Why Should We Engage in Prayer and Fasting - Wednesday Service

[Music] father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you lord that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force and father i pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me and all of you it's in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen well welcome to another wednesday night uh bible study we're coming to the end of the year and uh i want to take some time to uh you know we've been on this study for oh nearly a little over two months and i pray that you're moving from prayer to communion and this is so very important but i want to i don't want to end this series without teaching you the relationship between fasting and prayer we've heard it mentioned throughout our lives and ah i'm going to challenge your thinking where that is concerned i'm going to challenge your tradition where that is concerned and um i do want to make a distinction between fasting and prayer uh under the law and the prophets you know uh you know what jesus began to teach us about fasting and prayer so i i i want to call this if you need a a a a title i want to call it why should we engage in prayer and fasting why should we engage in prayer and fasting now prayer and fasting doesn't move the devil and it doesn't move god now listen to me prayer and fasting doesn't move the devil and doesn't move god god has already given the disciples all the power they need on heaven and earth so those are some very strong comments at the very beginning of this so i want to start off in matthew chapter 17 verse 14 through 21 and i think by starting here we can go and revisit just those first two comments that i made and i think you'll understand it a lot better all right verse 14 matthew 17 verse 14 and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying so he's approaching the disciples and verse 15 said he said lord have mercy on my son for he's a lunatic and sore vexed he says oftentimes he falleth into the fire and often into the water and i brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him think of that he says i bought them to the disciples and they could not cure him then jesus answered and said o faithless and perverse generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i suffer you bring him hither to me so he bought them to the disciples and the disciples looked at this condition he was in and and i'm sure that affected their faith because of what they saw and you know jesus is now addressing that old faithless and perverse generation how long shall i be with you how long shall i suffer you bring him hither to me in verse 18 and jesus rebuked the devil now that's interesting the condition that this young boy had jesus went right to the source and he rebuked the devil pause for a moment when's the last time you rebuked the devil you know you have that authority matthew chapter 10 says the bible says to cast out devils rebuke the devil some some of you just let him just just have his way and you have the authority to rebuke him here's i like to define the word rebuke like this stop no more that that's what it means and some of you need to use your authority to say to the devil stop no more when you see situations going on in your life with your children with your finances in your physical body rebuke the devil stop no more now so jesus did that and and and you know what happened and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then came the disciples to jesus apart after all this was over with and they said why could we not cast them out at least they asked they said man we saw what you did that was that was amazing why could we not cast them out and some of you may be in the same situation i i don't understand why i couldn't do this particular thing and jesus said unto them he answers them right away because of your unbelief he said the issue here is an issue of unbelief because of your unbelief for verily i say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say unto this mountain remove hence to younger place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting now the issue is when he said this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting most most christians immediately will say here that he's referring to the demon he is not referring to the demon the demon wasn't the issue unbelief was the issue how come we couldn't cast them out he said because of your unbelief but this kind of unbelief is not going to be dealt with except by prayer and fasting now when you when you when you uh interpret this as referring to the demon rather than the unbelief then i can see you right now oh i can't i can't cast that devil out i got to go fast and pray before i cast it out well i mean how about if you're in a situation you know you're going to show up and you didn't you got time to go fast and pray he's not talking about the demon he's talking about unbelief this kind of unbelief doesn't go out except by prayer and fasting the solution to this kind of unbelief which was the problem the problem the reason why you disciples couldn't do this was because of your unbelief and the only way to deal with your unbelief is by prayer and fasting and while they abold in uh in gentiles the son of man shall be betrayed on him so here's the part i want you to see i thought all my life man i there are some people that cast out devils because they pray and they fast and and that that that's not what he was referring to he was referring to the unbelief not not the devil now let's go back to that first statement i made prayer and fasting doesn't move the devil and prayer and fasting doesn't move god and so a lot of people they pray and they fast man surely if we pray and fast for 50 days we can move god no god's already moved see god has already given the disciples all power in heaven and in earth they had all power in heaven and in earth over the devil look at luke chapter 10 to verify this statement now now remember don't don't hold on to the tradition of how you believed uh and what you thought about prayer and fasting because if you do you're gonna miss a great opportunity to be delivered if you're holding on too well that ain't how i heard it and that's not how i was taught well that's just what it is you gotta you gotta learn how to rightly divide the word and and and understand what he's saying here the the devil was not the the topic here that the unbelief was the topic here look what he said in luke 10 19. um said behold i give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall bind any means hurt you so you see the word power twice the first word power was i give unto you authority to have absolute mastery over serpents and scorpions and i give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy so you already the disciples already had authority over the enemy they didn't need to fast for it all they need to do is believe it and receive it and exercise it you you don't have to fast for more authority over the demon he'd already given you authority over all of the ability of the devil and nothing will by and any means hurt you okay and so that was certainly not the case so we must learn how to release what god has already given us versus trying to get god to do and and to give us and to give us more or trying to get god to do well you know what he's already done we got to learn how to release what god has already given us god's already given us power and authority we've got to learn how to do that versus trying to get god to give us more and we're trying to get you you hear that a lot in church more god more god more more god more of you they sing songs more and more and more he's already given you all you're going to need and so we got to learn how to believe that so when god calls us and when god called us whatever he called you to he gave us all the anointing we're ever gonna get man i had to learn this the hard way i used to spend time on the weekends i mean shucking the corn man on my face spitting all on the floor praying and all that because i was trying to get god to give me more anointing and i remember when i got choked up he he says i've already anointed you he in other words what you are in this room trying to get me to do i've already done it you got you got all you gonna ever get so you need to learn how to believe it you need to learn how to use it well what fasting and prayer does it affects your senses fasting and prayer affects your senses to bring them into line so that for example when you see a boy falling on the ground like the disciples they saw him falling on the ground and spitting up and all that stuff and they saw him wallowing and foaming he says what will happen is you don't immediately you don't immediately think it didn't work god didn't heal him see fascinating prayer works on your souls and senses so you won't you won't go by what you saw so when you fast and pray is to get your mind and your soul in line with the word regardless of your senses regardless of what you see that boy foaming at the mouth on the ground won't move you because you believe that what i just released my authority for will happen now if you've got a problem believing that he says you need to fast and pray because fasting will correct your your unbelief fasting will cause your senses to begin to line up with the word of god literally so you you've brought your senses when you fast and pray you bring them into subjection so they'll respond to your spirit and your spirit dictates to them instead of them dictating to your spirit your spirit now begins to talk to your senses and say don't be moved by what you see don't be moved by what you hear only be moved by what you believe now fasting and prayer if you find that you are being moved by what you see and that what falling on the ground and foaming at the mouth and you're like wait a minute now i believe that that that devil came out and i believe that what i said was but now he don't your show don't look like it no fasting and praying will cause your spirit to bring your senses in subjection to into subjection uh to it and so your spirit starts dictating uh to your senses rather than your senses dictating to your spirit whoo boy amen so you don't use fasting to change god god's already moved by grace we don't have to move him god's already moved you well our church is fasting for 60 days well why because we gonna move god well he's already moved your fasting's not going to move god you're fast god's already decided to do what he's done and he's already done it and so in the church we we've been kind of accustomed to saying i'm fasting and praying so i can move god god's already moved well when did he move he moved 2 000 years ago he's already moved so fastening and praying will not move god because god's already moved it's ourselves that we're moving by fasting and praying it's ourselves that we're moving by fasting and praying i'm moving myself from unbelief to belief i'm moving my self from my senses to spirit i'm moving myself from from from that place of oh doubt to that place of complete faith and when you're having issues in your in your mind and in your soul with believing god you need to go on a fast see if god isn't on your on our side by what jesus did our fasting and praying is going to add the finished touch to that we need to we need to uh well it's not going to add the finished touch to that let me say that again i want to make sure you didn't misunderstand this if god isn't on our side by what jesus did see god's on my side because of what jesus did god is on my side and god's got my back because of what jesus did see if he's not on your side because of what jesus did fasting and prayer is not going to add you know the finished touch to that god's on my side because of what jesus did god's not on my side because i decided to fast for three days god's on my side before i i decided to fast god's on my fast god's on my side and fasting's not gonna put the finishing touches to that i believe what jesus did that's why god's on my side you see what i'm saying see we need to fast because of carnality not to move god the word carnality the root word there is carnal and it literally means of the senses of the five senses that we have and so what happens you're you're you're fasting because of carnality you're fasting because you are allowing your senses to govern your life and the way to get delivered from carnality is by fasting and praying and that fasting and praying is moving you how moving you in a position where you're lining up with god moving you in a position where you're believing the finished works of jesus glory be to god and so we can look at our lives and see areas of carnality where our body and our senses have been dictating to us yeah you can look at your life and see where your body and your senses have been dictated to you you don't believe me look at your gut look at your gut that your gut is pure evidence that your your body and your senses have been talking to you and have been have been been dictating to you so if you can't control your eating you're also having trouble when you try to release your faith i ain't trying to mess with you and your hamburger but that is the truth if you cannot control your eating somehow that area where you lack control is going to translate over into another area okay of your life i had to realize this i was the original cookie monster and uh i found these uh oatmeal raisin cookies at whole foods and they were real big and they were soft and old when they were hot it was just oh it was just so so i started eating them and then i found that my body would talk to me every time i'd i'd land in new york go buy whole foods and get them cookies and and and then i realized wherever there was a whole food you can get them cookies and i'd go to get them cookies and my body was dictating to me and i'm talking tonight and i i really i became addicted to oatmeal cookies and i thought wow somebody just laugh about that and but it's like how am i gonna overcome in spiritual matters and i can't even overcome oatmeal cooking that is so close to something called idolatry idolatry is where you replace god or you move god out of first place in your life and you put something else in that place and it's not really the issue of somebody asked me one time well you know is is is smoking weed wrong is doing this wrong or doing that and and my my answer was god's desire is for you not to be enslaved by anything and think about that you're the one with a free free free moral agency you have a right to choose and you've turned a part of your life over to be enslaved by something or someone something or someone and here i am man of faith and i am i am a slave to a cookie it it doesn't sound like a serious deal a cookie but it gets real serious now when that cookie goes down here and now all of a sudden you know you're enslaved into to your anger and you're enslaved to you know losing it here and losing it there and and you're enslaved to self-centeredness and all of that was able to happen because you would not take authority over the cooking oh i realized i had power i'm gonna fast and pray that i can say no to the cookie and that began my journey of health and fitness is like i'm i can i can take care of this i can do this i don't have to be the person in my generation in my family to die you know when i was 55 when i turned 55 i you know it was a really weird day for me because i knew a lot of people in my family that died around that age 55 and i took authority that day and i went on a fast and i prayed and i took authority over my senses dictating to me about things they should not be dictating to me about so if for example let me use this as an example so let's say for example you pray for healing and you still feel the pain and your body says to you i must not be healed well i experienced that you know when the doctor diagnosed me with cancer i prayed for healing and and and i still felt certain things i'm like well i must not be healed i couldn't pay attention to my that's my body talking to me that's my senses talking to me i must not be healed based on what based on the last report based on the last test no no i would not change what i believed i'm not going to do it i don't care what it looks like i don't care what the report says i don't i'm not going to do it and that's where i became a fight and i made my mind of see if i don't get that under control i'm gonna be dead somewhere the word of god works i know i'm not walking around fearful that the word won't work i gotta be careful not to let my body take control of something and so then uh you you you say body you you speak to your body you i did i told it to shut up and uh i'm gonna believe god and the body says you can't tell me to shut up you don't control me in in any other area and i said okay here what we're going to do you ain't going to eat till you shut up yeah that's where that fasting and prayer comes yeah you ain't eating nothing until you shut up yeah after about a meal or two my body okay all right you're healed that's what this is for and we've got to put it in the right place the body says you know i'll throw a fit and then i'll you know if you're a kid i'll throw a fit and i'll get what i want see our bodies are the exact same way how can we expect them to reject what they feel and operate in in faith when they have never ever been taught to reject anything and we've got to do that our bodies have been indulged and we just say yes to everything yes to the cookie yes to the adultery yes to the lying you see where it starts and and and until you give the uncomfortable feeling i know this is very practical till you give the uncomfortable feeling to your body that says ah it's not happening you know just cause temptation comes doesn't mean you've got to say yes to it the grace of god will teach you how to say no and to live a godly life if it wants something then you just you know well i'm gonna feed it what it wants well i need some me time well you know i this is just my truth and and and i'm gonna do what i feel like it cuz you know you only go around once yeah you tell yourself all that and all you're doing is opening the door up for that just graduate from one place it'll go from the cookie you know to the cocaine because you don't understand that you have a very powerful powerful something you can turn to called prayer and fasting and help to deliver you out of that situation i mean if you do that i guarantee that your body will dictate uh you know what won't dictate to you the things that it used to dictate to you uh because you know about fasting and prayer and you know the power that comes when you begin to fast and you begin to pray let's look at a couple of things uh in matthew chapter four and four i hope you got that that that's that's basically what i have come to discover where fasting is concerned i was uh i was always fasting looking for the big event uh and and i didn't realize that god operates secretly and quietly and you know you fast and all of a sudden that's that fight goes away with your body and you know we just got we got to just get away from some of these fables some of these fables that we've created now i'm sure some of you you're watching me right now well what about this scripture and you're over there in the law and the prophets that the bible says end it with john the baptist trying to convince me that what i'm teaching is not correct because you didn't found some old testament scripture or a scripture under the law and you're not seeing what jesus is trying to tell us right now jesus is trying to tell us and prepare us for the new covenant by saying unbelief is going to be the biggest issue because when jesus died on the cross he died for everything except unbelief unbelief why why didn't he die for unbelief because you are a free moral agent and you make a decision to believe or not to believe and so unbelief cannot be listen to me carefully unbelief cannot be forgiven of but it can be repented of to repent means to change your mind about something now what you say unbelief can't be forgiven of why because how are you going to forgive somebody and they don't even believe in forgiveness unbelief how are you going to heal somebody and they don't even believe in god to heal them but now if you'll repent of your unbelief and say oh i believe then god can come in and do what needs to be done unbelief is the issue you know people somebody says well i don't know why people go to hell i do they go to hell because they don't believe in in jesus as the sin sacrifice and they won't receive him as the sacrifice for their sin unbelief uh well what what about the unpardonable sin you know what the unpardonable sin is unbelief is it what what it's unbelief it's the only thing god has decided not to override you are a man you are a woman you have been given a right to choose you are a free moral agent you make a decision and god will not take that from you it is a basic human right for you to be able to make a decision he says i place before you life or death i placed blessing or cursing and he said you choose and then he gave us a hint he said choose life choose life so that just you and your seek can prosper but god's not going to choose for you god's not going to decide for you you can listen you can decide that you don't want to believe nothing jesus has done and and god will love you and escort you all the way up to the gates of hell if that's your choice that's that's that's a huge deal that's a huge deal and the whole new testament is about your choice to believe jesus to believe the finished works to believe the authority that he is given to you and somebody says oh but brother i struggle with that well you need to go on a fast you need to go on a fast bring that body into subjection bring that body to a place where it is not flowing with the dictates of your senses but it is flowing with what thus saith the lord and it lines up with what and so now what does fasting do it'll move you to line up in agreement with what jesus said and what jesus has done well i know i know manny here it is in these these some of you getting ready to go into january and you think dear god what the world that man said that sounds like heresy to me i never heard that ever before in my life well just cause you had never heard it before doesn't mean it's wrong don't let your tradition caused the word of god to be of no effect amen well i don't believe well fine then go on the 30-day fast and die and you know get before god let him tell you what i'm trying to tell you right now say amen i probably need to repent for what i just said but anyway you you need to hear what i'm talking about man look at this matthew 4 4 he said but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but he lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god and then look at proverbs chapter 4 and 22 proverbs chapter 4 and 22. he said for they are life unto those that find them well let's start at verse 21 let them words not depart from thy eyes keep them in the midst of thy heart for they referring to the words are life unto those that find them and they are health to your flesh the word is health to your flesh but your body if if it is led by your sensory mechanism your body will either agree with your carnal mind your senses or your body will be in a position to agree with the word of god and you have to take authority over your physical body the word can actually give physical strength to you so what about prayer then we hear about fasting what about prayer prayer does the same thing fasting does it causes your natural man to to rebel against those things that try to go against god it doesn't satisfy the senses it forces them to get under control especially when you pray in tongues especially when you pray in tongues i'm telling you you have spent a considerable amount of time praying in tongues you will know your body trying to go to sleep and your body trying to your mind wandering off and and all this kind of stuff yeah yeah you can train yourself man you can train yourself to to begin to walk in these spiritual things look here my time's up i oh i wish i had more time we will dig into this at another time i pray that you've gotten something out of this series prayer into communion and i pray that it'll bless and change your life now listen to me somebody says well i still don't read what you said well don't don't just take that and put it aside if i told you 20 things you agree with and then one you got a problem with then don't throw me away take the 20 things that's all right what you take to one and put it on the shelf until you can eat off on it and then one day you'll see what i'm saying quit doing that quit being like a baby you know dear god i i don't like what he said i'm through with him forever would you grow up grow up the grace of god's got to mean a lot more than you just get mad because you don't understand something god will give you to understand he'll help you he'll help you the word's true and it's right and it's been rightly divided and it'll bless you one day there are things i've had to put on the shelf and you know what i felt so funny when i put them things on the shelf and then two three years went down the road and i'm like dear god they were right and i was so sure that i was right and got down there and started growing and maturing and i looked at that and i'm like oh wow now i see so don't be so quick to throw away your brother or sister or or me because you don't see something right now just well praise the lord let me put that on the shelf and i'm gonna work on that tomorrow and pray about it and look at it and study it out and you'll end up getting more of what i got you'll end up getting more than what you got praise god anyway it's uh it's always a privilege to take the time to share the word of god with you and uh i pray this has blessed you and so if you need to go on a fast if you if you realize that your body is just out of control and you realize that you're lining up more with your senses than you are with the word of god going fast well how long do you need to fast until your body quit uh doing what it does just say no you're going to either agree with the word or you know you ain't going to have no pancakes until you agree with the word i guarantee you everybody be ready to line up real quick amen somebody says well it might take 50 days boy you in bad shape if it takes 50 days you know i'm not gonna give you no time you're looking for a rule you're looking for a law you will know when just just you know at least you know breakfast or lunch or something like that but do something don't just let your body tell you what to do and tell you how to live and tell you what to accept i'm not moved by what i see i'm not moved by what i hear i'm moved by the word of god and fasting help line you up in agreement with the word of god father we thank you for this time and i pray that something that came out of this teaching will revolutionize somebody's life and they'll never be the same again we give you praise for it in jesus mighty name amen now listen if you're here and you're you're part of this this uh bible study tonight you've never made jesus the lord of your life i want you to say this prayer after me give your life to him come on let's do it heavenly father i realize that i'm a sinner but right now i repent of all of my sins i believe jesus is lord i ask him to come into my heart to be my lord and my personal savior right now by faith i declare that i am saved thank you lord for saving me in jesus name amen now if you prayed that prayer i want you to go ahead and and i want you to text i'm saved that's one word to 51555 give me your name and email and i'll send you a free ebooks something that'll help you out in your new walk with christ and again congratulations you know at this time we have an opportunity to really go before god and complete our worship go before god and and remind ourselves of the many times that god has delivered us out of situations in our life and i'm and i'm in constance reminding remembrance of of what the lord has said uh to us in his word and as you begin to understand what god says in his word and believe for the goodness of the lord in the land of the living then you begin to be a partaker of all that god has made available to you and so as we receive our offering tonight you know it's always up to you but make sure you never become someone who gives grudgingly you know god you know talks about to not give grudgingly and to not give out of necessity but give out of a cheerful heart and let that be your motivation so if you're giving through text you can text world changers space and the amount to 74483 you can call that number that's on your screen you can mail to the address it's right there on your screen [Music] or you can log on to worldchanges.org and you can give online or make use of a paypal account if you have it thank you so much for you know what you've done this year this year has been challenging and i have learned that it it it it takes more faith to close a building down and still believe in the church and our building's been closed but the churches at home have hopefully been strengthened by the power of god and his might and so we love you as we prepare to go into a new year as we prepare to see how god has restored and done some amazing things in our lives it has been a privilege to be with you throughout the year and uh to my staff and everybody that came together in the world changes nation to make sure that uh our members and friends will constantly be fed the word of god and encouraged and we are encouraged um god brought us this far and we made it through and now it's time for recovery and restoration and so we love you we pray that these bible studies have inspired you it's been an amazing thing to have this contact and connection with you and i pray that you have grown spiritually and that your emotions are intact and that you are experiencing some supernatural things in your life taffy and i love you we could not have made it uh throughout this year without you and we're grateful and so we'll see what the new year brings it's gonna bring a lot of good stuff a lot of amazing things hey you guys have an amazing epic evening and we'll see you next time now unto him who's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen good night

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 62,526

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: slHebYTX_gg

Length: 37min 51sec (2271 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 30 2020