 Hey guys, I have just a quick word that I want to share with you and it's about fasting and we want to just kind of talk about the basics but tonight I apologize I'm not going to talk about the basics but the importance and the benefits that you get from fasting. I do want to mention that there is resources that I want to offer to you guys so that you guys can understand the basics of fasting because fasting you're abstaining from food and it's kind of your health and especially if you haven't done it already if you have never done it before I don't want you to be like okay I'm going to go fast three days or seven days because the church is doing it. There is the basics and the fundamentals and the importance of understanding what you need to do and how to do it. So here is briefly a few people that I think you will truly be blessed and have a better understanding more on the basics. The first one is ABC on fasting. Vladimir our pastor Vlad just briefly talked about it and it was very powerful and really basic and covered a lot of things so that's one fasting if you just go on YouTube on Jensen Franklin and just YouTube him he covers a lot of topics the subject on fasting so that's one thing and then Benny Hinn he talks a lot about fasting and prayers so if you look that up on YouTube those are some resources if you guys want more information on that okay but right now I want us to talk about the importance of fasting like why should I fast? The first and foremost is that our relationship with God is the most important thing and what happens is is when you take some time to abstain from food and instead of eating you're praying you're reading the word you're listening to podcasts instead of breakfast lunch and dinner you're taking that moment that half hour that hour that takes you to eat you're taking that time to be with God and to listen to him and just to pour out your heart to get closer to God because the thing is is that it awakens your relationship with God see as we go on in our lives and we we get we have a lot of demands we have a lot of things going on in our lives a lot of distractions we tend to get lukewarm we tend to get distracted we tend to lose that fire the enemy is after your relationship with God first and foremost and the thing is is that we have to take time to reflect and say am I not doing so good about God is God not something that I'm excited about I'm not excited to wake up and pray anymore I'm not excited to go to church anymore if there's something lacking fasting allows you to awaken that passion again to stir that flame to make that fire begin to happen inside of you when you fast when you abstain from food and you begin to focus on your relationship with God is something happens inside of you it is evident we did it as a church we did it as individuals and something happens something happens inside of your spirit that you're like God I want more of you you begin to hear his voice better and you it just rejuvenates you and refreshes you now the second one that you get a really big thing is that you have to understand is that you're under a spiritual warfare every single one of us a battlefield in the mind every single day you're battling something now when you're fasting I'm going to tell you is that you're going under a spiritual warfare what I mean by this is that if you are struggling in your marriage if you're struggling in your finances if you are dealing with depression if you're dealing with suicidal thoughts if you're dealing with addictions or temptations it is time to fast a lot of times when we talk to people when we counsel people even in the church I ask them to have you fasted have you prayed did you do whatever you could to be able to save your marriage to save your situation don't give up fasting is a way to come before God to humble yourself and say God I'm coming on my behalf on my situation for you to come through I need your wisdom I need your guidance I need your holy spirit fire for this situation fasting is not just I'm abstaining from food you're coming under spiritual warfare to fight for your marriage to fight for your finances to fight for your own self if you're dealing with certain things in your spirit if there's a battle or if there's an addiction it says that if you fast and pray those things will be removed you will receive deliverance you will receive a breakthrough amen so when you fast there is an outcome that you will be able to get overcome a certain situation spiritual warfare three is that it makes you I guess to humble yourself now we can go about our day and it's sometimes difficult to abide in the holy spirit to abide in God what I mean is that for us to realize God I need you I need you to help me with the situation with my job with everything that I do is to humble yourself and it makes you realize I need God I need God to move me to the next level I need God in my marriage in my finances in my relationship with my parents my relationship with whoever or whatever you might need in the next level of your life we need holy spirit so when you fast and makes you conscious that I need God amen I need him so it says in Proverbs three five this is one of my favorite scriptures that says trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding and all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths when you acknowledge Holy Spirit he shall direct you so when you humble yourself when you start to fast you're acknowledging the Holy Spirit saying I'm acknowledging you my Lord that whatever situation I'm in help me direct me give me wisdom give me direction through your word you're able to hear his voice better because Holy Spirit is always speaking but we're not always listening so when you are when you're fasting you you begin to be more sensitive you begin to be more sensitive to conviction to direction that he wants to give you to humble yourself and to make you realize I need you in my life in every area of my life fourth is sharpens our focus now if the devil will not allow you if the devil hasn't gotten you to sin he will get you distracted either way if he will not let you fall in one way he'll get you distracted with other things if it's social media if it's just nonsense if it's just kind of whatever going to the movies all the time not much focus on your life you're just going about your day every day as the day goes on as it evolves well we are people of focus we are people of vision we are people of purpose and so what happens is again when you come into fasting you kind of wake up you kind of start to reflect because you're not eating you're pretty much just focusing in you're tuning in and start to reflect your life and start to say okay god what can I do what can I do about my life so it helps you to sharpen your focus and what direction you need to take and last but not least which is health benefits you guys know that even doctors recommend it so it removes toxins out of your body because sometimes we put things in our body that we shouldn't and going about our day going fast fast fast but it helps you remove toxins it increases your metabolism it helps you in a lot of the lowers down your cholesterol it kind of just gets your body going again so that's also another benefit so I just wanted to cover those five basic benefits that will bless you that fasting is not just because god said do it he says it because he knows how to reach you he knows how to reach your spirit and say draw close to me because there's always benefit of that amen and that is through fasting as well so when we as a church just last but not least as as a church when we are encouraging everyone to fast do it with us start little listen to those resources that I mentioned just so you can learn more about the basics amen