The Victory of Fasting | John Lindell | James River Church

[Music] foreign this morning we're in a uh time of 21 days of fasting and prayer and so if you've not jumped in maybe you're you're new maybe you've been away on vacation maybe for some reason you thought you know what I'm just gonna sit it out well I'm gonna challenge you to change your mind on that to jump in because we got thousands of people that are fasting and praying and the fact of the matter is there are some things in our life that will only come through fasting and prayer Jesus said as much in Matthew chapter 17 he said talking about this boy that was sick and the sickness was demonically induced it was a stronghold and Jesus said this kind never comes out except by fasting in prayer I want you to notice never some things never will happen in your life without fasting in prayer there are some things only a fast will break some things only a fast will solve some things only through fasting will you know a victory that's why we have regular times of fasting and prayer because we understand there are things all of us encounter in our life that unless God shows up in power we'll not know the victory he'd want us to have fasting brings victory when you and I fast we see God do amazing things fasting is a hunger strike against hell it causes us to see vertical solutions to horizontal situations fasting breaks the Yoke of bondage fasting releases God's Supernatural breakthrough power fasting gives us Divine wisdom to the perplexing problems that we Face fasting humbles our hearts and brings us to that place of dependency upon God fasting recalibrates our purpose some of you have gotten off track you've lost sight of the call of God on your life of the purpose God has for you fasting will re-center your life fasting can bring about supernatural protection and miraculous provision fasting results in favor with people fasting brings Heaven's answer and hell's defeat maybe you're from a background where they don't talk much about fasting Jesus talked about fasting in fact he gives us three duties of every Christian in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 2 when you give we've got a duty to give that's something Jesus prioritized number two praying Jesus said when you pray every Christian ought to pray and number three fasting Jesus said win you fast not if you fast win you fast so fasting is intended to be something that you and I regularly do I hope you don't wait till we do 21 days of fasting in prayer to seek the Lord there are times as you go through your life where you encounter things you encounter problems you encounter situations where you need God's help in a supernaturally extraordinary way fasting is an important thing to do you don't have to have the church fast for you to experience the benefit of fasting in your own life when it comes to a fast the Bible gives us three kinds of fast there's an absolute fast where people don't drink anything and they don't eat anything you see that in the Book of Esther there are limited or normal fast abstaining from food but drinking lots of water then there's partial password people do a liquid fast or they do it Daniel Fast or they fast from sunrise to sunset or they fast a meal a day or they fast two meals a day all kinds of ways we can fast now I know there are some who say well you know I'm going to give up I'm going to give up TV and social media or I'm going to give up this or that I'm not going to go golfing or fishing listen fasting biblically speaking is giving up food maybe you can't give up all food maybe that's not possible for you medically but there would be things that you would normally eat or you would enjoy eating that you would set aside and you would say I'm not eating those because I am seeking the Lord and anytime you desire it it's a reminder to call on him and then you're using special time to seek God and to pray listen if what you give up means something to you it will mean something to God so here's what we're fasting for as a church and I know you've had the brochure but I'm going to kind of talk to you and just give you kind of a sense of what we're praying for we're praying for a spiritual awakening across Missouri in our nation our city Southwest Missouri desperately needs a spiritual awakening the drug problem the domestic violence problem the poverty problem all those things government can address but government cannot solve It Takes A Spiritual Awakening A Spiritual Awakening will will will change that as people come to know Christ we're praying for God to move in such power that people spontaneously are saved throughout throughout Southwest Missouri an outpouring of the holy spirit that God would would just pour His Spirit out we've had we've had thousands of people I would say during this season filled with the spirit but not everybody's been filled with the spirit our prayer is that every single person would be full of overflowing of the Holy with the Holy Spirit healing signs and wonders so we're seeing healings but we're not saying all that we we believe God wants to do or all that he will do so we don't want to say well that's all being done right now no we need to say Lord we just pray that you would show yourself in power in a way we've never seen and that Lord you would set people who have been who have been um laid up with debilitating disease that they would be healed in the name of Jesus and that there would be signs and wonders a miraculous things that would happen that that everyone would know that that it is the hand of the Lord we're in a season where we're seeing record numbers of people coming to Christ and being baptized in water but I want I'm less concerned about a record I thank God for the measurement that that tells us we're seeing more than we've ever seen before but I'm not I'm not interested in just more than we've ever seen before I'm interested in everyone the Lord wants to reach out that everyone who doesn't know Jesus would get to be would come to know him that everyone who's away from him would come back to him that everyone who's not been baptized would be baptized because that is when there will be a blessing of the Lord on the area and on their life praying for people to connect in life groups and grow track that God would put it on people's hearts and we're seeing that I mean we're having record numbers here and I'm guessing we're going to have record numbers there I mean the church is rebounding in a powerful way we're praying for the design for Life Women's Conference and as they're getting ready to go to have it here and have it done at the arena the Great Southern uh Bank Arena formerly JQH and we're believing God's power is going to fill that place in fact something interesting that's been happening there with all of this is um Brandon and Debbie were talking he said you know you ought to go to a few cities and have coffee with some of the leaders in those cities and just kind of hang out and talk about the conference so we did the first one in Kansas City and 800 people showed up they're getting ready to do one down in Dallas uh the end of the month with Earl and Onika and they're saying they think they're going to have over a thousand people show up so it's been a very interesting thing to watch the hand of God on this I'm going be going to Baltimore Maryland so God has given great grace there and then for our schools we're praying for Revival so our our team was out at different campuses on Saturday praying at the campuses praying over the school believing God's going to do something great and we're praying for the for the students for the teachers for the administrators who are praying for Revival we're praying for safety we're praying for there to be uh just a great move of God in the schools amen all those things are things we're praying for and there are many examples of people fasting in scripture and God doing extraordinary things in response to that but this morning I'd like you to look with me at Second Chronicles chapter 20 one of my favorite stories on fasting because in that chapter we have the record of a king whose country was being invaded by an alliance of three countries and their armies and this King rather than trying to see if his army was strong enough rather than trying to see what he could do he did the most important thing he sought God he called the people to a fast and God did something Supernatural see the fact of the matter is sometimes we're too smart for our own good we're too strong to see the Lord's strengths were too wise to seek him for his wisdom or too creative to seek him for his creative power to do something unusual fasting introduces Supernatural Solutions and power into our life that goes beyond anything you or I could ask or imagine the king we're going to look at is a man by the name of Jehoshaphat and the record on Jehoshaphat is a little bit mixed honestly he loves God and he wants to worship God but he's a person who hangs out with the wrong people and his life is less because of it the people you hang out with have a lot to do with what happens in your life He Who Walks With The Wise becomes wise proverbs 13. but a companion of fools suffers harm doesn't say you become a fool it just says You Suffer harm things happen to you that wouldn't have had to happen because you hung out with the wrong crowd chapter 19 Jehoshaphat is confronted by the prophet jehu the son of hanani the Seer went out to meet him why should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord he asked the king because of what you've done the Lord is very angry with you even so there is some good in you some of you are letting the wrong people have a voice in your life and they're pushing you off course they're steering you in the wrong direction they're ungodly wisdom sounds so good you're taking it as true wisdom there are some and you want to worship God but you hang out with the wrong people you hang out with people that you know hate the Lord some of you are dating people who don't want anything to do with the Lord some of you are living with people who don't want anything to do with the Lord some of you are planning on mirroring a non-Christian that's not godly wisdom that's not a Godly decision and you should break it off I realize even as I say that that there are some because people are quick to tell me oh but you know we he wasn't saved when we got married and look at us well for every one of those I can find easily a hundred people who have a story of horrible heartbreak I would simply say if you had a story where God was gracious to you and he redeemed you from what was a foolish decision don't pass it off to people as something that is an acceptable alternative it's not helpful for people I'm not trying to be unkind I'm just saying it's not wise praise God it worked out for you it doesn't for hundreds if not thousands of people we become like the people we hang out with we're influenced by the things they say Jehoshaphat hung out with the wrong crowd and it got him into trouble over and over again this this godly man this good man this Man Who Loved God found himself in unnecessary troubles because he hung out with the wrong people this fast honestly for all of us is an opportunity to do what Jehoshaphat did it's an opportunity for us to Humble ourself it's an opportunity for us to say God are there things in my life that are not pleasing to you are there things in my life then maybe I I thought were okay but now I'm saying you want me to do less of or none of so that I can get more of you Jehoshaphat began to follow God wholeheartedly and when you do that you're going to see miraculous things happen in your life let's let's look at it chapter 20 verse 1. after this the moabites and the ammonites and with them some of the mayonnaise came against Jehoshaphat for battle all of them east of the Jordan River they're crossing the Jordan River they're coming to attack Jerusalem so men came and told Jehoshaphat a great multitude is coming against you from Edom from Beyond the Sea and behold they are in hazazan Tamar that is in Getty which is right down against the Dead Sea then Jehoshaphat was afraid it's a normal response it's an overwhelming situation it's three countries going against one and maybe today you're in an overwhelming situation it could be physical and and the the illness that you're facing is debilitating it could be Financial it could be relational it could be marital it could be any number of things occupational you could be in a job where things are going terrible and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better and maybe you're afraid or at the very least I'm sure can I just encourage you that Now's the Time to fast and to seek God and to say God I want what only you can do because I know you can do things I could never do verse three look at it then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord and he proclaimed to fast throughout all Judah and Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the lord they're seeking they're seeking they're seeking they're not just going out without food that's dieting they're going without food and they're calling on God they're setting their heart on God they're seeking God the word is is an idea that carries the idea of a wholehearted devotion a leaning into God getting a hold of God A desperate looking to God it's a word of consequence in the Bible when you see it powerful things are going to happen when people do it Jesus said seek and you'll find when when your whole heart is engaged in asking the Lord to do what only he can do he's going to show up in your midst Jeremiah 29 and verse 13 you'll seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart there it is in the Bible when that word is used it results in success it results in peace it results in life it results in a revelation of God of who he is of what only he can do and his power so they sought the Lord they're they're going deep they're confronting those areas of their life where they had not been wholehearted listen this is I think one of the challenges of fasting is not to get distracted I I realize it's easy to to get you know distracted by this or that you can't do this can't do that this is a time to really set your heart on seeking the Lord and if you're struggling to do it then you really know you need to do it yeah if you're struggling to do it let me just suggest this to you that the enemy is scared to death that you will do it the last thing he wants is you seeking God the last thing he wants is you wholeheartedly leaning into God he's afraid of what will happen he knows what it does so here's Jehoshaphat he's praying and has this beautiful prayer in verse six he recollects who God is and he talks about how he rules over the kingdoms of men how powerful he is and verse 7 he talks about what God has done and a bit of the history of the land and verses eight and nine he recounts scripture and scriptural Promises of what God has promised to do and then in verses 10 through 11 he begins to make his request or 10 through 12. in verse 12 we read this Oh Our God will you not execute judgment on them for we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you that is a great prayer maybe you need wisdom today it's a wonderful thing to say God I really do not know what to do and honestly my resource and my intelligence and my wisdom and my connections will never resolve this problem I need you to do something for me because in this whole situation I'm Weak and Powerless my eyes are on you listen you can you can pray and you can ask God to help you in times like that and the good news is God will I think of when we're in Kansas City and and through a turn of events we had a situation where we needed to come up with tens of thousands of dollars and we had 10 days to do it but three days it expired because the mail was slow and getting me the notice not that it would have mattered I couldn't have come up with it in 10 days and I can remember when I got that that letter I can remember saying the only answer to this is we're gonna have to fast and pray and I remember fasting and I remember laying that letter on the floor in the bedroom I was using as an office and laying on my face before God and saying God you know and I know there's no way I can do this Lord you also know that I've been walking Faithfully with you and I've been in a covenant relationship with you I've given you a tenth of all I've ever made and offerings on top I've been faithful and I know that you'll be faithful to me but God I've got to have your help because there's nothing that I can do to solve this foreign without me trying to engineer things without me doing anything that I could do in six and a half days the money was provided I'm just telling you God can God is a god of Miracles any Delights to show himself powerful in your life and when you fast he is going to show up in your life in ways you can't begin to imagine here's the problem too many times we talk ourselves out of it I don't know whether I don't God might do it for him or her but he wouldn't do it for me or I don't know I I mean I just don't I don't even see how God could do it like because we couldn't see how he could do it that he can't do it really we need to just rest in the fact that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are in our thoughts and he can do things you and I haven't even begun to imagine in ways we never would have thought would happen but when you and I fast we're putting ourselves in a situation for Supernatural help and Supernatural power and things to happen that wouldn't happen any other way verse 13 meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord you're going to see Lord or God 30 times in this chapter this is a this is a chapter about God which tells us when you and I are fasting it's about God it's about what he can do what he only can what only he can do it's about you and I having relationship with him and seeking him it's about you and I hearing from him it's about you and I believing him it's about but it's always comes back to God when you and I are fasting it's about God they stood before the Lord with their little ones their wives and their children here's what they're doing they've told God what they need now they're waiting for an answer I hope you do that I hope you wait and say God I'm just going to be in your presence if nothing else just sitting in his presence can strengthen you is sitting in his presence can calm your heart sitting in his presence can change how you had the anxiety in your mind and can fill your heart with peace sitting in his presence can make a massive difference in your life and sitting in your presence in these presence often brings an answer as we wait on him verse 14. and the spirit of the Lord came upon jehaziel the son of Zechariah and he said listen all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Josh that thus says the Lord to you do not be afraid he's going to say that a couple times why is he saying it because they're afraid it's interesting 365 times you'll have that phrase in the Bible do not be afraid or fear not if you're a King James person there's one fear not for every single day of your life in other words God's got enough Grace and power that you and I shouldn't have to fear any single day any single circumstance anything that that comes our way [Applause] goes on and says this in verse 15 thus says the Lord to you do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde for the battle is not yours but God's it's going to say that again in verse 17. here's what fasting does what fasting does is it takes my problem and makes it his problem isn't that awesome don't you love when you can give your problem to somebody else and say solve it isn't that a great feeling don't have to worry about it not my problem fasting does that fasting says God I'm giving you my problem because I can't solve it and God says great I will fight the battle for you when you and I fast our battle becomes his battle our problem becomes his problem verse 16. tomorrow go down against them behold in other words can you believe this they will come up by the incentives is you will find them at the end of the valley east of the Wilderness of Cheryl you will not need to fight in this battle this is a very interesting thing he doesn't tell them why they're not going to need to fight he's just telling him you're not gonna have to fight you see a lot of times what keeps people from walking in the peace of God and the confidence of God is they don't understand the word of God spoke into their heart or God says I've got this you're like for great but what does that mean I mean I got it I mean what does that mean I've got it well but what about I've got it you say too many times we have the idea that unless we have all the details of the plan and we know how it's going to work we can't we don't have enough information to trust God the only information you and I need to put our faith in God is his promise that's all we need his presence that's all we need if you sense the presence of God you're hearing the word of God really in a very real sense if you sense God is with you then you know God's going to take care of it here they are there he's saying you don't need to worry about this what's going to happen is there's going to be an ambush but there's nothing said in This Promise about an ambush there's nothing said about how God's going to solve it it doesn't make sense there are three armies now they are 10 miles away and God is saying I'll fight the battle you don't need to worry about it look at it in verse 17. it's so amazing you will not need to fight this battle stand firm Hold Your Position see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf o Judah in Jerusalem do not be afraid and do not be dismayed tomorrow go out against them and the Lord will be with you very interesting he's saying you're not going to have to fight it just stand firm Hold Your Position Don't Be Afraid don't get discouraged don't be biting your fingernails tomorrow go out and the Lord will be with you why do they have to go out if he's going to fight the battle because he wants them to see what he's going to do and so no word of anything when God speaks it could be through his word it could be through a friend it could be through a still Small Voice he's not going to give you all the details but he is going to tell you I've got this he is going to tell you you can trust me he is going to tell you I'll fight this battle for you he will tell you to stand firm in your faith I would say this sometimes you don't hear what you'd like to hear even in that I think back on the letter I didn't hear one thing from the Lord you say well didn't that bother you for some reason it didn't I mean all I can say is I knew what I knew I knew I'd been faithful to God and I knew I was fasting and I knew I was praying and I knew he was reading the letter even as I was laying on my face and when I got up I just knew without a word I just knew listen what we're doing what we're talking about here is something so incredibly powerful at some point you got to decide whose dog you're hunting with and grew up on a farm so there's another one of them you know at some point you got to decide are you in or yeah either it works or it doesn't either he's God or he's not either prayer is powerful or it isn't at some point you got to decide if you're in you got to make that decision you're going to say listen I'm in the words true I believe it I can remember doing that I can remember finishing that day fasting and then I can remember not passing anymore and not worrying about it just simply saying this should be really interesting to see how this works so I would love for everybody to get a word from the Lord but I'm reminded even as I'm speaking to you sometimes you don't get a word from the Lord but that doesn't mean he's not God and he's not going to help you because you're asking him to help you you're inviting him into the situation and you can count on this he is faithful I think one of the tests that you really trust him is when you can walk out of that time and say God I just thank you God I just worship you I just thank you that you're a God who hears me and have that confidence to worship him I think really our ability to worship is the true way we understand where our heart's at in moments like this well verse 18. then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord so they're getting the word and what do they do they worship I mean nothing's changed in their situation see sometimes we have the idea that that oh boy when God comes through I'm really going to worship him well how about you worship him before how about you how about you shout the shot of Praise before the walls of Jericho come down how about you worship him before the the battle is won they were worshiping the Lord and the Levites of the coethites and the chorites which are Clans and and the levitical tribes stood up to praise the Lord the god of Israel with a very loud voice they did it just like we do it at James River they had a great time praising God that a huge problem they prayed and the problem wasn't gone but they were going to praise God they were going to believe God look at it in verse 20. and they Rose early in the morning and they went out into the Wilderness of Toccoa and when they went out Jehoshaphat stood and said hear me Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem believe in the Lord your God and you will be established believe believe His prophets and you will succeed I put this in here because really this whole phrase is not in the Hebrew it really reads like this believe in the Lord your God believe and Believe In His prophets and you'll succeed believe that's all God wants from you is your fasting you're praying so believe him and when you've done everything you can do to believe him then believe some more and when you've done all you can do to believe him the second time then believe him again and say I believe God I believe he's faithful I believe he's going to go before me I believe he's going to help me I think as a word for somebody today to believe God I want you to notice something else here believe is Prophets you know one of the dangers I think in our Western Christianity in is it's become very individualized so it's all about us I can hear from God I don't need many to hear from God for me I can hear from myself thank you if we go down that road it becomes very much about us and nobody has all the pieces to the puzzle in their box we need one another and there are people who have a prophetic gift and I'm not talking about the old kind of Old Testament kind of prophetic gift we're going to talk about gift of Prophecy as we go through the fall here we're going to talk about the different spiritual gifts in the New Covenant prophecy isn't condescending and condemning and angry it's encouraging it's strengthening it's comforting First Corinthians 14. but we need to hear from others who have a word from the Lord for us and when we hear that word from the Lord in many senses it's designed to give us the peace that comes from hearing from God we air if we say well I don't I don't put any stock in profits and if somebody gives me a prophetic word maybe maybe not and I'm not I'm not saying we shouldn't test it I'm just saying we shouldn't alienate ourselves from it he says this that's a strong statement believe in his believe His prophets and you'll succeed so it's not just believe the word of God it's believed the prophets who are who God sends to us to encourage us and some of you may absolutely get a prophetic word from somebody this week and when when you do and it's relative to this then believe His prophets and you'll succeed so here they are their hearts filled with faith verse 21. and when he had taken counsel with the people he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire as they went before the Army I mean they're not they're not wearing their flak jackets they're not carrying their their guns they're not you know got the grenades they don't they don't have anything they just are dressed to Worship the Lord and they're going to go before the army it's an amazing step of faith they're putting people that are just Dressed To Worship in front of the army that's the level of confidence they have in the Lord's ability to deliver let the Holy Spirit work in you a faith to believe God if that's all that happens out of this fast is you grow in your ability to believe the Lord relative to the things he wants to do in your life and Beyond this this fast you'll leave this fast totally different and as they went before the Army and gave thanks to the Lord for a steadfast love endures forever so they're singing Praise listen as they're singing Praise watch what's happening the Lord said an ambush against the men of Ammon Moab and mount seir who had come against Judah so that they were routed I we don't know what this means but we assume there are angels dispatched to fight would you love to have seen that in the Supernatural to watch that battle going down they're just worshiping the Lord and while they're worshiping the Lord God is fighting the battle for him listen if if you can understand this when we when we gather to worship and I I really appreciate because I think as a church we've gotten we've gotten way better at getting in here at the start of service and I'm not here to make anybody feel bad I realize you got kids you got life happens so if if you're late you're late but at the same time when we come in here the opening songs are not just warm up till we get to the message the opening songs we're doing battle we're setting the table while we're worshiping the Lord's fighting while we're worshiping the Lord's badly while we're worshiping angels are at work our worship and our praise has everything to do with releasing God's power in this place what's what's happening is there's we're setting the table in our worship for the Lord to fight the enemy to do something Supernatural so here they are they're they're they're ambushes that are set and then in verse 24 it says that when Judah came to the Watchtower of the Wilderness they looked toward the horde and behold there were dead bodies lying on the ground none had escaped and then we read on in verse 25 and when Josh Pat and his people came to take their spoil they found among them in great numbers Goods Clothing precious things which they took for themselves until they could carry no more they were three days in taking the spoil it was so much time and on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of berica for there they blessed the Lord therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Barakat to this day so the valley of battle because they fasted and prayed became the valley of blessing and the blessing was way greater than the battle because the battle lasted just half a day but the Victory and the blessing went on for three days and they're worshiping the Lord and they returned every man to Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head returning to Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them Rejoice over their enemies and they came to Jerusalem with Harps and liars and trumpets to the house of the Lord Lord and the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel so the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for God gave him rest all around right when you and I fast and pray God fights the battle and God wins the battle and you and I didn't give him praise and glory because he's worthy of Praise Lord we magnify you [Music] thank you so much for joining James River Church on our YouTube channel our prayer is that you were encouraged and your faith was strengthened today and we want to let you know that we'd love for you to be a part of our online family as well we'd love if you subscribe to our YouTube channel and press the bell for notifications you'll be so glad you did because we're always putting out great sermons new worship content and it helps you know when we go live for our weekly Services we hope you have an amazing day and thank you again for watching God bless

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Id: 0hPM5kZLrGA

Length: 40min 17sec (2417 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 15 2022