Understanding The Power Of Fasting | Dr. Myles Munroe

thank you for joining us for another power-packed message from dr. Myles Munroe provided by Monroe global incorporated and Monroe global comm we transform followers into leaders and leaders into agents of change we hope that this message is a blessing to you as you advance your life and discover your purpose now let's go into the message understanding the power of fasting now we're dealing with two subjects during this fast prayer and fasting but I'm going to talk about fasting first because I want to make sure you are safe notice I put the word power next to the word fasting because prayer has power but fasting has its own level of power fasting is like adding a new combustion horsepower engine to your old engine fasting is taking your normal life to another level it never been to before it's like adding another cylinder to your car so fasting provides power that is not normal and I know what I'm talking about personally I call fasting the kingdom key to power in prayer you can pray and still not get results but it's impossible to pray and fast and not get results and there are some times when our prayer doesn't have an effect but it's always guaranteed that when you add fasting to your prayer it has an effect most of us have not been encouraged to fast we've not been taught to fast and I want to begin with some general statements all religions pray suppress common the Buddhist pray the Hindus pray the Muslims pray the Universalist pray even the Satanist church pray so prayer is not unique prayer is not unique to the church or religious people who are called Christians in many cases many religions pray more than Christian people now whether they get answers is another question but they pray more I am sure you are aware you know that religions like the Hindus they would pray for hours the Buddhists would meditate for hours and and practice meditation for hours and they would be trying to become one with the universe and on this meditative prayer they can be sitting out with their legs crossed praying and meditating for days and the Muslims pray at least three times a day whoever they are they spread their rug on the ground and they face toward the east that Mecca is and they pray most Christians don't pray that much so prayer is not the issue everybody does it of course questions to come up in your mind who you praying to what are you praying and whether your prayer will be heard or whether it's being heard at all these are questions that are out there Christ Himself told the Pharisees you pray and you think that you might be heard because of your much speaking he was talking to these Judaizers judaism leaders who were praying to Jehovah the God you serve but he says you think you will be heard because you pray these long press in other words you can even be a believer in Jehovah and still I'll get your prayers answered so not just the Muslim and the Buddhists and the Hindu and Confucius and all the others even the Saints called the Christians could be praying and not get any answers because he said you're much speaking doesn't guarantee answers to prayer and again we learn in this consecration that prayer has very little to do with how long you pray big words don't impress God so prayer is common point number two prayer is not an option for us it is a necessity godly prayer up to a decision that you make he made it a command prayer is a command you shall pray God says when you don't pray you are disobedient so you are about to enter into an experience that gonna make God very pleased with you and when you bring pleasure to God he then delivers what he promised so prayer is a command it's a law it's a command that leads me to point number three prayer is the most common experience of the believer and what I mean by that is every time anyone gives their lives to the Lord they are told they should pray so every believer is encouraged to pray it's the most common thing you are expected to do but here's the problem prayers the most talked about subject but least practiced we would rather sing in the choir than pray we would rather be an usher at the door than spend time in prayer we'd rather pay the plate a peon in church than pray we'd rather work in the hospitality Department or working a nursery than spend time and Twitter in other words we would want any other activity except please don't tell us to pray we kind of placed prayer as the thing we do once in a while when somebody makes us feel guilty about it but I hope that you will find out that prayer is not an option anymore and you see it as your most important work why don't people pray here's my answer because of results they don't get results I was brought up in a religious environment just like you and I always questioned this why is it that on Sunday mornings for those of you worship on Sundays the church building is packed with people and if you are sabbath worshiper on saturday mornings the church building is filled with people and if you are a muslim you would find that during the worship times everybody is in the mosque but there's a problem i notice during the prayer meeting night everybody gone and the only people that attend the prayer meeting are some old women who ain't got nothing to do we call them intercessors what we really called what it what we really mean by that is those who pray because we don't pray that's an intercessor to you those who pray because we ain't got time to do it the permitting is always the smallest meeting in every church check it out I mean to have this many people in the perimeter right here this is somebody's entire church and I've gone and I've been in churches my life where they had a lot of people on Sunday morning and prayer meeting is like 10 people question why the answer because people don't get results I think I'm just like you if you keep doing something and it ain't working you stop doing it that's logically it's like going to a soda machine I'm putting in your quarters and hitting the bar and nothing comes out you put some more quarters in hit the bar nothing comes up now after four or five dollars hopefully by then you figure out I better leave this machine alone well that's the way prayer is for most people they prayed they've gone to prayer meeting sometime you know you were young Christian you can't wait to get the premium you excited and then you finally you figure right out of folks saying there because you don't get no answers to prayer these old people pray nothing work in you ain't get no responses you don't see any evidence there's no there's no kind of response to from God so you began to say the same working and so you quit that's why people don't pray because they don't get answers but here is what I call the prayer principle when you study the Word of God carefully and God's action in history you will come to a conclusion that John Wesley came two years ago I thought he did a great job in expressing it I understood it myself but John Wesley said this he said it seems that without God man cannot do anything on earth but without man God will not do anything on earth beautiful statement without God man cannot and without man God will not there's some things God wants to be done on earth for his kingdom he wanted Kingdom become but he cannot do it without man and man cannot do without God in other words prayer is really a partnership between the divine and mankind God needs you and you need God the point is what happens on earth doesn't really depend on God it depends on you when I learned this I became a prayer-meeting walking on two legs every minute I pray all the time I don't go to prayer meetings I am a prayer meeting anybody hung around me but hear me praying all the time so they might just say Jesus is Lord I'm praying Jesus is Lord I'm calling his only ship in my environment all the time why because God can do nothing on earth without a human giving him release when they quote a scripture that proves this jesus said wherever any two of you shall touch and agree concerning anything on the earth then it shall be done by your father who is in heaven simple statement profound implications he's telling us that heaven wants to do a lot of things on earth but heaven is waiting for at least two humans to get together and touch in faith and agree in prayer on something on the earth then God has permission to do it from heaven so earth depends on heaven to get things done but heaven depends on earth for permission to do it so without you God will not that leads me to point number three prayer is really earthly license for heavenly interference what is prayer think about what it means prayer is man giving God license to interfere in its affairs through man's agency of faith God cannot do an earth what you don't believe he can do Christ says according to your belief be it unto you so what happens here depends on what we believe God can do many times when God meant humans he would tell them what he wanted to do then he would say this do you believe I can do this the word believe is the word business in Greek is the word we translate as faith according to your faith I can do it one time the Bible says Jesus Christ went to his own hometown Nazareth but he couldn't do any miracles there because the people did not believe him now can you imagine all the power of the universe was in a body walking in your village and can't heal you because you won't believe what man does can block God or release God for the next three weeks you are going to become what I call a bigger and bigger and bigger pipe for God to flow through something good is gonna happen on earth in the next three weeks but if we don't meet to agree God can't release what he wants to do in the earth so we give him licence that leads me to point number four write this down prayer is not an option therefore it's a necessity necessity means God depends on you to petition him so he could get something done that he always wanted to do in the earth and this is why most of the time when you talk about pray in the Bible if you read a verse in the Bible concerning prayer it big hands with a lever with it with a word with two letters if most of the Scriptures kindig concerning prayer begins with that word if because it's a condition there's a verse that religious people always quote when they want God to do something in their country what's that verse if my people see it starts with an if but they don't read the whole verse properly like turning from your wicked ways no more sweet hoddan see you know they won't go out to heal the line but then I'm gonna deal with them other conditions see ya always a condition it is necessary for us to pray for God to do what he wants and this is why when we talk about the keys of the kingdom I want to read the words of Jesus himself the King write these words down please in Matthew 6 verse 5 Christ at the beginning of his ministry laid down this priority he said and when you pray that's enough for me right there maybe I say together and when you pray he didn't say if you pray if I say to you and when you come you can get such a thing from my house what am I saying I even ain't ask you whether you come an a you are coming you certain to come look at his words he didn't say if you find time and your busy schedule he takes it for granted that you get discovered and when you pray he expects it everybody knows it but we don't do it and so we always relegate prayer to a small group of people who we say intercessors now an intercessor in the minds of religious churches is what I call professional prayers these are people who we have appointed so to speak matter of fact some of them are self appointed but we kind of have this group of people who are the ones who do what we should be doing but don't do and we use them to substitute for us no one can do that I can pray for you but I can never substitute for you for praying here's something to remember I was shocked when I discovered this I was 17 years ago I was on a fast and the Lord said it to me there's no such thing in the Bible as an intercessory ministry I started you can God I said my mother's intercessor my mother prayed all the time God says yeah but that ain't no ministry there's no gift of intercession in the Bible find it doesn't exist there's no gift of prayer in the Bible let's get the tongs gifts of miracles but no gift of Prayer do you know why because they ain't a gift everyone's supposed to do it but we love intercessors because they take care of would be a guilty of me and we say to them you pray for us we're gonna go and watch TV so during permitting evening everybody is home drinking their switcher and watching television while a few old folks and adieu are praying this is not God's will jesus said men everywhere are always to pray all men every ways is not a few chosen specialists prayer is not a ministry for the view it's a necessity for the all I don't get me wrong people should pray for you and I thank God that people pray for me all the time I got people who intercede for me and boy I thank God for that but they should never I should never think that they could replace my praying for myself I hope this fast will change your attitude toward your prayer life prayer is a necessity I want to put this up here for you to remember this because some of y'all got books on prayer in your house prep books are like cooking books cookbooks how many get couples tells them you see an oil cookbooks through CN you got comebacks in your house come on wave hi be honest God looking for me to tell the truth okay do you all use them don't you lie you know you don't use them cookbooks once in a while you might want to find one how to make one cookie or something now those cookbook spin your house for 10 years and in those books are powerful recipes to produce beautiful products of food but you don't use them in other words having a recipe and baking a cake is two different things studying prayer and praying is different having a good book by Finney in your house he's nice but are you praying Finney prayed Charles Finney prayed also chambers powerful books on prayer he prayed you don't put his book on your coffee table suppose can see you're a beautiful prayer book and they think you are spiritual prayer books are for praying you learn how to pray the book I wrote on prayer is from my life that's like if you quote me I write from my experience I write from what God did for me because it has to be something that worked for me before I tell you it can happen don't just study prayer pray don't just read about prayer pray don't listen to other people's stories about prayer pray that's what he expects what is prayer we'll deal with this a little later in detail but I want to give you the definition before we go the word prayer is the word petition and the repetition means a legal appeal or demand on a government based on constitutional right protected by law complicated but please write it down prayer is petition petition is a legal appeal or a demand that you place on a governmental authority and that demand is based on a constitutional right and the right is protected by law as a prayer is that's what the word means in Scripture if you look at that statement right away you can tell that you can't beg prayer is not begging for anything prayer is more of an appeal or a demand based on legal rights God in the next three weeks don't want you hanging around his throne begging for nothing he want to do business with you he has some things to do on earth and you are now positioning yourself in a consecration so that he can finally find a channel to get it through you Anna learn that fasting is interesting fasting I remember when I began to learn to fast I lied too fast from my mother and father but my mother specially she had some books around the house written by men like schambach an a a Alan and all Roberts and I kept thinking these men got so much spiritual power I want that power and they used to say you got to pay a price and I began to study it and then I began to do it as a teenager and my life turned upside down when I had my first fast seven days that's when I wrote a song song is called living with Jesus on the other side I wrote that on a fast and I began to understand that fasting was like a plunger it was like Drano for a human life and I discovered that food is like rust in a pipe clogging up the hole and more you eat the smaller the hole in the bite until you become so proud of that God can't get nothing through you got the picture and some of you that way right now you've eaten so much the last eight months you you you yourself can't get nothing through you am i right about it you are so physically clogged up that mentally you can't even think straight your mentality is affected your health has been slowed down you get tired climbing steps imagine spiritual clock and fasting is the only way to flush that stuff out your flesh if your greatest blessing and curse it's a blessing because you need it to live on earth it's a curse because it can become your ruler fasting puts your body back where it belongs under your spirit fasting takes your body and submits it to the spirit man let's be honest sometime you don't want to eat right spiritually you tell god I'm gonna fast a day but your body begins to whoop you as a matter of fact that's the same day they decide to have a party in the office with chicken and macaroni and peas and rice and all of a sudden your body grabs your spirit body slams it stands over to say we're gonna eat today and all the people in the state say it man you surrender to your dead body frosting grabs that puts it back in order prayer [Music] is you petitioning God based on your rights as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven we'll deal with this in details during this fast how this works you're gonna see some scriptures you never saw before in your life I'm gonna show you some thoughts from the Bible that are gonna change the way you were taught all your life about prayer and fasting ladies and gentlemen let's talk about the effects of fasting I like this one what happens when you fast first of all fasting changes you now why did I say that because number two is a contradiction fasting does not change God God never changes ain't nothing wrong with God God ain't clogged up the clog in got to be on there to say fasting doesn't change God it doesn't move God it moves and changes you the best way to describe God and your life in a fast is before you fast or live a fasted life it's almost like a big tank with 50,000 gallons of water in it and a little pipe is hooked up to it small little two-inch pipe that is big tank the amount of water that's available is fifty thousand gallons but the amount that can flow through your little pipe is 1/10 of a gallon the amount that's available doesn't change but the amount that flows out through the plate depends on the size of the pipe God is always 50,000 gallons ready to do some stuff but he can't find pipes to hook a big enough and most of pipe will come to them they are widths in food grits and beasts good cities Jesus help me with some people is your last go-round and you better enjoy God is ready to work anytime but he keeps running into these pipes that are social and they making any noise you know they shouting claiming confessing gossip but you clogged up the Lord can do anything this little hole you got you ain't got a fasted life fasting is the most important aspect of prayer it doesn't move God number three fasting increases your spiritual capacity it's like going back to the tank removing the two inch pipe I'm putting a 15 inch pipe to it now more water can flow God says look I need to find some people who will increase their capacity to handle my flow let me taste something okay listen Marie the scripture called the scripture again we love the scripture okay when there's crime in a country economic chaos social decay immorality in a country what do we do let's call a prayer meeting listen so all the bishops get together and we get in the park and all the saints come along with their bellies full of grits the bishop barely bigger than anybody else barely i watch this now and they come to pray for what a nation watching our nation now you know how big a nation is D not complicated a nation is do you know how complicated crime is and broken homes and and abuse these are big problems and you come to God a small little plate I want you to heal the nation please because if the stuff I need to heal your nature the pie thing gonna work so what's God if my people who claim to be called by my name if they want okay right away humble down the word humble in my book I talked about this the word humble - humble means to fast the translation in the English was not a good translation it means to humble me so fast and pray you want God to heal a big problem he need a big pipe the demon that was in that boy must have been a legion because they pray for the little boy remember they they prayed all afternoon and the demon wouldn't come out and when Christ came down from the mountain it came out in seconds question what was he doing in the mountain well reason first before he says here an aside alone to pray and to fast when he came down no food fellows down there full of fish your pipe too small Ryan coming out of his brother and the Bible says Jesus just said out demon left the disciples prayed the same prayer Jesus bring different results and they were shamed the Bible says because all the people saw that and the next morning they were at a meal and they were all quiet I don't blame them they were sitting in a room everybody eaten they did spiritual these all thinking he just embarrassed us for fallen people and one of them build the courage and Peter said Lord why couldn't we cast that demon out yesterday Christ as well this kind doesn't come out just by prayer this needs a big capacity if you trying to figure out something right now in your life for the last six months maybe a year maybe two years you've been trying to work on something and it seemed as if it just wouldn't break I'm giving you the biggest secret now if you know you're supposed to have it if you know it's God's willing the promise in the word if you know this is God's legal right for you if you know you're supposed to have it then you supposed to break that thing and you break it by fasting this is gonna be the best three weeks you ever spent in your life things that were held up for three years are gonna come out in three weeks when God has a capacity big enough he when he begins to flow every demon that was holding back will be shut away by the power of God from into a fasted life are you ready to fire say yes frosting is the most powerful force in prayer it widens your pipe it cleans out all the dirt it wipes out all the refuse it takes away every hindrance that was holding you back that's why the devil loves you to eat especially when you set your face too fast that's when they want to take you out for lunch for your birthday and pay for it yeah I'm telling you watch the next three weeks I'm telling you every demonic influence will show up promise me but you remember what I said tonight just tell that temptation I know why you came and you ain't gonna win because I'm gonna clean this pipe out in the next three weeks my work is done by fasting and prayer than work itself save yourself a lot of struggle by fasting and prayer write this down fasting breaks habits and spiritual bondage habits now when we say habits the first thing you think about is cigarettes and drugs and alcohol but let me tell you something there's some habits you get that are destroying your life songs you got to break the habit of television you religiously watch certain programs lmn oxygen Oh Lord are getting in trouble now y'all need oxygen you gotta get away from that to breathe again it's it's amazing it's a habit and it steals your time and sucks away your spiritual life and some of the stuff that's shown that I tell my wife I don't like some of these stories husband kill and wife and they sleeping with the daughter I'm like what is this it's my hair can't get around this feeding stuff to your skirt you can fast coca-cola habit 10 tablespoons of sugar is in every can of coke 10 tablespoons did you know that every time you drink a coke there's enough sugar to give you diabetic reaction have it oh but you need your coke I can't get out of my coke my psychotic coke came fast thing breaks habits you got habits with pornography man you lock into a fast I'm talking about a serious fast I just want and you said three weeks let me taste them the holy sprit has some power that will break your mental bondage from that stuff you only can break a bit of fast you keep praying for God to remove things and they don't go away you need a fast unfaithfulness to your spouse is a habit fasting break that thing sex fasting will bring sex back in order fasten anything else can the bondage that you are under prayer alone doesn't break most of that bondage you need to fast and number five fasting quiets the heart to hear God's voice you know when I was a young teenager when I began to fast that's when I began to get revelations about the kingdom 15 years old and began to fast and I saw a Bible that my parents never saw my father comes here and sits on the front row and takes notes while I teach and my father is a Baptist minister one time he said to me son will you get all of this from he said you never learned this from our Baptist Church I said no sir I learned this on a fast God can speak to you thinks that he cannot speak to you while you're chewing do you know every time you eat it takes six hours for your stomach to digest it which means that your brain is engaged for six hours after you eat and cannot focus on anything else that's right before you take an exam you shouldn't eat did you know that you should need no food before you take an exam no people say take it though you don't want to eat you want all of your focus to be on recall that's why you fail the exam you ate before you went like any breakfast the breakfast destroyed your exam oh I'm serious you your body once you drop food in your stomach you think it's over your body begins to work after you swallow it it kicks in when I was in college I fasted before every exam and got honest because there's no distraction in the mind when the body is under control no one taught you this they didn't teach me either I had to go learn this fasting quiets the heart so you can hear God it comes down the distractions I promise you ladies and gentlemen you're gonna have more peace in your mind the next three weeks than any other time in the last five years because fasting calms your spirit because your spirit becomes more important than your body and it takes over and your spirit ain't got no problems did you know that only your mind and when your spirit becomes bigger than your mind and your body your mind becomes subject to your spirit and your spirit full of the peace of the kingdom it brings quietness on a fast after you at the eighth day you become watches you can become very nice to everybody on the eighth day some of your interest because love a sudden your whole life takes on a purity you see people properly there's a peace half at a time we angry is because we need something it ain't ever with us yet first what's that coconut top you know we eat stuff and we get mad at people for the whole day because the whole body is completely confused about trying to get rid of this stuff I mean you get irritated fastly quite so hard to hear God's voice and number six fasting brings godly intimacy oh I long for fast because of this one ice kind of week too fast I first saw through the year but this fast i sanctify for the whole church and for those watching us around the world i and build into you a love for fasting because fasting makes intimacy with God a priority when you begin to give away control of your body you attract God dear spirit when you fast you telling God he's more important than peace and rice hamburgers and barbecue chicken ribs [Laughter] God loves to no he is numero uno is he number one this week let's give a praise he's number one we're telling God you are number one for the year this whole year you are number one and we're going to prove it by putting aside our own desires we're gonna seek after your face boy God loves it God says you will seek me and you will find me only if you seek me with all your heart God knows whether it's with all your heart and so if you want into intimacy with God you about to get it I saw if whistle scripture here that I thought was interesting I give us a scripture before we closed just a string how important fasting is to getting things done now in Jamaica they've got crime problems in Kingston in the Bahamas we got the highest crime rate we ever had in the history of our country last year and we already started out bad again in Trinidad they are afraid to come out of this out of their doors kidnapping Columbia Mexico the drug wars people die in kids are carrying guns I mean the whole place is a mess now these are what national problems they all right Esther had a national problem Esther's problem was the government of the day had some people in the cabinet who didn't like her people and they created a legislation in the government which required that her people be killed by law now this little girl God God didn't have to use Esther he is looking for a pipe do you realize you could be the key to your neighborhood right now in this fast gods trying to find a pipe let's read what made Esther a pipe Esther chapter four verse 16 Esther is talking she says go gather together the Jews as the ones they want to kill who are here in Sousa and fast for me okay get apart you're fast as a group he says she said do not eat or drink for three days night or day complete fast that's a tough one and I and my mates in this palace will fast as you do poor girls I got some pipes in this city now they were praying before that you know but Esther figure this out our prayer is not changing this thing anybody feel excited there's some things that you've been trying to figure out God's about to do some stuff in the next three weeks that nobody could stop [Applause] everyone talks with Esther but they don't read this verse I've come to the kingdom for such a time with this yes but what you gonna do now that you in the kingdom she was in the kingdom she was in the palace she had to fast to get things done now ladies and gentlemen if you are a queen in the palace what food is the oh do reach you could eat this is amazing I wonder how she told her husband I ain't in the day she's a queen all that food anything she could order Esther realized I gotta do something to make my prayer effective I like Esther she didn't say y'all fast for me and left it like that nothing intercessors you want to see for me Jesus I trust in you alone I can do this myself too this gonna take personal consecration and Esther success watch this she says and when this is done I will go to the king and even though it is against the law y'all do understand when you know you paid your bills to God come on somebody when you know you did exactly what he said when you know you paid the highest price or you could walk in and say hey I deserve a raise nothing I do again we got tests and wins of people who win in the fast last year and walked in and got promotions there's some things you can do just by asking there's got to be some stuff behind you call the fast pushing you into a place that they can't stop you if she went in and didn't fast she could have been killed she knew it but she paid the price of cleaning out any resistance to stop her success tell your neighbor this is it I'm gonna fast all through the year praise God every time you there's a block don't go to the restaurant when there seemed to be resistance don't go to the restaurant your key is fasting if I perish I perish she had paid the price here's another verse that I was interesting Psalm 109 David success david says in psalm 119 verse 24 verse you never saw before read it he says my knees give way from what fasting my body is thin and out David was a politician this is important we need some of our politicians to read this you know why our country is a mess they can't figure it out cuz they don't want fire on gold and eat boiled fish every Saturday we need some leaders in our government who would say look if I'm gonna govern this country I need a clean pipe David was a king can a king eat anything he wants but David knew if I'm gonna rule Israel I need the power of God no look at the verse again something you're going to be close to that on the 20th day David was writing in that state you pick up his pen he wrote my knees give way because I'm fasting and my body is thin and fasting he was a fasting King and God said David is a man after my own heart and one of you gonna say that to you in this fast this is my girl she is after my own heart she is chasing my heart by fasting another verse Jeremiah 3 verse 9 read in the night man come on in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for who all the people the government declared everyone to stop eating if you read the rest of that story the battle that they fought they won afterwards they were being beaten by the enemy beaten go get beaten the king said okay hold it no one eats until I say so he proclaimed fast for the whole country oh Jesus that means gone at so many pipes how can they lose we are gonna give God some pipes this next three weeks God's gonna have to heal our lands whatever country you from you believe God that this is going to be the fast to flush out everything that is not of God in your community can I hear an amen that's not a verse Daniel chapter 9 I love Daniel boy he was a fasting guy Daniel chapter 9 verse 3 read so I turned to the Lord God pleaded with him in prayer and petition there it is in the Bible in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes how can Daniel lose he put every word in the sentence now Daniel worked for who King Nebuchadnezzar he understood petitioning he said I then go to Nebuchadnezzar the petition I went to my God my government to petition and I petition him with not just prayer but with fasting Daniel had power beyond prayer because he fasted I'm not averse joelle chapter 2 was 12 read even now declares the Lord return to me how with fasting and weeping and mourning you really want to get back to God does it prove it stop eating what stop what does it stop eating let me see if you come back to me when you come back to God you leave your fresh behind cuz God is a spirit if you really love God you leave your belly that's what he's saying if you can sacrifice a little bit of gastric juice for me how dare you convince me that you love me and that's all the pain you feel is it's just gastric juice its gaseous you a diet that's that's gastric juice burning the lining of your stomach and all that junk that's in your stomach and you think you're dying cause you love me more than gastric juices or would you sacrifice your Father in Heaven for gastric juices you say come to me weed before me in fasting a couple more verses Jeremiah 18 verse 7 breathe if at any time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be uprooted torn down and destroyed God says and if that nation I warn repents of its evil then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I plant already in a beautiful voice Bahamas you are in trouble I've ready Santa press on you you've disobeyed me this nation shall be destroyed Gaza now what you gonna do about that he tells us if they repent and come before my face I will reverse the curse that I proclaim in the country when we come before God in prayer we can change the destiny of a country look at verse 9 and if at another time I announce that a nation or a kingdom is to be built up and planted and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me then I will reconsider the good that I had intended to do for that country it's amazingly in the Bahamas we we engraved in our Constitution the statement that we will govern the Bahamas based on the principles of the Christian faith because ithat's good y'all start all right now you're trying to move it Kazu okay I changed my mind God promised to bless you he said but you better stay right because I would reconsider we can save our countries by fasting and prayer so let me give you a fasting is and then tomorrow we're going to talk about how to do it first of all fasting is the willful abstaining from natural pleasures for a spiritual purpose write that down that's what fasting is very important to write that down fasting is the willful abstaining from natural pleasures for a spiritual purpose emphasis on willful willful means no one is forcing you you made a decision and notice the statement is very broad any natural pleasure you could fast candies or ice cream or guava Duff oh Jesus please help us Lord whatever is your pleasure you can faster before God you can fast sex what a pleasure God says want you to fast that cuz that can become a a prison what can be a greater pleasure than eating food Oh food is so nice it's a pleasure fasting is abstaining from that pleasure that's why we call it sackcloth and ashes it's like it's like beating your body you know sacrum ashes is some time in movies you see them in these religious movies you see the the priest would tear their clothes you ever seen that yeah they they actually did that in that movie by Mel Gibson what's the name of that movie the passion yeah some of you want to miss that the high priest tore his clothes sacrum ashes is when you ran your clothes before God because of passion which means you tear away what is pleasure to you fasting is abstaining from pleasures for what reason compared to your purpose this is important fasting is not just missing a meal it is for a spiritual purpose that's why we meet every night me not just going around food for three weeks so you can lose weight losing weight is a byproduct of obedience to God fasting is when you set your face toward God God says you seek me that's why we come here every night this week and next week and the week after we not here just to stop eating we're here to find God when you go home you turn your TV off why you're the fast you don't sit around gossip and conversations on the fast you don't sit around the table talking about people you got a fast that's why fasting many times the man you go into hiding people rent you know Elijah went to the Hill suffice Moses went to the mountain too fast Jesus went to the tension too fast why because when you're hanging around people they mess up you're fast on a fast you stay away from people who have no positive impact on your life you gotta protect your environment on the fast that's why I maintenance on the fast you got to go by yourself with your Bible every lunchtime I must hide on the beach and read you don't wanna be around talking no junk why you tryin to clean your spirit out and they're people who would dump garbage in your spirit you gotta protect it abstaining number two fasting is a personal commitment to renounce the natural in order to invoke the spiritual place their commitment to what I can't hear you to renounce the natural in other words I renounce the control of my stomach and my mind over my spirit I renounce it today that's consecration consecration is close to concentration isn't it it's from the same root word to concentrate means to set yourself before God you abstain because you have a spiritual desire I want God and nothing else so you stop seeking other things thirdly fasting is the dedication to a period of time to devote yourself to spiritual priority of Prayer without what food this is there different types of fasts in the Bible and I want to say this while I get this chance some of you are on doctors medication and orders I want to warn you if you are on doctor's orders it's important for you to talk to your doctor because the doctor may recommend based on your present condition which we believe will change before then it is fast but your present condition may require that you take certain medication to keep certain balances in your body please obey your doctor I don't want anyone to tell any doctor I told them not to take their pills take your pills but you can talk to your doctor about what I call a progressive fast a progressive France is where you can begin with the Daniel fast Daniel fasted complete food fast but he also fasted like just vegetation fast Daniel told the King I would eat meat and tell the Lord here's my prayer so he only ate vegetables that's a fast then there's certain bread then they said he would not eat I would not eat bread with Easton and he says have a fast yeast please check with your doctors and see if that they allow you to to at least not need and begin the fasts and we're gonna happen as a fast progresses you're gonna find that your physical condition we begin to balance out you'll get a check-up every weekend after this fast doctor would tell you certain things he'd say what you do it you ask him why he says look at your some change in here yeah your livers looking they're normal and then you might say whatever you do it keep doing because fasting brings healing speedily I'm going to show you that tomorrow in the Bible fasting speeds up healing one of the things I was shocked about when I discovered fasting as a teenager Burmese growing up whenever somebody was sick they would say feed them they need their energy you remember that old people feed them you need it while you're sick you need some meat so you call you need to eat something they always want to feed you do you know that it's the officer should be the case if you get the fruit right now a fast will kick it out guaranteed guarantee but he I taught the opposite you need some soup son I'm that good or soup get coffee some soup you know soup you need to stop when an animal is sick including a dog or a lion what do they do they hide from you why because they know you let me say I feed the dogs they know I'm a hide until I am well and then they show up after four days they were fasting nature understands it I tell you the truth I used to suffer from hay fever every year every year as a child and I went on a 28-day fast no food just water it never came back today 30 years no cold winter convent ago no cold the fasting totally every ounce of virus tuberculosis that 28-day fire took away every trace of tuberculosis of my body asthma sorry asthma totally gone asthma right I almost died from asthma how can fasting hear asthma it did 40 years free don't tell me healing will not come speedily on a fast you'll be amazed how well you can live on a fast half of the things you eat you don't need fast thing is not missing a meal you can hate this list fasting is not dieting write this down please didn't write it down so you remember this one fasting demands replacing reading of the word and prayer with your meals when you want to fast it doesn't mean you just stop eating and then you could do anything else it means that you spend time with God every opportunity you have when I be on a fast and I was working for different companies including Mario number company wherefore city meter the presence I said beyond beyond fast when my lunchtime came I head to the beach on my bicycle and sit on the sand with my Bible hey buddy eating that fried chicken on the beach reading the Word of God I saw I faster fasting me to replace your meals with the Word of God Christ says man shall not live by bread alone but by the Word of God fasting it's for a spiritual purpose you want to feed your spirit the Word of God is spiritual food so you can just fast and watch TV I'm fasting so I'm gonna go ahead and go to a go-go go hang up with some people fasting means you can replace your normal activities with spiritual pursuits such as fasting is for ya next one number for fasting demands dedicating time for meditation on this fast you need to spend time how about two point four hours every day ten percent of your day spending time quiet regard having devotions with God that means getting a devotional book that we have in the bookstore is a good way to start and every day you read an emotion and spend time with God God will deal with you if you deal with God sometimes God ain't got time to talk to us cuz we don't stay places one place long enough no just blessing really usually minute amen I am trying to answer you yet we gone to work Kostas what are you doing some of your laughing you're look guilty that's 10 15 seconds prayer meditation is important in fasting all right and number five fasting requires spending much time in the world this is where you reach out to the Word of God you get in your spirit I I'm telling you fasting is divine love but fasting it saves time your time becomes so disciplined you'll be amazed fasting chops out all the garbage out of your life in time wasters for example it takes 8 hours to prepare meals you know that eight hours to prepare meal and eight minutes to eat it some of your four minutes they calculated what it takes to prepare a meal their conclusion is eight hours I didn't realize that for example all right you're gonna prepare a meal for your family tomorrow when you start thinking about it so the meal starts you start right now tomorrow I'll cook fish and this for the kids come to some husband or wife and okay so the meal started right there and now your minds working on this meal so you can focus on God right now you're thinking about what you can cook tomorrow then you go to the food store and you buy the stuff and then you got to put it up and then you got to make sure you're home in time when you start preparing it and then you got to make your chop just chop that cut that Friday's to this to that and buy time for instance it's eight hours of thinking planning preparing cooking and serving eight hours when you fast you get all that back I get more work done on the fast and I do all year because you get time to think for the first time bill distraction you get tired of plan God get time to give you instructions to save you time God gives you answers to questions quickly on a fast fast thing makes your brain sharp it makes your memory so sharp you remember things you forgot fasting is so awesome that that when you read things you retain them fasting is incredible fasting gives you songs in the night you wake up singing for no reason at all what this gonna happen to you fasting drives people out of your life who ain't supposed to be there they're just leaving nobody left praise the Lord they're gone fasting to clean up your life first think it's powerful its powerful so spend time in the word of the Lord and let God give you the wisdom Isaiah 58 verse 3 God asks the question why have if I said you say why have we fasted and you have not seen it Oh God says go me down to that question why have we humbled ourselves there's the word fast it and you have not noticed God answers them he said because on the day of your fasting you watch element LMN God's answer because I know you ain't eating but what you're doing in this place you're not crazy God you can't fool me you say you're on the fast and you're still doing all these things and there are all these people and talking and gossiping fast all you're doing is missing a meal because the fast is consecration before me the reason why we do this for thirty years we've meat every night and pray and teach the word is because we have to make sure everybody is focused on God if we leave you home when you go home we don't know what you do we gotta encourage one another stay focus on God people come home saying yes I just baked this cake drop this pie for you when you're at home you and prayer meeting Z and by the time you get all pumped up when you come here you're gonna see the cake get that cake from the front of me why man I got my focus on God but you stay home no feeding your spirit and here comes a carrot cake with a sneek been nuts on top and the cake still warm a Cobra gorgeous then you start saying these like a little peace with me yeah I've been there contradict me many times what you doing sorry for dad that was close you want to always protect your environment he says God does this you do what you please you exploit all of your workers you're fast panting what quarreling and strife and then striking each other with wickedness but with you for some people on the people in the office on fighting cancer start over keep your attitude right look at the last part of what he says what you cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high I rest my case it's possible to waste your time fasting if you don't fast properly it's not just abstaining from food it's for a spiritual purpose you have a reason for putting away the plate you're pursuing God's plate that's part of verse Matthew four to read after fasting forty days he was hungry your body can go without food for forty days did you know that no food it can go to water for three days and then it begins to die it can go without food for 40 then it becomes hungry no human has fasted more than 40 days none because your body is designed by God to live without substance for 40 days after 40 days your body begins to eat itself that's called starvation starvation doesn't set in until after forty days so when you feel the pain tomorrow at 12 o'clock in the middle of day stop telling people I starving no no no remember sing hungry hunger doesn't set in until after 40 days so what you call hyung is not hunger if you haven't eaten for four days what you're feeling is habit the gastric juices your your your conditioning of your body is crying out for all of habitual junk that you've been putting down so you'll find that every time you ate meal traditionally is when you're gonna feel the need for food tomorrow if you eat breakfast every morning eight o'clock at eight o'clock there's gonna be some problems for a little while what do you do you're drinking out of water that's all you want to dilute the assets that burnin that ain't the devil no demons that's just acid tomorrow I'm gonna explain to you what to expect on a fast okay so make it to tomorrow and you'll be okay but fasting is very predictable you know what's gonna happen I'm going to show you that in detail what tables can happen but you don't starve until after forty days so don't ever tell anybody you starve and you ain't starve until after forty days 19 6:18 read when you fast do not look Samba as hypocrites do for they disfigure their faces to show men at their fancy please don't walk around telling everybody tomorrow I on the fast mind your business just go do we work the walk around you bite on your hand pretty good up my mama shut up man they supposed to even know you faster it says fix you here I'm bathe and wash your face why you ain't fasten to please people you fasten before your father your seeking your father's face what other people's opinions yes Matthew 6:17 read so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting but only to your father who is well unseen and your father who sees what is done in secret will do what reward you openly the results of your fast is what they're gonna see they ain't got to see you fasting they're gonna see the evidence that you have placed your face toward God 2nd chronicles 20 which trail of this reader read aloud alarmed Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord and he proclaimed a fast for the whole country Josaphat was one of the greatest kings of Israel and he was a king every time he had a problem he solved it by fasting he called the fast I am here to say we all must fast here's our mark the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from you and on that day you will fast the bridegroom has gone so we have to fast acts 13:2 read out loud while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work I come to do the church that Paul attended didn't just pray they fasted during this fast God's going to perhaps indicate to me as a leader who I should ordain that happens during a fast most of the time the people I appoint in this ministry came through a fast because God will speak to you and give you discernment of things that you cannot get with a full stomach Paul was chosen his name was changed a song I mean to Paul his soul was chosen during a fast by his church to go out acts 14 to read Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust Paul understood that prayer wasn't enough when it comes down to choosing people you better get some power discern people design the spirit world and hear God's voice some of you want to get married someone say they love you going too fast I'm serious gotta clean you up fast cuz your head and your flesh look up uncle you up you know sama he laughing I'm talking most you can get you can get the punker right up people say I love you because when you wake up in the morning you realize what is this and I'm serious you gotta you gotta get God's voice when you choosing people in your life sometimes you offered a position on a job and it looks good they tell them give me a couple of days and then go on a fast we don't do those things that's called that is called inquiring of the Lord let me go and consider it let me go let me call anybody has except God what you think would you take what you think guys and you never came to me you'd making choices that would affect your life you need to inquire of the Lord thank you once again for listening to this message as we hope that it has been a blessing to you our goal is to show you new paths and opportunities so that you can discover your purpose it is your love support and partnership that makes Monroe global possible please visit us online at you

Channel: Munroe Global

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Keywords: myles munroe, dr myles munroe, munroe, myles, munroe global, motivational, inspirational, motivation, inspiration, kingdom, leadership, purpose, character, speaker, author, consultant, bahamas, nassau bahamas, the bahamas, food for thought, educational, learning, self help, personal development, album, speakers, teach me, planning and change, crisis, Azusa, conference, global, teaching, ruth munroe, charisa munroe, mylesjr, myles munroe jr, next generation, the legacy of purpose, legacy, prayer

Id: 53nuAnFzIEE

Length: 85min 36sec (5136 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 02 2020