(Article by Ray Leonard)
Faith makes everything possible. Faith ‘UNLOCKS EVERY DOOR’, and opens to the Believer ‘EVERY OPPORTUNITY.
Without ‘prayer ‘Faith Cannot Function‘. When prayer can reach no farther faith is limited and there are prayers that won’t be answered.
There are some miracles that will never happen without prayer AND ‘FASTING‘. Some situations will never be reversed without that combination.
Fasting combined with your Prayers ‘SHARPENS‘ your expectancy so that when you ask, you expect to receive.
“Just speak the word in faith, we have heard over and over again. That ‘IS NOT’ A WRONG TEACHING; BUT IT IS ‘ALSO NOT A COMPLETE TEACHING’.
Let us understand that not only is ‘PRAYER’ a teaching from God’s Word, but fasting is ‘also’. Jesus when speaking about fasting said, “WHEN YOU FAST, – NOT IF YOU FAST” (Matt. 6:17).
Jesus expects His children to not only pray, but to fast also.
Isaiah 58 is the Great Fasting book and chapter of the bible. (Isaiah 58:6) says, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness? To undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke….9….THEN SHALL YOU CALL, AND THE LORD SHALL ANSWSER; YOU SHALL CRY, AND HE SHALL SAY, “HERE I AM”.
If the heavens are brass and our prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back, and if we’re His children, then Fasting may well be the missing ingredient. God says, when you fast and call upon me, you’ll be surprised at My quick and instant response, “HERE I AM”. It’s not praying and waiting for days, weeks, or even months to get an answer, the answer will be so quick it will pleasantly surprise you. (Now, of course there are exceptions to this for various reasons, but the basic premise is when you fast (and you’re not sinning) you will get quick answers to very difficult situations.
Note Carefully: FASTING, in biblical terms is not what most of us think fasting is. Tradition may tell us that partial eating is fasting. I will fast eating just fruit, or vegetables, or maybe I won’t eat any meat, or I’ll fast Television, or sports or something else I enjoy.
But, I’m sorry to inform you, but that’s what the Bible tells us fasting is. Fasting is total abstinence from food, but not water. When you fast it is not putting any food in your mouth for a day, or two or three days or more.
Of course you can fast one meal a day and pray, and God will honor such a fast. You can lay aside something you enjoy and pray and draw close to God, which pleases Him, and it certainly will be beneficial, but Biblical fasting is the most powerful and acceptable way to fast before the Lord.
(Matthew 17:15-21) “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatick, and sore vexed. for he often falls into the fire and often he falls into the water, and I brought him to your disciples and they could NOT cure him.
Then Jesus answered and said, “Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me.
And Jesus rebuked him; and he departed out of him, and the child was healed that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus privately, and asked, “Why couldn’t we cast him out?” And Jesus said unto them, “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 yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit, this kind goes not out but by ‘PRAYER AND FASTING“.
In other words Jesus is telling His disciples that there are some smaller, weaker demons that can simply be cast out by a word of command, or a prayer and a command, ‘HOWEVER, THERE ARE SOME VERY POWERFUL TYPES OF DEMONS THAT CANNOT BE CAST OUT BY PRAYER ALONE, BUT BY PRAYER…. AND …. ‘FASTING’.
Again notice, that Jesus answered His disciples question, “Why couldn’t we cast this spirit out?, and Jesus answered them, “Because of your ‘UNBELIEF’, but then he continued by saying, “HOWBEIT, this kind goes not out but by ‘prayer and ‘FASTING’, making it very clear that if Unbelief was the cause of their failure to cast that spirit out, that ‘FASTING WAS DEFINITLY THE SOLUTION FOR REMOVING THEIR UNBELIEF AND BUILDING A FAITH WITHOUT MIXTURE THAT COULD CAST THAT DEMON OUT.
There’s something about fasting that increases the power and intensity of our faith. It’s God’s heavenly tool to add to our prayers to increase it’s effectiveness, even to the point of getting that miracle that prayer alone cannot achieve.
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