in order to please him and God looks into our life and God made so many comments about relationships and preparing themselves in the right manner, their hearts. And also, we saw how there is a lot that talks about compassion and mercy for those who don't have. So all this we have seen. Now let's go forward from there and see why is it that we must fast. So we can fast for various reasons. We generally, fasting, we've seen, you know, you put on sackcloth, ashes that is all symbolic of denying self. We deny self. So in a moment of repentance or in a season of repentance, maybe we just feel like God, you know, I want to draw closer to you. There are things in my life which are not pleasing and I want to fast just to let you know that I'm surrendering. I'm confessing the wrong things that I have lived with so far. So it's showing our repentance, showing our turning around towards God. So that is one reason why we could fast. And fasting is also humbling ourselves, isn't it, before the presence of God. So it could be a way of us saying, okay, God, you are God. I just yield to you, I surrender to you, I humble myself in your presence. So we would see people in scripture do things like this. They humbled themselves by fasting and they just came before God. So we can humble ourselves through fasting. We can also seek God. But remember, we had that discussion where we said that if we want to hear from God, excuse me, we said how fasting intensifies our focus. Fasting strengthens our faith. So all these things will help us hear better from God. So if I want to hear from God, okay, God, what should I do or speak in this matter, then I can fast and I can pray. I can fast for deliverance. I can fast for direction. I know I can fast to receive God's mercy. So many reasons to fast. And in scripture, there are beautiful examples. King Jehoshaphat, he had called for the people of Judah to fast during the battle in 2 Chronicles 20. So when they fasted, we saw how God delivered them supernaturally. The enemies started fighting themselves and Jehoshaphat and his people were delivered. So for deliverance, he knew that for victory and deliverance, I must fast. So he engages in fasting with the people. Nehemiah was the one who heard about the walls of Jerusalem being broken. But he takes time to fast and seek God before he gets into the assignment of building the walls. So what was he seeking? He was seeking clarity of vision, clarity of thought, clarity of his call. God, what is it that you want me to do? How do you want me to do this? So he fasted. He also, as he humbled himself, we see that he received the favor of the King. The King gave him the provision that he needed to do the work that God was calling him to do. Isn't that amazing? The people in the natural are supporting God's work and purpose for us in our lives. And God can do that. And Nehemiah sought God and God made this possible for him. Ezra, again, for repentance, he fasted. For direction, he fasted. He also asked the people to fast. So he told all his people to fast and they sought God's direction in that way as a community. God, what is it that you're going to do for us and how are you going to lead us? Esther, once again, Esther for deliverance of a nation. Esther fasted. Some people call it, they fast for the nation, they fast for their region, they call it Esther fasted. So she fasted. It was a difficult situation. Maybe a difficult, for her it was a difficult political situation. There was a decree and if that decree went, it was taken up, that would have meant the destruction of the Jews. But Esther had to do something. The people had to do something. But it's not so much they're doing, they wanted God to do something. So what did they do? They fasted. So when we want God to do something about our nation, about the things in our nation, one of the ways in which we can ask God to move upon our nation is fasting. When we fast, God brings that deliverance and situation. In the case of Esther, it was turned around supernaturally. So situations can turn around supernaturally when we fast. Daniel. Daniel was a man given to a lot of prayer, a lot of fasting and what a beautiful example he is for us. For me, I feel like Jesus was a wonderful example. But if you ask me, pick anyone else. I would be really inspired by the devotion and the commitment of Daniel's life also. Daniel, he prayed so regularly, he was given to prayer, he was also given to fasting. Now when there was an interpretation that he had to make or rather, in fact, the king never even revealed his dream to Daniel. But he told him, you need to interpret it. Daniel went prayed, he got the dream, he got the interpretation, he got the understanding and he came back with words of wisdom. So he knew that if he could pray, if he could fast, he can receive understanding from God. So there are instances in the book of Daniel where Daniel is praying to get clarity, praying for wisdom and understanding. So when I want wisdom and understanding in what I am doing, I can fast and that will help me. Now Daniel also fasted when he wanted to see a prophetic word fulfilled. So we can do that. When we want to see a prophetic word fulfilled, this is in Daniel chapter 9, he fasted and prayed. So we can do that. The Lord Jesus, you know, of all people, we could say that he probably has it so great. You know, things on a silver platter, he's fully God and fully man, but we saw his prayer life, how he was given to prayer. Now we are observing his discipline of fasting. Forty days, the Lord Jesus, we are told he fasted before his public ministry could even start off. So Jesus gave importance to fasting and that must encourage us. Now there are a lot of people, before they get into public ministry, they fast. They go into, you know, whatever, like a seven day, 21 day, 14 day, 40 days and then only they start their public ministry. Well and good if God has called them to do something like that. So we can fast before we get into ministry and any form of ministry for that reason. Okay, even if we need to fast before we preach or something. So for the longest time I used to do that. Before I preached sermons, I would, you know, skip a meal the previous few. Generally it was a Saturday. I would do that and then only I would go preach. So I did it for a long time till a time when I was asked to share in a women's conference and I was given long hours. So the entire day I had to speak and that's when I realized that I couldn't like physically I couldn't manage because the whole day, you know, after you're fasted and then you have to also have the energy to minister the whole day. So I wouldn't say I stopped doing it but I do it less often now. So maybe I prefer to do it before the actual event because I realized that, you know, to do it every time before I speak, that was not something that was practical later on for me. So then I decided to do it. I'll share with you about my personal thing later. You can also, the point I'm making is you can fast and then you don't take on public ministry at the very beginning of your public ministry or every time you minister, you can set aside time to pray specially for that ministry time and fast. We see Jesus doing that. So that's a wonderful thing. Okay, then elders at the Church of Antioch, we saw that they were ministering to God and the Holy Spirit spoke to them. So seeking direction again as a team, as a ministry team. But over here it is more like they were just ministering, fasting and praying and Holy Spirit decided, okay, I will give you direction. So sometimes that happens, you know, you can also just fast and pray to just be with God. It's not always about I want God to show me this, show me that, give me this, give me that. No, but I just want to renew my relationship with God. I want it to be strengthened. I want to seek His presence, just be with God. So I'm fasting. That's what the elders in Antioch were doing. They were ministering to God and the Holy Spirit gave them direction. Okay, moving on, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in the Church for that, before they did that they fasted. So these are all reasons why we can fast. Again, we have mentioned this, we can fast for ourselves or we can fast for others. We can fast for a nation, a city, a group of people, our church family, anybody else also. So fasting would work in all these ways. Now we are going to move on to the blessings of the chosen fast. If there are any thoughts, any questions, just feel free, you know, we're trying to understand fasting. Okay, and you should be able to apply it in your, in your walk with the Lord. And that's the whole point. So if you have any questions or, you know, just want to clarify how does this work, how does that work. It's good to ask and, you know, get those things clarified. So feel free, you just posted on the chat here or unmute yourself and ask, but I'm going to proceed. Yeah, moving on to the next section, which is about the blessings of the chosen fast. So now we've understood God is more concerned about our attitude. He's more concerned about our relationship with him that we have righteous intentions. And then when we fast, that becomes a chosen fast. Okay, so let's quickly read Isaiah 58 verses eight through 14. Okay, one round, let's quickly read that. And then I'll come and explain it to us. So Isaiah 58, eight to 14. Isaiah 58 verses eight to 14. Then your light will break forth like dawn and your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help and he will say, here I am. If you do away with the yoke of oppression with the pointing finger and malchia stock. And if you spend yourself in behalf of the hunger and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will raise in the darkness and your night will become like the noon day. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in sunscorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden like a spring whose water never fails. Your people will rebuild the ancient runes and will raise up to the age old foundations. You will be called repairers of the broken wall, restorers of the street with dwelling. If you keep your feet from baking the sabbath and from doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please is or speaking idle words. Then you will find your joy in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and the feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Thank you. Thank you so much, Sidgenu. So we saw here the promises for our blessings. It's interspersed with a couple of other instructions which we've already dealt with. We saw there are some instructions here about the chosen fast where we said pointing a finger, speaking wickedness. We have to refrain from those things and then about keeping the sabbath and extending ourselves to the hungry soul. These are also requirements for a chosen fast. Now what are the blessings? Let's come to that. There are at least 18 statements of promise in this very passage that tell us that God will bless us in these 18 different ways. So that is motivation enough. Sometimes when we don't feel like fasting because it's hard, obviously. It's really hard. But this can be an encouragement for us. When I fast, I am chosen fast. When I bring the chosen fast to the Lord, one thing is that I'm communing with Him. I'm fellowshiping with Him and that is strengthening me. But in addition to that, God is this list of promises, this list of blessings that I can enjoy and that motivates us. I will fast because God is going to bless me for doing this. So the first promise here was 8. It says, then your light shall break forth like the morning. What is it? What is the meaning of that? See, God is light. When we say that He is light, that includes the person of God. He is a God of truth. He is a God of love. He is a God of righteousness. He is the God of justice. All of this is light, isn't it? It is light. He is a God of blessings and prosperity. So when does God shines on us? His light shines on us or whoever He is, that falls on our lives. What can we expect? We could look at our lives and say, God, there is darkness in so many areas of my life. But God is promising and He is saying that I am going to make my light shine on you, which means that that darkness will be expelled. Or we will overcome those challenging aspects of our life. So God becomes that source of goodness who is shining upon us. That source of blessing and prosperity who is shining upon our lives. Because we have chosen to align ourselves, yield ourselves to God through the discipline of fasting. Now, light is also, it's not just God magnifying Himself in our lives. That is God shining on us. It is also that God, when He shines on us, it's like, you know, light is illumination. It is revelation. It's knowledge. So we can also have that in our lives. We can have more understanding of the things of God. We can have clarity about the things of God. Better visibility about our call, our vision and what God has called us to do. All of that. So whatever you can associate with light shining upon the darkness, we can say, God, you're going to shine into my life. And that is more important for me. And that is why I'm fasting. That is why I'm seeking you for you to shine upon my life. Now, the next thing we see here, your healing shall break forth speedily. Isaiah 58 and verse 8. So this in other words is just to say that for our wounds, we could be carrying physical challenges or physical sickness, or we could be carrying emotional wounds, emotional scars. Now, when we fast, God gives a promise. And he says, see, anyway, he's a God who wants to heal us. He has a covenant of healing with us. He says, I'm Java Rafa, the God who heals you. Now, along with that, he's saying, let's make it quick. We'll make it faster. So that is the understanding that when we fast, sometimes maybe we want to experience that healing from God in our hearts. We want to experience that healing in our bodies. And as we said, it's not just for ourselves. Maybe we want to pray for a loved one who's physically sick or emotionally going through some challenges. We can fast because here is God's promise. And he says, your healing shall spring forth speedily or come quickly. So it makes it faster, hastens it or accelerates it. So that is another blessing we can receive when we fast. Let's continue the same passage verse 8. It says, your righteousness shall go before you. So it's a way of saying that righteousness that we walk in, that will make a way for us or it will pave a path for us. And God will cause that to happen. So God is a God who will help that righteousness to lead us forward. Now, we have a lot of other passages in scripture that talk about the blessings of righteousness where we know that righteousness will exalt a nation. So when we are walking right, it is going to bring honor on our lives. It is going to bring exaltation. It is going to lift us up. But in addition to that, God is saying that when we fast and pray, that righteousness is going to make a way for us. And God is going to lead us forward. Now this righteousness is also when you read about the armor of God. We know that the breastplate of righteousness. When we are walking in righteousness, it is actually security. It's like a weapon against the enemy. It protects us. See, when we walk in righteousness, when we walk in the right way, we don't stumble. And I'm not getting the exact verse for that. Okay, let me see. There is one verse I think here. Okay, and there is Proverbs 13, 6. Let me just see. Man, Proverbs 13. 6. Yeah, you can read it, Zitkin, if you have it open. Righteousness guards the man of integrity. But withness overthrows the sinner. Okay, great, great. So that is very clear in explaining what I was just saying. Righteousness is a defense and the breastplate of righteousness. It protects us against the enemy. So in other words, righteousness becomes our defense also. Okay, and God is saying that when we fast and pray, this righteousness is going to make a way for us. And maybe we've been standing righteously and thinking, God, I don't see a way or I don't see this righteousness bringing exaltation or anything positive in my life. But just hold on. As you fast, God is going to bless that and he is going to make a way through that righteousness. Now let's move on. We also see in this passage that the glory of the Lord shall be your rare God. So in other words, it's like saying God's glory will protect us. We know that God's glory leads us, isn't it? When the Israelites were led, they were led by the pillar by night, the cloud by day. That is the manifestation of the glory of God in those ways. And they were led. It was going before them. But God is also saying that my glory will be so tremendous on you that not just ahead of you, but even behind you. Even behind you, my glory is going to take care of you. Now we can think about the time when the children of God, they crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptians were following after them. But what happened? When they tried to do the same thing that the Israelites did, they were not able to. So God protected the Israelites. What was protecting them even behind them? God's glory, right? And we are the blessed people of God who can have the glory before us and the glory behind us, right? And God will, when we fast, when we align ourselves to God, what a beautiful thing God says, my glory shall be your rare God. So as if it was not enough for the glory to be ahead of us, God's glory is divinely protecting us even in areas that we can't see. In other words, when we look behind us, if something happens behind me, somebody attacks, I really wouldn't know. But God is saying, even in those situations, we are not the God who protects you. So that is the understanding that we have when we say that God's glory will be our rare God. Let's just continue. Verse 9 here. It says that, then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. So answer prayer. As it is, we've seen that God wants to answer our prayers. And when we pray in the will of God, we are aligned to answer prayers. But in addition to that, God is saying, I want to answer you quickly. You will cry and I will say, and he will say, here I am. So God wants to be available to us. God wants to respond to us. And how can that happen in a speedy manner? How can we walk and answer prayer in a consistent way? Fasting really can help us do that. So it has a place for answers from God. Verse 10, your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noon day. Very similar to what we discussed earlier where God will shine on us. His light will shine on us. We are being told that our light shall dawn in the darkness. Just think about your own life and if we feel that it is dark, God, look at Jesus. He said, I am the light of the world. And he also said, you are the light. You are salt. You are light. We are here to shine God's light. God is going to make our lives bright. And it says, your darkness shall be as the noon day. For us who are, you know, obedient believers and who are practicing this discipline of fasting, even our most challenging situations are not that challenging, you know, to put it in a simple way. God is saying, even your darkness shall be bright. Your darkness shall be bright. So, because I am with you, your challenges, you know, don't look at it as an isolated thing where I am not there. If I am there in it, you don't have to worry. That's what God is saying. Your darkness shall be as noon day. Just think, in other words, you can say that it talks of the help of God. God's help is so near that we can cry. He says, yeah, I'm waiting to say, here I am. And then also, your darkness shall be as noon day. So, God's help is available in such a wonderful way for us. And this happens. God says, I will bless you if you partake of the chosen fast. Now, let's move further. Verse 11, it says, Lord will guide you continually. God's guidance. We will not lack God's guidance constantly. His prompting is there, constantly. His leading is there, telling us, okay, do this, do that, go here, go that, you know, go there, talk to this person, take these steps. So, how can I have continual guidance? One of the additional ways, now, when you read this passage, we must not come to the conclusion that, yeah, okay, I'll only fast. I won't do anything else. Then I'll have all of this. It's not like that. You know, we must not forget the wisdom of God's word in other passages. We know how God guides us. He guides us by the prophetic word. He guides us by the very word of God. We are not discrediting those things, but we are adding to it. And we are saying, yes, along with all that, if I add fasting, a chosen fast, God is promising us and saying I will bless you with continual guidance. So, you know, that is amazing. We want to have continual guidance from God and satisfy your soul in brought. So, again, similar to our darkness being like the noon day, we are told that even if we go through some dry seasons, okay, we can still experience the deep satisfaction of God. Or in other words, we know Jesus said, I have come that you may have life and have it in abundance. So, how can we have abundant life when we are going through difficulty or lack or, you know, maybe, I don't know, maybe some sickness in the family or strife or so many things, right? External pressures. We can still have abundant life. Yes, problems are there, difficulties are there, but in the midst of that, we still have the zoe life of God. We are living that zoe life, abundant life of God. And when we fast God is saying, satisfy your soul in brought. Even in that situation, God can satisfy us. Let's continue. So, strengthen your bones meaning strengthen the bones means that strengthening the frame, right? The physical frame of who we are. Or you could also extrapolate that and say strengthening the rest of us, your soul, spirit, because we have promises for that in the rest of scriptures. So, basically God is saying health, wholeness, healing that is your portion. I will strengthen your bones. So, can I walk in divine health and healing? Yeah, if we fast, God is saying additional blessing is there for your healing and health as well. So, we can claim that. Then you shall be like a watered garden. Watered garden, how does it look? Green, fresh, flourishing, thriving, fruitful. So, a fruitful life, a thriving life. I can have that if I am fasting. So, look at all the blessings. So, fasting is never I have to do it. I don't want to do it. I have to do it. We must not have that attitude. When you really study about fasting in scripture, it's so beautiful because it opens the way to commune in an uninterrupted way with God and in addition to that, all these wonderful blessings that God is saying, I'm going to give it to you and you can walk in these things. So, fasting it's actually a joy for us to do. He says you shall be like a watered garden, meaning thriving and then it says like a spring of water whose waters do not fail, abundance, okay, continual, perennial. We can use all these words. When you see a spring of water, it just gushes out, keeps gushing out, fresh water is coming out of it. You know, just looking at the spring you're refreshed. How much more touching that water and experiencing that water. That's how God is saying that fullness of life will keep flowing out of you and your waters will not fail, meaning there's no end to that life that is flowing out of you because I am working it out in you. So that is a blessing which we can have if we fast. Then moving forward verse 12 here it says, those from among you shall build the old ways, waste places. So that is like God saying I am blessing you for restoration. Okay, and we know that as God's people we have an assignment of bringing God's restoration in people's lives. Maybe somebody has come, a friend of ours and they are sharing, hey all this has happened in my life you know, the past and the shame of it and I don't know what to do but God can use me as an instrument of his restoration in the life of such a person. Maybe I speak words of encouragement. I pray for the person. God releases a prophetic word through my life which goes and builds that power of the prophetic word it really makes a turnaround for that person. Now maybe God wants to use us to restore a community of people or a family recently one of the students in another batch she had just shared with me that she is ministering to a family they had a couple of deaths and so they are devastated and she said ma'am they have called me to pray should I go or should I ask like pastor to go, some other pastor to go. She is in another city so I said no if they have called you it's okay you can go and pray not a problem. So she went she prayed, she ministered to them and then she messaged me and told me you know I never thought if I go and I pray it will be such a blessing those people are encouraged now they have hope for the future so they thanked me and all that is what this means you shall build the old ways places a channel of God's restoration maybe in the life of that family or think about our nation we could look at our society we can look at all the things around us we talk about the seven mountains right we can look at the realm of education and think oh it's there are ruins there we need some restoration God can help us be that channel of restoration in anything that has been wasted or destroyed but according to God's purpose that needs to be refreshed and strengthened God can use us in those areas so when we fast and pray through our lives God can touch marriages God can touch families God can touch business God can touch finances and bring about restoration verse 12 you shall raise up the foundations of many generations it is like you know things that were shaken up things that were shaken up maybe old foundations some of the old things were shaken up but we can strengthen them once again how do we strengthen them really strong for many generations so we strengthen these things and you know God can use us to strengthen the old foundations this again it is very similar to what I talked about restoration but over here it is like old foundations is just take for example a godly life and we want that foundation to be strong so that our children can learn from us that generations to come will have that as a legacy God will use us to strengthen those foundations and moving forward you know it says you shall be a repairer you shall be a repairer of the breach so this means if there is any crack or loophole or things that are broken down God uses us as a repairer ok God helps us and when we repair what happens when you repair a wall there is protection once again there is strength there is God's blessing within that boundary so God can use us to repair in line with in line with what we have been saying restoration people's lives we can do that and actually here repairer of the breach also means like a division ok so we can bring about that patching up and that unity and God can do that through us ok when we first he has already given us that promise then restoreer of streets to dwell in wow isn't that beautiful it's a word of healing on our land the streets if they were already ok why would they need restoration God is saying I will make you a restoreer of the streets so that people can live there happily with an abundant life so once again bringing healing upon our land that is possible there is so much to do with healing of the land isn't it restoration of the land when we are engaging in fasting then moving forward and this is beautiful verse 14 it says you shall delight yourself in the Lord you know above everything God I want to see this happen I want to see that happen above everything our fellowship with God is what is our delight isn't it so God is saying when we fast you know we love God we want more of God but that hunger increases that delight increases where you can't have enough of it you can't have enough more and you can't be satisfied with whatever you get how can that happen to an individual when God says I will bless you if you fast I will give you that kind of a hunger for me so it's a beautiful promise that we can have more of God when we fast we can enjoy more of God freely we can do that then again verse 14 it says I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth that's like saying you know the life of an overcomer the life of one who is soaring victorious and God can give us that blessing if we fast and you know you could also look at it as riding on the high hills meaning having an honourable life only God can do that only God puts honour on our lives so when we fast God says I will do this for you then moving forward here the 18th blessing and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father so the heritage of Jacob your father is you know there are blessings upon the life of Jacob and in Obadiah we said that they will possess their possessions remember we said that those go after God they go hard after God they will possess their possessions and the descendants of Jacob it says so Jacob had blessings upon his life and now God is saying those blessings I will give you you will have the heritage of Jacob your father so God is pouring and showering all those blessings upon us so in this manner you know we see that there is so much that we stand to gain out of fasting whereas fasting can be seen only as oh it's too hard it's too difficult it's too painful but look at the other side you know we stand to gain so much so like for me if I think of fasting I feel like wow why should we not do it if it's going to strengthen our relationship with God and bring all these blessings on us okay so yeah that's a little bit about fasting in our APC resources on the website you can also go and look for a sermon series by the title The Chosen Fast and I think it's a four part series it covers whatever I have shared with you but you know you could just go and listen to it over and over again if you would like as well it'll just bless you and strengthen you to move in this discipline and gain the most out of it okay so yeah and oh yeah I told you that I would share a little bit so for me I think I learned that regular fasting is something that we can incorporate into our lives and I also read about you know apparently the Methodists they had a rule anyone who came as a minister for the Methodists they had this rule that every Wednesday and Friday some two days you know the person needs to fast till 3pm or something only then they can be part of the ministry work so you know I read all these things earlier and I thought hey is it possible to have days of the week that you can assign to fasting but then you know when I read it I kind of started trying to practice it so it took me a couple of years actually to get it into my schedule and in general you know normally it's been a part of my schedule in fact I used to do two days a week not the entire day but maybe you know skip your breakfast, lunch and all and maybe the evening meal have it so I used to do that for a very long period of time and then eventually it became one day of the week and I mean to be honest to you actually in this season of my life the last some months I haven't done it but that is my normal that is my normal and I do intend to get back to it weekly fast so in general I prefer this than what I told you earlier before only ministry I used to take it up and fast before I go and minister but then I realized fasting is a normal part of my life then that will strengthen me even more and I have seen this example in our like I have seen pastor talk about regular fasting so I think for years of his life every Friday or something the whole day he fasts and also in our bible college we have this when you all come here for whenever the in-person restarts we have Friday as a fasting day where everyone keeps that fast again you know it's not a forced thing it's your consent you need to be willing to do it and usually that fasting time is closed up with the time of intercession worship prayer and it is you know quite powerful so just some examples and yes also in my life I think I have had some extended periods of fasting as well and one particular fast that I always go back to it was one of the most uplifting and refreshing times of my life because I feel like in that season when I did that fast slightly prolonged fast so much changed I had prayed for a couple of things particularly yes for spiritual matters and also you know for some of the natural things and also my health and I really got a major breakthrough in my health after that one particular prolonged fast so I know that fasting is amazing you know given like if I didn't have to teach and have all these tasks through the day I would perpetually want to fast all the time so yeah just a little bit about what I have learned personally from fasting but please go ahead anything you want to share or ask or discuss we can do that okay just one point I will add here see fasting doesn't mean destroying our health okay always remember that because the same Bible also says that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit so I don't have the right to you know put myself in a place where I am fasting and I know that it's having negative impact on my health but I need to be aware right and make a wise decision so it's not this or that we can be healthy and we can fast so you know try to do it that way and I am really a true believer of that yeah we can fast we can also fast for extended periods of time but take care of your health take care of your health fast the right way there are some practical ways where when we fast it is good to you know decide how long you're going to fast how what kind of fast you want to have whether you just want to skip you know a meal or two or whether you want to do a Daniel fast then it makes it easy you don't have to focus on it you can fast and keep spending time with God and then you know whether you just want to drink water or all that and then you could also you know take care of your health sometimes people end up drinking a lot of tea coffee and all that when they're not eating and that causes a lot of you know damage actually to us rather than physically and while they're fasting yes the spiritual benefits are there but I'm just saying like take care of your health if you are fasting for prolonged periods of time then you need to know how to get started and how to close it off so that you can get the maximum benefits not just spiritually but also for your health's sake so fasting doesn't mean you know destroying our health so just a point for us okay yes yes Sarah yeah yeah it's the yeah yeah faster my question is regarding we talked about the chosen fast and it was about you know the attitudes we need to have and all that which pleases God so suppose you know we are planning to take a fast how do we you might have covered on this but I was just trying to understand how do we decide like what kind of fasting to take whether it should be a prolonged fasting or kind of incorporating into the week or anything of that sort yeah thank you yeah sure Divya sure thank you so it's similar to prayer what we said about scheduling sometime which is regular and then you have your extended periods whenever you can make time for it so it can be something like you know as I told you if we can incorporate fasting into every week of our lives that would be good I I really believe in that so every week if you can just have a day or two whatever works for you you schedule it now in addition to that if you have the freedom in your schedule you can also schedule maybe weekends weekends in a month like in two months you pick a weekend and then you kind of you know schedule it so these smaller fast you can schedule Divya and that will be helpful you don't really have to say okay when I'm led by God and all but prolonged fast I think it is it's better to have an impression in your heart where you feel like okay if I'm going to fast 21 days then I need to really be impressed by the Holy Spirit to take up something like that now I do know of people who every year they have time set aside you know every January I fast 21 days but again they have made that commitment to God so as led by God so prolonged fast something which is more than seven days or so I think it's better to pray and hear from God and then take it up but I think anything below you know things like twice a week or over a weekend three days up to five days seven days that you can always schedule okay okay pastor yeah yeah I just wanted to share one thing regarding this 21 days like it's kind of a testimony like I had been doing it with one of my friends so it is it was basically for her family because through the COVID time they the husband lost the job and it was a very pathetic situation but miraculously after these 21 days he is getting a job they are being restored to their even blessed even more than the initial status so yeah I just wanted to testify to that yeah thank you wow amazing amazing praise God thank you Divya for sharing that yeah Zellie told me do you have anything to share about fasting and prayer I know that there is a lot of fasting and prayer that goes on in your church Zellie is able to hear yeah currently we are fasting for the coming days and like the Holy Spirit is really like revealing things to us and we are expecting great things that the Holy Spirit will manifest so yeah we are looking forward and also like the last session like we had on the Holy Spirit in that time like I was just reminded of the song Waymaker and you know like the song it really blessed my heart and I was just praying and asking the Lord what does it mean and the Lord reminded me like he is a promise keeper whatever you all are praying it will come into flourishing you know that he will work in science wonders and miracles and we are expecting great things from the Lord yeah so do keep us in prayer so yeah thank you yeah yeah thank you thank you Zellie so yes class that's a little bit about fasting I know we've gone over time but again are there any more questions because this would be our last session on fasting okay so if you do think of something and you need clarification you can always post it on the the stream page on the Google Classroom and let's take it up because there's so much you know about fasting out there and and yes those of us who have never tried it I just want to encourage you maybe in a small way and feel pressured to do it you can pray and you can do it whichever way either you skip a meal or you do a Daniel fast but gradually gradually you just make it a part of your everyday life and we just read so many wonderful blessings that we can actually receive from God when we do the chosen fast okay so alright let's close off class and I would like to request somebody to please pray as we wrap it up yes yes Divya thank you father thank you for helping us father lord to attend another session father lord where we get a deeper understanding father of your ways father of how you want us to live our lives how you want us to get closer with you father lord we thank you and praise you father for Pastor Nancy for all the principles father from the bible that she's taught us father lord thank you lord for her experiences her testimonies lord thank you father for her life you bless her immensely father and even moving forward father lord all that you have planned and prepared for her lord may you bring it to pass father in your own beautiful time father I pray for each and every student father lord bless them father and father help us lord you know all our needs father all spoken and spoken needs father even before we come to you lord you know it in advance father but as we pray to you father lord you reveal your will to us father as we father lord even lord as we learn today lord about fasting thank you lord that you have given us this provision father lord you help us father that we make use of all these provisions that you've given us father thank you lord that you have written in your word all the benefits father lord all the blessings father when we make use of the provision of fasting father lord I pray that you quicken our hearts father that we be able to decide father lord how to father in which always father whether it is through prayer whether it is through the study of your word whether it is through fasting lord whichever way father you want us to father have a closer relationship with you lord to know you more father because your word says knowing you as eternal life yes father you help us father that we may be able to know you father in a personal way that there ever we are lord all the places that you have put us father it is for a reason and the purpose father lord that we may be able to represent you well all these things we pray in the name of for lord and savior Jesus Christ amen amen amen thank you thank you so much Divya and thank you everyone God bless you and I'll see you tomorrow we have a class tomorrow as well but we will move to the next topic so yeah see you tomorrow God bless bye