Spiritual Keys to Fasting - Jentezen Franklin

the following program is sponsored by friends and partners of Kingdom connection no time to read the fasting edge is now available as an audiobook at Jensen franklin org play it in your car at home or at work the fasting edge audiobook available now I want to talk to you of course today for a few moments about fasting when you say the word fasting that word alone seems overwhelming if you've never fasted before it's almost like it sends a slight shiver up your spine fasting in this culture of entertainment and gratification and pleasure especially the lifestyle of this generation the 20-somethings it's almost unheard of to expect for people to sacrifice that word has been lost in the body of Christ it's not easy to fast it's not fun to fast but it is powerful your faith will begin to explode as you fast fasting is not for the strong fasting is for the weak fasting is for the common fasting is for the frail fasting is for the ordinary people who realize that they desperately need God in their life that's who fasting is for I want to say that fasting never manipulates God it's so important that when you go into a fast you don't go into it listen now thinking that you will earn God's blessings God's favour God's miracles in your life you never earn the blessings and favor of God it is the grace of God it is the blood of Jesus Christ that releases those blessings fasting does not manipulate God fasting does not make God do something that is not his will fasting gets you ready for God's answer fasting prepares your heart to say not my will but thine be done a lot of people are disillusioned when when they fast and God doesn't do what you demand that he does nothing wrong with asking but you can't demand that God do something because I'm fasting you better hurry up and do it it doesn't work that way fasting breaks you down fasting gets you to the place that you move into a position of total obedience and humility and brokenness before God that what you understand my Heavenly Father wants the best for me and now I finally trust you I finally relinquish my life to you and whatever happens I'm going to serve you and I'm going to love you when we begin to biblically fast we increase our receptivity to the Lord's voice and to his word so number one fasting is an invitation fasting is not a requirement fasting is not something God makes you do fasting is not something that God is going to punish you for if you don't do fasting is an invitation is something you do voluntarily it's when you say Lord I am breaking out of the routine and the regular ritual of life and I'm coming after you I don't have to do this you love me no matter whether I fast draw don't fast you're going to bless me whether I fast or I don't fast but I am voluntarily giving this up showing you that as a sacrifice I'm coming after you and I'm giving up this food there's something about that but gets God's attention quickly fasting is a grace fasting isn't just gritting your teeth fasting isn't just oh God you know just gritting your teeth and enduring it but there is a mystery connection between the Holy Spirit and fasting that anyone who dares to step up and say I'm going too fast instantly the Holy Spirit begins to partner with you instantly the power of God comes and a special grace comes upon you the moment you make up your mind God will truly give you grace to fast if you will listen to him and be led by his Spirit fasting is humbling yourself before God it's saying lord I need you I humble myself before you and in due season the Bible said if you humble yourself he will exalt you fasting is an act of worship in Romans 12 it says I urge you therefore to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God one translation said which is your spiritual worship there's something about presenting your body that God sees as worship so when you fast you're taking an invitation from God he doesn't require it but he invites you to do it fasting is giving up something perfectly good nothing wrong with food and perfectly acceptable so that you can have more of God fasting is a spiritual discipline that is a physical act it's abstaining from food to abstain from the computer is not fasting that's great that that that's that's abstinence I guess you could say but that is not fasting because the only way to fast is to fast food technically because the word fast means to cover your mouth and refuse to eat it's a time of spirit-led self-examination when you fast you'll begin to see God begin to do a deep internal work in your life David when he fasted in 2nd Samuel 12 21 and 22 David did something strange his his child was dying and he fasted that God would heal his child and his child died anyway and I want to help some people who who have been so disappointed because you fasted and God didn't give you what you wanted the way you wanted it he fasted for days and would not eat so that his son would live and the Bible said his child died now here's what I love about David and David said this he said while the child was alive I fasted and I went in one translation said and I thought who knows question mark the Lord may be gracious to me but now that the child is dead I'm going to get up and eat David said I like that I love what he said and words he's fasting but he's not going to force God he's fasting because he wants to get ready for God's answer and he's begging God for a child he's asking God to save this child but his deal is I'm asking what's wrong with asking I want to encourage you on this fast ask God for anything you want to ask him for but don't demand it that's the difference I'm asking you for this I'm boldly asking you for this but I have no right to demand anything but I am asking and I'll trust you with the ends I'll leave the results in your hands asking is it wrong demanding is it's exciting when you feel the stirring and you realize that God is calling you too fast you ought to feel a little nervous about it I felt a little nervous about it I always feel a little nervous about it but if you are prepared spiritually and prepared physically number one you have to prepare spiritually by that I mean you are hearing God as he is impressing you how does he speak to you through the word through preachers through people right now like where you're sitting impressions of the Holy Spirit that that that little almost I don't want to call it a nagging but something on the inside that's not forcing you to do it but kind of tugging on your heart saying come on I'm giving you an invitation come on know me more than you've ever known Lee come in to where I am come out of the routine come after me that's an invitation and when you sense God telling you to do that that's spiritual preparation and the first key is to hear God in that and know that you're doing it because you feel that nudging the second thing is to determine what kind of fast and how long now we've already determined that for you on this public fasts on a private fast you would determine what kind of fast and how long but since it's a public fast here's what I want to encourage you to do number one write down your fasting plan it's amazing what happens when you write it down and you make up your mind writing it down is one of the most important things for preparing for a fast because why you said why is that why is that so important let me tell you one because it's very common once you begin to fast and you begin to feel hungry that low thoughts start coming through your mind and you start to doubt your called a fast God wouldn't speak into me I'm just trying to hit some highlights devote extra time to the prayer and the word limit TV limit the internet limit Facebook limit Twitter limit all of that stuff limit watching news for hours and hours watching TV shows for hours and hours limit all of that stuff your tongue may get coded after a day of fasting you may feel light-headed when you stand up that's all perfectly normal you may need to go to bed early for more rest it's perfectly normal you may have bad breath turn to somebody says normal for you all the time just it may feel like your brain is in a fog the first day or two you just you just can't think as clearly you're not as sharp it's not as easy to do what you do I wish I could say that all you feel when you're fasting is super spiritual and you feel the sweetness and you feel light and constantly cheerful and that's just not true sometimes you're cranky sometimes you're tired sometimes you're hungry sometimes you're fighting a headache sometimes that sounds like some of you all the time you're cranky you're all the time sometimes you have to apologize to your family for being short-tempered while you're fasting and the devil will try to defeat you with stuff like that you'll be stunned at how powerful God's Word will be as you read it while you fast you'll be stunned at how strong and quick God will begin to speak to you as you fast and pray you need prayer support the word is food for your soul whether you're a veteran faster or whether this is your first time fasting I want you to please know that I'm praying for you every day you're going to make it you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you in Philippians 1 and 6 said he who has begun a good work in you if you'll start it God will be able to finish it you started in God will help you finish your answers are waiting in the presence of the Lord sometimes you have to say food you can wait in relationships you can wait and entertainment you can wait God I need answers and answers are waiting in the presence of the Lord for those who will fast and pray what are your greatest needs what do you need to fast about fasting increases our sense of humility and dependence upon the Lord is saying God I need you God alone for you fasting allows us to set aside time for prayer if you don't pray then you're not fasting fasting and prayer it will heighten your spiritual alertness you'll begin to feel and sense the presence of God in your life your alertness to the Holy Spirit will be heightened as you fast and as you pray fasting expresses our earnestness and our urgency in prayer to God when we fast this year I want you to pray specifically three specific prayers that I felt impressed this year to talk about in closing number one that God would bless our nation in that God would help America this is perhaps the most important 21-day fast we have ever participated in it's critical that we in this fast jehosophat was facing a national calamity and in second chronicles 20 he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah Judah believe in the Lord your God and so shall you be established believe his prophets and so shall you prosper and the Bible said that they fasted for three days and after the three day fast God gave them such victory that it took them three days to gather the Skoll in Joel chapter 1 in chapter 2 the nation was facing the greatest economic disaster it had ever faced the nation of Israel and three times they called a fast in Joel 1 in 14 sanctify fast in Joel 2:12 turn with to me with all of your heart with fasting and weeping and joy 2:15 blow the trumpet in Zion sanctify of fast call a solemn assembly now notice the blessings that follow in Joel 2 and 21 it says fear not for the Lord will do great I will restore the years at the locusts have eaten you shall be satisfied and the name of the Lord would be wondrously with you and my people will not be ashamed God has a unique plan for America God has a new unique plan for this nation do you believe that and I want you to fast about this election I want you to fast about America I want you to fast about our economy if God could turn it around for Israel he can turn our nation around he can bless america again he can prosper this nation again God has a unique plan for your family many times when we fast we need to fast and remember our family many times God will work a hundred year cycles in families which is why the enemy targets your children and your grandchildren because the plan of God does not just include you but it includes your children cause God is a God of families and he's working in families and when you fast pray for your families as God to bless your family sometimes it takes several generations for God's will to be accomplished in a family so as we're fasting we're not just fasting for here and now but we're fasting for blessings on our families for generations that God's Will would be done the enemy knows that if he can keep children on drugs and in alcoholism and running in sin and immorality he stops the plan of God for that family so ask him boldly for your family on this fast to bless your family to save your family to feel your family with the power of the Holy Spirit the will of God for every one of your children and your children's children secondly I felt led to tell you to pray for release of divine health and long life on this fast a release of divine health and long life Genesis 15 and 15 God promised Abraham he said you will live to a good old age turn to somebody and say you're gonna live to a good old age this is a fast and a call to health long life we're going to break the habit of fried foods and sugar refined foods and junk food and toxins and pollutants that are destroying our bodies we take authority over it in the name of Jesus not just for 21 days but may we set a pattern that we will not fear from for the whole year and we will be my body cannot become my enemy everybody say in on this fast there's going to be a release into my body of divine health and long life I need you to shout right there I'm feeling that one down so I thirdly want to encourage you to believe this is for those of you who may not believe in the spirit world but Ephesians 6 is very clear that warring angels would be released that as we fast and pray warring angels that are talked about in Ephesians 6 see the enemy shoots fiery darts and when fire hits a person it leaves a scar the enemy wants people scarred and burned but God's going to release warring angels I believe during this fast to bless and to fight and to win the battles that we've struggled to win the last thing that I ask you to pray for that I felt now of course you make it individual and you you fast and pray for what God tells you but these are some things that I felt in my spirit really felt this one believed God for the abundance of work believe God for the abundance of work the abundance of prosperity I heard this in my spirit believe me for miracle money praise God y'all don't believe in that stuff the balcony can you believe God for the abundance of work that you get so busy that you have to hire own some people that things really pick up that God so begins to prosper and bless you that miracle money starts coming in to finance everything God's called you to do shout miracle money shout abundance of work abundant work I want to close with this after the civil war here in America Abraham Lincoln called for four separate fast to try to heal the nation he called for for fast and he led the fast what I'm doing is nothing Abraham Lincoln led the whole nation in fact four separate fast the year that he finished the fourth fast the next year was 1867 and America closed a real estate now the nation was in shambles because of the civil war poverty was everywhere but after we fasted four times as a nation the next year in 1867 Russia sold the United States Alaska for 7.2 million which is two cents per acre there's no logic whatsoever that can explain why America rebounded so strong and by 1867 the federal government of the United States had a surplus for 28 straight years in a row listen new inventions started coming out of America that caused America to become a major superpower in the world inventions started coming after we fasted the next year invention started coming like the phonograph and years following the electric light the modern factories airplane telephone all these inventions became even the motor industry even though the cars were invented first in Europe somehow we captured that market and it became the number one market came out of America and the end of workers of America we became a major player on the world stage and the most devastated area during the Civil War was the south and in the 1800s a miracle began to happen and the new south began to be birth and Birmingham began to prosper and then Richmond began to prosper Atlanta which was burned to the ground by fire begin to prosper and in the early 1800s an invention of a soda pop called coca-cola was made and they made their home in the city of Atlanta and their headquarters are still there today and my point that I'm trying to get you to understand is god knows how to bless his people when we come after him and seek Him and put him first seek first the kingdom of God seek God first in all of these things abundance of work health blessing family loving God all of these things will be added unto you let's see him first this fast is about God don't you get preoccupied with what you're not eating and this and that take it back to God constantly take it back to God take it back to God eat your soul food get into this book devour God's gonna bless you God's gonna bless you you young couples that this generation they got everything at the fingertips you want anything I just go on my computer boom it's here same day there's some blessings you can't get to you fasting right well in our closing moments together I want to tell you about a fresh new vision that I feel like God is laid upon my heart to share with you about the nation of Haiti as you know you have been so faithful to help us provide five hundred and forty thousand meals now going on two years we've been doing this every month it costs hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to do what we do in Haiti there has come a great need behind me you can see this beautiful warehouse that we're going to build in the next few days in Haiti I need three hundred and sixty five thousand dollars this is a food distribution center a kingdom connection food distribution center partnering with love a child it will get food out all over the nation of Haiti people are starving people are in desperate need of food I'm not exaggerating their bellies are swollen and we can do something about it we're going to build this food distribution center it's three hundred feet long a hundred feet wide thirty thousand square feet it's going to cost three hundred and sixty five thousand dollars that means there's three hundred and sixty five people that I am convinced have watched this program God has touched your heart this ministry has ministered to you and now I'm asking you at the beginning of this new year to sew a first fruit offering there's something about honoring God first in the beginning of the year and providing bread to the hungry those children food to the hungry this warehouse will be filled every month with the food that this ministry supplies and then it will go out in the trucks that you supplied in even to the village and we build a hundred homes over there that you built but far beyond that region on need you to help me will you so $1,000 seed a first fruit offering at the beginning of this year help us we'll give them the spiritual bread of life Jesus but we'll give them physical bread in their stomachs in their bellies when you help the poor Psalms 41 said God releases seven supernatural blessings I'm convinced that if you can't do that if you do your very best and here's what I felt like I needed to say to get that blessing I believe in your life like God wants to release it in 2012 if you can so a dollar a day that's a one-time gift of 365 dollars early in this new year so it now don't put it off I know that's a lot of money and I'm not asking for myself I'm not asking with any selfish agenda I'm asking because we need to build this food distribution center and save the perishing think of how God's favor and blessing will come upon people early in this new year if you'll respond are you one of the 365 that will give a thousand dollars if you sow it God will bless you I can say that on the authority of his word thank you Father speak to people right now don't let them disregard what I'm saying this is the very heart of God folks and if you get involved in it God will bless you in 2012 coming to free chapel on February 24th and 25th one marriage conference license to build with Jensen and Charisse Franklin and special guests Brian and Bobby Houston this will be a marriage conference like no other free chapel you know what Brian and Bobby's miracle son Shh Sydney Australia we can't wait to be with you guys at the marriage seminar that's crew 34 years we've been married and I just like you and had to live that out every single day with three adult kids I believe we've got little tools that can help you to set up the future and a godly refined way the one marriage conference license to build register online at one marriage conference door this program has been brought to you by the friends and partners of Jentezen Franklin ministries for more information on the ministry and resources visit us our hide at Janssen Franklin Dona origin

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 1,446,960

Rating: 4.8031316 out of 5

Keywords: Spiritual Keys to Fasting, jentezen franklin, Pastor Jentezen Franklin, Kingdom Connection, Free Chapel

Id: 5QDJNWecmdk

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2012