 Matthew 6 16 through 18 says this when you fast say when you fast Okay, some of you say say when you fast Okay, notice that it doesn't says if you fast. All right, so Fasting is for every believer and every Christian. Amen All right says when you fast do not look somber as hypocrites do For that disfigured their faces to show others They're fasting said anybody have an LT translation because like this sounds like this figure their faces like I Thought I put a new different translation on there. Nobody is an LT. Yeah, give me that one 616 I like an LT translation says different. All right, so an LT translation says this And when you fast don't make obvious don't make it obvious as hypocrites do for they tried to look miserable and So that people will admire them For their fasting. I tell you the truth that this is the only reward they will ever get But when you fast again Jesus is when you fast not if you fast and Bible says in the witnesses of two or three words The word should be established. So just right here Fasting has been established forever, but there's a lot more scriptures in the Bible then This is verse 17 but when you fast Come come your hair and wash your face that face that no one will notice that you're You're fasting except your father who knows what you do in private and your father who sees everything Will reward you so the title of my message today is the rewards of fasting or the rewards of fasting And I'm gonna present to you seven things that I believe fasting will do for you as you commit to seeking the Lord and As as you commit to seeking his face first and foremost Let's see what fasting is fasting isn't willful abstaining from natural pleasures For spiritual purposes fasting is willful abstaining from natural pleasures for spiritual purposes Fasting is abstaining from food the word fasting actually means literally to shut your mouth to not allow anything in so Yes, would you have there? You know nowadays we have a lot of different types of fasting fasting from social media It's good, but real fasting and I mean real not by my definition But real according to the scriptures is abstaining from food for spiritual reasons Fasting is very popular nowadays in our culture, especially with the new age of advancement of new age and Discovery by medical field the the benefits of fasting. We're gonna go through some of them So intermediate fasting how many of you like seeing like intermediate? I bet you after us talking on this You know Siri and and Facebook and Instagram is listening you all something gonna get a bunch of ads on intermediate fasting So but again to prove the point that fasting is very popular Fasting became kind of a thing to do because it carries a lot of Benefits and God created us in a such a way and he created and put those principles in place and when God Commended his people too fast. It wasn't only just for spiritual reasons He also created our physical body in a such a way that fasting benefits us it resets us It renews our body We literally slowed down aging. We literally Improve our immune system. It cleanses our blood. It helps us. It helps our brain lowers cholesterol lowers high blood pressure. I mean there's a lot of Physical benefits of fasting and this is my first point first reward of fasting is physical health and as I've mentioned there is lowers your blood sugar and reduces insulin in your body Or controls by reducing insulin resistance in your body. It promotes better health by finding inflammation it enhances Heart health by improving blood pressure and cholesterol level fasting boosts your brain functions and prevents Neurodegenerative disorders fasting helps you lose weight and boost your metabolism Increases growth of hormones which is vital for your metabolism weight loss and muscle strain slows down your aging and extends longevity Prevents cancer and increase increases effectiveness of chemotherapy And this is just one of the few things that I just read to you that have been studied There are a lot more but these these things have been studied by doctors done experiments and peer reviewed and They came to conclusion that fasting is good for your body Now two thousand years some later where God spoke that like six thousand years ago about our body that we need fasting Fasting is included in our every every day thing. I don't know if you know that but while we sleep We don't eat. Well, hopefully we don't eat right And so this is why you know for eight to ten hours twelve hours. You're not eating Hopefully you don't sleep that much but just you know, that's how much you're not eating, right? And so that's why the first meal of your day called breakfast break a fast you're breaking fast on your day and so But fasting has a lot of good physical body But something that is not often talked in the churches is that fasting also Brings supernatural or divine healing divine touch of God to our body and One of the scriptures is Isaiah 58 8 and says this then when you have fasted your light will break out like dawn And you will be healed quickly You'll be healed quickly and again, it's I Haven't heard that spoken that much in in churches about fasting produces Bringing bringing about healing but as I was starting for the message and I read about the thought and I started in some research and Listening to some people I've found quite a few testimonies of people that got healed supernaturally Through their fast. There was particular gentleman that was confined to a wheelchair because of severe car accident And as he was praying and asking believing God to heal him, you know He went to different places for people to heal him to to pray for healing to anoint him with oil and With laying out of hands and and he seemed to not get healed and he was at one point You know just got discouraged But as he come to read this first that I just read to you some faith some kind of faiths parked inside of him that If I fast that maybe perhaps God will heal my prayer and he will heal me and as he began to fast usually, you know when you begin fasting First four or five six days seven days, you know, you kind of you're losing strength because you know, you're moving around you Lose you're giving energy, but yeah, you're not putting any you're not putting any food and you feel to your body So it's normal to feel tired But his testimony goes like this that is as he was fasting and praying seeking the Lord for his healing His body became stronger and stronger with every day that he was fasting and eventually he walked out of the wheelchair Now his healing was progressive and then he started taking some therapy and and you know Got better and better at walking and eventually was able to do everything that he was doing before like normal people does Like normal people do but the thing is it wasn't a natural healing for him It was a divine healing because doctors gave him zero chances of a walk and again He's his spinal cord was severed. His nerves were severed. I mean he had no feelings down below. I mean it was it was not a natural Ability it was a supernatural thing and we see in a scripture that one of the rewards of fasting benefits of fasting is that your healing Will come quicker So I don't know if you have certain infirmities in your body or certain things that you're fighting or a certain certain sicknesses that you're fighting I would challenge you To pray and ask the Lord if you'd have you fast now if you're taking medications and and and you're your your health is Is failing you have to approach this? Wisely You know you talk to your doctor ask your doctor. Maybe there is now I'll warn you right off the bat not every doctor understands fasting some people will Discourage you from fasting but medical science proves that fasting works But nonetheless your condition might be different so use wisdom and and be led by faith in the situation Maybe ask you doctor see if he can do a progressive fast. I heard dr. Mausman Roe who is an expert in fasting He he would advise people that were sick in her body. He would encourage them. He practiced that a lot this is where actually got most of the stuff on on Fasting benefiting supernatural bringing healing is that he would encourage people to go on Progressive fast meaning that every day they would eat less or they would take certain foods out and Progress as the doctors would monitor their health and they would as there will be praying standing in the scripture declaring God's word They would get healed in our body and so one of the benefits of fasting is Healing to your body naturally your body cleans itself purifies itself. That's why first few days three four days you feeling icky You might have headache you might have You know you might feel weak and all of that stuff is because it's toxins from these Foods that we eat Process food that we eat. It's coming out of our body and it's normal Just drink lots of water first three to four days Let it be flushed out and then you can kind of simmer down on your water intake The only sucky part about it is you go bathroom every like 30 minutes But other than that what trust me it's better than the headache. So that's just for personal experience number two the reward the second reward of fasting is it prepares you for a Temptation and it's coming out of the Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 this is where story what Jesus went on a problem fast Jesus was led in the wilderness By the Holy Spirit To be tempted now many say that he was led To the wilderness to be too fast. No It's clear in the scripture says that he was led to the wilderness to be tempted But as the antidote for temptation Jesus shows fast Okay Because you know I often kind of associate Jesus Holy Spirit led Jesus to fast You know that's not scriptural It's not what the Bible says he was led to be tempted to be tried and as the antidote for temptation or as a way to develop immune Immunization against temptation. No, that's good Jesus went to fast. Okay. We got to write this down. I don't have that one. It just came out Come on You know, I I used to think I used to think I used to have this kind of approach that you know That Jesus was led in the desert. He was tired. He was weak 40 days. No food 40 days No isolated 40 days he was at his weakest point and the devil showed up when he was the most vulnerable he was the weakest and Pretty much he was kicking the man that was already down That's kind of what I when I growing up in church her in this here in this story of Jesus fast and reading this that's the kind of approach and that's kind of mindset that I was reading right and couple years ago I as I was in the fast I was listening to the message and I heard the spiritual present a different point of view and it shocked me and It put the scripture in a different light and he said that Jesus And he brought it that in he brought the scripture there. It says I believe is verse Verse 11 and that it says that after he fasted Dave Then Satan came to tempt him right. He said that Jesus what is at his pinnacle of strength Because of the fast he wasn't at his weakest And if any of you that fast at a practice fasting especially prolonged fasting you would know this to be true You might be weak in your body, but your spiritual senses are alert your spiritual antennas are are receiving Very well and you can spot the temptation and have strength to walk away from it You can you have the strength to it's like almost you're a in a tunnel vision your focus you're pursuing the Lord and To overcome temptation when you are in the fast is actually much much easier So fasting so when Jesus was here Bible says he's for 40 days. He got hungry and then he got tempted No, he prepared himself for this temptation. He was at his most if that was the case I believe Jesus was always prepared But he was modeling this model to us He was showing this to us that fasting prepares us it develops a develops a an immunization For the temptation it develops our spirit to be able to say no to our cravings to be able to say no to Lust to be able to say no to greed to be able to say no to those things that are contrary to God's word to those habits that That sabotage us that sabotage or walk with God to be able to say no when it's the most Difficult because when you when you're fasting you train in your appetites you train in your flesh You train in your your soul to be able to endure If I'd ask you to come and lift 300 pounds here You know most of you probably would not be able to lift it But with some proper training for some of you lots of training, you know You go into the gym and proper exercising yourself at some point You can make yourself to come to the place where you could lift 300 pounds Why is because you've trained yourself your body to be able to do that? And that's what fasting does to our spirit man It puts him above our flesh because oftentimes Christians are our fleshly Christians They allow their flesh to dictate what way they go what they watch what they eat and and what what do they Intake I'm talking about through their eyes through the ears But it has to be opposite is the spirit has to dictate meaning that you go and you you You turn on a certain show or certain movie or certain things and and something in your spirits is now This is not right. This is not good. We shouldn't I shouldn't be watching this and you turn it off Instead of your flesh dictating and telling you what to watch and when you listen to certain songs or On the radio or something comes up and and and and you know before you used to just bump it. Yeah, this is a cool music No, but now, you know something in your spirit says it's just some sometimes not right like this doesn't Doesn't doesn't feel doesn't feel right. I remember this particular story. There was this guy in a Mitch in my home group long long time ago He came and he got said he was plugged in. He was in my home group and one of the things that he was One of the things that he the last things that he was kind of having a hard time let go is Music because he's like man is like Christian music is kind of boring. He's like I just like you know the beat I'll listen for the beat. You know, how many of you said I listen to music just for the beat Don't like don't break your hands. He's Heathens All right, and so and one of the things the thing is like and I understood that I could like Braid him and say like hey, just don't listen to the music. I've mentioned a few times here. There's listen It's not it's not building you and I know you're listening for the beat But the words that are being spoken whether you consciously some consciously there they're being deposited into your mind And that's it. I that's all I've said it. I remember one time he went He just really encountered God and got really put on his heart and he went into fasting first time fasting He was he was like so excited and then and all that stuff and after fasting I remember we went to Spokane to pick up his car and we were driving we were driving back from Spokane I remember this so clearly and The car that we got had like awesome stereo system It was booming and so and he he was just testing his car. He was excited we're picking up his car just just purchased it for him and and he was bumping his music and maybe like For five ten minutes and I was tired So I just like I just laid back well lean my thing back and just kind of was those enough and then he turned it off He's like man. I don't know. This is not right. I was like I was like listen Hey, if you want to listen to go for it, I'm just gonna take a nap. It's like no, it's not it's not that He's like, I don't know something just doesn't sit right. He's like Just no I can't listen to that and that's what happens when you know when we fast We begin to develop sensitivity to hold the spirit We begin to develop our spirit man and our spirit man says, you know what I Don't know that that doesn't seem right. I used to do that before but now it just doesn't sit right with me and That's what fasting develops. It prepares you for a temptation. It makes you stronger, you know food is a very spiritual subject, you know that Right now in a cultic world and especially if you read, you know throughout the history people used to sacrifice food to the gods to demons and all kinds of stuff food as a very is a very spiritual thing Adam and Eve The first temptation was with food Israel when they were led out of Promise land from Egypt the first temptation was food and unfortunately both of them failed and we see the results of it One brought death to the world Adam and Eve the other one brought death to themselves in the wilderness. God says you're not gonna You're not gonna enter into the promise land I wonder sometimes because we don't curb our appetites Appetites we don't discipline ourselves through fasting through self-denial and discipline that the the Christian discipline that Bible calls us to that we caught ourselves short of the promises of God But we see Jesus he comes on a scene the second Adam He denies food he puts food in a proper place food is not bad Food is not evil. It just needs to be in its place and he Allows his spirit man to dominate his flesh. He allows his spirit man to dominate his desires and allows his spirit to guide him Verses his desires and we see he comes out and Bible says he comes out with power He comes out right directly into his calling He fulfills God's plan in three years. She does what people can't do in a lifetime He dies and he's risen up and today we celebrate his life and all and he's put the history right in half So food is a very serious matter for a Christian and it's a very Spiritual subject that we should not treat it lightly because it starts with small and it progresses further. Amen Three number three I believe that fasting unlocks your calling according to acts chapter 13 verses 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting The Holy Spirit set set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work Which I have called them in another transaction says for the special assignment that I have for them while they were fasting and worshiping I believe that I believe that The way to discover your calling the way to step into your calling the way to unlock your calling is through fasting Is through fasting and today you might be sitting you might be asking yourself a question You know I've been Christian for some time, but what is my calling? What is God having store for me? What what where do I fit in in the body? What was I created to do and I think this is the This is the most asked question of Of the humanity maybe second most probably first one if there is God and second One is is what am I to do like what what what was I created to do do? Do I do was am I just here to to suck up air from the atmosphere? Am I just here to take time to take up time in space? Am I just here to exist? Or there is purpose to me or there is a calling in my life. What does God have for me? And I believe that the best way the clearest way to hear is when you fast When you fast, I believe something clears up In your heart first of all all some of the some of the junk some of the things that that Some of the noise some of some some of these voices That that speak into us it might be even a good voices voices of our parents You know you need to do this you need to do this because parents they see if you don't got no calling for yourself If you didn't find calling for yourself, I'll give you one that's usually how it works or and So you know or or opinions of friends opinions of other people and sometimes we get lost in all these noises But what does God say about me? What is God say about my purpose? What is God have me do in this season in this time? Or maybe you know you're calling and you've been doing your calling, but you feel like you've gotten to a Plateau a floodplace like okay God I heard you say this and I did it and this is well how far it got me, but what is next? What do I do in this season of my life? You know I was single and I knew what I was doing, but now I got married things shifted things changed What I do in this season how do I serve in this season or now I have children and I got you know My time looks different my energy looks different my my priorities look different. How do I serve you in this season? God I used to be in school and my time was taken up all by school But I graduated now I have you know, I have a little bit more free time. That's such a thing I don't know Seems like the further you go in life the less time you have but let's just say that's the case, right? Like what I do in this season What what what I do in this season? What is my call? What is my assignment right now? And the way to discover it is through fasting because this is where you can hear got more clear This is where the noise gets cleared up. It's like a radio. Have you seen those old radios? Maybe you're old enough to know actually or touch one, you know, you got a dial There's a dial right and you kind of have to find that frequency sometimes. It's like really really fine frequency That's just like a touch, you know like like one touch to the left to the right and that's it You lost the signal have to be just right and you get it or even the TVs TVs used to be the similar way, right? you're tuning in until the lines get straightened out and So some of you like what used to have that it wasn't HD It was like 180p But this is kind of how it is is sometimes you have to just tune it to just Get your position yourself just in the right place So you can hear got clearly you can get this confirmation. Yes, Lord. This is what you have me do Number four I believe that fasting releases Divine or supernatural power divine or supernatural power it says and Look chapter 4 14 same story. Jesus was fasting 40 days and then says that Jesus returned to Galilee Filled with the Holy Spirit's power and report about him spread quickly throughout the whole region. I believe that fasting and luck certain thing in us certain giftings and certain anointing that's been placed by God in us and the day of our salvation But otherwise we would not be able to tap in listen. I'm not saying fasting Gets more grace of God into your life. I'm not saying that you earn something from God Because you fast now you've become certain level of holiness or certain level of Consecration and then God just unlocks the next level like a video game now. You can take on a bigger boss That's that's not that's not the way it works We have been giving all things pertaining to Christ and righteousness Bob says right we have it all on the side of us Fasting helps us to discover what God has given us through his word and speak into God and him saying listen I've put that in you and This is how you can use it, you know the difference between power. No power is very clear when you think about Screwing something in all right I'm sure everybody had an encounter with that when you need to screw something in and you don't have a power tool You just have a hand tool and then you're sitting there You know and like oh man I wish you had a power tool and that's the difference the power makes the difference Something that takes a lot of effort something that takes a lot of time So something that is straining when the power comes in you just click the button and it does it now It's not it doesn't do it for you it doesn't with you And that is how it is when we fast we position ourselves we open ourselves up We clear any kind of gun can you kind of plug any kind of kinks where Holy Spirit's power may get stuck in our life Or gets limited maybe some mindsets maybe some habits some patterns certain types of Thoughts we get the clear cleared up and then the anointing begins to flow The power begins to flow and something that would take us 10 years to do we do it in a year Something that we were not even thinking that we'll be able to do it now We're able to do it. This is pertaining to ministry. We see Bible says that Jesus came out and he began to do miracles He became to heal people the power began to flow out of him even out of his clothes Clothes power was flowing out Bible says they would touch the the hedge of his garment and that would be made well Fasting releases the power of God and it's not just for the ministry Bible says to run in chapter 8 18 that remember the Lord your God He is the one who gives power to be successful in another translation to power to gain wealth We can do everything on our own We can strive and work hard on our own listen and again Holy Spirit is not going to do it for you because there are some Spiritual folks and I'm gonna spin around stump my feet. I'm gonna shout I'm gonna walk around that wall seven times is gonna fall and that's it I'm gonna do anything. No, you're gonna have to work You're gonna have to study you're gonna have to go to school. You're gonna have to pray You're gonna have to prepare you're gonna have to do everything He says we prepare the battle horses for the battles, but the victory comes from the Lord That's that power. That's the empowerment to do what you will not be able to do on your own You can roll the boat or you can open up the sails and let his wind fill it and you go Places that you will not be able to go on your own Fasting unlocks the power of God in your life number five fence and Fasting the benefit of fasting is answered prayer now. It's so many scriptures because of time I don't have but there's so many scriptures in the Bible and and it's almost always answered needs Followed by prayer and fasting right now Many churches and many Christians speak of prayer Dr. Miles Monroe said this that Prayer is something that we talk so much about but do so little We do so much about it by would you so little but if you look in the lives of Apostles and we look in the life of Jesus prayer something that he did most and And everything else flowed out of it and so but Often we we see that prayers been emphasized prayers being talked about and it's it's good It's right, but in the Bible in the biblical context prayer and fasting often went together and fasting is is a biblical way of Humility of humble in ourselves anywhere in the Bible It says if my people who are called by my name would humble themselves the word humble We quote the scripture the word humble in there means fasting Anywhere word humble in the Bible means with prayer it means that word humble means fasting and fasting and prayer together It's like a turbo For an engine. It's like a super charge for the engine is able to do so much more You be able to pull so much more Sometimes we have these great wishful thinking and desire and we in our prayer will load them up Well, imagine this loading up this trailer and then we have this little tiny little mini Cooper That's trying to hold this massive 53 foot trailer and it's just barely barely moving Little poor thing struggling and wondering like why am I not receiving the answer to my prayers? Maybe Maybe just maybe according to the scripture. We need to add fasting to it. We need to increase the size of our engine Increase the capacity that those prayers are able to pass us to pass through us. Sometimes we pray this big of a prayer We have a this big of a desire this big of a request But our prayer and our fasting is this small and in a dangerous from heaven trying to shove it through to us And it's just not coming through. It's just not coming through We see clear example in the Bible Daniel fasting and praying and on the first day According to the scriptures the answer was given to Daniel, but he received it on a 21st day Why because there's some confrontation. There's certain things in the spiritual world that needed to be cleared up Before the answer would come. I wonder sometimes How many answers do we have floating in the heavens? Dispatched by God for you and I for my situation for your sickness for your family for your marriage for your children But because we don't stay through long enough, but because we don't fast we don't seek the Lord's face We don't humble ourselves by fasting We never see that breakthrough into our life Ezra 823 says so we fasted in petition God about this and he answered our prayer and I can quote you dozens and dozens of scriptures From the Bible where prayer and fasting brought an answer to somebody's need number six position deliverance, sorry The reward of fasting is it it positions you for deliverance brings deliverance Now it's not the fasting itself that brings the deliverance But spiritual fasting leads to deliverance fasting Again Fasting is humility right in context of the scripture when you fast you humble yourselves and You cannot receive deliverance without humility. It's not possible Humility is not feeling sorry Humility is not feeling remorseful. Humility is not feeling low about yourself. That's not humility according to the scriptures humility is fasting and It's seeking the Lord It's saying Lord. I need you in this situation. Lord. I'm desperate for you I need you in my life right now this situation. I can't do it on my own. I don't want to do it on my own I need you In my personal life, I have a quiet, you know experience in this area from in the 2010 11 12 13 I was When started learning about as a ministry and personally start learning about deliverance and I started Seeking the Lord for my personal deliverance. I've From hearing testimonies hearing different people getting delivered And and this particular stories that stood out to me I said, you know, I I can see certain things happening in my life that I think it's not from God I think there's a demonic spirit behind this and I need deliverance personal I need deliverance from these habits from these mindsets and those things that are lingering in the background And I started seeking the Lord said Lord, maybe perhaps I need deliverance, but that was that was exactly my prayer Lord, maybe perhaps I need deliverance And I would go to a prayer line People will lay hands on me and I look right somebody's manifesting right and left somebody's manifesting. I'm like, that's it Okay, maybe I guess I don't have anything, but then I would notice certain things Persisting my life and I say Lord, that's not how it's supposed to be. I meant to live a free life I meant to live a life of freedom I meant to live a life where I'm not bounded to those things or not constantly struggling with these things Lord I know there's something More for me than this constant trouble struggle. I'm supposed to be I'm supposed to be On the other side helping people be set free not struggling myself in these areas And then years went on and I maybe have gone to couple dozens and I'm not lying couple dozens of prayer lines And these anointed men of God would pray for me And nothing would happen and I was I was confused And one January as we I was as I was going into prayer and fasting. I said Lord I don't want to live another year with these things. I'm desperate. I need you Set me free and I was during that time of prayer and fasting. I was reading Psalm 51 and Psalm 91 That's the only two scriptures that I was reading and I was praying I said Lord deliver me set me free And in that fast I got this clear Clear Understanding if I can put it this way that what I was facing Clarity if I if that makes sense that what I was facing was a spiritual thing Was a demonic thing and I need freedom and I remember this Uh that that that year in in june or july beginning of july again, we went to Nigeria in Africa, Nigeria to the ministry of synagogue church of all nations prophet to be joshua same people Same man of God that I've been there couple Two dozens of times same people that prayed for me a couple dozens of times But this time around was different This time I was different this time. I was desperate. I was humble before God and I said lord set me free Same building same people same anointing, but this time I received my deliverance and been different ever since and so Let's give praise to god Sometimes it's not a person that's praying that has lack of authority lack of anointing Sometimes nice. It's not the church. It's not the prayer line. Sometimes we are not positioned We're not postured in the right place before god and god says listen. You're too proud. You're too prideful You too arrogant You need to humble yourself Again, how humble in ourselves is not thinking low of ourselves It's fasting before the lord and being dependent on the lord We see in a bible all throughout the by all testament It seems like that's all god did is that god Delivered israelites Everything was good then decided all things are too good. Let's screw it up They screwed it up and then they start crying out to the lord Then they started fasting god says okay now that you're praying and fasting. I will deliver you delivers them Everything's going good for some time. They say, you know things are way too good Let's screw it up again and then and they did do it throughout all if you read the told testament That's pretty much all they're doing Hundreds and hundreds of you think like a learn for your parents and grandparents, but no, right? But joking aside, it's every time they humble themselves before the lord would prayer and fasting that deliverance would come And they would be delivered from their enemies We look an example of ester. We look an example of ester said fast with me and i'll go to the king Maybe the lord will help mercy on us Prophet Jonah Goes around prophesying this this doom and gloom message Not expecting those people to repent or not expecting god to to save them They repent by humbling themselves with prayer and fasting They're even young ones bible says did not eat and even their animals did not eat I can only imagine what these animals were thinking like what did I do? You're the bad one. Why do I have to fast because of your sin? But bible says that even the animals fasted for three days And they and god said he had mercy on them god already condemned them. That's it. They were going to be killed that will be done And we see god reverses the judgment because they fasted and pray in the last one fasting Brings a revelation of god's word fasting Brings an excitement and brings the word of god alive. It brings excitement for the word of god We read the scripture 50 is a 58 8 says this that Then when you have fasted your light will break out the dawn like the dawn In psalm 19 1 19 1 30 says the teachings of your word gives light psalm 19 1 0 5 says your word is the lamp To my feet and light To my path god's word is a light it says where we read 58 8 When you have fasted your light will break like a dawn If you find word of god boring If you find word of god dull if you find a word of god like i don't get anything out of it The kind i don't know to me that or history book is one of the same It puts me to sleep like i Other people read and they say wow god spoke to me, but god does not speak to me We're like i i must be like something something's bad must be must be with me or maybe something's wrong with me I encourage you if that's you find yourself in a situation and you might be a seasoned christian and you find yourself in situation That's that's okay That's okay because there's a way out It's called prayer and fasting when you fast the light will break the revelation will break through the light will shine You'll have clarity you will find excitement and joy for god's word You will find delight in his word and the light will guide you lead you You will open up your bible in the morning you'll read even a few verses and it will stand out stand out to you It will guide you it will give you an answer it will refresh you it will be like water that you that that you drink I remember it was in my i think my late teens uh when when i kind of got to the point where The word of god was dull to me That by by that time i read the bible many times through Probably eight ten times ten twelve times the whole bible through maybe Twenty times the new testament so i read the bible i'm not a new i i read the bible quite a bit through by that time And i remember just this one this one particular year Like i had absolutely no drive like almost was repelling me to to read the bible like i knew what's in there It wasn't speaking to me and remember one time we were in the group and our pastor was there We were we were still young and he was talking to us and he's encouraging us to read the word And he's just saying read the word and i'm thinking like man i just don't want to Like to be on it like inside of myself i'm saying and he and he's began to say this is like I love god's word. He's like i delight in it any moment i get i get into it It just feeds me refreshes me and the thing is that if i didn't know better if i didn't know him if i didn't live in his house I'll probably say he's making it up to to make us feel like you know, we're not reading enough But i've seen my dad i've seen him's home every three minute he has he'd open his bible He'd read it and i truly see him and enjoy it and love it sometimes i mean occasionally Catch him giggling at something probably imagining how the story played out in in in real life like he truly enjoyed the bible And i'm like man i want that i really do want that i want to enjoy the bible i remember that that uh shortly after that we went into into fasting Seven or 21 days i don't remember what it was and uh, and i just this one thing I was asking about like i want to enjoy your word again Like i wanted to be alive to me again. I wanted to speak to me again And as we were fasting it just i remember the moment it's just like like a Literally like the scripture like a light broke through and it was a dawn i i saw it clearly It became just it became alive to me bible says that his word is a living word. It's not a dead word It's a light. It's not darkness. It's not confusion God's word gives direction god's word is life in itself god god breathed his word And when we read it we inhale his breath we inhale his life And if you find yourself in a situation where honestly you just lost the love word of god You lost the passion for his word you i became boring for you and honestly you don't get anything I think it's time for you to begin to fast and pray Because when you do that His you will see you gonna It's it's it will like a dam will burst through you just gonna get a flood of revelations And you will enjoy the time spent in his word amen church Have you received something this afternoon? Amen Just practically quickly Totally forget the forgot that I have this part in the message Practical practical things and fasts since we're starting as a church this this monday Started with the clear cut goal like what do you want from this fast? Some people say oh, I'm just gonna fast It's good, but what what do you desire god to do for you? Whether it's a growth in your spiritual life Whether it's maybe it's in the area of finances Maybe it's in the other area of your calling. Maybe there's certain unanswered prayers that you pray in god I want to see this in my life come to pass. I want to see my family say I want to see healing in my body. I want to I want to experience the deliverance that you have for me I know there is more freedom for me whatever it is, but have a clear cut goal And be specific number two prepare yourself confess your sins before god Release any unforgiveness that you have towards anybody any grudges If you need you may come hands may come hands surrender your life to jesus Decide number three decide how you're gonna fast. There's multiple ways you can fast as a There's a Full fast which is no water No, no food in the bible. We see I think it's called absolute fast in the bible We see that people the dry or dry fast the dry fast in the bible. We see that people fasted for three days doctors say that if you're in a healthy conditions, you can go without water up to three days and so There's a dry fast usually You know people do it one day two days three days three days max There is a full fast which is water only meaning you only you only drink water You abstain from any type of solid foods And You you can do that now those two fasts are are are not easy That especially if you do in a 21 day fast on water first three four days expect some headaches some tiredness some irritation Hunger Yeah, all kinds of things but don't be afraid. You're not dying. You're actually getting better. Believe it or not Drink lots of water during that day During those days you're detoxifying yourself on day five six seven I promise it's gonna get better and not not only get better you actually will Feel a sense of strength coming in anybody that don't prolong fasting will tell you right about that time about day six seven eight It's your energy kicks in you you become really sharp. You can remember things You you become very efficient You'll see it's like time slows down But you become faster and I it's a strange feeling but unless you've tried it, you know what I'm talking about And so you can persevere with that. There's a Daniel fast. We see in the bible Daniel faster for 21 days No meats no sweets And no dairy. Okay, so pretty much everything that's healthy for you and that doesn't taste good Okay Vegetables fruits and vegetables. Okay, so that's that that's a Daniel fast And there's partial fast. Some people came and asked me of the first service and work Construction I work some job that requires a lot of physical. What should I do? I gave him some option you can fast liquids only meaning you add some add some juices but try to stay from away from preservative natural juices and and uh, and maybe if you're have you know Doing heavy liftings and physical activities supplemented with the shake protein shake Like pasawat says if it goes through the straw, it's under the law. So you're good Just don't blend burgers and and uh And tacos But anyways, that's that's uh, or some people do Like partial fast where you don't eat in the morning and you only do one meal a day After six and and you only eat just enough to get yourself strength Uh, you know, like oh man, I didn't eat whole day. I'm just gonna pick out the like That I can barely move. Um, but remember fast is seeking the lord And it's controlling and and disciplining your body and your appetites. It's preparing yourself It's training yourself. We are at the end of the day. We're soldiers of army of god amen And we must be disciplined in our bodies in our minds and in our spirit amen church Hey, thanks for watching this video If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you Would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video It cost you nothing But it can go a long way to help with the algorithm as well as if you're not subscribed to our channel Hit subscribe click on the bell so that you can do to mine it each time that we upload videos Thank you so much for being a part of this community If you're interested in learning more about hungry jen our internship our conferences Deliverance and so many other things go to hungry jen.com for more information and as always remember Better is not good enough. The best is yet to come