What Is Fasting?
Imagine the owner of a large, lively factory strolls onto the busy production floor to deliver a companywide announcement. Instead of competing with the various sounds, he dims the lights, pauses the machines, and asks that all employees cease working and remain quiet while he speaks. With their full attention engaged, don’t you think the employees would be able to clearly hear the voice of their leader?
Well, the human mind and body run like factories—complex, multifaceted, bustling and rowdy factories. From internal and external feelings to sights, sounds, distracting thoughts, smells and everything in between, the body and mind endlessly roar like engines and are bombarded by reminders that they are subject to the influences of the physical world.
Why Sunday Matters:
Because Unrested people make bad decisions.
The wisdom you give your children is the wisdom they will pull on when life hits them with unexpected circumstances—do not set them up to fail by negating their spiritual education (Deuteronomy 11:19). Extracurricular activities are great, but the spiritual aspect of a person’s life must also be attended to. Let it be a joy to teach your children the Word at home, and go to church, even if not every time you go to church is a joy. Do it as unto the Lord, and let your kids see your own discipline ruling your life.
Sunday matters because rest matters. When we took God’s day and made it like every other day, not only did we remove the consistent and regular teachings we need to do life right, but we also gave up the basic physical need to take a true rest.
Not rest from moving, but rest from the regular activities of the week.
We cannot live without pause. The Lord’s Day gives us an opportunity to pause—to rest in Him and reflect on Him, and that gives our mind a break. It rejuvenates our spirit. We’re here to live a good life and enjoy the life God gave us, and to help others. But it’s hard to think about helping others and reaching the world with the Good News if we are not taking care of ourselves—and it is very hard to take care of yourself if you don’t allow yourself that day to rest and reflect upon the Lord. Just like our body gets depleted, our spiritual reserves can get depleted.
Society is doggedly trying to live outside of God. But we only tax our mental and physical reserves when we try to live outside of God and do not take a day to rest before Him. God’s order is good for the human mind, body, and spirit.
To combat this constant bombardment, fasting—a sacrificial act—is the intentional refraining from food or other comforts. At the same time, we submit those desires to God and position ourselves to clearly communicate with Him and experience breakthrough. When we choose to fast, it allows God to come in. It’s a time to silence the clamour within, allowing everything to quiet so we can hear Him speak to us.
The flesh thrives on noise, activity, competition and busyness. The spirit thrives on silence, stillness, solitude and scripture.
“It is important for you to understand that it is not the fasting itself that brings the deliverance. Jesus has already obtained deliverance through the complete work of Redemption. The Holy Spirit, who lives inside of you, knows how to pray in order to bring the deliverance Jesus has already provided. Fasting simply brings the spirit man, which is in union with the Holy Spirit, into ascendance over the flesh. It also limits the physical appetites so that you can more effectively hear from and respond to the Spirit. This enhances intercession. And effective, Holy Spirit-led intercession sets the captives free! Fasting is not a method of twisting God’s arm to get Him to respond when you pray. Fasting does not change God. It changes you.” (Brother Kenneth Copeland)
We are Here.
Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV
Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
- (KJV) Gross
- (AMPC) Dense
- (ESV) Thick
- (NLT) Darkness as thick as night
Look at what has been happening in our nation and in the nations.
- Anti-God decisions are being made – Darkness.
- Attacks on our children with what they are being forced to learn in schools – Darkness.
- Personal attacks on our families – Darkness.
The devil is pushing gross darkness very hard.
But we have a secret weapon.
That secret weapon is a corporate, proclaimed fast.
Joel 2:15-16 NLT —A Proclaimed Fast
“Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Gather all the people—the elders, the children, and even the babies. Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.
A proclaimed fast is when believers come together for the purpose of turning around serious situations.
Together, we set our faces towards God to receive significant breakthroughs.
Disaster Averted Through a Proclaimed Fast
Jonah 1:1-2 NKJV
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Jonah 3:1-6 NKJV
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
Sackcloth and ashes refer to acts of humility.
Psalm 35:13 NKJV
“…I humbled myself with fasting.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Jonah 3:7-8 NKJV
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Verse 10
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
We are proclaiming a 21-day fast – Monday, February 5 through Sunday, February 25.
You Might Be Asking, “Why 21 Days?”
Daniel 10:2-3 NKJV
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
We call this “A Daniel Fast.”
“Pleasant bread” in our day refers to what we enjoy eating, doing, or viewing.
Pleasant Bread (HEB) = bread of desires
(AMPC) Desirable food
(ESV) Delicacies
(NLT) Rich food
(MSG) I ate only plain and simple food — no seasoning.
The key is to lay aside what the flesh craves for 21 days.
Spend that extra time feeding your spirit.
We also set those things aside in order to let God and our flesh know just how serious we are to see the desired results.
There are serious issues we are facing that will take extra time.
So we are preparing our minds and hearts for the season of fasting.
I am asking each member of our congregation and team and those watching online to pray and seek God for what He is asking each one of us to lay aside during this time.
Take this time to allow the noise to be silenced, so His voice can be heard more clearly.
Allow God to pinpoint the things He’s asking you to surrender.
Establish the Purpose of the Fast
Matthew 6:16-18 NKJV
“Moreover, when you fast (not IF you fast), do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly.
What are we fasting for?
Seven Primary Prayer Targets
As we move into a corporate fast, we want to be very intentional about why we are doing it. So, we are aiming this time of fasting like an arrow at seven primary targets.
- Preparation for what is coming.
- An Awakening to God in the Body of Christ.
- An Awakening to God in South Africa and the Nations.
- An Awakening to God in Israel.
- The 2024 Elections.
- Ministry Breakthroughs.
- Personal Breakthroughs.
Preparation for what is coming
We are living in the best of times and the worst of times.
2024 is the year of more and more. More finances. More healings. More miracles. More outpourings. More people coming to Jesus. More things happening.
And we need to prepare ourselves to receive it and walk in it.
2024 will also be rough for those who don’t walk by faith and live prepared.
Why do emergency responders respond so quickly? Because they stay ready and stay prepared.
We need to prepare ourselves for what is coming.
Matthew 25:1-13 NKJV
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
A corporate, proclaimed fast positions us for breakthrough.