The message this morning, the title is Fasting
Over Forks, Fasting Over Forks, a hunger strike
against hell, is what I added there.
Now the reason this is so important, I
believe a couple different reasons.
Anytime you apply spiritual disciplines to your life,
it's like farming.
A farmer cannot control the growth of the
seed, can he?
I explained this last week.
What we do is we sow the seed
and we provide an environment for that seed
to grow.
That's why spiritual disciplines are so important.
Fasting, praying, worshipping, reading the Word of God,
it's not something you just put on a
checklist.
It's actually providing fertile soil for God to
grow things in our lives.
That's what spiritual disciplines are.
This message has been on my heart probably
six months.
I've read about 15 books in the last
six months on this.
I've read a lot of scriptural resources.
I've spent a lot of time, there's about
77 or so mentions of fasting and fasted
or to fast in the Bible that I've
looked at, I've prayed about.
It was even a hard night last night.
I was excited to get here.
It was 9 o'clock, I couldn't go
to sleep.
10 o'clock, I couldn't go to sleep.
11 o'clock, I couldn't go to sleep.
I'm like, Lord, what are you doing here?
There's something going on that I could just
feel and I could sense because the devil
doesn't like when you talk about him and
he doesn't like when you talk about spiritual
warfare.
And this is spiritual warfare.
When the Bible talks about pulling down strongholds,
do you have something in your life that's
a stronghold that you're, God, I just can't
get rid of this.
Nobody in the 9 a.m. service, right?
I know everybody, most of us have something.
I mean, you talk to somebody addicted to
nicotine or sugar or caffeine or alcohol and
it's a stronghold.
Casting down arguments, doubts against God, how thoughts
come in, the enemy plants thoughts.
The only way you can overcome that is
to prepare with spiritual disciplines with the armor
that we are to put on.
So fasting is very important.
And as I was sleeping, trying to sleep
last night and wrestling, not knowing what's going
on, it finally made sense when I dropped
over the hill.
Do you know what I saw on my
way to church this morning, 545 this morning?
Let me show you.
All the way to the church parking lot.
And I thought, well, this is supposed to
be, people are like, why are you holding
that up?
Because God said, I will never flood the
earth again.
This is my sign to you.
And then in our arrogance and our blasphemous
ways, we use that against God in his
face.
And there's a spiritual realm going on.
It's a spiritual attack.
The enemy is trying to do things and
sidetrack.
And that's why we just stay the course
and persevere.
And that's why I believe praying last night
and fasting and God getting us ready, some
of us ready for spiritual warfare and a
spiritual battle.
I'm going to talk about in the next
week or two the why, the when, and
the how of fasting.
The reason is threefold.
Why it's so important, when do we do
it, and how do we do it.
And there's a message I gave on America
and gluttony and on fasting, and they're like
10, 12, 14,000 views on YouTube.
And it's like, so there's a hunger there,
because I thought there'd be two or three,
right?
You know, I mean, who wants to watch
that?
But there's a desire there.
When we took the survey, 85% of
you wanted to participate in some type of
corporate fast.
And that's what I love about Westside, is
there's a hunger there.
And for me to avoid this topic, I
think, would not be a good idea.
Even though many people, they'll say, fasting's not
for us anymore.
It's the Old Testament thing, and we don't
do that anymore.
Well, I would encourage you to show me
one scripture that supports that.
The fact is, there isn't anything.
And if Jesus himself began his ministry fasting,
we might want to consider what this means
to our own lives.
So let's see this.
First, let me just throw this out here.
Fasting is seen throughout the entire Bible.
Matthew 6, Jesus said, when you pray, when
you give, and when you fast.
Luke 535, the NIV, but the time will
come when the bridegroom will be taken from
them.
In those days, they will fast.
Now, I could be wrong, but I think
we're still waiting for the bridegroom, right?
And there's a waiting time there.
And fasting, the reason they didn't fast the
whole scripture, the context of the scripture, is
they said, why do our disciples, John the
Baptist and your disciples of Jesus, do not
fast?
Jesus said, the bridegroom is here.
I'm here right now.
Fasting was a time of mourning, of repentance,
of this heart-wrenching seeking after God and
being distant from him.
Jesus is saying, I'm here, the bridegroom is
here, but when the bridegroom leaves, then they
will fast.
Leonard Ravenhill said many years ago, 50 years
ago, I think, when there's something in the
Bible that churches don't like, they call it
legalism.
Isn't that true?
Don't take a Sabbath anymore, that's legalism.
Don't worry about what you watch, that's legalism.
Don't act a certain way, that's legalistic.
Don't fast, that's legal.
Isn't it convenient, right?
It's on everything we don't like to do,
we just put legalism over it.
And I can tell when people, when carnal
Christians get mad at me, they call me
legalistic.
And I can say, well, here's 42 scriptures
that supported this view, I don't care, that's
legalistic.
See, anytime we don't want to do something,
we call it legalism.
Here's the thing about fasting, the physical affects
or is affected by the spiritual.
So the physical realm that we live in
is affected by the spiritual realm.
So fasting has spiritual implications that fulfill themselves
in the physical.
We realize we live in two realms, right?
There's a spiritual, there's a physical.
And I'm gonna give some examples from primarily
the Old Testament that I've given before when
I talk about fasting, but it's so important
because we need reminders.
It's been six months, the beginning of the
year, I've not talked about this, maybe a
little bit here and there, and I'll try
to wait until next year again.
How's that sound?
Well, let's just get this out now.
Moses received the Word of God after fasting.
So is there anything you need to receive
from God?
Lord, I'm waiting for answers, I need to
receive something from you.
We need direction.
King Jehoshaphat experienced victory after fasting.
Do you need victory in any area right
now?
Esther received protection.
Elisha received restoration.
Daniel experienced the supernatural.
Ezra received direction.
Nehemiah was strengthened.
Joel offered the cure for God's judgment.
God's judgment was coming upon a nation.
Joel said, return to me, God says, return
to me with fasting and weeping and mourning
and I will return to you.
Jesus was empowered.
Paul confirmed his calling.
Cornelius was saved all after fasting.
Now, you can just call that a coincidence
if you want, but I'm not going there
because it's a deeper relationship with God.
Like in Elisha's case, do you need some
things restored in your marriage, in your life,
your sons, your daughters?
Does something need to be restored?
Or Daniel, do you need to experience the
supernatural?
And I don't mean some mystical weird thing,
right?
I mean, do you want to experience God?
Because I believe there's a difference between those
who experience God living in the fullness of
the Spirit and those who just come to
church and participate and leave untouched by God.
I'm not sure what side of that you
want to be on, but I can tell
you what side I want to be on.
I want to be on the side that
experiences God.
Ezra received direction.
Ezra is an interesting story.
He had to go and rebuild.
Remember, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.
Ezra went to rebuild the temple that was
destroyed.
And he said, God, we can't go and
do this.
We're bringing all this gold and silver.
We can't do this unless you bring us
protection.
We're going to pray and we're going to
fast for ourselves and for our little ones.
And God got them all the way there
without any problems.
Nehemiah was strengthened.
Joel offered the cure for judgment.
Jesus was empowered.
Do you need to be empowered?
Paul confirmed his calling.
When Paul was called, he fasted.
He didn't stop by a Starbucks.
He fasted and waited on God.
Now here's why this topic is so difficult,
I think, for many people.
I've experienced the benefits, so I'm jumping with
joy inside, wanting to share the benefits.
Many of you are thinking, oh my goodness,
that's the last thing I want to do,
is not eat something.
Right?
That doesn't sound fun.
Well, it's not fun, necessarily, but the rewards
far outweigh the cost.
Remember what we've talked about before, the pain
of discipline or the pain of regret?
One or the other you're going to pay,
and as your flesh submits, and you can,
you, you, because here's what happens.
I've talked about before, but it bears repeating.
Your flesh controls more than you think.
You wake up in the morning, right?
Get me Frappuccino, Caramel Maca, whatever, and while
you're there, get a big thing of donuts,
and then after church, why not just keep
going to In-N-Out Burger or McDonald's
or the Western Bacon Double Cheeseburger, my favorite,
at Carl's Jr., right?
Let's just go there, and now that we've
blown all day, stop and get that chocolate
and that Twix bar and that soda on
your way home to perk you up again,
and why just finish it with a terrible
dinner?
And the flesh, and the flesh is just
controlling everything we do.
This keeps popping.
Is there a reason?
You guys hear it too?
Maybe I'll just put it back here.
Okay, maybe it's popping on my side, but
that's why the flesh is controlling.
So what fasting does, it says, no, no,
no, you're done.
You're done controlling.
I'm going to start crucifying you, mortifying the
flesh, the Puritan authors would say, to mortify,
to rebuke the flesh.
Acts 13 to the NIV, and this is
where, this is why I'm talking about fasting,
this is where we just left off.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,
the Holy Spirit said, now set apart for
me Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them.
So you have to wonder, if they were
not fasting, if they were just in this
gluttonous type of environment, would God have led
them to the degree he has?
Acts 14, 23, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders
for them in each church and with prayer
and fasting committed them to the Lord in
whom they had put their trust.
The vast majorities of the heroes of the
faith have fasted.
It's still very common in places like China
and Korea for people to fast.
If you go outside of America, fasting is
very common.
Just to let you know, there's actually a
place in South Korea, not North Korea, I
don't know of any of their one there,
because they worship a God there, right?
The ruler of that country that wants to
take America out.
So you might want to pray and fast
that God would judge them and judge him.
But this South Korea, there's one of the
largest, actually it's the largest church I think
in the world, seven, eight hundred thousand members.
They have something called Prayer Mountain and it's
all they do is they go up to
this mountain and they pray and fast for
days.
The Middle East, China, the early Christians in
China, it's a place of fasting and prayer.
So here would be my struggle.
I can ignore a topic that people don't
like and just tell us what we want
to hear or I can delve into Scripture,
read a lot on this, get this and
give you, speak from my own personal experience
for those who truly want to experience God.
John Wesley said, I will not ordain a
man unless he fasts twice a week.
Wow, legalistic, right?
He's legalistic.
What he's doing is he's saying, I would
ordain a man who shows me he has
control of his appetites rather than allowing his
appetites to control him.
Because if you have a man who is
controlled by his appetites, he cannot rule the
church well.
It's impossible.
That's actually one of the qualifications of an
elder, is to be temperate in all things,
not addicted to certain things.
Now when it comes to fasting, there is
a pendulum swing, right?
The side that we've been talking about and
nobody wants to do it.
So for Old Testament, that's actually pretty convenient,
sounds good.
I actually like that.
If that's your view, I like your view.
The flesh likes your view, but that's not
for today.
But the other side of the pendulum swing
is the fanatical side, where it's more spiritual
and you're always pushing and you're always, you
know, pushing people to do it and in
their face and it becomes this workspace.
I'm more holy because I fast.
I'm more spiritual because I fast.
You don't fast like me and it's just,
it becomes almost a work and a self
-focus, a self, a point of self-exaltation.
But the pendulum swing is where it stops
in the middle, is right with the Bible
says.
That's why those who love fasting see it
mentioned throughout Scripture close to 80 times.
They see the enormous benefit.
The key is this, the closer you draw
to God, the more you do for God.
If you leave here today, leave here with
that nugget.
The closer you draw to God, the more
you do for God.
So those, most in this room, I'm assuming,
want to do more for God.
Lord, I want to, show me, this is
personally unfamiliar.
Lord, show me what you want me to
do.
Show me what you've called me to do.
Show me how I'm supposed to get involved
here.
Who can, who am I supposed to reach?
And Lord, show me.
But that only begins to become real once
we begin to fast and pray and worship.
Then the closer we draw to him, the
more he does through us.
Leonard Ravenhill also said, how can you pull
down strongholds of Satan if you don't even
have the strength to turn off your television?
Wow, I could just sit down.
I think that would be good enough, right?
Because he's, how can we pull down strongholds
of Satan?
Because see, we talk about it, we want
to do it, but we can't, we don't
even have the strength to turn off our
television.
We don't even have the strength to say
no.
I mean, In-N-Out has been calling
me since 530 this morning.
It just keeps, hello, double, double, french fries,
chocolate shit.
I mean, it just calls, calls.
And it's just like, no, be quiet, be
quiet, be quiet.
And it's just calling.
Now, people, I guess I'll do a few
disclaimers throughout the message.
Food is not bad, right?
We don't, food is wonderful, especially if you
consume it the way God created it, to
give life to the body, to give energy
to the body.
We consume that food, and then that food
is assimilated, and we use it for energy,
for building muscle, for fighting disease, all these
kinds of things.
So it's wonderful.
So it really isn't about food, it's whether
food has you.
What is controlling you?
If there's no desire to fast, and the
body keeps winning, I'm guessing you're losing the
battle in a lot of different areas.
If we can't subdue the flesh, how are
you going to say no to that video
that comes up on your screen?
Or how are you going to say no
to that gossip that keeps whispering in your
ear to go and gossip?
Or that backbiting, or that anger?
How are you going to subdue those things
if you can't even subdue the flesh in
this area?
See, it all is tied together.
Everything is tied together.
John Owen, he's a Puritan author.
About four or five hundred years ago, I've
got, it's called the works of John Owen,
of the mortification of sin and believers.
I just love the strong words these guys,
they don't mess around, I'm telling you right
now.
If you read books hundreds of years ago,
they do not mess around.
They get right to the point, crucify the
flesh, stop putting up with it, be killing
sin or sin be killing you.
I mean, it's just, now we're like, I
don't know, might be too strong.
Come on, let's just, let's just bring in
the soft little punches, and the candy bars,
and the seized candy, and just kind of
be careful here, where the Word of God
is, let it loose.
Let the lion out of the cage, and
let it do its work.
So he said, and I'll interpret for you
when I'm done, the choicest believers who are
assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin,
ought yet to make it their business, all
their days, to be mortifying the indwelling power
of sin.
What he's saying in a nutshell is, if
you are a believer, and you have been
freed from the condemning power of sin, here's
the interesting thing.
This will be, this will be an eye
-opener for many of you.
As a believer, you have been freed from
the condemning power of sin.
It doesn't condemn you anymore.
You're not condemned to hell.
The ramifications, the result, you've been set free
from that condemning power.
But then it's the question of, well, why
in God's name is it still alive in
me?
Because see, the influence hasn't left.
The power hasn't left.
So that's why he said believers who've been
released from the condemning power of sin, they
should make it their business to to mortify
indwelling power of sin.
Now, because they've been set free, every day
they're gonna fight against that influence.
And that's where that famous line comes from,
be killing sin or sin will be killing
you.
Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery
if it could.
If it could.
Think about that.
Every covetous desire would be oppression if it
could.
Every thought of unbelief would be atheism if
it could.
See, that's what sin does.
Sin gives you a thought and says, if
you, if I could take you to the
full end of this, if I could take
you the full end of this, I would
bring that thought out to fruition.
So that's what sin is doing constantly.
It's like, here's your thought, take action on
that thought, keep taking action on that thought
so I can bring you to death in
this area.
Here comes another thought, take it, take that
thought, run with it, fulfill it.
Now I'm gonna keep leading you away from
God.
That's why every day from the moment you
wake up to when you go to sleep,
that sin is wanting to come in and
do that.
That's why fasting is so important.
And I want to remind everybody this morning
that you are not powerless.
You are not powerless.
You give power to either the flesh or
the spirit.
And I write, Shane, I'm so powerless right
now.
No, you're not.
You actually have more power than you think.
You give whatever, Paul says in Romans, whatever
you choose to obey becomes your master.
So you give the power to the spirit
or you give the power to the flesh.
Do you guys hear that?
Okay, so something's popping back there.
Oh well, it's probably gonna happen from here
on out.
Unless Jake can fix it.
No pressure.
I'll fix it.
Yeah, I keep pulling it away, but it's
pretty far now.
All right, we'll try that.
Another thing he said, neglect of this duty
to mortify causes the withering of the soul.
So in a nutshell, if we don't want
to mortify the flesh, crucify the flesh, it
leads to the withering of the soul.
Have you ever felt your soul wither?
Go like this.
You have.
It's that, it's the withering of the soul.
It's like, God, I miss you.
Worship used to, I used to love worship.
I used to love the Bible.
What's happening?
The soul is withering.
If we don't mortify the flesh and put
it to death daily, be crucifying the flesh
daily.
James 4, 5 says this, that our spirit
has envious yearnings.
Did you know that?
The Holy Spirit in us has envious yearnings,
and that's a good envy.
He's saying, I want you.
The Spirit in us is, it's like, do
you remember when you had kids?
If you're older now, if you have kids,
Daddy, I want to spend time with you.
Mommy, I want to spend time with you.
Nana, Papa, whatever they call you, I want
to spend time with you.
That's the Holy Spirit within us.
He has, the Spirit has envious yearnings for
more of God, and what happens is besetting
sin cuts off the power source.
The point I'm really getting at is, is
fasting helps to mortify the deeds of the
flesh, because when you're fasting, you're in control.
I'll tell you right now, if you struggle
with addiction, sexual addiction, any kind of addiction,
you can minimize it completely by fasting, because
you take the power and the strength away
from the flesh.
You just rob the flesh of its strength,
and it begins to be submitted.
And Jim Cimbala, I know many of you
know who he is in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
I was watching it in New York.
I was watching a wonderful video on obedience
this week, and he talked about, he actually
went to the electrical room in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle, a huge room, and he said, if
I pull this power, if I pull this
lever, it'll cut off all electricity to the
building.
And his parallel was with the Holy Spirit.
If we are besetting sin, sin that we
just leave, and it stops that power source,
it stops God from moving in our lives.
It's like a conduit that is blocked.
Fasting begins to release that.
Now I want to talk on this part,
this part about fasting, since we are on
the topic.
The spiritual, when it comes to fasting, the
spiritual is the priority, but there are physical
benefits.
Now here's an interesting thing about physical.
Anytime we talk about the body, we're like,
well that's not important.
Well if it's not important, then why are
90% of the prayer requests about the
physical things?
Take this away from me, this disease, this
ailment, this depression, this anxiety, this addiction.
So the spiritual is the priority, but there
are physical benefits when we fast.
Did you know this?
That Jesus was the great physician?
What does a great physician do?
He heals our bodies.
James Morris said this, and I would recommend
a book, it's called God's Chosen Fast.
There are multitudes, there are multitudes of diseases
which have their origin in fullness, and might
have their end in fasting.
Many of you aren't aware of this, but
disease is actually fueled by the food we
consume.
Disease is fueled by the food we consume.
That food is either giving life to the
body, or it's giving death to the body.
My point of this is fasting has huge
spiritual benefits that flow right into physical benefits
as well for the body.
God wants us to clean this thing that
we have been given.
I think, have you ever seen a real
dirty pool that you're not going to jump
into?
But picture the body, that's dirty blood, the
heart is working hard, it's a very toxic
environment.
So it's this green algae, this dirty pool,
that's how many of us live.
And the body becomes sick and diseased, and
if we had time we could talk about
really what cancer is, is cancer is cells
that do not die.
Instead they keep multiplying and multiplying and multiplying
and multiplying and form tumors.
And they're finding that many things, that cancer
has to survive off oxygen and food.
It has to.
So it begins, that's why they tie a
lot of it in with sugar, and they're
also finding that it can consume amino acids,
glutamine to be exact and precise.
But the cancer, you actually fuel it sometimes
by the foods we consume.
So if you begin to fast and withdraw
the fuel source, you'll begin to see amazing
results in the body.
I can just tell you from my own
experience, eyesight getting better, joints feeling better, energy
coming back, the vitality, the way that we
were designed, how God designed us.
So not only the spiritual benefits, but you
have the physical benefits that come into mind.
Now I think this is important, very important
to introduce.
Fasting is not starving, okay?
Why are you starving yourself?
I'm not starving myself.
Fasting is not starving, it's nourishing, it's ridding
our body of the excess.
Here's a crash course, real quick.
Your body burns for energy glucose, which when
you eat, it's converted to sugar.
That glucose is stored in the liver and
the muscle to be used.
Once that is depleted, then it will begin
to go to the fat and muscle storage
for fuel.
The problem is we never get to that
point.
So fasting, you begin to burn all the
stored energy you have, it's gone, and then
now the body begins to pull off of
the tissue, the dead cells, the old things
that need to go.
It's burning the fat, it's burning some muscle,
it's burning old dead cells that are dying,
it's going to grab the disease.
I read a book, it gave a great
example of if you're in a cabin in
a snowstorm, right?
You're using all the wood to stay alive,
but what happens when the wood's gone?
How good does that wood couch, or that
wood couch, that doesn't sound comfortable at all,
but that big nice wood table you just
made for the kitchen, or that nice, those
wood tables you just made for the living
room, guess where they're going in a matter
of a day or two?
In the fire, in the fire.
You start the lesser items, the wood, the
hay, the stubble, the newspaper, and then you
start to go to the greater items and
throw that in the fire.
That's exactly how the body works.
You're not starving.
The body's pulling and using all this energy
and getting rid of the dead waste.
You actually go into a point of starvation
once those resources have ran dry.
So it's not starvation.
It's actually, it's very healthy for the body
to start consuming these things.
I mean, I could, I could just amaze
you with the amount of testimonies I've heard
that tumors have shrunk.
God, people had like, just gross on their
skin and different things that would disappear from
fasting because the body would start to consume
the tissue and it gets fuel from wherever
it can.
That's why you don't feel good, because the
toxins and the things are coming in and
working in your mind and in your heart
and your blood is trying to get rid
of all this junk.
So the point is, wonderful spiritual benefits, wonderful
physical benefits.
Fasting doesn't replace a healthy lifestyle, though it
complements it.
Did you catch that?
That was in one ear and out the
next for some of you.
Here's what many people do.
And then they try to fast.
Oh, I don't feel like fasting.
Or they barely get through and then they're
back to the old habits again.
Right?
All the junk, all the garbage.
And it's if fasting is going to replace
that.
It only complements it.
And the reason I have a passion for
this, maybe some of you know, some of
you don't know, is I've seen so many
things cured by taking care of the body.
I just, I just went to the hospital.
Somebody has a golf-size cancer cell in
their brain.
And as you know, that's not looking good.
And other people are struggling.
I mean, struggling with anxiety and fear and
depression.
And Shane, I can't.
And counseling people, they're about ready to cry
and have a nervous breakdown.
And I look at what they're consuming.
I'm like, well, no wonder.
You've got to get rid of these things.
I don't want to.
I love my whatever.
So, see, that's my heart.
It's not to upset people.
But these things have...
Shane, pray.
I pray for this healing.
I pray for this.
Stop eating 14 hot dogs a week.
Right?
I get my heart's not in good shape.
I need healing in this area.
Stop doing things that lead to that.
Now, I believe in healing.
I believe that God can heal and do
certain things.
But I also believe that there are ramifications.
See, we believe that all of our choices
have consequences, don't we?
But when it comes to food, sometimes we
think that doesn't apply.
But that doesn't apply to it on food.
But it does.
And I see so many people.
Let me give you an example.
The majority of people, different states, people that
don't even go to this church, that are
struggling.
Well, I better not say it in case
he's listening.
But a good friend of mine somewhere that
way.
Not a believer.
But all these people are on so much
medication and trying to...
What's going on?
Like, you might want to stop the thousand
milligrams of caffeine a day.
A day you're having.
The monster drinks.
And the guar nut.
And the ma hong.
And the herba mate.
And all these things are just...
They're killing you.
They're stimulating.
Well, I don't want to stop that.
Well then, what can I...
I can pray for you.
But see, my point is, we're actually bringing
stuff in.
I mean, who's gonna drink a six-pack
and think it doesn't affect them?
We know that does.
Right?
Why do we think other things don't apply?
So that's why my passion is...
I see so many people...
Here's, I guess, the best word for it.
Self-created illness.
In every case, of course not.
And those people who don't like this message
will use that against me.
He said this.
No, I didn't.
I believe that some is hereditary.
Some is a product of our environment.
Some is just gonna happen.
Some is a demonic influence.
But many times, many times, what we're putting
in affects us.
Did you know that the...
It's called the...
I don't know if I get it right.
The manual...
I don't even want to say it.
The Diagnostic Manual for Mental Disorders.
For evaluating mental disorders in patients that psychologists
use.
They now have caffeine-induced anxiety in there.
Caffeine-induced sleep deprivation.
They have it.
It's a mental disorder.
But yet we don't care.
That's what's also...
It's frustrating.
That's probably one of the most frustrating things
for me.
I say, here's what you need to do.
Start eating better.
Get a lot more water.
Get the stuff out of you.
I don't want to.
Pray for me though.
I'm telling you.
I'm giving you wisdom.
Because I've experienced a lot of this before.
I've never experienced anxiety attacks to such a
degree where you just want to scream.
You want to hit something.
Where is this coming from?
It's called withdrawal.
Or it's called too much of something.
See, we always want the prayer but not
the obedience.
God just take it away but it's not
gonna involve any work.
And prayer and fasting is work.
And that's why we do it.
So enough off the physical.
I probably upset you enough.
But let's go back to this part about
fasting.
Fasting breaks bondage.
There's bondage in our life.
Have you ever seen this?
Let me just...
Example for me then.
I need a second helping.
Sweets I can't say no to.
Snacks between meals.
Our favorite addictive drinks, right?
We are snagged on these things.
So fasting begins to break these things away
from our lives.
You crave what you feed on.
You will crave what you feed on.
What we feed on we begin to crave
and we want more of and more of.
Now here's another disclaimer.
I the Bible talks about fasting.
It's not like God's like, all right, uncle.
You got me.
What do you want now?
How can I help?
You got me.
Fasting does...
What it does is it actually realigns your
heart with God's.
It starts to...
You start to remove the clutter.
And it's amazing.
That's why it's hard to picture now.
But after you've told your flesh no all
day, there's this euphoria or a spiritual high
for a lack of a better word.
This being filled with the Holy Spirit that
comes upon you that you just, man, that
was worth it.
That was worth it.
The benefits are there.
So that's why there's so much difficulty in
this area because the benefits come later, not
right away.
I mean, many people think they say no
to lunch and then here's a new car
out in their driveway.
It doesn't work like that.
It's a pressing in.
That's why we do it.
Joel 2.12. Turn back to me with
your whole heart, with fasting and tears and
mourning.
Turn back to me with your whole heart,
with tears and mourning.
So it's realigning.
That's what fasting does.
It starves the flesh.
So my flesh is starved.
It's crucified.
Because did you know this?
The more you feed the flesh, the more
it continues to grow in certain areas.
The majority of people I talk with who
are hooked on, hooked on pornography are also
hooked on certain things.
It's the consumption of meat and food and
all this junk.
They're just consuming all this and then they're
consumed.
It's all tied together.
Everything in the body is tied together in
this area.
So fasting does this.
It conquers both pride and passion.
Both our pride is conquered and our passions
are conquered.
Not forever.
That's why I encourage it to be a
lifestyle.
Don't eat every day?
Of course not.
You take it to God and you pray
and you ask him what he wants to
do in your life and what he wants
to do in this area specifically.
Fasting also silences the voice of the flesh.
Does your voice, your flesh ever cry out?
Give me, give me, give me, give me,
give me, give me, give me, give me.
And it begins to stop and silence that.
So is there a desire to resurrect dead
prayers in your life?
This might be a reason to fast.
Is there a desire in your life to
resurrect dead prayers?
You know what a dead prayer is, right?
The Lord is not going to do that
anymore.
It's beyond his grip now.
I think I've done too much damage.
But if you want to resurrect those dead
prayers, bring them back to life again.
God says, I will restore the years that
the enemy has taken from you if you
begin to pray and fast again.
I wonder how many miracles aren't done because
we don't we don't pray and fast and
seek God hard enough.
And I'm not talking about works, but there's
a fervency there.
And I don't mean to put people down
when I talk about this, but I've seen
parents.
I've talked to parents and praying for their
prodigal son or daughter.
They're in a bad spot.
They're hooked on heroin.
I can't even get the parents to fast.
Oh no, that's too hard.
I'm hypoglycemic.
You see, I had all excuses.
I was borderline hypoglycemic.
I can never fast.
Come to find out, it's no problem.
I'm gonna die by day two.
No, I didn't die by day two.
It's just, and there's, let me interject this
too.
There's a learning about this too.
You don't just say, okay, I'm gonna stop
eating.
There's a hunger there.
Lord, show me.
What do I need to remove from my
life?
What is triggering?
What is pulling me down?
I can hopefully walk through that in the
next week or so.
I think attendance might decrease, but for those
who are interested, I'm gonna give you some
practical example.
The desire to resurrect dead prayers.
And I was thinking this week, where's the
faith of David these days?
Who would grab a slingshot and go out
and fight a giant and say, who is
this uncircumcised Philistine who's going to deny our
God?
Who's gonna mock our God?
Let me at him.
Where's the faith?
Where's that faith?
Where's the faith of Daniel?
When was the last time you said, put
me in the lion's den, I'll be fine.
Or he said, I'm gonna keep praying to
my God.
We're gonna kill you, Daniel, if you don't.
I don't care.
Where's the faith of Elisha?
Elisha, who came across all these false prophets
of Baal.
He came to fight them.
He said, let the God who answers by
fire, let him be God.
And God answered by the faith of these
men, the faith of the women in the
Bible.
Esther or Rebecca, you see, where's that faith
today?
Many times here's the problem.
Faith is often tied to fasting and prayer
and worship.
The greater the devotion in these areas, the
greater the faith.
I mean, a person doesn't just wake up,
right?
A person doesn't just wake up one day
and have tremendous faith.
It's built, it's sustained through the challenges of
life.
So here's what I want you to consider.
Why to fast?
Is there a desire to resurrect dead prayers
in your life?
Has a dream died in your life?
Is there something you thought God was going
to do but he has not done?
Or something you thought was going to happen
in your family?
Or resurrecting dead prayers and it's time to
fast.
Is there a stronghold that has been gripping
your life?
Is there a stronghold, something that has been
gripping your life?
Fasting begins a process of relief.
Now here's the mistake many people make too.
They fast for a little bit and they
say, oh it's still there.
Let me remind you that it's a battle.
This is a spiritual battle.
We persevere and sometimes it takes a while
to weaken the flesh.
It's a wrestling.
There's a persevering before the flesh finally says,
okay enough, enough.
That's why we're considering fasting.
Now in the next week or so I'm
going to talk about when to fast, how
to fast, but I want to ask you
to commit today and pray for direction and
begin formulating a plan.
If it were me, I would begin by
cleaning house.
What is God talking to you, what is
he speaking to you right now about?
Are there certain habits, whether it's everything we've
just talked about, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, addictive things,
and begin to wean off of those things.
I would tell anybody who has a high
level of caffeine, have half and then have
half and have half, have half, have half,
and wean off, get down because withdrawals will
be hell.
They will be hell.
Trust me, pray for heaven.
Pray for heaven, release, but plan on hell
and you begin to get your body because
to try to fast, okay I'm just gonna
stop fasting.
Well that means you're gonna stop fasting from
caffeine and sugar, alcohol, craving, all these things
you're gonna, you're just gonna, you are gonna
get hit with tons of withdrawals and toxicity
and you begin to clean house, begin to
remove those things because now I can go
into a day fast or a two-day
fast and just have water.
I mean I can just get through it.
It's not a big deal, but a couple
years ago, wow, two hours with no caffeine,
you're like gonna lose it, right?
That's what people, I have to have my
whatever in the morning.
I don't mean to make this such a
big point, but it's affecting the lives of
a lot of people and you don't realize
it.
It's affecting the temper and the anger.
I see parents going off on their children
and abusing their children.
I see people getting angry and yelling and
screaming, all these roid rages or roid rages,
that's steroids.
Road rages, there's both, that happens too, but
you see all these, you see all the
effects of it and all the testimonies we
get from people being set free of these
things.
It makes me a little bit passionate, wouldn't
you be?
I mean you see how these things play
a role in our lives.
So I would begin by cleaning house and
beginning, okay, maybe removing, okay, Lord I'm gonna
go without lunch today.
I'm not gonna have lunch at 11 or
12 or 1 or 2 or 3.
I'm just gonna have water and I'm gonna
seek you.
I'm gonna pray because you don't just fast
a fast, you turn that time into seeking
God and you watch how the flesh will
fight you, but you're taking that first step
in the right direction and I truly believe
somebody new to this who's cleaning house and
was gonna give up lunch and just say,
Lord I want to follow you in this
area, I believe, personally I believe, that God
is gonna honor that just the same as
a person who does two days or three
days, who has longer history with it because
the heart's right.
He's always going after the heart because you
can have somebody on a week or two
or three, three weeks worth of fasting and
they become spiritually proud and they lose the
entire benefit and you have somebody who's just
trying to not have lunch and God's filling
them with the Spirit.
What's the difference?
Always the heart.
Now there is something to talk about duration
because I believe the longer you go the
more you can subdue the flesh and the
flesh is subdued and it takes a while.
I mean still I look at Jesus going
40 days and I'm like I can't even
fathom that.
I mean it's amazing and there are people
that do that.
There are people that go a significant amount
of time and it's not to earn brownie
points.
You actually get to a point where you
don't want to eat anymore and the body
adjusts and it begins to burn different things
for fuel instead the glucose and the glycogen
that has been stored.
It's amazing concept of how the body works
and actually the more I read about how
the body works the more I say God
this is so amazing and I had an
interesting thought this week.
I don't know if we were supposed to
eat every three hours right?
Got to eat.
Got to stop by there.
Got something on every corner.
I think for thousands of years they put
some nuts and some figs and something and
just walk for three miles to the next
town and then food was the body was
was built so it could go more than
three hours without food.
My kids crack me up it's been three
hours they're starving.
I'm starving I have to eat.
No you don't.
No you don't and then you know and
the people like oh you're being mean to
them.
Really?
So you're gonna teach them to go that
fulfill that desire every time they get it
and then they start to control you right?
There's the ice cream truck coming down the
street and they begin to and and so
but we think we're starving we think we're
gonna die.
Now the third disclaimer there are medical conditions
right?
Especially there's like diabetes and nursing moms who
are getting the energy to their I mean
there's you got to use wisdom in these
areas and I can steer you in the
right direction with with books and things but
I would be care just take it to
God because I hid behind the excuse of
borderline hypoglycemia is what I had and what
happened if I didn't eat like say three
or four hours and would go work out
or try something I get really faint and
I'd have to have something.
Well come to find out I was addicted
to sugar.
I was having sugar all day so after
three or four hours of no sugar that's
why I feel that way.
Now how can I for example I ate
yesterday and I'll eat again tonight 24 hours
just water I feel great there's no I
don't know weirdness and and but five years
ago I couldn't go three or four hours
I got to eat something my blood sugar
is dropping and that can be valid sometimes
but just be careful because it can also
be an excuse to hide an addiction that
is causing all of that.
Not to mention 600 milligrams of caffeine didn't
help things so here's closing for all you
convicted I'm getting off this point.
Discernment here's my closing point.
Discernment is one of our greatest challenges.
Do you agree?
What spirit is this?
God is this you?
Come on guys don't leave me hanging here.
Do I just deal with this just me?
No I know.
God is this you or is this the
enemy or is this me?
Now some things are clear right but Lord
is this God causing you let's say from
take a different job or to reach out
to somebody in a certain way or to
move or to with your kids and how
to I mean I've got something right now
I'm praying about Lord I don't know what
to do with this I don't know what
are you telling me to do this or
you know this is a you know interesting
thing well here's what fasting does it will
heighten your spiritual discernment if I've noticed anything
it's this you can walk with much more
clarity because the flesh is starved ulterior motives
are put at bay and you begin to
sense what God's will is if you're if
you're feeling rushed confused anxious and you're going
to react then hold tight that's not often
the voice of God if you feel that
if I feel that way I usually back
off and I say hold on I gotta
wait and it happens at church saying we
need an answer we need an answer what
are we gonna do what are we gonna
do I don't know we're gonna wait I
don't like that answer like right now right
I told you we're praying about what to
do with Wednesday nights right do we do
we build the youth group and now that
one is growing and do we have studies
it's like and people are like shame we
need to know I mean September's gonna be
here before we know it I said I
don't know so I can tell you I
might not we might not know until a
week before September 21st what that's impossible no
we might I'm not gonna be rushed or
pushed into things okay we need to make
a decision to make a decision I mean
that's how the enemy works and he'll do
it in your own life with your job
I got to make it to see you
got to do this you got to push
you got to push your anxious you're a
lot look I don't know what to do
just stop and even fast sometimes I'll take
a drive to the atrophy or just West
as far as I can go and just
pray and meditate and like not eat and
and just and the clarity becomes crystal clear
many times now here's the other thing if
it doesn't become clear then you have peace
about waiting you're like you know I'm just
gonna wait I feel so much peace and
just waiting and the enemy hates when you
wait because how the enemy moves is he
moves through pushing you that angry email that
angry phone call that angry lashing out that
bad decision it's he's wanting you to move
so when you just say I'm standing still
what can he do stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord having done all
stand spiritual discernment just this last week I
read that a 17 year old Dutch girl
died on Monday during a bungee jump miss
out she misheard the instructions and jumped when
he said no jump on the Spanish and
one of the Spanish instructors on the bridge
when the teenager plunged 40 meters to her
death told the police that the girl jumped
before her harness was clipped to the bungee
cord an instructor told the Spanish television channel
our TV that she had said no John
no John I'm trying to get it right
but the girl may have misheard and thought
she said now jump now jump and I
thought my god that's spiritual discernment how many
of us are hearing don't jump God's saying
don't jump don't and it worked but we're
hearing now jump now do it now the
the need I believe in this day and
age the need to suppress the flesh and
to conquer the flesh and mortify the flesh
you will you will lose some of the
battles let me tell you right now you
will but it's not about winning every single
victory it's about the heart in the right
direction saying Lord I fell in this area
I mean I remember I preached one time
I used to go and travel for like
Calvary chapels they'd help me preach at North
Edwards that should be Temecula Temecula maybe Hesperia
and they would just have me travel I
preached when a pastor was out and I
was doing so good now I was fasting
I felt the fire of God and I
just couldn't do it I got it was
night I couldn't sleep and I just right
yeah I don't even know what was their
Dorito chips and all this and I felt
terrible I almost couldn't sleep I was like
God I'm so I couldn't sleep well I
just upset it felt like a letdown I'm
like I wanted to do this so bad
I went in the parking lot of the
church and I could hear the worship through
the doors that was open and my heart
just started to haul is worshiping and God
thank you so much and just or whatever
you can do and that I'll never forget
that sermon my goodness I mean fire fell
people were coming to the altar before I
was even done and men are crying the
women are holding them marriages are restored boom
boom boom boom boom boom right then like
how did that happen I just but wait
a minute see I was basing it off
works and works and works and if I
now there's nothing wrong with fasting and holding
that line but when I said God I
blew it and I didn't just have a
Dorito chip I mean it was a bag
or two in the chocolate bar whatever was
in the hotel it was like and but
then the heart was right again and God
said now you shame now you know my
grace and my mercy you can never play
me as a puppet master that you control
me you don't control me any and I
there's been times I've told Tony this before
and we talked about it and I fasted
and for a day or two and my
wife and then the sermons is dead because
see I don't control God I'm not pulling
his strings and telling him what to do
he sometimes he'll say see you're trusting too
much in that you're trusting too much in
that I will rain down fire when I
want to rain down fire I'm gonna bring
grace I'm gonna bring mercy and you submit
to me so he's taught me through all
this I'll go home and tell my wife
that sermon stuck why did I fast all
weekend I know I should have just had
Starbucks and a big donut Krispy Kreme you
know what what was that about but see
then it comes back to the pride and
the spirit like I was gonna make God
do something however I know that God will
honor that often that's why I actually started
fasting five years ago is because I wanted
to go to the pulpit just just just
drained of hungry and food and and in
the sermons were changed I mean I loved
it and I couldn't I don't like to
preach on a full stomach or even a
little bit and as I can see how
God can use it but don't put them
in a box don't think this is some
little formula genie in the bottle three days
of fasting here's what I get it's all
about drawing us closer to God and as
you tell the flesh 30 times a day
shut your mouth you can say it from
the pulpits okay I just shut your mouth
just you go back to sleep that's a
yeah yesterday my son's an all-star baseball
and we went to a game and of
course the snack bars open like pepper bellies
and hot dogs I'm just like just shut
up be quiet flesh go back to sleep
just be quiet you're not and then I
got home I told my I feel so
good I'm ready to preach and I couldn't
sleep right so there's a there's an honoring
of that but the flesh you have to
begin to tell it because then you can
say when you click on your email hi
I'm 21 you want to see my pictures
delete because you just told it be quiet
and then when somebody it's something happens and
that might your flesh might gravitate towards you
you have the peace and being filled the
Spirit of God and I tell my wife
I say I'm looking for pictures of the
American flag and these pictures came up about
this girl in a bikini or something like
what is this you know I'm being transparent
and saying hey here's the and you put
the flesh in submission you're honest and open
and transparent so that's what fasting does it
helps the body actually it helps you control
the body instead of the body controlling you
that's why we do it it's it's not
it's not to be a hyper spiritual it's
not to be in good favor with God
it's not to be real holy and above
everybody else it's not and that's why Jesus
said when you fast oh there he goes
when you fast act like you're not fasting
put oil on your head don't it's not
this oh man man brother I'm fasting today
everywhere you go right going to crazy Otto's
I just see the heart attack and the
plate on those things and it's and you're
going I can't have it I'm just fasting
brother would you like this no I'm fasting
and you go around and it becomes this
spirituality that's why many times people don't know
they didn't know what the baseball field you
know I don't oh I can't I'm fasting
no I don't want a pepper belly is
that Fritos and chili and cheese on it
it's can you just can you take I
will go move my seat though I'll tell
you that right now I'll go down at
the end of the grass where nobody's at
with just my kids to my wife like
get away from all that right because you're
also inundated with it too so this is
going in a whole different direction this is
why we fast I'm gonna close with this
scripture Isaiah I love this verse 40 chapter
40 verse 28 have you not known have
you not heard the everlasting God the Lord
the creator of the ends of the earth
he never faints nor is he weary his
understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the
weak fasting is humbling yourself and it's weakening
yourself in that and not only physically but
spiritually and it's funny even though you're weak
spirits physically you're strengthened spiritually you're weak you're
weak physically and your strength and spiritually so
he gives power to the weak young men
shall utterly fall but those who wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength they shall
mount up wings like eagles they shall run
and not be weary they shall walk and
not faint