The Call to Fast and Pray

Yesterday was a day of prayer and fasting at our home. We could have fluids but no solid food. It would end at 5:00pm. I figured I could handle that. For some it would seem like no big deal but for a diabetic, type one, it’s a bit more challenging. I had to test more often and drink sips of orange juice to keep my blood sugar from going to low. But I wanted to draw closer to God. I wanted to bring my family and marriages and friends and my church family before the Lord. I wanted to bring the city I live in and my country and the world before God. I want to lay hands on the sick and have them recover. I want to cast demons out and have them stay out. You see the disciples were perplexed when they tried to cast a demon out of a man but they couldn’t do it. They asked Jesus why this occurred. Jesus said, “This kind come not out but by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21

I’ve done partial fasts in the past where I just eat limited amounts of food for a time. I’ve fasted other things and I believe God honored those fasts. But there is a fast unto God that will truly make a difference before Him. There’s a fast that He desires. It’s a Holy Fast. Sacred, set apart, to honor Him and pray and seek His face…read His word, to reveal His plans and secrets…that will bring change and conviction. It will bring repentance and revival. It will give us power to break strongholds those chains that hold people captive. It’s a fast that will bring men and women to their knees and cry out for more of God. It’s a fast that will shake the gates of hell, cause demons to tremble and run a fast that will conquer death…a fast that bring change and turn people to the true and living God in the name of Jesus. Where lives will forever be set free…

My husband, Bob, was confronted with a phone call today. You know one of those irritating calls you get from solicitors. Push this button to…1, 2, 3…

So for some reason he decided to push the buttons. He said a man from another country came on the line and began to question him about his credit history…Bob answered a question with a, “no” and the man began to curse him out…calling him some terrible names something about his mother…etc.…Bob took a breath and said, “God bless you. I am going to pray for you.” This isn’t really how he would have handled it in the past. But Bob had fasted and prayed he had an encounter with God…and God had given him a special blessing. So do you want to know what the man said in retaliation to Bob? He said,

Wait for it…

The man said, “Thank you.”

You see when you spend time with the Lord and you make Him your first priority and you filter everything through Him…the old you begins to die and the Love of God comes in and changes you. This kind comes not out by prayer and fasting…Thank you Jesus for your grace and for giving us a new heart to honor you in the face of conflict. To give the devil a big black eye instead of him giving us one.

Jesus, let us continue to honor you in the fast you have called…All for Your Glory and Honor, Amen!!

However this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?” Isaiah 58:6 New King James Version (NKJV)