What a timely confirmation of the word I had received from the Lord about this being a battle for life.
That same year, we were miraculously given a second church campus. It was a five-acre parcel of land with a church sanctuary, a sports field and a gymnasium that belonged to a Church of Christ church whose ministry had died. The pastor decided we were the church that should have it. We received the campus, remodeled it in nine months with cash and then turned it into a place of life and healing. This forty-year dream that covered two generations was now being realized—and it was a breakthrough that came through prayer and fasting.
When we are not strong enough to break a spiritual barrier through normal means, we need to add fasting to our prayers. When the disciples could not deliver a young boy with a demonic spirit, Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, explaining, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29 NKJV). When you have a “this kind” in your life, it is time to pray and get weak through fasting. Mike Bickle, of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, calls fasting voluntary weakness. Through fasting, we sow into weakness with our physical bodies and then reap in power (see Isaiah 40:29; 1 Corinthians 15:43).
Pastor Sunday Adelaja from Ukraine has experienced this. He led his people to fast and pray up to three weeks at a time because they needed the power of God to overcome persecution they faced from their government. As a result of their fasting and prayers, the Ukraine government gave them land to build a church1—something unheard of in their country.
Recognize that it is one thing to fast for a personal breakthrough, but another thing to fast for a corporate breakthrough. A corporate breakthrough is one that is needed by many people at one time. For example, the Israelites needed a corporate breakthrough from the bondage of Egypt. Today, whole cities, regions and nations need a corporate breakthrough from different kinds of demonic enslavement.
To achieve a corporate breakthrough, a God-fearing leader must call and gather the people to fast and pray. For example, when King Jehoshaphat heard a large army was coming against him, he did not move out in his own strength. He called the people to humble themselves through fasting and praying until they heard the word of the Lord. Then the Lord spoke through Jahaziel, saying, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). If you are a pastor or God-fearing leader, one of your responsibilities will be to spearhead corporate breakthrough by gathering the people to fast and pray. When God’s people humble themselves and pray, He makes a clear promise to heal their land (see 2 Chronicles 7:14).
We Receive Our Ministry and Anointing
The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 reveals the heart of God to give us more. However, our ability to increase in the things of God is in direct proportion to our ability to carry an anointing from God. King David was anointed three times, and he increased in leadership each time before he entered into his full assignment as the king of Israel.
We find something similar in the example of Jesus. Acts 10:38 tells us, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and . . . he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. To be anointed literally means to be smeared with the Holy Spirit and to be given a gift of power to accomplish a specific task.
Jesus received the Holy Spirit when He was baptized by John the Baptist. His ministry of power, however, was not birthed until after a time of fasting. After Jesus had fasted forty days in the wilderness, He then entered the synagogue and announced to the attendees what He was anointed to do. He quoted Isaiah 61, saying:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18–19
Jesus then began His ministry of power, casting out demons and healing people of diseases.
The anointing was not just reserved for Jesus. It is also reserved for us who believe in His name. Jesus said we would do greater works than He did (see John 14:12). He also said the servant is not above his master (see Matthew 10:24). But we can do greater works than Jesus only to the measure that we have been anointed by the same Holy Spirit.
This anointing is weighty. When the anointing for ministry comes to rest upon you, you may feel it rest like a weighted garment upon your person. The Bible references this as an “ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18) and “eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
This weighty anointing rests upon our flesh. Since the Bible describes the Spirit being at war with our flesh and our flesh being at war with the Spirit (see Galatians 5:17), this means that in order to sustain the anointing on our flesh, we have to put our flesh down through fasting and prayer. Through fasting, we present our bodies to Jesus as living sacrifices and prepare our flesh to be made into new wineskins, capable of receiving the outpouring of the Spirit (see Romans 12:1; Mark 2:22).
In the New Testament, we see this pattern over and over again—how an anointing for ministry was released after people spent time in prayer and fasting. The apostle Paul was fasting when God called him into his life assignment (see Acts 9:7–9). Paul and Barnabas were called to a specific ministry while they were worshiping and fasting (see Acts 13:2). Jesus, too, went on a fast before His release into full ministry (see Luke 4:1–21). Even as it concerns the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the prophet Joel had prophesied the outpouring would come in connection to a fast (see Joel 2:12). Moving forward in history, Jonathan Edwards brought revival to the American colonies before the American Revolution, and this revival outpouring came on the heels of a three-day absolute fast that caused him to vomit and gag violently.2
Fasting and prayer is that which prepares our hearts to carry more of what we were made for. The Kingdom of God is always increasing (see Isaiah 9:7). That means we, too, should always be increasing. We do this through the power of fasting and prayer.
We Can Fast Successfully
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that brings heavenly rewards. It is also a physical discipline. To fast successfully, it is important to know how to enter into and exit a fast in ways that heal your body without damaging it.
Let me tell you a story that is the opposite of a successful fast. Nearly one hundred years ago, a family gave their personal finances to purchase land for a new work in Turlock, California. The late evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson had introduced the city to the Holy Spirit, and a Spirit-filled community had emerged that needed property.
This same family’s grandson, Bill Larson, became an established citywide evangelist, with discipleship studies happening in his home nearly every night. Thousands of people were converted as a result. Bill was so zealous that he finally quit his job, choosing to trust the Lord for his provision. He wanted to reach every unsaved person he could.
This man was responsible for the conversion and discipleship of my husband, Ron, as a teenager. He found Ron smoking in a local park and led him to Christ. Bill then invited Ron to a Bible study and discipled him there. A decade later, my husband was named the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Center in Turlock, California, which we discovered later was the original property purchased by Bill’s grandparents.
Bill died at age 62 in 2015, but his legacy continues.
Do you want to know Bill’s cause of death? It is hard to believe, but he died from too much fasting. Bill fasted often, but this time he had gone past the biblical limit of forty days, and it killed him.
In our zeal for breakthrough and anointing, we need to recognize our limitations and know how to fast successfully. This is a discipline that impacts us spirit, soul and body and therefore requires thought and preparation.
Here are some guidelines to help pr
epare you for a successful fast.
1. Commit to Fasting
Fasting is never convenient and hardly something we feel like doing. But we cannot base our fasting on our feelings. Instead, we are to purpose our hearts to seek the Lord with fasting as an act of our will and out of obedience to Jesus’ instruction. Remember He said, “When you fast . . .” (Matthew 6:16), assuming it would happen.
2. Assess Your Reasons
When we pray, we worship the Lord but also seek His hand of provision. The same goes for fasting. We have already covered that God openly rewards what we do in secret. Therefore, we need to approach fasting in the knowledge of the rewards we seek. Be purposeful while fasting.
3. List the Promises
In Isaiah 58, we see that the people of God were frustrated. They were fasting and praying, but God was not responding. The reason? They were fasting in a spirit of strife and competition, and they were doing it with selfish motives. To keep ourselves from the same mistake, we will want to write down the verses that support what we are seeking in our fast. Taking this extra step forces us to evaluate our hearts and to prove things out through the Word.
4. Prepare Your Body
If you are preparing to go on an extended fast, begin limiting your food intake prior to your fast. If you gorge yourself ahead of time, your body has a more difficult time entering a normal fast.
Limit your intake of caffeine (unless you want to experience a terrific headache at the onset!). During an extended fast, many people ingest juices and broths to sustain their energy. Be sure to drink plenty of purified water, up to a gallon a day, to flush your system and eliminate poisons from your body. Signs of physical detoxification vary from person to person but typically include headaches, acne and bad breath, which pass in a few days.
After you end your fast, you should exit it the same way you entered it. I made the mistake twice to end a five-day fast with a loaded roast-beef sandwich from a nearby restaurant. I completely lost my brain with hunger, and both times I was sick to my stomach for over a week. My husband, on the other hand, takes a few days to a week to exit an extended fast, choosing light broths and soups, then vegetables, then dairy and meats last.
5. Declare Your Fast
We see in the Bible that people like Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Jeremiah and the Ninevites proclaimed their fasts and the reasons for them before the Lord. This means we do not declare our fasts within the quiet recesses of our hearts. Instead, we verbalize them out loud before the Lord, telling Him that we are fasting for a particular time frame and why we are doing it. Remember, “By your words you will be justified” (Matthew 12:37 NKJV). The declaration makes our fasting official in the courts of heaven and brings it under the covering of the Lord.
6. Pick a Friend
My best seasons of fasting have happened when I fasted with our church. I believe this is because there is more synergy, encouragement and accountability in the company of others who are doing it, too. It seems we are more successful this way. For that reason, I recommend that you conduct your personal fasts with a friend or two. That way, when one of you starts to fail at it, the other can pray and offer encouragement. Remember, “Two are better than one. . . . If either of them falls down, one can help the other up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).
7. Recognize Opposing Forces
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan throughout (see Matthew 4:1–11). We can learn from His experience how to guard ourselves when we fast.
Satan first attacked Jesus’ identity, saying, “If you are the Son of God . . .” (verse 3). When you fast, remember who you are in Christ. If you are attacked in your identity, do what Jesus did. He refuted the attack by quoting Scriptures in their proper context, thus reaffirming His identity.
Next, Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the temple, trying to trick Him into committing suicide. He said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (verse 6). I have never felt suicidal during a fast, but I often experience high emotionalism or extreme thinking. Things I thought I forgave might come to the surface, or I will take something personally that normally would not bother me. This is a time to be self-aware and to have a plan to help you get through this kind of weakness if you are susceptible.
Finally, Satan tried to attack Jesus’ relationship with God, saying, “Bow down and worship me” (verse 9). This attack from Satan during a fast usually shows up as despair, discouragement or feelings of distance from God. Again we learn from Jesus that our relationship with God is based not on feelings but on the written Word, as Jesus quoted Scripture back to the devil each and every time.
There are great rewards to fasting—spiritual, emotional and physical rewards. Through fasting, we subdue the voice of our flesh and increase our spiritual sensitivity. We hear the voice of God better and begin to discern the spirit realm more accurately. Discerning the spirit realm allows us to pray more effectively because we can pray more intelligently. For us to discern well, the Holy Spirit releases a powerful gift, called the discerning of spirits. Let us turn to that gift next in our study of intercessory prayer.
Kingdom Prayer Principles
Biblical fasting is refraining from food for a spiritual purpose.
Fasting purifies not only our bodies, but also our hearts. It empties us of unbelief and aligns our faith in a way that allows us to triumph over our enemies.
Jesus says about fasting, “When you fast . . .” (Matthew 6:16). Notice fasting is not an if but a when matter. We are expected to fast.
Fasting is an exchange. We exchange food for the Word, worship and prayer. Fasting teaches us to hunger after God.
When we humble ourselves, God will lift us up. One way we humble ourselves is through fasting.
When we are not strong enough to break through a barrier, we need to add fasting to our prayers. God meets us at our point of weakness and gives us His strength to break through.
In the New Testament, we see the same pattern over and over again: The anointing for ministry is released after people pray and fast.
Thoughts for Reflection
Do you fast? If so, how often and how much?
What role does comparison play in your fasting experiences? Why might comparison be a poor motivation to fast?
How have you experienced a turnaround in difficult circumstances as a result of a fast?
How is your sensitivity to the voice of God impacted when you fast?
How has the anointing on your life for ministry been impacted by your fasting?
9
How to Pray Intelligently
In August 2013, I issued an urgent invitation to my social media network to attend one of our weekly prayer services. Our state had just passed outlandish transgender legislation that targeted our public school system. It was so loosely written that the law posed serious safety and privacy issues for our schoolkids, regardless of their perceived sexual orientation. We needed to pray as a community and seek the Lord on what to do.
As people walked into our prayer chapel, I welcomed almost each one with a hug. I knew most of them, but there were a few I did not recognize. I felt unsettled about one woman in particular, but I did not know why. I had seen her at one of our church conferences before. Other than that, I did not know who she was or where she was from.
I greeted her and asked her a few casual questions to try to locate her spirit. As she talked, I could identify the issue: She was not submitted to authority.
Nothing the woman said or did gave me that insight. I knew it by the Holy Spirit.
I left the room as the attendees worshiped together, praying to myself and thinking I should call a pastor I knew in another town to ask him about it.
When I called him up, all I said on the phone was, “Do you know this woman?”
He could not contain his reaction. He said, “That woman is the most underhanded, rebellious and divisive person I’ve encountered in years!”
It was ever
ything I suspected, but I needed to hear a confirmation.
The next day, a different pastor from another city surprised me with a phone call. He was calling to warn me about the same woman.
That was the last time I saw her.
How did I know, without any evidence, that the woman was going to be a problem? I knew it by the gift of discerning of spirits. This gift comes from the Holy Spirit and enables you to distinguish between spirits that are divine, demonic or human. It also provides you with a supernatural ability to discern the hidden motives of the heart, both good and bad.
Now, this is not the same thing as turning an evil eye toward others or being suspicious, which are heart issues. It is a divine ability given by God that allows you to see past the surface and know the spirit and heart motives behind people and situations.
This gift is mentioned by name in 1 Corinthians 12:10, alongside several other supernatural gifts. It is a gift that works in tandem with intercession, enabling us to be alert to the specific schemes of the enemy as we faithfully watch and pray, and that is why you need to know about it.
Watch and Pray
During His final hours of freedom, Jesus led his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, “Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).
What was He watching for?
He was watching and waiting in prayer for His enemy to come—only He was not going to be delivered. He was going to the cross.
However, instead of watching and praying with Him, the disciples kept falling asleep. When He found them sleeping, He warned them, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (verse 41). Then He left them twice more to pray on His own, only to return and find them sleeping again. When His enemy came to betray Him moments later, the disciples succumbed to the situation and deserted Him. Not one stood by His side.
An intercessor not only prays for God’s Kingdom to come, but also watches and prays to keep the enemy out. We watch and pray to keep the enemy out of our lives, the lives of our family members, our churches, our cities and more.
The Intercessors Handbook Page 11
