11- The Power of Fasting & Prayer
I don’t know about you all, but I wasn’t taught a lot about fasting when I was growing up in the church. I think the extent of my interaction with it was something called “the 30 Hour Famine”. Did you guys do these in your youth group? If I am honest I don’t remember exactly why we did them just that we went 30 hours without eating. Well into my marriage and my thirties I began to become more interested in learning about fasting, what the Bible said about it and what impact it can have on our lives and the lives around us. Our church in Denver at the time called us to a 40 day fast and we decided to participate fasting during the day and then eating dinner at night. I don’t remember very well what the outcome was for that time of prayer or even what we were praying for, but I do remember the intimacy with the Lord it created. When I first started this process it was easy to get discouraged and the Enemy would come to mess with me in the most irritating of ways. I would wonder why I wasn’t seeing answers to my specific prayers right away? But during that time I also found a series on fasting by Tony Evans (you can find it here ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyg0D4oXfCn8u8O-ZRWyaNoPjYbeg4ONG ) ). He said that often times when we are praying for something that has been a stronghold for many years, that each time we fast it is like taking a sledgehammer to a concrete wall. At first, you only see a little crack, but the more you do it, the bigger the cracks are and eventually, with enough persistence, that thing is coming down. Do we believe that God is able to do more than we are currently seeing? Are we willing to press in and seek it? If so, let’s take God at His Word and begin to implement this on a regular basis, but know this, the Enemy knows how powerful fasting is and He will come for you. Any little irritation to get you to doubt, stop, become anxious and get you away from the places where the power lies will start happening. Be prepared, be in God’s Word, be in worship, this is a battle, but a battle that is well worth it. Another thing that I have seen again and again in fasting is that answers do not always come right away. t might be days, weeks or even months before you start to see even a glimpse of the work God might have begun from the moment you began to pray. In most of my fasts, I have seen things come about in many ways within months, however. Fasting is not just for ourselves, but to fight in faith for others, because we know Him and we know what He is capable of. Will we intercede on behalf of the people we love? What do we have to lose for the chance that God might intervene in their lives? As we become more and more free, let’s press into love to the ones who we are called to build for. Let’s love the Lord and others by taking Him at His word in prayer and fasting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- *We want to support all you are called to do, here are some ways to connect…* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow the podcast on Instagram: CALLED TO BUILD ( https://instagram.com/calledtobuild ) Join the Community: CALLED TO BUILD COMMUNITY ( https://facebook.com/groups/calledtobuildcommunity ) Free Workbook: WHAT AM I CALLED TO? ( /called ) Follow Ashley on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ashley.morgan.jackson Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/called-to-build/donations