Fasting Day 9: Fresh Inspiration From the Archives
Fasting Day Nine Posts From the Archives:
- A Promise to Plead …
- God Answers Prayer …
- Feeding Faith, Part 3 …
- Brokenness, Part 2 …
- More Than Food …
- First Fruits of the New Year …
Fasting Day 9: A Promise to Plead
When George Mueller prayed, he would pray with His finger on a promise from God to plead. In The Power of Prayer and the Prayer of Power R.A. Torrey said of Mueller:
“When it was laid upon George Mueller’s heart to pray for anything, he would search the Scriptures to find if there was some promise that covered the case. Sometimes he would search the scriptures for days before he presented his petition to God. And then when he found the promise, with his open Bible before him, and his finger upon that promise, he would plead that promise, and so he received what he asked….”
Fasting Day 9: God Answers Prayer
What are your causes for fasting? Are you bringing them before God in prayer as you fast? Be encouraged by these fresh reminders from Scripture. God promises to answer prayer!
God’s Promises Regarding Your Prayers
- “He will call upon me, and I will answer him” (Psalm 91:15).
- “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I” (Isaiah 58:9).
- “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).
- “So I say to you; Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9).
- “Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John. 14:13).
- “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:7-8).
- “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…” (I Peter 3:12).
Fasting Day 9: Feeding Faith, Part 3
Unbelief is the greatest hindrance keeping us from the breakthrough we desire. When we fast and pray, our lack of faith is exposed.
Feeding Faith, Parts One and Two demonstrated how we feed our faith through prayer and fasting, but there is a third element to feeding our faith that must not be overlooked—the ingestion of God’s Word.
Feeding our Faith Means Internalizing
God’s Word must get beyond the pages of the Bible and into our hearts and minds if we want our faith to grow. We must ingest God’s wonderful promises! Merely reading the Bible in the morning for five minutes might refresh your spirit but it will not give you the spiritual ammunition you need in a split second moment when demons are whispering lies of doubt, worry and unbelief. . . . .
When we casually gloss over the Word without deliberately absorbing it, the scriptures easily go in one ear and out the other. We must deliberately feed on the Word while we are fasting and praying if we want our faith to grow.
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16, emphasis added). . . . .
How can we completely overhaul our mind and thoughts of unbelief if we don’t replace incorrect thoughts with the truth of God’s Word? And how are we going to take captive our thoughts to the obedience of Christ if the Word of God isn’t in our heart and mind, ready on our tongue?
“17Apply your mind to my knowledge…18Keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them. 19So that your trust (belief, reliance, support, and confidence) may be in the Lord” (Proverbs 22:17-19, Amplified).
Did you catch what that said? God is essentially saying, “Keep my words in your mind. If you do, you will be used to speaking them. When you continually confess and speak my words (what is true in Heaven concerning your situation), you will have belief, reliance, trust and confidence in me. Your faith will increase!”
When we confess the same thing about our situation that God does, faith is exercised. When faith is exercised, God moves from Heaven to earth.
If we truly want a breakthrough in our lives, we must internalize God’s Word. When we eat something, we chew it. We internalize it. We ingest it. Glossing over the pages of God’s Word while we’re fasting won’t cut it. We’ve got to eat His Word, just as Jeremiah did!
Fasting Day 9: Brokenness, Part 2
In yesterday’s post, I said that fasting leads to brokenness. When we fast, our appetites aren’t satisfied. Our desires are left unfulfilled—broken. In other words, there is a natural element of “brokenness.” However, if we don’t combine fasting with prayer, we are merely on a diet! The brokenness is contained to the temporal, horizontal plane. It is kept from our spiritual, vertical relationship with God.
Combining fasting with prayer leads to brokenness on the inside—to awareness of sin and repentance. This is the point of fasting—self-humbling, repentance, allowing God to cleanse us. Joel 2 shows us the connection between fasting and brokenness:
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
There is a connection between fasting, repenting and brokenness: “Rend your heart…return to God.” In other words, no more empty religious exercise! It’s easy to rend garments and fake sincere obedience to God, but He looks on the heart! “Rend your heart,” God says. “Allow Me to break your heart with the things that break Mine.”
Fasting Day 9: More Than Food
Fasting, praying, and Scripture go hand in hand. Job said:
“I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).
Without prayer and time in the Word, we are merely on a diet. And if that’s the case, Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig would be a whole lot easier! So I encourage you to set time apart to meditate on the Word and to pray.
Are you fasting for greater intimacy with God, for healing, provision, wisdom or the salvation of a loved one? Read Scripture with that in mind—read with a purpose. Whatever the cause(s) of your fast, search the Bible for promises God has spoken on that topic.
Not only will God speak a fresh word to you about your situation, but you will find yourself praying the word – praying God’s will. And when we pray His will, we know that we have what we have asked of Him (I John 5:14-15).
Two verses I pray before opening the Bible to read and pray are . . .
First Fruits of the New Year by Jentezen Franklin
If you’re fasting and praying, you’re giving God the first of your year. You’re giving Him some of your first fruits! However, if you want to live a blessed life, there is another area in which you must be diligent to bring God the first.
This message by Jentezen Franklin takes a look at this vital area—and what God says will happen when when we bring our first fruits to Him.
Questions: Which of these posts did God use to speak to you today? What is He asking you to do in response to His word?
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