We Need To Fast and Pray
- Do you find it hard to turn off the television when you have something to do? Maybe you watch TV 3hrs, 4, 5, 6, maybe 8 plus hours a day.
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Do you find it hard to do things concerning the ministry? Do you keep putting things off that you wanted to do for the church or the ministry. Even things at home?
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Are you praying less, reading the bible less and communicating to God less and less?
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Are temptations hitting you harder and harder and they seem harder to rebuke away than other times consistently.
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Are you board in church service when others are excited about the word and are praising god and you just don’t feel the out pouring of God’s Spirit?
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Are you having restless dreams, night mares and they seem to keep coming back more and more.
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Are some of the old temptations the old ways before you got saved coming back to you stronger pulling on you harder and harder.
These are just some of the the signs that are showing you that you need to Fast and Pray
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
What will fasting help you to do with the right heart and good standing with God
- Grow a closer relationship with God.
- Help you to control your flesh.
- Help you to walk in the divine Will of god.
- Help your spirit to grow. (Spiritual food)
- You will be able to understand things concerning the spirit.
- You will be able to pray more effectively.
- You will receive more power to resist off the enemy.
- You will eventually be able to use your gift or gifts better in the spirit.
- All the things that Ephesians 6 was talking about the whole armour of god you will grow stronger in this area.
- This is really important, that if you are seeking the Holy Ghost this is the way to better purification and hearing from God also for those seeking a refilling.
Psa 69:10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
One of the things that Jesus is letting us know in these verses is that some spirits only come out with great power from God by faith by prayer and fasting. To strengthen your faith fasting and prayer is needed. Holiness is needed. To get rid of things that we are holding onto that jeopardizes your walk with the Lord you need to fast and pray and let those things go.
Mat 9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
Mat 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Jesus is letting us know in this verse that we all need to fast
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Tell the story of Ester to help you in your life.
Mordeci the one who raised ester
Hayman --- the one who hated the jews
Est 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Closing
Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Dan 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Dan 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
Dan 9:5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
We need to pray this prayer, fasting and supplication for our lives, church, community and even where it is most prevalent this country.
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