FASTING IS FOR NOW, DON’T LET ANYBODY TELL YOU THAT FASTING ENDED WHEN JESUS CHRIST SAID IT IS FINISHED.
FASTING GUARANTEES AN ANSWER TO YOUR PRAYERS EVEN BEFORE YOU PRAY. WHEN YOU FAST, YOU GET MORE THAN YOU ASK FOR
THERE ARE CERTAIN MOUNTAINS THAT WON’T MOVE UNLESS YOU BACK YOUR PRAYER WITH FASTING.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye at RCCG Special Sunday Online Service || GOING HIGHER PART 49
Father, you are mighty, you are great, you are holy, there is no one like you. Please accept our worship in Jesus name. Almighty God as we come again to feast on your word, please speak to us and let your word perform mighty miracles in our midst in Jesus name as have prayed.
We are continuing with our series on going higher and we are now in part 49. Going Higher Part 49. The text still remains 1 Kings 19:7-8. Elijah ate twice and didn’t eat again for another forty days and forty nights. Since we are talking about going higher, I believe that if you have been with us from the beginning, from part 1 to 49. I believe that you are no longer in the valley, I believe that you have grown. So I believe we could discuss something pretty serious today and that is fasting. This man (Elijah) went without food for forty days and forty nights. He joined a very select group of people – Moses who fasted forty days and forty nights twice, the Lord Jesus Christ who also fasted for forty days and forty nights. Elijah is no 3. There are only three of them recorded in the Bible that fasted like that. The very special club. It will interest you to know that on the Mount of Transfiguration only three of them were there apart from the disciples. Church Gist. Who knows someone listening to me might want to join the club. The topic for today is not for the faint-hearted, it is for those who really want to grow very high. I am praying that one of these days, it will be said of you that you fasted forty days and forty nights. I am not boasting but it might be an encouragement to you that both I and my wife have fasted forty days and forty nights so many times we can’t remember how many.
Fasting is for now, don’t let anybody tell you that fasting ended when Jesus Christ said it is finished. How do I know? Matthew 9:14-15. Some people came to Jesus Christ and said we are fasting, the disciples of John the Baptist are fasting. Why are your disciples not fasting? Jesus Christ said when the bridegroom is with them they can’t fast, they will ride on my credit but when the bridegroom is taken away they will fast. Jesus was saying after my death, resurrection and ascension these disciples will fast until the bridegroom returns again.
Acts 1:10-11.
The angels told us that as he is going to heaven, he will return and when he returns there will be no need for fasting anymore. 1 John 3:2. When He returns we shall see Him and then we shall be like Him and at that time we will be in brand new bodies, glorious bodies that don’t need food anyway. Church Gist. 1 Corinthians 15:51. We will not all die but we will all be changed. When the rapture comes, those who are not even dead. Their body will be transformed to become like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ at that time we won’t need food. But until then, we will fast.
There are those who will tell you that fasting is not for the age of grace, Paul the Apostle of grace said in 2 Corinthians 11:27 “I fasted often”. You can’t say you know of grace more than the Apostle of Grace himself. Why? 1 Corinthians 9:27, so I can subdue the flesh and the flesh will not cause me to be cast aside. I want to finish my race very well. I want to be the winner. Church Gist. I have told my children that all these sports coaches will tell you that what is important is to take part in the race. I said is that so? How come they don’t give medals to losers. I don’t want to be a loser and none of you my children will be a loser. We will fast because fasting helps. It helps you to do several things:
- It helps you to bridle your tongue
When you are fasting, you will soon discover that talking takes a lot of energy. If you want to fast for a long time, you have to learn to keep your mouth shut. You don’t gain anything by talking. James 1:26. - Fasting helps you to control your temper.
When you are on a long fast, you are too weak to fight. When you get angry easily, it is because you have lots of energy. Let me see you get angry when you have been fasting for 21 days and nights. You have just enough energy to move you from one place to another. Ecclesiastes 7:9 says control your anger for anger lies in the blossom of fools. Fast! You won’t get angry so easily, which is another way of saying you will not be a fool so often.
How come the body hates fasting? Galatians 5:17. Your flesh always wants to fight your spirit. It can’t agree with the spirit. I have said before that if we do not say there is fasting tomorrow. You can wake up in the morning and not eat until 2 pm. There will be no problem, you can be busy doing your job. Let us announce that there is fasting tomorrow and some of you will still be eating until midnight and as soon as you wake up from sleep, hunger will greet you. The devil doesn’t want you to fast and if the devil doesn’t want you to fast, that should tell you that fasting is good.
When you learn to fast, you realize that there are certain mountains in your life that have not moved but fasting moves them. Matthew 17:14-21 tells us that there was a demon the disciples tried to cast out and it refused to go. Jesus came and then the demon left. The disciples came to Jesus quietly and asked how come we were not able to cast it out? Jesus said this one only goes by fasting and prayer. Church Gist. There are certain mountains that won’t move unless you back your prayer with fasting. You need to know that the spiritual controls the physical. Everything that happened to Job in Job 1&2 was because something had been discussed in the spiritual. In Exodus 17:8-13, when there was a war to be fought between Israel and the Amalekites, Moses went to the mountain top and lifted up his hands and Joshua was fighting downhill. As long as Moses’ hands were up, the children of Israel were winning the battle. When His hands came down, they started losing. The spiritual controls the physical.
On one occasion, during the Convention, it rained on the Friday of the Convention and one of my children came to me and said ‘Daddy it rained on Holy Ghost Night of the convention’. I said Yes! He said ‘what happened, you are supposed to be on the mountain top praying’. I said it rained, I fell asleep it was the rain that woke me up. He said ‘Ah! Daddy, you slept?’ Church Gist. I am a human being like you, the devil must have known I was asleep. When I woke up I said Daddy how can you let this happen. He said I put you to sleep so it can rain because the crowd coming tonight is going to be much. I want to cool down this place. The spiritual controls the physical. Don’t let anyone deceive you that what is going on the earth has no spiritual connotation, it has.
When you learn to fast, you align yourself with the spirit who is in a constant fight with the physical. Let me give you one case study very quickly and that is the case study of Esther. You know there was this man called Mordecai the uncle of Esther and there was this man called Haman an officer of the King. Haman expects everybody to bow down to him but Mordecai said I won’t bow to anybody except my God. Hanna said okay! I will hang you and I will destroy your people. So Mordecai said to Esther who was then a queen Help us oh we are in trouble. Esther said you can’t go before our king without him sending for you. Mordecai said you better go in because if we perish, the fact that you are in the king’s house is not going to spare you. Esther replied in Esther 4:1-17, “gather the people together and fast for me and I too will fast and I will go before the king. If I perish I perish”. They fasted and miracles began. They even fasted for just three days and three nights. Esther appeared before the king without being summoned. Church Gist. The first thing the fasting did was Esther found favour with the king. The second thing is instead of the king asking her to be killed the king spared her life. Fasting can change death to life. The next thing the King said to Esther, I don’t know what you are asking for but before you ask it is granted. In Isaiah 65:12, God promised that He will answer before you call. I will answer. Fasting guarantees an answer to your prayers even before you pray. When you fast, you get more than you ask for. Ephesians 3:20. Things got better and better. By the time you get to Esther 6 that the king couldn’t sleep and because the king couldn’t sleep, Mordecai was promoted. May I pray for those who will take fasting seriously from now on that those who will promote you, won’t even be able to sleep. All of these happened because some people fasted, in Chapter 7 the arch-enemy of a whole nation was killed and Esther received the wealth of Haman. Proverbs 13:22. Wealth changes hands when you fast. Psalms 75:6-7. Just like Mordecai was promoted, fasting can lead to promotion. In Esther 8:3-17, a whole nation was delivered, a whole nation had dominion.
You say “sir, I am not sure I can fast ”. You can’t fast on your own. Philippians 4:13. I never thought I could fast, the day someone asked me to fast for three days and three nights. I called him a murderer. Because I had never fasted a whole day before then. Then I gave life to Jesus and grace came, the ability to do all things came. That grace is available to you now if you will call on the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life and take control and I will soon be hearing your testimonies of how you fasted and moved mountains.
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