Fasting and Praying

Fasting and Praying

Faith needs prayer for its development and full growth; and prayer needs fasting for the same reason – spiritual development and full spiritual growth.

Jesus in St Matthew 4:1 is our proof that the Spirit must lead you into your wilderness of temptation; and in all your spiritual endeavors, as well as in your daily life and lifestyle.
In other words, don’t go on your own without His instructions, leading, and guidance into your wilderness of temptation when fasting and praying.

St Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

To become a true disciple of Christ fasting is not an option it becomes a requirement.
It is through fasting when we can experience our real self when we deny our flesh and its appetites.
Fasting and praying is the real reason why most of us don’t want to pay the price for a real spiritual experience.
Jesus saw fasting and praying as a priority!
We are so in tuned with responses to our flesh so that we minimize relieving ourselves of the pleasures of physical food and pleasures.
Your body remembers the hurt, aches, agony, pains, and every scar and what it represents.
We can’t and won’t remember the Spirit of the Word so the Holy Spirit can bring back to our spiritual memory what the Lord has told to us as spirit beings.
Yes, it is a process! But how long is your process?

St Matthew 17:20-21

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.

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

The disciples asked Jesus why they could not heal the lunatic boy from the demoniac. Jesus clearly told them in verse 20, because of your unbelief.
This is that same spirit that will be ushering the Anti-Christ in your life and lifestyle provoking you to take the mark of the beast.
Are we asking the Lord in prayer why are we not able to do the same as He did? Or are we relying on the promotion of man to make us believe that we are doing the Will of God?
Are we even asking the Lord for the ability to do the same work(s) that He has done? Or are we just using our common sense, education, intellect, and imagination believing that we can follow the Words example without the Spirit leading, guiding, and instructing you to do and when to do?

Casting out demons requires spiritual power and spiritual faith acquired from fasting.
We want to be “demon slayers!”
Casting out demons is a demonstration of having dominion, as well as power and authority over them.
Out of all the power and authority we claim to have as believers why is it that we cannot perform this function in verse 20 read?
Our power and authority is limited because of our motives and intentions of use and abuse of the real power of God in earth.
Is it because the imagination of your heart is still wicked as God had said in Genesis 6:5?
If truth be told and honesty was allowed to speak for you it would say that you are fearful and unskilled to use the Word of God with a fear that it may truly work and you would have to really humble yourself and let God have His way in and with you for the use of His power and authority.
In other words, you will never be the same as well as the person(s) that were healed and delivered.
God’s power and authority to be used in the earth for His purpose and pleasure has consequences; it requires a total surrendered vessel.
And Satan knows that you are powerless and putting on a show for others to see and exalt you.
This is how he gives us an illusion especially when you know for a fact that you are not living according to every Word of God without excuses.
So Satan will give you the illusion that you are being used of God!

The experience of fasting and praying is private, but the results are public.
Fasting is for weight lost!
Fasting is not a diet or for dieting!
Fasting is a seeking the face of God is an opportunity if you want God to move

St Matthew 6:17-18

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

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.

We are not flesh!
We are spirit beings encased in a body, so don’t confuse your body with your soul and spirit.
We are not spirit beings trying to have a supernatural experience, but we are spirit beings having a natural experience on/in earth

Fasting is:

The means to abstain from food that which caused the fall of man
It means to restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something to include from food.
To abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a religious observance
Fasting is the willful abstaining from natural pleasures for a spiritual purpose.
Willfully abstaining from the pleasures of distractions.
Sex is a pleasure! 1 Corinthians 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Fasting is a personal commitment to renounce the natural to invoke the spiritual in you.
Fasting is your commitment to yourself to personally renounce the natural pleasures of your life for the sake of invoking spiritual power in your life.
Fasting is the willingness to dedicate a period of time to devout oneself to spiritual priority and prayer without foods.
Devout is being totally committed to a cause or belief.
Fasting demands replacing meals with the reading, studying, and praying the Word of God.

Is fasting required?

ALL BELIEVERS should fast though there are no regulations or set rules that determines it or how long or how often you should fast.
INDIVIDUAL DESIRES AND NEED SHOULD DETERMINE YOUR PREFACE TO FAST.
Fasting is voluntary!
Fasting is spiritual!
Fasting has done wonders when used in combination with prayer and faith.
THIS IS BIBLICAL DOCTRINE!

When should fasting be done?

When in need, Ezra 8:21. When we need God so badly we then put aside the things that we really love to seek His face and not to be seen by man.
When in danger, Esther 4
When worried, Daniel 6:18
When in trouble, Acts 27:9, 33
When in spiritual conflict, St Matthew 4:1-11
When under judgment, 1 Kings 21:27
To chasten your soul
To mortify to crucifying the appetites, lust, desires, habits, and practices of your flesh

Some benefits of fasting:

It chastens the soul, Psalm 69:10
It crucifies the appetites and denies them so as to give entire time to prayer, 2 Samuel 12:16-23
It will manifest your earnestness before God to the exclusion of all else, 1 Corinthians 7:5
It shows obedience
It gives your digestive system a rest, St Matthew 6:16-18; 9:15; St Luke 5:33
It demonstrates the mastery of you over your appetite
It aids in temptations
It helps attain power over demons
It develops faith
It crucifies unbelief
It aids in prayer, St Matthew 4:1-11; 17:14-21

In closing,

Will the Lord call you to fast?

Isaiah 58:3-6

Jesus taught the need of purity and simplicity of motive.

St Matthew 9:14-15

14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

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.

He imposed no frequent fast as long as He the Bridegroom was in earth.
What He taught was suitable to the changing of character and purpose which He designed for His disciples.

Amen

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