The Power Of Fasting Part 2- Stephanie Ike

hey family welcome to the official youtube page of one i'm excited that you're here this message is getting ready to bless your life i want you to stay connected to the incredible things that are happening in this movement so don't forget to subscribe and turn on your notifications and if you want to partner with us and some of the great things that we're doing all over the world you can give as well now it's time to get into this word i love you god bless you let's stay connected hallelujah family i am so excited to be with you all once again for activate and you know the last time i was with you i was teaching on the power of fasting as it relates to what is fasting and so today as you're getting ready to take notes we're going to be talking about the principles to fasting and i'll just even do a quick recap right you know one of the key things that i talked about the last time is that there are mysteries in god and when we understand the mysteries of god it is actually for our glory right it is for your glory it is for your promotion it is for your victory and fastness one of these mysteries in god that when we tap into the understanding of fasting and we begin to move from understanding it changes everything right it's such a beautiful thing because for again i'm not talking about fasting as it relates to just you know the natural body like what we may do for weight loss purposes or you know health purposes because even scientifically there are benefits to fasting in your natural body but i'm talking about fasting as it relates even to your spiritual growth as it relates to tapping into just spiritual possibilities with god because of what fasting means because of what fasting represents and because of what fasting does to you and so you definitely if you have not watched part one of this message i encourage you to watch it but i got you i'm gonna just do a little recap for you right and so i talked about how the life of a believer should be marked by fasting and prayer and that is because jesus who is our ultimate model jesus we see that he fasted not only in the wilderness but even throughout jesus's ministry there are moments where his disciples would bring him food and he would reject the food and he's telling them that you i have food that you do not know of and jesus will say things like you know my food is to do the will of god in those moments it is strongly assumed that jesus was most likely in a fasted state and so we see that he is the model and jesus would say things like when you fast not if you fast because of what he says when you fast and he begins to dialogue about you know how our how our posture ought to be when we come into the place of fasting so fasting has definitely so many powerful benefits and i talked about that in part one but we fast also because jesus is our model right and three key reasons why we don't fast well maybe some people don't fast or when we think about fasting we're like uh that's what this religious people do that just sounds like religion it just sounds like you know things you want to check mark off and that mindset speaks to number one and that's ignorance right and ignorance is not again it's not a curse word sometimes when we're just like oh this is you know you're being ignorant in this moment it's not a curse word it's a moment of self-reflection and self-awareness that oh my gosh like even when when we think about you know who we are as it relates to god there are things that we would always be ignorant of and that is what keeps us always at the feet of jesus because we want to tap into understanding and knowledge because the bible says that my people and this is god speaking my people perish because of lack of knock of knowledge right and so when you're seeing that in your life there's some areas of your life that's not making sense there's some areas of your life that looks like bondage and it's being oppressed that it could be that you are one knowledge one wisdom one insight away from breakthrough one understanding away from breakthrough and so when we feel like fasting is for those people it's really because we're coming from a place of ignorance about the power of fasting and i believe that that is why the lord really put this so heavy on my heart to teach on it and when you think about it we're really you know in the just the last few days of 2021 right and when you're transitioning even from one year to another one season to another you always want to come before the lord god what is it about this new season of my life you know what does 2022 have for me what is it that this new season holds for me who who have you called me to become you see the bible talks about that there are good works that were prepared for you even before time that god has already set the stage of your life before time and so you always want to be in a place of god give me an understanding give me an awareness what is it that i should be doing in this season of my life that i'm not doing right now who must i be in this season of my life that maybe perhaps i'm rejecting what are the things that you have called to me because you see god will not force anything on you in order for you to tap into the place of alignment with god you have to come into partnership with god you know there's a scripture that says can two walk together unless they agree right so in order for you to walk in sync with god you have to be in the place of agreement and to agree means that you are knowledgeable about what the plans and purposes of god are for your life and so as we're looking into this new season god what is it about this new season that what what what is it that it holds for me you see the reality is that you know when it comes to your assignment in life it's not always connected to the things that maybe you you feel drawn to in regards to your desires right there are some things that you may have even rejected the idea of and god is like i've called you to this we see this so many times in the bible we see moments where moses right when the lord is telling moses hey moses i'm going to call you i've called you to deliver my people and moses has all the excuses in the book and he's legit has excuses in the face of the almighty god but you see moses his purpose was hidden in his fear because at the end of the day as a even when you know years prior from that moses had this understanding that wait maybe i could be used to deliver my people when it didn't go according to his plans and when you know he killed an egyptian and the people he was trying to deliver turned on him and told that hey you killed somebody right and now he's on the run you know the betrayal and the hurt and the pain all of it masked his purpose and so even in the face of god moses was like nah it's not me it's not me bruh and so what i'm telling you this is that you need moments because i don't even know who this is for but perhaps there were dreams that you had as a child there were things that god told to you even just as as recent as five years ago but they were but you you suffered betrayals and hurt and pain and what you felt was failure and now you're you're so you're so disappointed and discouraged to the point that it has buried the seed of purpose that god planted in you that even when someone comes before you and they're just like man i see you doing this i see you being this person you're like nah that's not for me it's probably for somebody else i can't even i can't even see myself doing that god pick somebody else right because you have you have covered your your purpose has been buried by hurt and so when we come to the lord and we say god i need to understand what does this new season hold for my life what is it that you're doing what are the things connected to this new season that i'm stepping into you're saying god i'm laying down my wisdom my understanding what i think is my desires what i think is my intellect i'm laying it all down to recognize and tap into what is it you know about me right this is one of the reasons that we that we fast but before i go into that i was telling you about three reasons why we don't fast right before we went into this moment but one ignorance right and sometimes it's ignorance based on you know just the spiritual understanding of fasting um but it's also ignorance about what happens in the body when you fast sometimes you can be on the fast and you know you start having headaches or you know you're you're feeling a little um tired and things like that and your body's just going through a process right most times you might just need to hydrate yourself right and then you're just like nah this fast is not for me the enemy is trying to attack me or my body is rejecting the fast no you have to also educate yourself about what happens in your natural body so that way you recognize that okay this feeling is only temporary and you can keep going right another reason that i talked about this lack of hunger right when we become so stuffed and full of the our appetites connected to the world where we're so fooled by our accomplishments and and the things that we're doing that we call our goals and we're so fooled by you know the steps of progress that we have lost hunger to grow in god we have lost hunger to hear from god we have lost hunger for the presence of god in our lives that we were just so stuffed by the world so lack of hunger and three self-dependence right and self-dependence is another way to say pride right when we're just like look god i've i've been in control my whole life i've done this i've handed this all my life you know sometimes you know a lot of times we we go through pain then we go through hurt and we're just like god where were you right you're just like god you are in there so why do i need to start calling on you to show up right now and then you have this mentality of it's my fight right i i brought myself here i'm going to find a way out of this and the reality is that you see fasting humbles your soul because fasting says maybe i don't understand i may feel like god where were you but maybe in the wisdom of god there's something that he has for me even through this pain even through this situation now i'm not saying that everything that happens in our lives god allows it no there are some things that we experience because of the brokenness of humanity but that the lord will always be there as a comforter the lord will always be there to cover you and to protect you and to bring healing and understanding and he will and there are things that's why i love when the word of god says that the lord causes all things to work together for the good of those who love the lord and are called according to his purpose because even that deepest pain and that deepest hurt and trauma god says you know what i did not give authorization to that but i can use it to work for your good and so when you're feeling like god you know what i've been doing this all my life i've been taking care of myself all my life i don't need you now but the reality is that there are some battles that you are it is you cannot defeat it by yourself you cannot you cannot get the victory by yourself because the victory is in christ and there are some things that it is only in partnership because even though it looks natural it is spiritual right the apostle paul revealed this when he says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty in god they are mighty in god that though we wrestle against the flesh that we are wrestling against principalities and powers what may look like a natural problem actually has a spiritual root and so if you in your natural state you're like god i got this i'm good you know we'll figure this out you don't recognize that this is actually not a natural problem it's a spiritual issue i remember you know a couple years ago um one someone from our our community she was sharing with me she was like hey i had this dream and i just really need i need to talk to you about this i felt like i should share this with you and when i asked i was like what was the dream and she said that she was in a boxing ring and there were these two creatures these two disgusting creatures that in the dream she recognized them to almost be like demonic spirits and they were trying to fight her and they were trying to like put her in a corner and and beat her up and to the point that at first it looked like she was losing the battle and then something came over her and then she started fighting back and she's like i don't understand what that means and while she was telling me this dream i began to just pray in my spirit and i'm like god what does what are those two creatures what do they represent and the lord said i should ask her about her job that there are two people at her job and they want to discredit her and they want to frustrate her to the point that she would quit but that he sent her there that he assigned her to be in that job and i asked her i said how is it at your job you know what's going on at your job and she said it's fine but there are these two women man they are just like there is annoying like the things they're doing and i said to her there are two women you had a dream there are two demons they're trying to put you in the corner and fight you and i began to explain to her i said what you think is a natural issue is actually has a spiritual root that these women are just being used by the enemy so that the that god to that satan will remove you from where god you know that god sent you here you know that god planted you there and so i'm sharing this to say that there are certain fights that even if you feel like knowing the natural i got it you know maybe i could just i need maybe i need a better doctor maybe i need a better desk maybe i need a better lawyer maybe i need a better whatever and all you need to do is really call on your savior and humble your soul to say god i need you jesus i need you to step into this i can do this on my own right and so in that i talked about you know eight truths about fasting and you know why we fast and i can i'll sum it up into a few things one we fast even when we need revelation direction clarity about what what is happening in our lives what's happening in the new season right we fast when we are preparing for a divine assignment right jesus fasted you know the holy spirit led him into the wilderness to fast right before even his ministry before he was tempted and before he began his ministry and so when there's a divine assignment on your life sometimes it could be even for me when i preach for example most times when i'm preaching when i know that this is a divine assignment i fast on the days that i preach right even this very day i i wait until i'm done with the assignment and then i can break with the lord and say god thank you for before even just your strength in this because i cannot do this on my own i need you to step into this moment right we fast when we're preparing for divine assignment maybe god has spoken to you about a call and you can consecrate yourself and set yourself apart and say god i need you to step into this with me it may not look like ministry for you it may look like even if it's a project at your job you have to recognize that in everything you do it is unto the glory of god and god has positioned you in that job god has positioned you in that industry maybe you're preparing for a movie right there's a role you just got maybe you're preparing for a musical performance that you can come before the lord and say god as i'm going out to perform to people as i'm going not to sing this song and it may not even be a worship song but you are a worshiper you see you don't have to say god through your music for people to feel the presence of jesus because when you stepped in there you came in with who you are and you are backed up by heaven and so maybe you're an artist and you have a show coming up and you say you know what this is not just a show where fans are going to show up and they're going to applaud me and we're going to get a check and go home you're going to say no this is a divine assignment that i have a divine assignment lord jesus help me back me up that when i get on the stage move lord god that let people hear the sound and not even know what's going on and all of a sudden they're being convicted in their hearts they could be dancing throwing their hands up in the air shaking like just don't care i don't know but all of a sudden they're feeling the presence of the holy ghost so whatever it is you're writing a book that's a divine assignment maybe before you begin writing the book you set some time apart and say you know what god i just wanna i wanna consecrate i wanna commit this book to you i just wanna and you're doing it through a fast right and so we fast even when we're preparing we fast for breakthrough divine intervention or deliverance right you see you might be go you might have an addiction you might have something that you're dealing with and in that you can come to the lord and fast because fasting says god i'm i'm acknowledging that i'm weak and i need your strength i'm acknowledging that i can't fight off this addiction by myself i need your strength and you commit that period of time to fasting and prayer and you're going to watch god move in such a powerful way these are everything i'm saying i've seen testimonies of this you know it's it's so beautiful we also fast to humble ourselves and repent before the lord and we fast as worship right we fast because we want to restore our gaze and our first love our gaze on jesus and so coming into today's message i know that was a message in itself but what one of the key things you have to understand is what fasting is not right fasting is not manipulation because you fast does not make god obligated to respond to you according to your expectation right because you're saying that god i'm coming on this fast it does not mean god is obligated according to the way you see the the outcome because the reality like i said fasting humbles your soul so fasting already says god i'm putting my wisdom and putting my understanding at your feet i'm gonna surrender it before you and so maybe there's something that maybe for someone you're just like i don't know if i want to fast anymore because the last time i was fasting for a boo and then i saw the person get married you know that's not that's witchcraft you can fast and say god align my steps with the person you have for me right align my steps lord i'm just i'm going to pray that in your timing i'm going to cover my marriage and pray i'm going to cover this person that you have for me and in the timing that you have purpose let nothing be a barrier align our steps with that we will find each other and recognize one another but if you're fasting with someone's picture and mind and name and mind you know that is witchcraft but if you must fast for someone fast for their breakthrough fast for their healing fast for their deliverance maybe you have a family member and you're like god i want you i want them to encounter you you can commit time to fasting and prayer that they will be that they would encounter the lord right this is what this is when how we fast for people right so fasting is not manipulation you know one of the great examples is david there was a time that david had some transgressions and he got a woman named batsheba pregnant you read the story on your own time i don't want to really just go too much into that but when bat sheba got pregnant because of how this child came about there was a message that what came from the prophet nathan to david that this child would die when david heard this message david went into fasting and prayer he started fasting and he was petitioning the lord that god please don't kill this child on the seventh day of david's fast the lord took the child right and it was so crazy because when you read the story all of david's attendance they were like okay when the child was living david was not eating was not drinking he was mourning he was not looking at nobody and they were terrified to tell david that the child had died because they thought he was going to do something crazy when david found out that the child died david went into the house of the lord and worshiped and he ate he broke his fast they said well that's done but this is the beauty of this story right the beauty is not that okay maybe the child that the beauty is that david under david moved in the true posture of fasting he humbled his soul he said god i'm going to petition you for something but i trust your wisdom over mine i trust your decision over my expectation i trust that you lord god that your word that what the outcome will speak of your goodness and so when the child was gone david said lord i'm not gonna come from a place of this you know being discouraged or disappointed i'm gonna acknowledge that you are still good he worshipped the lord he ate he took a shower shaved you know he put some beard oil and he went about his business right so what i'm saying this to you is that sometimes things may not happen according to your expectation but you have to trust the wisdom of god that maybe some things were not released to you in a particular timing because god knows that you will not be fruitful in the manner that you can be if he released it to you then or it would not serve your growth it might serve you know your appetite it might serve your your happiness but it may not serve your growth and so we have to trust the lord fasting is not manipulation right now throughout the bible we see different types of fast right now the general idea of fasting is that we are eliminating our distractions we are eliminating the things that we delight in for a set period of time as your sacrifice in seeking god right so for a set period of time you're saying god i'm eliminating my distractions i'm eliminating my delights to seek you right and so when we look at the scripture we see different types of fasting we see for example um what many people call daniel's fast i i love that people call this the daniels fast because it was daniel fasting and he daniel fasted several times but what we call the daniels fast is when daniel fasted in a manner that he ate no choice food no meat um you know no um he had no wine for 21 days and so what he you know what he consumes is like fruits and vegetables and so many people say oh i'm doing the daniels fast but what i love about this example of fasting is that it's a unique fast right it was daniel's fasting and this was the fast that he chose to do and so you could have the johnny's fast and johnny's fast could be that you know what for this for 10 days i'm not gonna have sweets right maybe sweets are your weakness every single morning you have some candy every you know all throughout the day you're having candy and johnny is like you know what for 10 days in seeking the lord i'm not gonna have sweets right in in this type of customized unique experience of fasting is when people do partial fasting right partial fasting is it could could look like so many things right it could look like there are certain types of food that you're cutting out for a set amount of days it could look like it could look like you know from a set time to another time sometimes you know for me i would do like 6 a.m to 6 p.m and i'm like okay for these hours i'm only gonna have water or tea um you know different things like that so that could be a partial fast but whatever it is it is a sacrifice to you right if you're a vegan you can't say you're doing a daniel's fast you're already on the daniels fast that's not a sacrifice you're already a vegan all right right so it has to be a sacrifice to you so when you think about that you know and maybe for some of you it's social media right maybe you're you're not even food is not a problem right you're eating is not you maybe eat once a day maybe already you do intermittent fasting right and so food might not be the sacrifice but it's social media it's the it's netflix it's binging it's television it's different things and you're saying that i'm going to remove myself from this that i can seek the law that i can go deeper in pressing into the lord now another type of fast we see in the bible is a complete fast right a complete fast is when you only drink water for that set amount of time and so you know there a lot of theologians believe that jesus did a complete fast be and and the reason is because you know at the end of his fast we hear that jesus was hungry right it doesn't say that he was thirsty it says that and he was hungry so there's a belief that jesus did um you know complete fast during his 40-day period um we also see in the scriptures absolute fasting right absolute fasting is when there is no food no water um esther did an absolute fast with all the jews when she said hey fast and pray with me don't eat anything don't drink anything for three days paul did an absolute fast before his conversion into christianity you know he was struck with blindness and the bible tells us that for three days paul did not eat or drink anything moses did an absolute fast but moses is a little different because you see both esther and paul did three days and even science has research that would suggest that the human body can only survive without water for about three days after three days your organs could start shutting down and so if you feel called to do an absolute fast um you know make sure that first of all you are called to do that and you know it should not extend three days we see that moses did an absolute fast for 40 days but his case was a little different because moses was in the presence of the source of life himself moses was in the presence of god during the time when he was on the mountain and the lord was giving him the ten commandments and so we know that moses ate nothing but drank nothing but moses is in the presence of life and so there was a soup super naturally his body was being held up by the lord right we even see about elijah when elijah was on a journey to meet the lord but before that journey of 40 days elijah there was an angel of the lord that came to him and prepared spiritual food for him and say elijah eat because your journey is long and so anything outside of you know you know going past three days of fasting without food without water means that there is such a powerful supernatural encounter that is going to sustain you that is not something you should just do you know randomly because your organs can can start shutting down right um but when we think about fasting right there are three key things that i want you guys to consider right the first thing is that you need to commit and there's a scripture i want to read to you daniel 10 verse 3 it says this this is daniel speaking and he says i ate no pleasant food no meat or wine came into my mouth nor did i anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled he said that you know what i have set my mind that i'm going to do this for three weeks that i'm consecrating i'm setting apart three weeks to seek the lord in this manner and so what i want to tell you is that you have to be committed when you say to the lord that god for these next few days that this is what i'm committing to you you want to be a person of your word that is why even the lord will say things like let your yes be your yes and your know your no anything outside from this is from the evil one because when you come before the lord the lord is banking on your integrity the lord is saying you know what i'm taking your word that you will be faithful to what you have said and so when you're when you know that when you're inspired when the spirit moves you or you're just after the lord and you're like god i'm gonna do this fast commit to your word because here's the thing about commitment commitment is is is the evidence of your faith when you see it through despite the obstacle despite the highs and lows despite the temptations it is the evidence of your faith and i want to read to you hebrews 11 6 says this but without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him those who are committed to seeking him he is a rewarder so your commitment is the evidence of your faith right sometimes you know when you're in worship when you're in prayer and you get inspired you're excited you're like god i'm going to do this fast i want to just spend some time with you and then day four you start thinking about chicken nuggets right and you're like it's not that deep it's not that deep but this is what you don't recognize that you're doing when you're saying ah i really i'm really craving these chicken nuggets man you're putting that as a priority above seeking the lord you're put you're saying that in this moment this chicken nuggets mean more to me than my word that i've given to the lord and seeking him for this set amount of days you see angels they're angels that even honor your word there was something that wasn't there something the lord revealed to me a couple years ago and he showed me how and the the way he taught me this at first it was in a church service and you know sometimes you know i'm breaking myself free from the lateness of my culture you know i'm nigerian and um yeah we have some late tendencies sometimes and i remember the lord was showing me something and he said stephanie you know this was the time i was heading to service and he said that this time that is set even for the service because this is a time that is set for everyone to come and gather before me right he said the time that is set there are angels that are released at that time and those angels have things that they are able to release to the people who are committed even to the time that this is what we're saying lord at this time we are opening up this service onto you it's the same things that happen even in our homes when you're just like god you know what i'm gonna come before you at a time to be in prayer there are there is a release god is taking you for your word he said okay you're going to be there at five all right now i'm i'm there i'm i'm i'm right there five a.m where you at okay not showing up you know that you feel a little tickle on your feet you're wondering who's tickling you and the lord is like get up right but what i'm trying to tell you is that there is such a power in your commitment right when you're just like okay lord i've said i'm gonna do this there are things that are waiting to be released because you see daniel how we don't know what inspired daniel to do 21 days right all we know is that daniel set his heart that for 21 days he had no clue what was happening in the heavenly realms but it is so interesting that during that 21-day period was when he experienced a mighty breakthrough because something was holding up his miracle there were there were principalities that were holding up what god had released but the more daniel stayed committed in that place of faithfulness all of a sudden there was a release of breakthrough that came to him you need to study that it is such a powerful thing that happened as a result of him fulfilling that 21 day those 21 days and that's why i love that word when we go back to daniel 10 3 when he said that till the 3 week three whole weeks were fulfilled right so moving forward and i'm telling you as god was teaching me this i began to realize that there was some fasting i was doing that it was not fasting it was weight loss right because when you fast with understanding everything changes so number two when it comes to key things about fasting is to make room for god right fasting the heart of fasting it is that jesus is your focus jesus is the center of it all it is all to the glory of god and so you are growing in intimacy with the lord so you have to make room for god i remember one time i was on the fast i thought i was in the fast and i was doing that six a.m to six pm fast and i was like okay i'm just gonna drink water but you know what i did from 12 to like 5 p.m i was binge watching a show because i was thinking so much about food i'm like okay six o'clock just needs to get here so that i could just you know break and eat and for four hours watching watching the series and the lord was like what who who's feeding you right because when you're fasting you're feasting on jesus you're saying that lord i'm removing myself from these distractions to feast on you to feast on your word to feast on your truth to make room in my life for you to step in that i'm looking up to you and in that moment rather than making room for the lord i was making room for distractions and so even if your fast might be food even if maybe it's not social media you have to make room for jesus you have to recognize that okay for a certain amount of time i should eliminate other channels of information because i'm making room for the lord in this time right and so be certain to make room for the lord because even when you think about it right when jesus did a 40-day fast he could have fasted anywhere but for some reason in the wisdom of god he was led into an isolated place he was led into the wilderness now i'm not saying when you fast isolate yourself but i'm saying that the principle of that is that he was he he took himself outside of distractions right and so even when you're saying that god i'm consecrating and setting time to seek you remove yourself from certain distractions right so if there's a time period in the day you know just say okay lord even if you have to go to work if you you have to live your your normal life right even jesus would say anoint yourself don't look like you know you over here tripping you know don't look like it's not about a show it's not about for people to know it's not about you wearing rags and just like oh my gosh i'm so tired you know it's not about that right so you can go about your normal day you might go to work you might do all these things but at some point in the day make room make more room for jesus right because even in fasting you're saying okay god i'm intentional that during this time i'm going to press in deeper into you and the third thing i want you to understand is to stay up right what do i mean by that proverbs 24 16 says this it says though a righteous person falls seven times he will get up now even as i talk about commitment you might you might think i'm talking about perfection that you know what at no point should you ever just even look at that candy bar right there are moments i and this is understandable there are moments that you might even in the beginning stages you may give in right you might just you might lose focus and you're just it's just like what happened with peter and jesus at first peter is walking on water because he's looking at jesus he's doing the impossible and then life is coming at you so much and peter is listening to the waves and listening to the waves and at some point he he shifts his focus from jesus to where the noise is and he looks at the noise and he looks at the waves and he begins to drown sometimes that happens even when we're fasting we're looking at jesus and the noise of life is happening and it's so interesting because even science suggests that there's certain things that we eat that are linked to how we feel that sometimes when you're feeling depressed or you're feeling anxious you turn to you know load up on carbs you know when you're feeling lonely you might tend to load up on sugar and so you could be in a fast and then life is coming at you and all kinds of noise is happening and as much as you want to look at jesus you just want to take a sneak peek at where is all this noise coming from and you look away from him and next thing you find yourself breaking your fast but what i want you to understand is that you can stay up jesus did not see peter drowning and leave him there he didn't say wow peter look at you just drown into your death no he went and he got him he helped him he said peter let me help you up and he's like why did you doubt and so even if you go on a fast and you have a moment where you lose sight of jesus and you start looking at the world again and then you start you you break your commitment you don't have to break it fully right you don't have to say you know what because at the end of the day god is looking at your heart so i'll give you an example let's say you said you know a lord on for seven days no sugar for seven days no sugar i'm not gonna i'm not gonna give in to this and day four you just start feeling a little lonely or you start feeling whatever and you don't even recognize that your habits are really triggered by by things going on in your brain and you're just feeling lonely and all of a sudden you can't stop thinking about sugar because now you're looking at old text messages and different things and you know things you should not be looking at and you have you know swedish fish i don't know mentos something i'm thinking of a candy that is universally understandable right you have some twix right tuple around something right it's not about you on the third day to say oh man i messed this up this is all done and i'm just you know filled with shame and guilt no when you come back to the awareness that oh my gosh what did i just do get back into your fast just go even in prayer just say lord have mercy on me in this moment right i gave in but lord i'm still after you my eyes are still on you i'm gonna fulfill and finish out what i had spoken to you that is why the mercies of god are made new every single day because the lord is aware that we would always be in need of his mercy and so stay up if you fall if you trip get back up and finish what you have said that you were gonna do before the lord right now some key things that you need to expect when you're fasting is one you're gonna you're gonna have a renewed closeness with jesus right it's gonna renew your intimacy with the lord and as a result of that you're going to become more sensitive to spiritual things and so when you're going on a fast you know be more intentional about journaling your dreams journaling your visions the the ideas that come to mind that may seem random write them down the the things that you might be having a conversation with someone and they say something in passing but it stands out to you in such a unique and powerful way write it down because your spirit is very sensitive and it's trying to tell you something and some of these things are insights and strategic direction that the lord is actually making known to you and so when you're fasting because you're getting closer to jesus you're getting closer to the word you're getting closer to breakthrough you're getting closer to victory you start to experience it in your life you see your proximity to jesus also begins to show up in your life because you have closer proximity to breakthrough you start seeing things shaken up in your life because you have closer proximity to discernment and understanding your discernment heightens right you start going into places and you're like oh my god something is different you see someone that you and you maybe y'all you're rushing out and the holy spirit is is pulling on you hey go talk to that person go pray for that person ask this person what's going on in their life and whatever the case you begin to be led that way and the beauty of this is that when this is this is your lifestyle when there is a culture of this it never leaves you right that is why fasting can also be worship that is why it's there sometimes you're fasting not because that you need a breakthrough not because of anything you just want to get closer to the lord you just say you know what lord once once a day every month before the the first day of the month i'm going to fast just to i just want to get connected to you i want to set this time aside as part of my sacrifice as part of my worship and you never you stay in this place of sensitivity and clarity and understanding right and so you should have an expectation for that you should have an expectation that being closer to jesus means i'm closer to everything he represents right and so when you're thinking about what does jesus represent then begin to look at the ways of the holy spirit the manifestations of the holy spirit right that the holy spirit can manifest himself in faith in miracles and understanding in knowledge and wisdom that means i'm having a closer proximity to wisdom understanding knowledge about my life about my community and so on and so forth right when you're fasting you're also going to experience brokenness and this is the good brokenness this is not like broken out of negativity or trauma this is the brokenness this is the soberness of your spirit right when you are you you come into this sober state of surrender before the lord and the holy spirit begins to reveal to you areas in your life where you know where he starts to convict you areas in your life where you have to come into a place of repentance right and repentance literally is to turn the other way that you are embracing something that it's not leading you in the manner in the way or nature of christ right because when you're fasting you're also it's a it's a transformation in your life it's to transform you even more to the image of the lord and so if there are things in your life if there's unforgiveness right if there's bitterness right if there are certain things that you do in the dark the lord begins to highlight it and he says look my son my daughter this this area right here you may have not been sensitive to it you have not you may have not had any conviction about it because for a season you seemed you were actually far from me even though you thought you were close to me and the closer you get to me i'm going to reveal to you things that you need to turn away from and it's important for you to recognize this is not about shame or guilt this is about action right the lord is revealing it to you so that you can take action and turn away from it and you turn away from it by his grace right it's by his strength he's strengthening you he's the lord is not revealing things about your life so that you can feel bad about yourself or wonder oh my gosh why didn't i know this before no it's about action right so when you start fasting be you know have the expectation that you're going to come into a deeper sense of brokenness brokenness before the lord when you begin to see the areas of your life that you're like god i didn't recognize that the way i spoke didn't honor people i didn't recognize that i had this unforgiveness in my heart i didn't recognize that you know this thing that i did i never apologized about it you know i didn't recognize that oh like you know what's going on in my family that i've held this against this person right in a fast you might be led to actually call call family members and talk to them and say you know what i apologize you might be led to let things go you might even be led to go into therapy you never know how the lord wants to work it out because you see there's a side of the holy spirit that said that calls him a counselor and the holy spirit will begin to counsel you about the things that you must do in your life because it's about you becoming more like jesus right and so one of the key things that before we pray i want you to understand even as it comes to fasting you know if you're fasting food or you're fasting whatever social media whatever distractions or delights in your life is that you have to understand that fasting is about focusing on jesus fasting is about saying yes to the spirit and it so it's not more about oh my gosh i just have to deny myself in this time it's not depressing right it's not the focus should not be about i'm saying no to my appetites no the focus is in this moment i'm saying yes to my to the spirit of god i'm saying yes to this and so what i want you to do is flip the script right don't think about fasting from a place of denial think about fasting from a place of proximity to jesus think about fasting from the place of in this moment i'm getting closer to my breakthrough i'm getting closer that's why we experience breakthrough when we fast sometimes because we're getting closer to the source of our breakthrough right and so flip the script don't look at it like punishment look at it like oh my gosh this is a time i can set aside right to return to my first love this is a time that i could set aside as worship right to go deeper in in my faith and go deeper with my relationship so it's such a beautiful thing right this this has been even just this teaching and there's so much more to even unpack but i believe that this is where for now the lord will have me stop and i really believe that for many of you listening that this is going to also prompt you to go into a season of fasting and so i want to pray with you you know one of the things that the lord had put on my heart to pray with you concerning is for fresh encounters with him fresh encounters with him right that this is not just gonna be many of you maybe you fasted before and it just felt like this religious activity just felt like you were just you know trying to check off the marker but no fasting it brings you is an activity that brings you into the economy of just divine possibilities spiritual possibilities right it's a spiritual thing right it's not it's not the one about weight loss that we will be doing no no no no right and so i'm going to pray for you that even as you go into a fast for those of you that are like you know what lord i i actually believe that you're calling me too fast even before we get into this new year or maybe you're gonna be fasting at the top of the year whatever the case might be but i'm gonna pray for you that you're gonna have fresh encounters with jesus you know the the way the lord moves it's so beautiful one of my best friends something recently happened in her life that i just loved so much she had been out of town for a while and when she got back home she was getting ready to go to church and just about to you know head on out i should i i may even give um i don't know you might see a picture of this you might not but we'll see how it goes but she gets in her home and she's like you know she's changing she's getting ready and she goes to the mirror she lives by herself and there are two handprints on her mirror it's and it's the le is the right hand of a person that was on her mirror twice right and it's so detailed i mean even if you put your hand on the mirror it's not that detailed and in the middle of the hand was a hole like it was it was so mind-blowing and when she sent me the photo the first thing i recognized i'm like first of all there's a hole in that hand and it's two right hands and in the scripture we see how the lord constantly talks about the right hand the right hand of god right the right how his right hand upholds us and i was just like oh my lord jesus was in your home and even to the point that he left his handprint on your mirror how beautiful is that and there was so many amazing things that ministered to her and she just had this powerful moment of encounter with the lord the lord is still moving this just happened two weeks ago right there i remember there are things there's so many encounters that i could share with you for you to recognize that having desiring an encounter with the lord is real it's not just something that it's like for those people or this happened in biblical times i've had experiences where i've met the lord where he is coming to my home and they're things that don't it feels like what what just happened i've had experiences with angels of the lord and there's so many more experiences i desire to have but it's about these fresh encounters with god sometimes the lord may come to you even in a dream and begin to speak to you and pour out to you you want to desire that god even as i come before you in this fast and i want you to be intentional right maybe you're dealing with an addiction i want you to be intentional lord i need you to help me break this addiction maybe you need breakthrough in your life there is something that the lord has spoken to you about and there and maybe you need financial breakthrough maybe you need a relational breakthrough and you're gonna say god i'm gonna present this before you and i'm gonna fast maybe you're just fasting to grow grow closer to the lord lord i'm coming before you that you would use me lord god as a conduit of your power of your glory and my community in my family whatever it is i want you to write that down and set a time don't just you know rant be random about it no say you know what from from this day to this day this is exactly what i'm doing as my sacrifice to the lord you know solomon this we read the scripture about how the lord came to solomon in a dream and when he met solomon he said solomon ask me anything i will do it for you but what we don't always remember is that prior to this there was a great sacrifice that solomon had given before the lord and in response to that sacrifice it was so pleasing to the lord that he met him in a dream and he said solomon ask me anything and it will be yours and what the encounter from that dream was solomon's reality in when he woke up in his in his in his present life right in his wake in life and so what i'm saying to you is that even as you're in your fast your sacrifice that you're lame before the lord have an expectation for encounters with the lord have an expectation to grow in him have an expectation to to grow in your spiritual walk that even as a result of this you're going to have more spiritual maturity that you're going to grow in discernment have an expectation that lord when i even even when i'm praying for people that i will grow in the prophetic that i will grow in your wisdom have an expectation of the lord have an expectation for him to show up and if he doesn't move the way you thought don't feel discouraged because one thing that you can send into your future is your prayers sometimes what you think that you're like god do this now what is happening in the spirit realm is that it is planted as a seed and it is sent into your future for a harvest that you would experience at a later time and so maybe your desire may not happen in the now but god has marked you to have that harvest in five years so no prayer is ever wasted before the lord that is why we we thank god so much for grandparents because we see the fruit of their prayers in our lives you can send a prayer into your future and so when you're fasting you're praying right fast and in prayer and so things may not happen the way you want it to now but god has seen it as a seed planted for a harvest that has been marked so it's never wasted so you humble your soul you have a desire have an expectation and just let god be god however he wants to move trust him right and to let us pray and even as we pray before we pray you know maybe you're watching this and maybe you stumbled on it or maybe a friend sent it to you and they're like you need this message and all of a sudden you're like god i want to i want to know this god i want to really know him i've dabbled in so many things because i was looking for some kind of experience but i didn't know that i could have this in god i didn't know that i could have this in the one who laid who gave his life for me god is after you god chose you god said yes to you even before this moment that you will say yes to him and so if you are if you're listening to this if you're watching this and you know that the lord has convicted your heart and he's saying look come to me right because he already said yes to you in all your darkness and all the things that you felt like he will turn his back on you know the darkness is not dark to him he will meet you wherever you are but he will pull you to become who you are and so if you're listening and you know that god has his hand on your life but you've been running i want you to take this moment and say yes to jesus and you're going to see a qr code on the screen and i want you to scan that so we can get in touch with you but we're going to pray one i'm going to pray that even for those who are saying that lord i want to fast i want to i want to go into this season of fasting and prayer that you would have fresh encounters with the lord and if you're here and you're just like you know what lord i i've been running from you and i want to start by saying yes to the god of my soul the the the savior of my soul the lover of my life i want to say yes to you then i'm going to pray for you as well and so heavenly father we thank you lord jesus for this moment we thank you lord for what you are doing and we just thank you so much for your people your sons and daughters that are watching this message lord god i thank you as they are saying yes to you i thank you lord god that you chose them before they even knew who you were you said yes to them you called them and you appointed them for a purpose and so lord in their yes to you i pray that they would also have fresh encounters with you they would know who is this jesus who is this lover of my soul who is this person who is the one who gave his life for me that i would experience victory i've been looking in all the wrong places not recognizing that i didn't have to do all of that i didn't have to abuse myself in that manner to find something that will satisfy me i didn't have to sell myself in that manner to find something that would satisfy me i just needed to find him and i'm praying that in your yes to god that you would have such a powerful experience and encounter with him that it would keep you rooted in your faith and so holy spirit we thank you lord you are the great teacher and i thank you lord that for everyone who is saying yes to you the lord you will build them up as they get plugged into community a community of believers that are here to be with them and and help them in this walk with you that lord that you would anchor their lives in the mighty name of jesus and heavenly father i thank you for everyone who is saying that lord i i feel called to this fast the heavenly father i thank you for fresh encounters with you i thank you lord god that they will come to know you in a way that they've never known they would grow in wisdom and knowledge and understanding in a way they've never known i thank you that in proximity with you they will come into the proximity of their breakthrough proximity of love proximity of transformation oh god i thank you lord god that where they were hard hearts that lord god you will give them a heart of flesh i thank you heavenly father that where there was bitterness that you would uprooted oh god and fill it in with your love and with your understanding heavenly father i thank you that your children will move in joy i thank you that they would move in gladness i thank you that they would be free lord god i'm even seeing lord god where people are being set free from the bondage of unforgiveness in the mighty name of jesus i thank you lord god for your grace that would help them and i thank you lord for those who are saying god i've been dealing with this addiction it's a hidden addiction and as they call upon you lord god i thank you that you would meet them at their place of need and i thank you heavenly father for people oh god i'm just seeing that there are so many medical reports that i'm seeing in front of me and heavenly father i thank you because you are the ultimate physician you are the great physician and what the doctors do not have the understanding or have not figured out what science cannot solve lord god you have an answer for it and so as they say that lord help me in this area there is no way for me i don't know how to get out of this i don't know how to come come against this sickness lord god the heavenly father they will meet you and know you as a healer in the mighty name of jesus and i thank you o heavenly father you're even showing me lord god there's someone and and you have been there was there was there was infirmity that happened to you and it cost you to be bound to a wheelchair and the lord is showing me that you don't have to accept that all you need to do and i'm praying for you heavenly father i thank you because as you are revealing this young lady oh god i thank you lord that as she calls upon you because for so long she's held so much bitterness against you that where were you when this happened but lord i thank you that this would be a space that she would invite you into her life oh god and say lord step in and let me experience you as a healer let me experience you as a waymaker because i see that this is a young lady who has such a passion for dance and there has been so much bitterness and resentment because of what took place lord i thank you that she would have a fresh encounter with you and they would be understanding even behind the experience and i thank you heavenly father that she will dance again in the mighty name of jesus and so lord god we thank you have your way o god do what only you can do these are just words if they're not backed up by your spirit and by your power and so lord god we thank you for every testimony that is going to be on the other side of this in jesus mighty name amen amen family

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

Views: 204,610

Keywords: TPH, The Potters House, TPH LA, The Potters House LA, One LA, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tphla, LA Churches, One Church, onela, Sarah Jakes, Pastor Touré, TPH Denver, Bishop Jakes, one.online, one

Id: G99VrjECL50

Length: 59min 31sec (3571 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 23 2021