Understanding the New Testament Call to Fasting (2011) | Mike Bickle

father we come to you in the name of jesus and we ask you for grace and impartation we ask you for living understanding we ask you for inspiration in our heart even now that you would glorify your son even in these next few moments in the name of jesus amen well we're starting a fast on thursday as a spiritual family and again it's obviously voluntary for anybody to respond at any level that they want but i'm using this opportunity to uh teach on fasting from the new testament point of view so we're going to look at a few biblical principles just to bolster our understanding on this subject many of you have a lot of understanding and experience on this subject and some of you none whatsoever and so i'm going to aim at both different groups today paragraph a on the handout here the holy spirit's preparing the church right now across the nations for the greatest revival and the greatest shaking ever seen in the history of the church there's a revival that's going to go actually beyond what happened in the book of acts but there's a shaking that's emerging that will be more dramatic and severe than any time of history they are both rising up together at the same time on the world stage in our nation right now as we're preparing this fast of course we're praying first for the greater move of the holy spirit in our nation and our city and our nation but also we're aware of the growing pressures in society the shaking is increasing the moral chaos that's in our nation the family unit is under full attack the economics are shaking individually and corporately across this nation and the nation of the of the world the rise of islam in america and all that goes with that and there's also an increase of compromise in the church and there's more and more of the good guys i mean the guys that have been faithful for years beginning to draw back on essential doctrines and truths of the faith but at the same time the lord is raising up his church calling more and more people to wholeheartedness and abandonment to the lord now in the midst of this preparation and this even involvement with the holy spirit in the revival that he's pouring out but preparing to pour out in a greater way is this subject of fasting with fasting we respond to the grace of god in a more dramatic way in a more uh a wholehearted way now fasting positions us to receive more from the holy spirit and fasting positions us to cooperate more in changing circumstances in history that's what's going on with fasting we receive more our spirit becomes tenderized but not only that we cooperate with the lord as agents of change and we were used more by the lord to bring change to our city and our nation etc i have here written that uh there's a we we have a book called the rewards of fasting that's on our website and you can get it for free electronically if you're brand new to the subject it's a short book 100 pages or so and give a quick overview of what's going on in what the scripture says about fasting so i just want to give you that as an fyi you can get a hard copy in the bookstore if you want but you can get a free copy electronically because we want everybody to have a a basic understanding of what fasting's about now we're looking at a passage that's not on the notes here from mark chapter 4 verse 25 and it's this tremendous statement that jesus made it's one of the foundational kingdom principles and here's what he says very simply for whoever has to him more will be given very simple statement but a very uh dynamic statement with great significance and implications let me say it again he makes a statement a promise but he's really also giving us a biblical principle of how the kingdom operates whoever has he's talking about anybody in the kingdom to whatever measure you have know this the lord desires to give you more if you respond and praying and fasting when we do that there is more activity of the holy spirit that happens in our life and in our circumstances in our ministry i'll say that again when people pray and fast there is an increase of holy spirit activity that's a fact it's a fact of history it's a fact that is verified in the scripture and many of us know that through personal experience now how it all works we don't all know all the details but when god's people praying fast the holy spirit does more well let's look at mark 4 25 again jesus says for whoever has doesn't matter who you are whatever measure you have know this i have plans to give you more if you cooperate and if you respond and if you're hungry for more if you're content with what you have that will be the ceiling but if you are cooperating and responding to me i will give you more that is the plan but he requires responsiveness he requires hunger now when the lord gives us at whatever measure he gives us his desire is that what we receive stirs our desire for more so he gives us a little bit and it's to awaken a bigger vision a bigger desire for more but we have to go step by step with him on the journey the issue is not us convincing god oh god give us more it's the opposite jesus is wanting to convince us i have more to give you i want to give you more i want to convince you but i will give it to you on my terms that's the key it's on god's terms now the lord's terms are i'll give you a few of his terms is that usually when the lord gives to us he gives to us i mean when he gives increase to us it's in baby steps it's in little small measures of increase in growth now we like the big and the dramatic things we don't like growing a little bit in understanding a little bit more in love a little bit more in prayer we want massive dramatic giant step increases and he does give those but the rule of the kingdom is he gives baby steps and that offends many people they don't like that they go when you're ready for the big stuff i'm ready and the lord says no i will give you more but on my terms in my terms i give little increments little measures of increase and when we're doing the praying in the fasting and other things often we don't feel much while we're doing it and that's another thing that bothers us we would rather feel a lot while we're doing it and then get big increase the lord says you'll typically you won't feel that much and the increase will be small but i will give you increase after increase after increase and it will be a journey that will go on your entire spiritual life but you have to stay faithful and we have to be responsive we have to hunger we can't say i'm gonna wait for the big stuff and when you give me the big stuff i'm in the game because then you'll miss the big stuff and the little stuff we have to do it on his terms because when we stop reaching for more in that little by little way the kingdom operates the lord stops giving to us now everybody wants more but they want more often on their terms they want big steps they want to feel a lot and they don't want to do that much in their responsiveness and the lord's just opposite i'll give you little things you won't feel that much and you've got to respond over and over and over again to me and that's a little bit of what we're doing here in fasting and praying now it's important that when we measure the increase of what god gives us that we measure it in years or we measure it by the years not by weeks or months and what i mean by that is some people meaning myself in my early years in the lord i would pray and fast or i would pray for the sick or i would read my bible or whatever kind of outreach and i would i wouldn't see much i wouldn't feel much and i wouldn't see much increase you know i'd go on a maybe even a long term fast you know some days or or or longer and i would look back and measured by the weeks like i didn't change that much even by the months you know a year later i didn't change that much but i found out that when i measure my spiritual growth by decades in 10-year increments i can see the increase clearly when you have a little distance looking back at it now i wish i would have understood that in my younger days because in my younger days i measured in weep by weeks and months and i was often thinking well i guess it's not working for me i must be doing something wrong and the lord's answer is yeah you're measuring in the wrong way that's the only thing you're doing wrong because everything else you're doing right i'm giving you little by little you're not feeling very much but you're reaching and you're responsive and that's all i ask for that's all i ask and measure in in decades not in weeks and months and i look back 40 years later of walking with the lord and i see tremendous growth but when the growth was happening in that week or month or even that year time frame i couldn't see it and so i want to encourage you as we approach regular fasting in a one day a week type thing uh some more some less or when we have a corporate time of fasting we don't want to get too into measuring in the immediate time frame but rather we look back over the years and say lord you have done a great work in our midst let's go to paragraph b back to the notes fasting is a normal part of the christian life in matthew 6 verse 17 and 18 jesus said when you fast your father who is in secret he will reward you openly now jesus didn't say if you fast he says when you fast it is he's implying by that statement it is a regular part of a disciple's life he says do it in secret now we're on a corporate fast together so don't worry that if others know you're fasting they're not that impressed they're fasting too nobody's impressed it doesn't work that way but it's important one of the a a constant theme in the new testament is this thing in secret meaning don't draw attention to yourself that's the point draw attention be preoccupied with connecting with god not with impressing people having people look at you he says in your fasting don't don't try to create a reputation of your dedication you know in many ways in the kingdom we can draw attention to ourself and over and over in the new testament don't do that and this is another example but the lord says he will reward us openly now he rewards us openly there's three distinct ways that he rewards us openly some of the rewards are external in our circumstances that there's a increase of the favor and the blessing of god in circumstances in our ministries and finances in favor and relationship in various ways another dimension of the rewarded openly is internal our heart becomes tenderized we grow in love we grow in confidence with god we have a new zeal for righteousness we have a new understanding of the word we have a new agreement with god's heart that's powerful i mean that's the great miracle that's the miracle of miracles when it happens on the inside of us but the third dimension of being rewarded openly which is often overlooked is it it's eternal as well that because of fasting it tenderizes our spirit and we end up if fasting is a regular part of our life we end up making different decisions better decisions in terms of righteousness because we're more sensitive we're more in tune we're more in agreement and that actually has eternal implications and rewards in eternity will actually come from the decisions we make that are influenced by a fasted lifestyle in this age so when jesus says the father will reward you openly don't only think this age because this promise goes beyond this age well some people think that fasting is radical christianity i've had different leaders uh different ones i've talked to and they think you know one particular conversation i'm remembering the uh the guy who said you guys are so radical i said we are why because i mean you fast once a week and i go no no i says that's not so radical that's just normal christianity serving tithing blessing your enemies humbling yourself fasting praying serving those are just works those are normal christianity 101 things those are not radical christianity he says well where i came from no one ever talked about those things and i said well that's another subject for another day maybe it wasn't christianity maybe somebody goes whoa oh anyway that's we'll talk about that later but but fasting is normal christianity the i mean there is it's it's bible it's new testament it's part of our everyday life so if that's new to you you think oh no i'm not good at that well good look at paragraph d this is just for you i'm not good at it just so you know nobody's good at it naturally it takes grace and i encourage you to ask god for grace for fasting i asked the lord for grace for one day fast i don't look at my history i've done a bit of fasting over the last 40 years and i don't look at the my history and say wow i i've done certain amounts so you know this one day fast is nothing i mean every time on tuesday is a is a staff fast day i go lord i need on monday i go i need help tomorrow and on tuesday i ask him several times throughout the day and i think that some people don't think to ask for help and i would urge you to make that a a regular part of your dialogue with the lord well we're going on an extended fast we don't do this very often but it's a real privilege to have a community of believers that feel grace to go on this together because there's a kind of an added encouragement with a whole bunch of weak and broken people pressing in together i mean it's i i appreciate being a part of a community of believers that actually says yes to this because it certainly helps me as an individual when you say yes i know a lot of believers say i've talked to them they go i've never been on a corporate fast with a hundred people i've you know i've never ever heard of such a thing and i that's not a put down to them my point is that if you're a part of a community whether here or another place that actually sees the value of us that is a blessing that is something that you say thank you lord that because we can do more together than we can do alone and that principle of course is true on many levels well grace to fast what is it what does that mean grace to fast one god there's a lot of there's several uh wrong ideas some people think grace the fast means they'll never be hungry they'll never be weak they'll never feel oppressed you know i talk to the guy and he goes i don't have grace to fast i go how do you know why how do you say that well i'm hungry i go i'm always hungry when i fast oh well i'm weak too i go me too well i feel so oppressed well of course your body's detoxing the devil's attacking you your brain's dizzy yeah you feel a little bit weird yeah that's how it works well i thought grace for fasting meant you know i just soared right through it no hunger full strength alertness feeling god face to face glory to god and then uh you know when it's all over then i become clark kent again when the fast is over no there's no superman status in fasting i find that when i fast typically during the fast itself i feel more oppressed i feel less again your body's detoxing your brain's tired but i find that typically this is not always true that the tenderness comes after the fast not during the fast now i wish somebody would have told me that in my early days because i thought i was fully backsliding you know here i am on day three four five seven on a fast i think something went wrong and the truth is that's how it really is so what does grace to fast mean it means that your resolve to continue is greater than your desire to quit that's when you have grace for fasting i always want to quit when i fast i've never been on a fast ever where i did not want to quit but i have a resolve to continue that's greater than the desire to quit that's grace for fasting it's a it's a sustaining of your desire to keep going it's not about not having hunger not about not having weakness and not about ever feeling the the spiritual dullness in the midst of it those are very normal things that go along with fasting paragraph e some fast with the wrong spirit they're trying to earn god's favor they're trying to get attention from other people to show how dedicated they are and that that that will mess you up you don't want to go in that direction we don't fast to receive god's favor we fast because we already have it freely because of jesus paragraph f throughout history uh most if not all of the of the uh prominent revivalists the people that god used to uh bring revival through the holy spirit would bring revival through their labors to a whole geographic area they were almost all of them i don't know of an exception they fasted regularly and they taught on fasting as a normal practice in the kingdom guys like john wesley and whitfield and jonathan edwards and david brainard and charles finney and john g lake people like this marie wood with etter amy simple mcpherson some of these mighty women that were used in miracles and revivals they were committed to fasting and they taught on fasting matter of fact john wesley in the 1700s the founder of the methodist church he fasted two days a week and he insisted on all of his young preachers following that example with them he insisted on it now we don't insist on anybody fasting one day a week let alone two but john wesley insisted on it he said you can't be on my team so to speak and he had thousands of young preachers circuit writers they would ride their horses town to town and preach the gospel he unashamedly proclaimed it he saw the value of it roman number two some practical details for the fast that's coming up this 21 day fast paragraph a well begins this thursday at one minute after midnight on thursday night in other words early thursday morning and it goes for three weeks till wednesday 6 pm we're inviting everybody to join not just ihop staff but many people that feel a connection to this spiritual family they're a part of other spiritual families and other ministries we invite you to join with us many through the web stream i've already received quite a few uh responses of people from a different nation saying hey we're in this with you how are we going to fast well the way that the lord leads you there's many different ways to fast the most intensive way to fast is a water fast where you only drink water and coffee and so that's kind of the new modern versions i think they put in parentheses and coffee no i'm kidding but but that's not the only way to fast i think here's what you want to do if you want to participate in this ask the lord what is the most intense way you can do it according to your strength your life circumstances and other issues and and respond at the level that he gives you strength to respond and many will do this on water throughout this fast and others we'll do juices and others will do liquids and others will do daniel fast in all different kinds of ways and and again our we ask people not to ask one another not to compare yourself not to tell people just say you know what i don't want to go there kind of a house rule is don't ask people about it and if they do blame it on me say mike doesn't want us to tell is kind of dumb rule but i'll just honor it and so we just want all the the comparing and the judging and the who did it who should have done it and who exaggerated it we want all that out the window we don't want all that confusing what's going on here paragraph b we're going to have two corporate times on friday and saturday night where the whole community gathers and not everybody of course uh in this building and we're gonna uh say what the leaders ship believes the lord is speaking to us throughout the week we're going to have several different leadership meetings at different levels throughout the week and and i'm asking you know what's the lord speaking dreams visions current ones and past ones and on friday and saturday night we'll share some of them as well as we will uh i will share some of the prophetic history from the early 80s and some things that god said years ago about what's happening in these days or what's beginning to happening and then on sunday we'll share kind of the the uh the best of what was shared on friday and saturday night so we'll some of you can't make it on friday and saturday which is understandable and so you'll come on sunday and i'll give you what i consider as others we'll be sharing as well some of the uh main things that we believe the lord highlighted now we have a a pro we have a conference we have a prayer and prophetic conference that's happening right in the middle of this fast that happens on a friday and saturday and you know we planted a year ago and so we got to have it so that friday and saturday night we won't have that those normal rallying times for our whole community but that sunday morning after the conference we'll do we'll do that sharing time there on sunday morning and we'll talk about more about that next week k.c what what are we doing well many of our leaders not all of them but most of them we have 85 different departments at ihop and most the department leadership team they have agreed they said we want to be for 21 days in the prayer room six hours minimum meaning it's more than we normally are because if you're gonna go through the rigors of fasting you want to put that bull's-eye on your heart meaning i say that kind of and uh it's just a word picture and you're saying holy spirit touch me i want my heart to be touched above and beyond what the normal way is and if you're gonna go through the rigors of fasting spend more time talking to jesus with your bible open and so be in the prayer room more so for these 21 days our leadership team most of our department heads and division heads are going to be uh in the prayer room for six hours minimum and i would encourage even more i mean if you're again if you're gonna do the fasting you might as well get the benefit because the fast without praying is really dieting dieting's good but there's better ways to diet than that so let's go all the way and the reason i'm saying this about the leadership team just to kind of uh let you know so that if your leader is not available and a little bit tired a little bit like you know uh cutting some things out we're asking unders be have an understanding as to what they're doing and we're asking all of our departments to to do less everybody do less except for uh the shuttles we gotta keep the shuttles going and we got to keep cec going so every and the accounting department and the maintenance department and well and there's a few more things too we got to keep the plumbing who wants to keep the plumbing going okay maintenance team accounting you keep going too so there's others as well but most of the departments are going to draw back and we're going to be there in the in the room together top of page two roman numeral three the purposes of in paragraph a i give you eight different purposes you can read that on your own it's from isaiah 58 which is the most concise and comprehensive comprehensive statement in the bible on the subject of why we fast of what the goals of fasting so those eight are are the classics and you can read those on your own paragraph b a review from the last session that we did on this daniel set his heart he set his face he set his heart that's the same thing to seek the lord with fasting prayer i want to encourage you to be intentional about this to not be casual if you're casual like well i'll see how it goes you know day one two three and if it goes good i'll do day four and i'll kind of play it by ear that's not a good way to approach a fast regardless at what level of intensity you fast try to get a sense of it before you start and stick with it if you come up short and you uh don't hold to that which you set your heart on well then sign back up and if you and if you blow it then just sign back up and jump right back into the thing that you committed to don't worry about it don't be condemned don't make a big deal out of it don't confess it to everyone just jump right back in and continue the fast in the way that you set your heart originally to do it now the reason i say you don't want to be casual because if you're casual you know about it like i don't know see how it goes well day one you know you'll get hungry i think i better eat i'm hungry day two you'll get weak well i think a better week i don't feel so good day three people will call you and say hey let's get together and go out and do this and that well you know i'm hungry i'm tired and people want me so i guess i'm not fasting this time no you don't want to approach it that way i i assure you you will get more people calling and more offers for things because the enemy wants to make sure that you don't do this and again everybody will do it at a different level we give grace to that but set your heart is the point paragraph c daniel said that when he would fast and pray he would confess his sin now this is a premier time i mean an extended fast to settle some issues that the you and the lord know they need to be settled many believers have one or two issues they've already agreed lord i agree i'm going to obey on that issue and i'm going to settle it but it's been months that you've been agreeing that one day you're going to settle it a fast time is is a time to burn the bridge to settle issues and there's a grace and i want to encourage you settle it in this two or three this this this uh three week period just that issue that that some is about time so it's about money something's about attitude something's about our words some is about things that we do with our bodies just settle the issues and break free of those things and say this is a time i'm gonna i'm gonna press in okay d we fast uh for the fulfillment of god's promises we fast and pray again prayer always goes with fasting because fasting without prayers dieting dieting again is good but you want to do dieting well you you don't lose weight by fasting those of you that haven't fasted much that will be disappointing you lose weight for a week or two or three whatever your metabolism slows down and you end up gaining weight three months later you're five pounds heavier than you were you go what was that all about i thought i went on a fast no you just messed with your metabolism and so don't look at a fast as a way to you know to do some dieting that really it doesn't work i've done a lot of fast over the years and i and if if you don't watch it you actually gained a pound more a month later how many of you know what i'm talking about no you don't have to put those hands up okay so don't look at this it's on a great dieting time now make this a spiritual engagement because the dieting thing will disappoint you if that's what you're into because the fast is not the way uh it really isn't a way to lose weight the way you lose weight is exercise proper diet in smart ways and so but if you're doing this time of fasting there are promises paragraph d that god has given you as an individual he's given you as a family he's given us as a spiritual family but here's the way god's promises work he you know he promises to bless us he promises to use us and various promises like that god's prophetic promises are invitations they aren't guarantees the lord says you know and through an impression that that when you're reading the word he'll give you a sense of a promise or maybe a person will speak it or maybe a prophetic dream he's going to use you in a certain way that's not a guarantee it's an invitation that if you respond to the lord then it is a guarantee but it's based on responding in a continual way and so fasting and praying is a part of that and again fasting you always want to put praying together with fasting so we want to actively seek the lord for the promises we want to participate with them and one fast doesn't release all your promises but it's over a lifetime it's over years of responding to the lord prayer fasting in other ways as well and humility and servanthood with our finances we respond to the lord in many ways that go together with the promises being fulfilled in our life and i gave an example of daniel and cornelius how they fasted and prayed and cornelius his whole family was saved in the wake of this paragraph e there's a fast to stop personal crisis or national crisis and and that's a a bit of what we have in focus there's an economic crisis there's a an emerging crisis of islam there's a moral chaos happening in our family i mean in our nation there is a family problems happening as the enemy's attacking the family unit and there's crisis everywhere and fasting does position us to release the favor and the power of god to avert a crisis to stop it all together or to minimize it i give you a couple examples here in paragraph e on the notes from hannah to joel to to a jonah so you can read those on your own those those were ones that fasted and prayed and the crisis the desperate situation was turned around as the lord answered them paragraph f there's a fasting for a greater release of power and we're get we're praying for power in our ministry individually as a spiritual family for more healing healing for individuals that are sick healing for family members most of us in this room we have a family member that needs a breakthrough of the lord in their life or their heart maybe they're not walking with the lord this is a great time to lock in for 21 days and really focus on praying for god to visit that family member well we want healing in our nation as well and in the nations there's international crisis and what's happening in israel in the middle east is going to shake many many uh things in the world there's this is an hour beyond any time in history i believe for prayer and fasting i mean i'm talking about not just this year i'm talking about these decades that are following what a critical time for outpouring of the holy spirit and to avert crisis through prayer and fasting well the famous bible passage in matthew 17 about the relationship of fasting and prayer to greater release of power that the disciples who had raised the dead they had healed the sick blind eyes had opened paralytics had walked but they prayed for this young man who had a epilepsy and now not all epilepsy is related to a demon but in this case there was a demon involved in the epilepsy and and you can read the whole account in matthew 17 in your bible i just give a a abbreviated version here in the notes and the disciples prayed for this this young boy he was throwing himself in the fire and damaging himself and there was no success so verse 15 the father comes to jesus and says what's the deal my son's an epileptic i brought him to your disciples i mean they've been raising the dead what's the deal why can't they heal my son i don't get it they can't cure him and that verse 18 which i don't have here jesus cast the demon out and then the disciples in verse 19 said why couldn't we cast that demon out and then jesus gives a surprising answer verse 21 this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting like what i mean are there demons that don't go out except prayer and fasting is a part of the spiritual warfare yes the answer is yes now spiritual i mean uh fasting and prayer does not earn us spiritual authority we don't earn power over a demon the the power over the demon has been fully given to us as a free gift by jesus's death and resurrection he defeated satan on the cross he triumphed over him on the cross so we're not earning it the authority that jesus has over demons it's clear and it's total well then why do we pray fast if we already have the authority because praying and fasting i don't i'm not claiming this is the whole answer but i believe it's part of the answer praying and fasting it tenderizes our spirit and we have far greater revelation and far greater faith in the context of prayer and fasting our faith is far stronger our agreement with god which is the same thing as faith our agreement with god is far clearer and stronger and by operating in stronger faith we have authority over or or what happens is when we pray that demon comes out our faith is stronger our fasting and prayer doesn't earn us authority but it positions us in a place where we operate in more agreement with the holy spirit and therefore there's greater manifestation of power i believe that's one of the main points jesus was making here but we can get that greater faith for our family members we can get that greater faith for our nation and fasting and prayer positions us to grow in faith paragraph g an open heaven there's an increased release of angelic activity related to fasting and prayer personally or for national issues daniel is the main example of this in the old testament we looked at this in the last session where daniel fasted and prayed and on several occasions angels appeared there's an increase of angelic activity angels appeared that would not have come if he would not have fasted and prayed that's the that's the miracle or the glory of it the angel said we came because you cried out in fasting and prayer that's why we're here the clear message is if you would not have fasted and prayed we would not be here more angelic activity happens when god's people fast and pray and we're believing god for that top of page three paragraph h another thing we're fasting for is for more direction supernatural direction we all need more direction for our personal life for our families for our marketplace assignment we need more uh direction for what's happening in our nation what's happening in our mission base and the lord gives us some direction but he has much more to give all of us he has much more information that he wants to give all of us but he goes i'll only give it to you on the basis you're hungry for it not an occasional hey lord bail me out tell me what's going on but a real focus sustains seeking for understanding of god's will he goes if you really care i'll give it to you not a casual prayer haish you know tip me off but a sustained prayer in fasting goes along with this in the new testament paragraph i there's grace to understand not just god's will like in paragraph h we're now in paragraph i but to understand god his word his end time purposes i mean they're written in the bible but most people read them they go i can't make any sense of this well when the angel visited daniel we have it right here in daniel chapter 10 he's praying and fasting for 21 days in daniel chapter 10 verse 12 the angel says your words your prayers were heard in heaven i have come because of your words what an amazing statement here's this mighty angel he goes i'm here because you prayed and fasted and not only have i come i'm also going to give you understanding of what's going to happen you're going to have supernatural understanding the next passage here in daniel 9. gabriel appears in daniel 9. it's it's a different encounter than daniel 10 a very different experience two years apart in daniel chapter 9 the angel gabriel says i've come forth to give you skill to understand there's an anointing there's a supernatural ability to understand what's already written in the bible i want to understand god's heart i want to understand his word and i want to understand 150 chapters in the bible of which the premier subject the primary subject is the end times 150 chapters most the church is mostly illiterate of these 150 chapters and when they read them it's kind of like i don't get it and the lord says won't you ask me about them i'll give you skill to understand if you care i'll give you more understanding in my heart and fasting and prayer is a part of that let's go to roman numeral four now this is the i'll just spend a moment on this and this is my main point here is the subject of the bridegroom fast now this is a new type of fasting that's not in the old testament this is a type of fasting that jesus himself introduced in the new testament it's a fasting out of desire to connect with god's heart it's a fast of desire it's motivated by desire for intimacy it's not motivated to have more power in ministry which that is biblical it's not crying out for new direction that's biblical it's not fasting to avert a crisis that's biblical all of those types of fasting are biblical they're in the old testament and they're upheld in the new testament they are they are part of the new covenant to fast in those ways but jesus introduced an entirely new perspective a new paradigm of fasting i call it the bridegroom fast that's that's not the official name there isn't an official name but he introduces it in a conversation with john the baptist's disciples here in matthew chapter 9 verse 14 and 15. the verse 14 matthew 9 verse 14 the disciples of john they are perplexed they came to jesus and they're confused legitimately confused they said why do we and the pharisees fast regularly often and the record shows that they fasted twice a week but your guys don't fast at all never because we fast and pray you guys eat and talk they go we're confused john the baptist is this holy radical man he taught us well he told us you're amazing how come you don't teach your guys to be dedicated to god i can see jesus smiling enjoying this because they're uh challenging jesus's ability to call people to dedication his willingness you know they're saying you don't really have a good discipleship philosophy your guys eat and talk our guys fast and pray you guys seem to play a lot but you got miracles we don't get it we're totally confused and again i can imagine jesus smiling they're not understanding he is god in the flesh standing in front of him but i think he likes this he goes you know i love your zeal i love that you care that the the the the disciples of the kingdom would be wholehearted for god that's good but in verse 15 as is typical of jesus he answers a question with a question now in the flesh i don't like that i asked the lord a question he he answered he asked me a question don't ask me a question i'm asking you a question and by doing that the lord's in essence saying no i'm giving you the question you need to be asking okay i'll ask your question but will you answer that first one many times no answer at all like oh wrong question again but anyway i've noticed that about him he's asked a question all through the gospels he answers with a question and it's a very strange question very perplexing this perplexed the disciples of john more than even the fact that jesus didn't teach on fasting this really throws them off like what are you talking about but not only are the disciples of john thrown off the 12 apostles are thrown off that's my opinion it doesn't say they are but i think they are jesus says okay here's my answer why my guys don't fast can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them the disciples of john said what no no no we're not talking about bridegroom friend of the bridegroom is like the best man at the wedding and the 12 apostles jesus is naming them friends of the bridegroom like the best man at the wedding they're the one that helped the bride to receive the bridegroom and jesus is calling himself a bridegroom and he's calling his apostles like you know the in that role of the best man of the wedding everybody's confused i can imagine that the disciples of john going john the baptist are going no no we're asking about fasting and prayer you're talking about mary being married or dating or something we don't know what she's even talking about what do you mean then the apostles look and jesus they haven't been with him very long we thought you were single well aren't you from nazareth are you saying are you married well yeah i am sort of and i'm not i am from nazareth but really i'm from eternity and i am married well what's her name she is you i'm married to you guys you just guys don't get it you'll see it down the road i mean this is throwing up the apostles are going you're married when john the baptist disciples are going why'd you change the subject we want to know about fasting and i just i i i just see so much perplexity going on in this conversation well jesus is connecting mourning for the bridegroom with fasting that connection is the strategic connection that makes this passage make sense so jesus is saying yes i am a bridegroom you're right but i am god in the flesh with deep desire for my people that's who i am i'm a bridegroom god i'm god in the flesh and when god is in the flesh walking with this people communicating his desire looking in their eyes showing his zeal and the radiance of who he is exhilarating their heart they don't need to fast to encounter more of god i'm with them i'm next to them they feel loved they feel close to me they don't need to mourn for god i'm here don't mourn and they're all going wow that's intense he goes that's why they don't fast you only fast in this regard to touch god more i'm with them the reason they're eating and talking they're celebrating i love them i'm god i'm near them i mean it's amazing what they're experiencing and they love it but then jesus really throws off his disciples his 12 apostles but the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away and they'll fast the apostles are going you're going to be taken away they don't know he means by death he's talking about his death on the cross i'm going to be taken away and then i'm going to give you the holy spirit then you're going to fast and then you'll touch me that's what he's saying but the apostles are going you're going to be taken away like are you and the girl moving somewhere where are you going bridegroom he goes no you'll see you'll see because when i'm taken away in death he explains it to him later then you will long for that nearness that you've experienced that joy of walking with me for three and a half years you'll long for it you'll say oh for that nearness that feeling of him looking in our eyes the love that he had the closeness to him and you're going to be surprised because when you fast the holy spirit will communicate that same nearness of my heart to you and you will feel loved again you'll feel my beauty you'll understand my heart and the more you fast the more you will encounter me and there's a limit on that some people take that to weird extremes and i i mean within the context of the biblical testimony fasting will position you to experience more and experience deeper and faster the heart of the bridegroom the desire of god you will feel his desire for you now there's a tremendous paradox because jesus says in that day you'll fast or he could have said in that day they will mourn for me they will mourn for the good old days of nearness but the good news is the holy spirit will bring those days of nearness back to them when they fast and not that only when they fast but with fasting as a regular part of their life that nearness of his heart of the good old days will be restored to them so in the grace of god do we mourn or do we rejoice i mean are we grateful or are we desperate which is it i mean do we approach this fasting i just mourned so much i want more or do we approach this fast going jesus we believe your word you are near us thank you are we grateful or are we desperate and the answer is both it's a paradox in the grace of god we are grateful for what we have we say thank you thank you thank you but we're desperate for more so we rejoice by what we for what we've experienced but we know there's more and the vision that there's more it just it it causes pain in our heart we can't live without more oh but we're thankful for what we have oh but we have to have more it's this kind of tearing wrenching of the heart see some people are desperate and not grateful they praying fast i know different groups like this they pray and fast they're desperate for more oh what's happening today is nothing there's no power there's no sense of doing anything we're gonna fast and pray for more and we're gonna do anything until then they're desperate desperate but they're not grateful in the present tense and they're missing it they're missing the work of god right in front of them even though it's little but it's real and it's important other groups not so many but other groups i know a few they're grateful it's the opposite but they're not desperate they have a revelation of what's in front of them the little dimensions of power they love it they go this is fantastic that's a good attitude but they think this is as good as it gets i've heard different leaders say that this is as good as it gets they're they're filled with gratitude but they're not desperate the lord says oh no i have so much more to give you so what is it do we mourn for the bridegroom with fasting or do we rejoice by faith for what he's given us the answer is both it's a paradox paragraph e we do not fast to motivate god in the bridegroom fast we're not motivating god to pay attention to us we fast because he already is paying attention and we want to feel it more we want to experience it more we're not fasting that it would be true we're fasting because we want to experience more of it it's a fast not to move god's heart it's a fast to move our heart and that's why we have this monthly bridegroom fast and i don't know that everybody's engaged in it with this kind of mindset but we want to when it come before the lord and we know that fasting causes our spirit to be tenderized so we can feel more we can receive more we want a breakthrough in our heart top of page four paragraph h the bridegroom fast is centered on the subject of desire it's us experiencing god's desire and the spirit awakening our desire the bridegroom fast is about desire being experienced and enlarged beloved i refuse to accept the current state of where i'm at i'm grateful for what god's done in my heart over the years i am so grateful and i thank you for but i am desperate for more i refuse to accept the level that i'm at right now i want more desire i want to feel more i mean there's a ocean of desire i mean a ocean of love this this burning desire i want more of it i want to feel it from god and i want to feel it back to god paragraph i fasting positions us to be expanded in our spiritual capacity fasting is like a catalyst we don't earn anything but we position ourselves to receive more to receive it faster do you want to receive more of the love of god you want to receive it faster and in bigger measures throw fasting into your prayer time you know different seasons of my life over the years i've had the grace of fasting where i had a real desire to fast more than other seasons less but i'll tell you one thing as i look back over the years i refuse to live without the grace of fasting on my life because when the grace of fasting is not there and i can get it more by asking for it then i fast less and my spirit's not near as vibrant i love a vibrant spirit i i am so excited about living alive on the inside in my spirit exhilarated with god and when i fast that exhilaration goes up and oh i love that i don't ever want to live without a grace of fasting although it ebbs and flows in different measures but i ask for it regularly all the time i mean for for some years i wouldn't say daily but real regularly lord increase my grace for fasting because i know the vibrant spirit that comes from adding fasting to seeking god's face paragraph l five rewards of the bridegroom fast and again on this book the rewards of fasting that we have on the internet that again you can get for free electronic copy i break these down in details they're pretty self-evident tenderizing our heart changing our desires increasing our understanding etc let's end with this paragraph uh m and n two qualifiers the final two paragraphs the first qualifier is it's i mean it should be self-evident but there's always a few people who don't understand it so it needs to be said fasting is always voluntary always you know one person asks me do we is fasting mandatory if we join the staff i go no no fasting could ever be mandatory we don't lock you you in a room and say fast well i don't know i thought no no we can't make you love god we can't make you fast we can't make you be humble we don't want to we want to motivate you to where you do it fasting is always voluntary that should be self-evident but it needs to be said anyway no you don't have to fast in being our staff you don't have to love god with all of your heart but it's a privilege if you want to it's within your reach in the grace of god and then paragraph end the second qualifier is the level which a person engages in fasting should be determined by their age and by physical limitations there's physical disabilities there's physical ill illnesses there's even stations in life you know i think of the mother at home with all the children and she's going like how am i going to make this work and the answer might be you shouldn't do it like you did before you got to do a a a different scaled down version of it you have circumstances where it's not really practical for you to do it there's people with eating disorders and those kind of situations of illnesses disabilities always and only fast under the supervision of a doctor we've talked about that at other times i won't develop that minors we encourage them not to fast we say discouraged but more than that we strongly urge parents don't have your young ones fast if they want to participate which is natural have them trade in the cookie for broccoli you know like boy we're on this fast we haven't had a cookie for like 14 days only seven more days you think you got it bad the hoods they're eating liver like oh my goodness you know at least we get broccoli they eat liver maybe you draw back on the cookies or something on the young ones or or some treat or whatever there's little ways to do it without uh infringing upon the basic nourishment that's required for a for a a minor to be healthy but another thing to aim for is the is the uh fasting in other arenas tv movie internet social networking entertainment video games that for the lord they're gonna draw back on some of those things and and you know some different ages do these at different levels and they're going to seek the lord more i don't mean hours and hours and hours where they're going to read a couple psalms or something instead of playing that game there's ways they can participate with us and it's for real and the lord takes it very seriously and we honor them in that but we don't want them under this burden and we want them to feel honored in the community in their youth so when they get older they oh yeah i went back on that fast i remember when i was nine i did it all the way i mean no cookies no video game i went all the way read two psalms every day i mean straight through the thing they'll tell the story or maybe more than that who knows well amen let's just end with that let's stand father we thank you i want to ask you to take a moment and and ask the lord what would you have me do now most of you have already determined you've known about this for a few weeks what you're going to do what level but i want us to have a setting of our heart right now a setting of our heart lord i want to do it at this level whatever it is again physical disabilities and illnesses you take that into account but you're saying i am setting myself in as much as i can so i just went the whole room just for a moment just to close our eyes just so we're not distracted let's just talk to the lord say lord i this is what i want to do or maybe you don't know yet and you say lord what would you have me do before thursday give me give me a hint give me a sense but this is a time to if you have that sense to declare it to the lord just quietly in your heart you're saying lord this is what i'm going to do and i'm setting my heart lord i'm setting my heart before you lord i want to engage with you i want to be a part of this thing i want more direction i want more clarity i want to experience more power but i want to feel your heart more i want to love you more the lord i ask you to just release your grace in this room right now release your grace i ask you on the moms on those that working in the marketplace on the children on the elderly all the different categories release grace that this would be a community [Music] endeavor together we'd go on a journey according to the grace of god [Music] now if you would like prayer you're saying you know i uh i i need prayer this morning for grace now we all need prayer but you're saying no i i i there's some physical things i'm thinking about or some circumstances or just i don't know you know i'm just a little unsettled about this but i want grace and i would just like a human being to pray with me i want to invite you for whatever reason you would like grace to come and stand up here or if you are in a personal need i mean if you need personal prayer for any other subject should i invite you as well to come to come and stand on these lines maybe you need prayer for healing for a situation at home let's come and stand on these lines [Music] just go ahead and stand on those lines right down there that's perfect [Music] i'm gonna ask the others in the room that you'd come and join if you've had any grace on your life in the past for fasting even once or twice come and just pray for one or two people i encourage you everyone we don't need everybody but i'm saying everyone that loves the lord in this room you're part of the ministry team come and just pray for two people take about you know 90 seconds a person two three minutes pray for two people tell them if you have a specific need i want my heart to burn within me i want my heart to burn within me [Music] i wanna love you like you love me lord release your grace even now in this [Music] room [Music] [Music] oh [Music] jesus mark our hearts bridegroom god touch us jesus lord [Music] to release within me [Music] i want my heart to burn within me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] away [Applause] [Music] away [Music] [Music] within me [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] baby [Applause] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i want my heart to burn within me [Music] jesus [Music] completely [Music] jesus

Channel: Mike Bickle Official

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Id: NeyTbnVkiPM

Length: 70min 59sec (4259 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021