Prayer and Fasting

Pastor Jay, thank you so much for picking up a copy of this condensed teaching tape on the subject of fasting. My purpose is not to do an exhaustive study by any means on this topic but rather to give you a word of encouragement as you seek to obey the Lord and participate with the congregation in this brief season of fasting just ahead. There's some very real and rich and profitable reasons for doing so. Fasting in effect becomes almost a feast of the presence of God in our lives and the fulfillment of God's purposes. Let me give you a few reasons why I believe it's such an important practice. First of all, fasting is scriptural. The Word of God makes it very clear that fasting is an instrument of spiritual power, a key by which the bonds of evil are broken and by which God's counsels are received and established in the affairs of men. Read about it in Isaiah 58, verses 6 through 8 and Mark 9, 24 and Acts 13, 2 and 3 where specific instruction is given to the church during a season of fasting. Second, Jesus taught fasting by his own word and example. As you know, he fasted for 40 days prior to his coming into ministry and then on numerous occasions taught his disciples that during his ministry and after his ascension, fasting would be part of the disciplines of the local church and his people were to fast. Read about it in Matthew 4, 2, 6, 16 and Mark 2, 20. In addition, throughout church history, fasting has been part of the general discipline of the life of a believer. John Wesley, Martin Luther, George Whitefield, and many others fasted regularly in order to seek God and to consecrate themselves to the Lord. Here at North Way, we have not adopted a strict rule of fasting, but we do encourage every believer to participate on some sort of a consistent basis in a what's called general discipline fast. However, the purpose of this summons to fasting is what we call a special call to fasting when the whole congregation is invited to participate for a limited period of time in a focused fast. By the way, as the church has learned to do this on an ongoing basis, it has often been the spark plug for revival and renewal in the life of the church. Understand that the Bible does not suggest that fasting ought to be a means of earning God's favor or improving one's status with God. We don't fast here as a religious or superstitious exercise, hoping somehow to gain God's special attention or to tip the scales of his grace in our favor. However, we do believe that every good thing comes from God as a gift. That's in James 1 17 and is the product of God's blessing upon our lives as we read in Ephesians 2 8 and 9. But let's understand something, church. The Bible does make it clear that there are certain means by which God's people partner with him in his power to receive the blessing of God in certain situations. Jesus talked about it in Matthew chapter 16. He called him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. If you've been in our church for any length of time, you know how strongly I feel about God's desire to raise us up in maturity of partnership with him and the things that we cannot control in the flesh. That is to say, we believe that things here are controlled by spiritual forces and that the only way to access that power is by partnering with God according to the principles that he's outlined in his word. Other expressions of such partnership include communion, anointing with oil, tithing of our increase materially, worship and song, the reading and study of God's word, and so on. And I personally believe that fasting is one of the most powerful expressions of partnering with God. Not because we earn something special, but because we learn something. We learn about our normal dependence upon the flesh and its strong grip upon our desires. And so we learn how earth-bound we are so often. And fasting tends to focus us on God and his power available to us in our daily lives. Believe me, if you've never participated in a corporate fast, you're going to experience something of a stirring in your heart because you realize that hundreds of others at the same time are experiencing the same feelings, facing the same struggles, and yet enjoying the same victory that you are during this season of fasting. Let me talk for a few moments about the objective of this particular fast. I think it's been clear to any of us who have been attending here at North Way over the last few months that God is certainly stirring by his Holy Spirit in some ways we have not seen for, I would say, at least a couple of years. And I believe it's the wisdom of God for us to participate in that movement of the Holy Spirit by exercising this fast. And so the first objective is that we're to fast because there is a fresh move of God's Spirit breaking in on this congregation that would require a purging and purifying of our own hearts so that we might follow God in simple obedience and increased passion. The number one objective is an increase in our hunger for the glory of God. Let me say it another way, if there's anything in our soul or spirit that's become an obstacle or roadblock to the full move of God within us, an obstacle to us participating in what the Spirit of God is stirring up in terms of a hunger for God and his Word, then let this fast be a time when God reveals that to you and helps you to purge it from your bodies. You know, in the same way that fasting affects you physically and physiologically purges the toxins and so from your body, so a fast also can do the same for your spirit. Think how exciting you'd be if you begin to hear God more clearly and be more attuned with what his Spirit is saying and that will happen as you're purged and cleansed through this season of fasting. Read about it in John 15 3 and Ephesians 5 26. The Bible says that God's Word does cleansing in our hearts, so make sure you read the Word a great deal during this time of fasting. Number two, our second objective in fasting is that the church would rise up and become the church that God intended it to be. That every person that God has called to this assembly would not be content until he or she found their place of ministry and was functioning in full agreement and fulfillment in that call. My own humble opinion, only about 20 to 25 percent of the people in this church really know where they're called to serve and are moving in a sense of fulfillment and anointing. We're going to pray and fast that God would break in upon us and show us structures and strategies whereby hundreds and hundreds of you can come alive and serving God with in your passion and within your calling within your gifts. You know, every place in America these days, I'm hearing the same message and that is that God is calling the church to rise up as a giant that she is, full of gifts and full of abilities and full of men and women who God has appointed to carry forth the kingdom summons throughout the world. And dear ones, we must as a church raise up the strength of our people. We must raise up the power that's been put in by the Holy Spirit in the hundreds and hundreds of people that come week by week to this church. So the second objective of our fast is to raise up a fully functioning body of believers that will be able to minister in power with each part doing its own specific contribution so that the body would be built up according to Ephesians 4 verse 16. The third and final objective of this fast is that we would come into unity of God's spirit concerning the expansion into our new facility. We know that this mammoth project cannot take place unless we are 100 percent in agreement. I'm inviting you to fast to break down the strongholds that would separate us that would withhold the provision of God upon the people of God who have made commitments to this project and to break off every lying and deceiving spirit that would hold back the blessing of God over the people that he's raised up to make this project happen. Believe me, there has been incredible spiritual opposition. I know it. I've been in ministry nearly 20 years and I've never seen anything of the magnitude of this kind of opposition and yet I know that this fast will have power to tear down those strongholds to remove the obstacles and to release blessing and unity and peace so that this is not a project of the flesh not something we have to toil our way through but something that God does because we're still walking in his favor and blessing. And as a result of that I believe that there will be a significant outpouring of evangelism. Many of our friends and relatives will come to know Christ because we will have such increased faith as a result of what we've seen God do tangibly and physically in our midst. Now let me move on to the observance of a fast. How do you do it? With these three objectives in mind let me just highlight some important principles and of course a fast will vary with each person who participates. Of course the basic fast is observed number one through times of frequent prayer during the day or the days of the fast and number two by only receiving water as a physical intake for the space of the fast. I want to free you from the sense of guilt if you find this nearly impossible to do. If you've never fasted before you're likely to experience some pains in your body that you didn't know were there. You may have some headaches you may feel kind of weakened. All that is normal and if you give up too early you won't press on past that and get to the place where you're really able to find the keenness that can come through the season of a fast. Here's some practical considerations for you to keep in view while you're fasting. We're not trying to convince God remember of our worthiness but rather we're simply observing what's been biblically spelled out as a discipline. So here you go. Number one please do not participate in any kind of specific fast if there are medical or dietary reasons which would prohibit it. Number two be sure that you drink plenty of water. Six or eight glasses of water would be perfectly acceptable. This kind of helps to wash out the physical impurities that are being released into your system. Some people like to squeeze some lemon into a glass of water. It kind of helps that process along. Number three if you find you're really struggling with not having any kind of input perhaps a little bit of fruit juice can help you. At least you know that you're in the spirit of the fast and you're moving within the basic boundaries that have been established. And if for some reason you can't participate at all then let me suggest that you cooperate in the spirit of the fast by giving an extra measure of time for prayer beyond your normal season of devotion or intercession. Finally there may be some who could fast but because the nature of your work or something involved in your personal responsibilities you may have to participate in what's called a Daniel fast or a partial fast where you maybe have one meal that day or you cut back completely on a particular type of food during this season of fasting. I have found this to be a very significant way of staying spiritually tuned in for longer periods of time and the fast we're about to participate which would be 48 hours. This usually isn't necessary but it is an alternative for those who find a complete fast to be very difficult. Now let me also encourage you during this season of the observance of a fast to set apart some special time for prayer. Let me give you just a few guidelines here. Number one, take several occasions during the day not just in the morning but five minutes here and there maybe your lunch hour. Make those prayer breaks rather than just times of bemoaning how you're feeling. Get into the word and you'll find that that time will be redeemed. Second it would help you if you found someone to agree with you. Others who are fasting in the body would be happy I'm sure to spend some time in prayer and kind of bring some power in agreement together during those seasons of prayer. Number three, talk to the Lord about how much you should fast and then obey him. Most of us will be fasting for two days but if that's not possible then do what you need to do. It may be longer for some of you and I encourage you to hear the Lord and do what he's called you to do. And finally as I mentioned earlier take some time to just linger in the word of God. Let it spill over you and soak in it. Psalm 19 said your word is sweeter than the honeycomb. Let God's word be the sweetness in your mouth during these hours of the fast. Number five, why not keep just a brief journal during this time. Perhaps you'll hear God say some things that you'll want to share with your leadership or maybe your spouse or a friend. This can be a very important time in your life. Finally let me encourage you when you break your fast not to dive into something heavy duty and and try to make up for two days of no input. Rather eat a light meal. A salad or soup would be the best way to start and then your system will come back online and be functioning better than ever by the next morning. Well so much more could be said but I just want to encourage you that if you've never fasted before you are really in for a wonderful experience. If you're a veteran of the fast then please review these objectives and do pray specifically for the things that I've shared. God bless you. Thank you so much for partnering with us and I can't wait to share together the things that God does as a result of this step of obedience and faith. God bless you. Okay Janet if you have time put Philippians 4 4 through 8 on an overhead please. Okay this is another overhead Janet. It says the heading would be Contemporary Stressors. S-T-R-E-S-S-O-R-S. Number one, change. Number two, mobility. Number three, expectations. Number four, time pressure. Number five, work. Number six, control. Number seven, fear. Number eight, relationships. Number nine, competition. Number ten, frustration. Clarifying stress terms. Okay this is that second overhead. Stress that's the definition that you have up there and underneath that distress colon the negative comma destructive aspect of stress. Next, eustress. E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S. The positive constructive aspect of stress. Hyper stress colon a condition whereby the stress response is stimulated too often for too long. Stressors colon those environmental changes that set in motion the stress adaptation response.