By Jentezen Franklin (source: ENJOYING EVERYDAY LIFE - Joyce Meyer Ministries DECEMBER 2011 Magazine Issue)
Sometimes it seems like our relationship with God is distant. Have you ever felt empty, like you were in a spiritual desert? When you get in a dry spiritual desert, one of the greatest things you can do is fast.
I'm sure you have a lot of questions about fasting. Most people do. Basically, fasting is telling God you want to be with Him more than you want to spend time with other people. It's focusing all your attention on Him alone. When you fast it feeds your spirit and helps you grow closer to God. Most of the time we do the opposite, we neglect our spirit to feed our flesh.
All the greats of the Bible fasted. Moses, David, Nehemiah, Daniel, Elijah, Paul, Peter, even Jesus Himself.
In the first days of his earthly ministry Jesus went through a dry desert. However, when He fasted His way out of that dry desert place, the Bible says in Luke 4 ' He returned in the power of the Spirit." You see, fasting will ignite the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
All the greats of the Bible fasted. Moses, David, Nehemiah, Daniel, Elijah, Paul, Peter, even Jesus Himself.
In the first days of his earthly ministry Jesus went through a dry desert. However, when He fasted His way out of that dry desert place, the Bible says in Luke 4 ' He returned in the power of the Spirit." You see, fasting will ignite the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
Following His fast, Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man and set him free. When you fast God will send ministry opportunities your way because, through the wilderness experience of fasting, you've become even prepared and equipped for ministry. God wants to connect with people He sends across your path so they can be encouraged and set free.
That's why prayer is not always enough. As Jesus said in Mark 9:29, " This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Sometimes deliverance requires both prayer and fasting.
That's why prayer is not always enough. As Jesus said in Mark 9:29, " This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Sometimes deliverance requires both prayer and fasting.
Fasting Makes You Hungry for Good Things
First of all, fasting is not a requirement, it is a choice. Whenever a believer chooses to begin a spiritual fast, he or she makes a choice to break out of the routine a set amount of time - maybe one day or several days - in order to draw closer to God. I am more convinced than ever that fasting is a gateway through which God releases His supernatural power into our lives. The choice is ours: We can either open that gateway or ignore it and keep on going in our routines.
Fasting is dethroning " King Stomach". And in case you don't know who King Stomach is, just move this magazine out of the way and introduce yourself. You've probably already heard him rumble in disagreement a time or two since you began reading this article.
Fasting makes you hungry for what really matters in life. You realize that nothing else will satisfy. Can you say, " I want the Bread of Life more than anything else because everything else leaves me hungry?" If that is not true in your life then it is time to fast and pray until the hunger arises.
One of the biggest problems in the Church today is that we are so full of everything the world has to offer, we have nothing to offer a starving world.
Fasting makes you hungry for what really matters in life. You realize that nothing else will satisfy. Can you say, " I want the Bread of Life more than anything else because everything else leaves me hungry?" If that is not true in your life then it is time to fast and pray until the hunger arises.
One of the biggest problems in the Church today is that we are so full of everything the world has to offer, we have nothing to offer a starving world.
How to Break Free from Spiritual Boredom
What do you do when your passion for the Lord is barely a flickering ember instead of a consuming flame? Has the busyness of life reduced serving the Lord to just one more appointment to keep on the weekly calendar, falling somewhere between work, meals and getting the kids to school? Do you find yourself getting frustrated or angry in your relationships with family and friends? Have you grown dull?
Trudging through our daily routines in our own strength wears us down and we lose the edge of the Holy Spirit speaking into our situations. When we lose that touch of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we become ineffective and even dangerous.
Fasting helps you regain the edge in your life. It's a lot like sharpening an ax. You can't just keep swinging at trees with a dull ax. You have to take time to sharpen it. Declaring a spiritual fast interrupts the dulling effects of life's routines. Ultimately, fasting helps you get closer to God, which prepares you to accomplish much more through the power of the Holy Spirit than you could accomplish through your own limited strength.
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JENTEZEN FRANKLIN is a Senior Pastor of Free Chapel, which has locations in Gainesville, Georgia and Irvine, California. His ministry reaches millins through the internationally televised broadcast, Kingdom Connection. A popular speaker and authrou, his books include " Fasting", and his newest release "Fear Fighters." He and wife, Cherise, have been married twenty-two years and have five children.
jentzenfranklin.org
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