God Will Answer: 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer | God Will Answer - #1 | Pastor John Lindell

[Music] tonight I wanted to talk to all of the campuses because we're beginning a new season here at James River and I want us to get ready to get our hearts ready especially for what Debbie and I believe God is going to do in the next few weeks in the next few months in the church and in our lives from ghent from July 28th through August 17th so that's starting a Sunday so be two weeks from this Sunday or no it's a week from this Sunday excuse me a week from this Sunday and then through the middle of August Saturday August 17 Debbie and I are calling the church to 21 days of fasting in prayer and we're doing it with great excitement because fasting does something in the church and fasting does something in our lives there's a dynamic when we fast as a church where miracles happened where strongholds are broken where God liberates us and God refocuses us and we realize his power in our life in a whole new way fasting going without food seeking God is a hunger strike against hell fasting causes us to seek and see vertical solutions to horizontal situations fasting will fast-track your prayers fasting will break the yoke of bondage fasting will release God's power and will bring about supernatural results fasting will bring divine winds to life's perplexing problems fasting will humble our heart and recalibrate our life that we might walk in new awareness of God's divine purpose in our lives fasting brings about supernatural protection and miraculous provision fasting will give you favor with people fasting brings heavens answer and hell's defeat fasting makes a big difference and really what I want to do you say well if we're not starting for a week why are you talking to us now the reason why is because it's important that you and I get a heart ready there it's important that you and I plan that you and I before the presence in the presence of the Lord say God what is it that you want me to do on this fast how is it that you want me to seek you what is it that you want me to seek you for God get a hold of my heart I'm setting my mind on you I'm getting myself ready for 21 days of fasting in prayer 21 days that will make a difference in the next 365 days so fasting is so so important no mark chapter 9 a father brought his little boy to the disciples to heal him and even though they'd healed people many times before they couldn't do it and Jesus came down off the Mount of Transfiguration and He healed the little boy later they're debriefing with Jesus and they asked Jesus this question why couldn't we drive out that evil spirit and Jesus said this in mark chapter 9 and verse 29 this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting there are some things only fasting will achieve and when you couple fasting setting your heart on God with prayer powerful things will happen that listen to this will not happen any other way now when we talk about fasting we're talking about primarily abstinence from food and I know in baraboo people will say well you know I've got this or I've got that and so I can't fast and and I can't go without food listen there everybody's got some kinds of food you can go without that you like so we're not given to anybody a pass okay everybody can do this thing so the idea of I'm fasting TV I'm fasting the newspaper good but fast food and not fast food fast food because some of your like I'm going I'm heading right over to chick-fil-a right now fast food so he said we're talking about refusing to eat and using that time to be in the presence of the Lord and to fellowship with the Lord and we're talking about fasting there are three types of biblical fast the first is an absolute fast no food no water and three days is the max on that and really you need to think that through before you would do that with your doctor a normal fast in the Bible would be abstaining from food but drinking lots of water so you're saying you know what I'm not going to eat and you figure out I'll give you some suggestions on how a person could do that maybe what you'd say is I'm going to abstain from food all the while from sunrise to sundown I'm not eating maybe you would say you know what I eat three meals a day I'm eating one meal a day maybe you would say I'm going to I'm going to fast for several days not having any food maybe you saw Phil Mickelson the golfer and he was just extolling this last week the benefits of fasting did a seven-day fast and said he feels totally different he's doing it under his doctor's supervision but just drank water and he said it was hard but he was talking about all the benefits because fasting is not bad for your body it's good for your body so way to detox your body is why it's hard when you start fasting and you haven't fasted so maybe you're gonna go sundown or sunrise to sundown not sundown to sunrise that's that's kind of like the fast food thing yeah I'm gonna fast from sundown to sunrise on eating a fig while I sleep so the idea is you're denying yourself or there can be a partial fast and this can probably the most common way would be the Daniell fast so the Daniel fast is a great way to fast and we have the example obviously from Daniel in the Book of Daniel but the idea is you abstain from animal products meat dairy eggs bread anything made with sugar caffeine all of that so basically you're down to fruits and vegetables and beans and that's kind of that's kind of what what you have and that's a good way to fast so some will do it Daniel fast some will do a liquid fast so there's some who will say you know everything I do is just liquid I'm gonna have broth and and for 21 days I'm just doing a liquid fast so you go online look up some options pray ask the Lord maybe but all of us what I'm asking is for 21 days all of us are regular fasting or fasting 21 days so I've done a 21-day fast before and and when you do that you you're you're gonna lose a lot of weight you're gonna lose usually a pound a day for the first 10 days 2 pounds a day every day thereafter so I I mean you you drop about 30 pounds maybe 40 pounds if you just do a water only 21-day fast I would suggest again that probably you should work up to that over time that that's not something you just say I'm going to do so be wise there's books and we'll have those references for you resources that you can look at now a person can give up as I said social media which would probably be a good thing to fast from binge watching on Netflix saying that's out I'm gonna I'm gonna not do any of that or whatever it is there might be other things that you enjoy that take a lot of time that you say I'm going to use that time to seek the Lord anything you set aside for the purpose of seeking God will make a difference but I'm asking you to fast food so as we do that you'll have people that will say this to you they'll say oh man I really feel sorry for you that you're having to do that and what you need to do because this is a great opportunity to challenge and encourage people and in a very kind way say don't feel sorry for me I'm gonna see God work in a powerful powerful way I can't wait you know I don't need sympathy just be excited for me because God is gonna do some amazing things because God will answer God is going to answer if what you give up means something to you it will mean something to God now here's what we're gonna fast for is the church let me give you and we're gonna give you the brochure we give you and all of that as we get started first of all we're praying for a spiritual awakening across Missouri in the u.s. that includes Springfield I think it's very appropriate that we make souls the first the most Amit you've got unsaved family members maybe you've got friends co-workers that need to know the Lord we're praying that there will be a spiritual awakening our country desperately needs it our state needs it our city needs it so we're gonna be praying for that second we're going to be praying for the people of James River to be strong in the Lord I mean this is so important we're gonna pray for strong marriages we're gonna pray for wise parents we're gonna pray that people will will love God more than ever we're gonna pray that people that are struggling with addictions of whatever kind those will be broken in the name of Jesus we're gonna pray for restoration for spiritual vitality and the hearts of the people of James River number three we're gonna pray for the growth of the prayer meeting let me tell you out all the campuses this is really a passion that Debbie and I have because what we've seen it James River to this point is because you've set your heart on calling on God and when a church prays God's gonna do things that defy the norm God's gonna take that church as we've said over and over again from the ordinary ordinary to the extraordinary and that's what we want to see in an even bigger way the best is yet to come but in order for you and I to experience Seth we need to seek God like never before and we need to be encouraging the other people that we know that are a part of James River to be here on Wednesday nights for the prayer meeting believing that when every single campus is filled with people calling on God when the West Campus is filled when the North Campus you got that balcony that beautiful balcony felt when the Joplin campus you're in your permanent home and that place is packed with people calling on God it's gonna make a difference in Joplin it's gonna make a difference to the whole church when this campus is filled full this stadium filled with people calling on God it makes a big difference we're praying we're gonna pray for the welcome to the future capital campaign you say I hadn't even heard about that aren't you glad you came to Wednesday night that's where you hear about things I mean this is where you first hear about things you know it's been over eight years since we've had a capital campaign I'm honestly super excited about this we're gonna be telling you about it in some dessert fellowships that we're having the first ones in Joplin the end of the month and then we have some here in Springfield through August and we're gonna be talking about at the end of August on Sunday morning but I'm excited about it because a capital campaign does two things in the hearts of the people number one it builds your faith it just does because you're gonna you're gonna believe God for something that's gonna really stretch you number two what it does it is it is a major source of financial blessing in the life of the people I I'm just telling you it is that in a very very big way so I'm excited for you because I just know it as we talk about the different stories even of our journey and other people's journey through the years on capital campaigns and stepping out in faith in over and above giving for the purpose of seeing the kingdom advance when we do that some exciting things happen so it's gonna be great we're gonna be praying for the construction of the James River Church Joplin campus so so exciting we'll be showing you some plans for that and that's a part of what the welcome to the Future campaign is about and last year I mean think about this last year we were praying for the Joplin campus to find a place and you know in Joplin the the because of the tornado and all of that really is very very hard to find property down there and to find buildings and there's just been a lot going on down there and we were told initially you're gonna have a very difficult time finding a building but honestly the Lord has gone before us and given us a very very very favorable circumstance so I'm very excited about this it's gonna be awesome number six were praying for life groups because we want to see people get connected in the church like never before you're gonna be hearing a lot about that in in the next few weeks number seven we're praying for the design for life women's comfort we've prayed for the design sisterhood night but we got the women's conferences coming out I just really believe this year's gonna be exceptional I just Debbie and I feel that way about the conference that this year's conference is going to be unique and exceptional I believe God's going to do something awesome and then number eight as we get ready to go back to school we want to pray for our schools our students our teachers and our administrators and what will God do when we fast and this is the think God's gonna do things in the church God's gonna do things in your life especially is meaningful to me I mentioned it on Sunday and so if you've heard me talk about anything you talk about it all the time hey give thanks to the Lord call his name make known among the nation's what he's done I have a personal testimony that comes out of the fasting some of you'll know that that a year ago I've been about 18 months ago not quite maybe 16 months ago I'd been sick for a while had had it had started in Rome on a trip and and when I you know when I came home it just I was just going downhill and it gotten down to where I weighed about 155 pounds and went to Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic said we know what you have because my heart would race to go up over 200 beats a minute then it would be followed by extreme fatigue and it could happen anywhere at anytime I was like out in Denver at the at the Rockies baseball stadium and I was just sitting down and it kid and when it hit you just have to you have to go down you have to lay down which is really funky in a in a stadium with thousands of people walking by you on the food plaza but anyway when I went there they said you know this what it is there's no cure we can give you medicine it make you feel worse and it won't cure you and I said well what advice would you give me this so you know a third of the people they take permanent disability and but you know you're younger and so maybe maybe you wouldn't have to but we can tell you this unless you push yourself you're never going to get better I said well I get better if I push myself they said not necessarily so we come back I start pushing myself push myself for a couple of months by the time we get to June I'm I am NOT well again we spend all of June away from the church vacationing and I'm in bed the way it plays I mean I poured a B I mean I'm like the worst person diversification or in the world and at that time because I get up I eat breakfast I go back to bed I lay in bed till about four o'clock in the afternoon get up and eat go back to bed and that's all I have the energy to do we I tell her listen you know what we can't keep living like this it's not fair to the church it's not you know this isn't this isn't good what I'm gonna do is when we get back in July I will push myself and I'm gonna do go normal just like I would if nothing was wrong and I mean it's it's a disaster true July I mean it's just it's horrible and so we're thinking we're gonna we're going to resign so that's that's going through our mind we get to the fast the first ones they're not at the fast I tell the people you I tell all of you you've met situation because I'm afraid I'm going to have that heart thing happen because it's happened during on Sundays during July hey I might be laying on the on the platform preaching don't worry about me don't call an ambulance I'll be fine but I I'm just I'm saying hey would you pray for me you remember we had one of the staff come up her parsley came up and led you in prayer for me afterwards I didn't feel people said what do you think God touch us I'd you know what the only thing I felt is I felt incredibly loved by the people of James River and that should that really surprised me just that's what I felt my heart never raced again ever I mean God healed me and delivered me today today I'm 30 pounds heavier than I was back then I am wonderfully different it's a power of fasting remember in the vision video we showed that our last vision video last year's parent 21 days was more than you can ask her imagine what's the theme and we saw so many exciting things happen and I want to just remind you because you know some of you you're up against it you're like I don't know we'll listen when that when the doctors say there's nothing that can be done there's there's a divine physician when you don't know where to turn you don't know what to do and the relationships broken there's the one who heals relationships when when you need a miracle our God is a God of miracles and he says that when we fast and when we pray he will hear from heaven and he will help us and he's able to do more then as we saw last year than we can ask or imagine I want to just share with you the clip from vision Sunday the testimonies to remind you here's what God does when we fast and pray [Music] God is stirring the church and God wants to do more than we can ask or imagine in our lives and in this church we're going to be starting on July 29th 21 days of prayer honestly some are dealing with situations you either needing an answer you're needing wisdom you're needing a breakthrough and 21 days of prayer could make an absolute and I believe will make an absolute difference in your circumstance your situation we've been married 10 years and in this last year we really felt like we wanted to add to our family and then we find out we're pregnant and it was just a few weeks after a positive pregnancy test that I had miscarried and lost that baby and that was hard because it's just not how you expect it to happen I was pregnant again the very next month and lost that baby again but through all that the Lord was so good then gave us first scripture and verses to hold on to I was so excited when he called for the prayer and fasting and I just felt like we needed to take this fast to a whole new level we needed to fervently seek the Lord we was praying for one of our songs in particular we've been praying often often all for about 17 years for and we kind of lost contact with him but we would not see him in four years in April of this past year I stepped away from a really good job to take some time for my health I was diagnosed about two years ago with a chronic illness and it was really just weighing on me and taking a toll physically and mentally we didn't expect Darren to be without a job for so long when we decided for her to take some time off so this is the first time that we went into the fast with with that urgency I would say really the the desperation to see God work in our situation we started this 21 days of prayer investing a week into it we get another positive test weren't sure how to react to that it was approaching the time where previously we had we had lost in previous pregnancies and we were praying in this fast they would just maintain a healthy pregnancy on the first day of the fast I think that was on the 29th of July my cell phone rang and looked at it and it was Stephen of course it it is a big surprise we've got to talk and he says dad dude you all still attend James River I said yes he says dad he says he says he's kind of crazy but my friend and I was just beep talking about it we decided that we would go to James River Church tonight right in the middle of the fast I got a call that there was a job opening and that came about right in the middle of the fast and I think we both really felt like God was opening the door for us we had an ultrasound and found out that it was a pregnancy it was healthy there's a heartbeat I mean I just started calling on the Lord I just was praying Lord if he's in that sanctuary if he comes to south please help us to find him and connect with him and during praise and worship they directly in service Terry and I had just jumped out of our seats and embraced them and we walked out of the church and we reconnected with them which is amazing we hadn't seen him in four years the day Aaron got the job offer I had called her that morning and I said Aaron are our savings are gone and she called me back probably an hour later and said I got the job you know and that feeling to know that you know through the month of fasting that God was listening and working the whole time you know it was just amazing that's where in that appointment the doctor was like oh there was a second baby yes so the twins went right along with the theme of the fastest more than you can ask her imagine he's been attended church regularly Sisson and he'd gone forward and got saved I mean God not just saved him but he restored a relationship it's been amazing it's been amazing and we're expecting two girls right around the time that we had lost the two babies it's easy for us to forget that God cares about us in the difficult times and then those of the moments that you have to go you know what no-ip is the God that shows up and he's gonna show up you know we've been praying for this for 17 years and it was it was so amazing that on the first day on the first day we received that phone call we were believing God to receive more than we could ask or imagine and he gave us one then we could ask her imagine and we are still seeing the fruits of that [Music] our theme for the next 21 days is God will answer not God might answer God will answer a chapter on fasting in the Bible Isaiah 58 one of the great chapters in the book of Isaiah then you will call the Lord will answer you will cry for help and he will say here am I the message puts it this way then when you pray God will answer to chapter on fasting and none of this I know that as you and I pray God will answer the reason why I wanted to talk to you tonight last year remember we spent a couple weeks getting our hearts ready it makes a difference planning saying okay this is the way we're going to do those 21 days this is what we're gonna ask God to do this is what we're believing God to do and you you saw with the Thompsons I mean on the very first day you see you you saw God working right away in each one of those circumstances whether it was the need for a job whether it was you know conception issue a physical issue a relational restoration I don't know what you need I know this there's a God who delights in showing himself powerful there's a God who delights in working miracles there's a God who delights when we draw close to him he delights in drawing close to us there's a God who will answer as you and I fast and pray amen [Music] say here's what we're gonna do I'm bringing the house lights down we're gonna worship now we're gonna spend some time because I just think you know one of the advantages I have and Debbie you know we talk about these things and we're looking forward to the fast or or whether it's the capital campaign I mean we're we we have the advantage of knowing some things and so we're able to prepare and I just feel it's so absolutely critical for us as a church to have that time at the Joplin campus the North Campus the West Campus here at the South Campus those who are on vacation maybe watching online to get our hearts ready and to say god what is it that you want to do in my life and many of you already know you know what you need you know what you need and there's a God who will answer as we fast and as we pray so here's what we're gonna do we're gonna open the altars I wanna at every campus I'm gonna ask people to just come into the altars to come down to begin seeking God and and you know God how should I how do you want me to do this fast god what is it that you want me to be praying about in my own situation what is it where's your you know and some of you already know you're like man I just already know what I need to be praying for but begin asking God say God I'm gonna fast I'm gonna seek your face and I'm asking you to do something miraculous in this situation and I believe you will I believe you will God honors that kind of faith that kind of anticipation that kind of obedience to just say I'm going to pray

Channel: James River Church

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Rating: 4.9046912 out of 5

Keywords: prayer and fasting, sermons on prayer, sermons on fasting, fasting and prayer, how to fast, christian fasting, biblical fasting, biblical prayer, john lindell sermons, james river church sermons, 21 days of fasting, 21 day fast, james river church, 21 days, fasting, fasting for god, john lindell, pastor john lindell, online church, why fast, why should we pray, why should we pray to god, prayer, prayer and fasting testimony, god will answer your prayer, answered prayer, jrc

Id: 6D-l1FkP2Vs

Length: 30min 32sec (1832 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 19 2019