THE AWESOME BENEFITS OF FASTING!

(Part 1 of 4)

"When prayer and trust does not seem to be getting the job done ... consider including the weapon of fasting."
Outside of obedience to God's Word, fasting is the greatest spiritual discipline (weapon) for seeking God's intervention. Combined with prayer they together make up the most critical weapons of spiritual warfare and deliverance in our lives. While we cannot manipulate God to fulfill our desires exactly as laid out to Him, fasting moves God to fulfill His intended will over the matters in our lives. God's will is that we are not controlled by anything but His Spirit, and fasting (combined with prayer) helps us be much more sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit (as well as being more obedient to God's Word). It also moves the Holy Spirit to be more inclined to be responsive to US. God honors fasting. Our Lord Jesus said fasting would be necessary for his disciples after he ascended. The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matthew 9:15) The early disciples remembered the words of their master and thus they made fasting vital. The outstanding work God accomplished through them speaks for itself. The ministry of Paul started after a period of praying and fasting. While they were worshipping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set a part for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:2-3) Just not to be misunderstood, it is not a must to fast, as in making it a sin if one does not. Jesus said When you fast... implying that its an essential Christian discipline. Believers are not obligated to fast, even if were expected to obey that we ought to fast. However, believers who opt never to fast could be limited in experiencing matters that can be realized in their Christian lives only through both prayer and fasting. There are many benefits to fasting, but lets zero in on one of the most precious. Fasting has the awesome ability to starve sin. Maybe youve never thought much about it before, but sin needs some sort of nutrition to keep it alive. We have to assume there are at least two sources of fuel that provide our sin nutrition. One would be our flesh; the second would be demonic spirits. If were students of Gods Word to any degree, we know that the sixth chapter of Romans gives us some very powerful assurance that God has given us a way to stop demons from providing "nutrition" (or fuel) to our sin: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? - Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV Translation). We also read in the eighth chapter of Romans that if we work diligently at walking in the Spirit, we increase our odds greatly of killing nutrition our flesh is also very willing to give sin sustenance to. Thus our persistent reckoning our flesh dead to sin by faith as Romans 6:11-12 exhorts us to do hinders greatly demons from providing food for our sin: Likewise you also, reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (NKJV Translation)

Romans 8:8-13 also prevents demons from providing our sin food: So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (NKJV Translation) I purposely highlighted you in the above scripture because I think it is easy to miss it otherwise. It does not imply that the Holy Spirit is the ONLY one involved to put to death sin in our flesh, though truly Hes the ONLY one who has the power to do so. It implies that we must constantly seek Him to where one day (and the sooner the better for us!) Hes successful in putting it to death, once and for all, hopefully, and that is only going to happen if WE make the choice to let Him do so. Hell provide the power to do it; we have to make up our mind to LET Him do it. And thats the difficult part, right? Making up our mind to LET Him do it. Know what fasting can do? Help you make up your mind to

LET Him do it!

That needs to sink in deeply. Read and re-read this last sentence over and over. More often than not, we need to let God make us willing enough to ALLOW Him to starve sin in our life, don't we? If you have been on the merry-go-round of asking and trusting God to help you get victory over one or more sins and you have, or are about tempted to give up asking and trusting anymore I have some very good news the Holy Spirit has for you! There is a weapon available to you called FASTING! In fact, it may well be when all is said and done, it is the ONLY weapon that will starve that sin stronghold you have to where it ultimately starves of "nutrition" and literally dies. You can give the word fasting all kinds of wonderful definitions, but Ill tell you the definition my stomach gives it: Starvation! Care to know what definition the Holy Spirit gives fasting? Starvation! He then continues, Literally starving nutrition to your sin if you will make that your primary purpose for fasting in the first place when the situation calls for it, because sin first originates in ones spirit, and then slowly seeps out and manifests itself in more visible form in the material body you each have referred to as your flesh. (God confirms this in scripture by telling us that wickedness starts in the heart of mankind. When God refers to the heart of man, he almost always is referring to our spirit. You might not have realized that. Here are just a few scripture references you can look up if you want to confirm it: Mark 7:21; 1 Cor. 14:25). Dear reader, please let that sink in deeply as well. We tend to freak out when we hear the word fasting because immediately our flesh reminds us so quickly and forcefully that there comes too much pain with fasting, "so do NOT do it, at least soon. Put it off yet for awhile and awhile and awhile and awhile "

Our flesh - along with the supernatural help of demons - will do everything possible to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit even if we start listening for a fraction of a second about letting the Holy Spirit starve our sin. Oh yeah -- fasting isnt just a "firecracker" weapon. It literally is the equivalent of a mega-potent nuclear warhead to annihilate strongholds of sin in our life. It happens to be extremely high on the list of potent weapons God has available for His people to pull down demonic strongholds of all kinds ... not just sin strongholds in our life. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. -- 2 Cor. 10:3-6 Fasting is one of God's powerful weapons He gives us that are mighty "to pull down demonic strongholds." If it weren't, I can assure you Apostle Paul wouldn't have fasted as often as he did. (See: 2 Cor. 6:5;11:27 for proof). How often is necessary to starve our pet sin/s of nutrition by fasting? As often as we can no longer say No! to giving into the temptation of that sin. See fasting doesnt just have a cleansing, detoxing affect for our natural bodies; eliminating toxins and poisons and destroying deadly viruses trying to get us sick and diseased. Fasting also has an equivalent spiritual cleansing - spiritually healing component as well! Just as our natural, fleshly body has need to be cleansed to once more be made as healthy as possible so does our spirit our heart, if you prefer calling it that. There are no doctors on this planet as qualified as the Holy Spirit to heal our diseased spirit (Nor any part of our body, for that matter!). None. They arent trained in medical school to diagnose our spiritual sicknesses and diseases, nor are they trained to heal them. God assigns Holy Spirit filled Pastors and Elders and Christian counselors and the like to point us down correct pathways to allow the Great Physician to do the necessary work in our spirit being, yet they too realize that it is wholly the Holy Spirit who they must rely on to complete the appropriate diagnosis and then administer the correct medical attention to bring about spiritual healing spiritual wholeness. You and I can save ourselves a lot of time and expense and frustration by employing the work of the Holy Spirit without spending so much time and expenses on trying to fi nd a human to help us if well just utilize the weapon of fasting wisely that God has given us. If its been said once, it needs to be said at least a million times. Dont use a firecracker to try to destroy your enemy when it requires a nuclear warhead. Fasting is no firecracker. Its a spiritual nuclear warhead. However, it takes time and training to learn how to utilize this warhead effectively, so be patient with yourself and God ... your "fasting nuclear warhead Instructor." Here is an encapsulation of reasons to fast and some supportive scripture references: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fasting Fasting Fasting Fasting Fasting helps subject our bodies to our spirit. (I Cor 9:27) is disciplining the body, mind, and spirit. (Prov. 25:28) is subordinating our flesh-desires to our spirit-desires. (Gal 5:17) helps set the priorities in our lives. (Mt 6:33) is longing after God. (Ps 63:1-2)

Why Should We Fast? 1. Honor God - (Mt 6:16-18, Luke 2:37, Acts 13:2, Mt 5:6) 2. Humble yourself; dethroning selfishness; pride - (2 Chron. 7:14-15)

3. Repentance - personal failures - (Psalm 51: Jer. 29:11-14, James 4:8-10) 4. Discernment - obtaining healing - (I Cor. 11:30, James 5:13-18, Isaiah 59:1-2) 4. Deliverance from sinful bondage - (Mt 17:21, Is 58:6-9: loose bands of wickedness) 5. Destroying strongholds of doubt and unbelief whereby increasing one's faith for more effective ministry - (Mark 9:29 KJV) 6. Increased confidence and effectiveness in our prayer-life - (2 Cor. 10:4) 7. Revelation - Gods vision and will - (Dan 9:3, 20-21, Dan 10:2-10, 12-13) 8. Revival - personal and corporate - (Acts 1:4, 14 / 2:16-21, Joel 2:12-18) 9. Though this should not be a reason to fast in and of itself -- rewards most likely will be stored up in heaven when we fast to honor God in some way, done in humility, for Christ-like reason/s - (Matt. 6:17-22)

THE AWESOME BENEFITS OF FASTING (Part 2 of 4)

By: Norm Rasmussen "When prayer and trust does not seem to be getting the job done ... consider including the weapon of fasting." Sometimes it isnt always WHAT is said about a matter, but WHO is doing the talking, that can have a much greater impact in how we respond to things. Regarding the topic of fasting, I feel the Holy Spirit would have me quote a brief chapter from a book on the life of Rev. C.S. Upthegrove, titled: The Wait The Power The Evidence. The inspiring book essentially is a condensed testimony of how God worked in his life, and especially in ministry. Brother Upthegrove has been used of the Lord to minister miraculous healings to countless thousands of people during his lifetime, not to mention numerous souls that were saved during his miracle healing crusades. Some of the most incredible miraculous healings ever witnessed in the second half of the 1900s and early 2000s in the United States have been done through the healing anointing God placed on him. Giving you this brief background of him, he shares in this book how God led him on a 21 day fast To allow God to drive the fleshly desires out of my spirit, soul, and body. I knew that there had to be more of Him, and less of me in my personal life and ministry. It was during this 21 day fast that he had a very powerful angelic visitation. It was during that visitation that God spoke some things to brother Upthegrove through that mighty angel regarding how he would minister in the future. The concluding words to him from the angel were: There will be healing in your hands. What followed in the years after that were numerous people who were the blessed recipients who received divine healing from God indeed through brother Upthegrove's hands. Hundreds of books could be written filled with credible testimonies of people being healed supernaturally of just about every terminal sickness and disease imaginable through this, humble obedient man of God. Having given you that brief background, here are the brief words shared on this topic of fasting from one of the chapters in the book:

Lets take a closer look at why fasting is such an important part of a Christians life. The Bible say in Matthew 6:16-18: Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you: they have their reward. But thou, when thou fasteth, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and they Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Fasting serves many purposes as we submit our flesh in obedience to God. God Almighty must always come first in every area of our lives. We must put Him above all, including our desire to satisfy ourselves through food. If we are unable to give up food through fasting, it reveals a weakness in our commitment to God. He must come before food, and every other fleshly desire that we have if He is to truly be the Lord of our lives. Food may indeed strengthen us physically, but dying to the desire for food strengthens us spiritually. That is exactly why Jesus expected us to fast when He spoke about fasting in Matthew 6. He expected us to want to grow spiritually, and so expected us to fast. This is also why Jesus told

the devil during his forty day fast: It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God - Matthew 4:4 There are some things that just will not happen without prayer and fasting. The best example of this is found when the disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a man. Matthew 17:14-21 KJV reads: And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Jesus makes it clear that prayer and fasting are faith building tools. They help us to conquer things that we could not conquer without first increasing our faith. Our spirit, soul and body must line up with the will of God. Our soul - which is our mind, will and emotions - lines up with the Word of God only as we remain obedient to the plan that God has for our lives. Our flesh is the hardest area in our lives to get in line with the Word of God. Our bodies desire to eat, especially when we are led to fast. However, it is by bringing our body under submission with fasting that we are able to see Gods divine purposes and plans brought to pass in our lives. Keep in mind that if you have a medical condition that would in some way restrict your fasting abilities, you should first consult your doctor for guidance in how to best answer the urging of the Lord to fast. It would also be a good idea to check with your doctor before, during, and after the fast so that he can follow your progress. After you have completed your fast, begin eating again slowly and carefully. Your stomach will have shrunk and will not be ready to digest and distribute a full meal yet. You may want to have juice or small portions of fruit, vegetables, and soup to begin with, eventually working up to solid food. After you have eaten, you will find yourself wanting to rest a lot. Do not force yourself to keep active. Get the rest your body needs. This is the bodys natural way of digesting the food you have begun to eat once again. Note: If you would like to read Part 3 of this series on fasting, click on the following link: http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/f-j/TheAwesomeBenefitsOfFasting3.htm

THE AWESOME BENEFITS OF FASTING (Part 3 of 4)

By: Norm Rasmussen The devil does not want you or I fasting unto God - period - ever! Anyone thinking about fasting unto God is a serious potential threat to Satans dominion on this planet. One person willing to add fasting to their prayers and trust have the potential to do untold harm to Satans operations on this planet, because these three weapons the Holy Spirit has given the Body of Christ can release the power of God upon this earth and into situations like nothing else can that God has given to the Body of Christ. (Of course, the impartation of the Holy Spirit and proper usage of the Word of God and God's specific will in each matter is also included in this). Once the devil observes a person interested in being the most effective vessel for God they can be in hindering Satans influence over the affairs of mankind and showing great interest in combining fasting with prayer and trust, he has certain strategies he will try to implement to hinder thats persons progress in moving forward. Here is one of his most common tactics he employs to keep one from moving forward in being more skilled to use the weapon of fasting: A sense of being nearly overwhelmed. I cant fast; God is asking too much of me. Demands on my life right now dont allow me to fast. Health issues wont allow it; my doctor doesnt want me to either. The list can go on and on There may be very legitimate reasons for one not fasting, but I can assure you the devil does not want you thinking about fasting in little bite-size, manageable portions. God has more wisdom than what we often give Him credit for when a feeling of being nearly overwhelmed descends upon us, and to counter it, He tells us very clearly in His Word to live our life ONE DAY AT A TIME. Not two days at a time; not a week at a time; not months and years at a time. One day at a time. God didnt make us to function best living beyond one day at a time. We operate at our very best by living out our lives one day at time. Establishing that fact it can become extremely overwhelming to hear a Pastor call your church to a 1-day fast, a 3-day fast, -- or say a 7-day fast, or even much longer. Immediately our flesh is programmed to trigger thoughts of near panic which can also result in low-level anger at a moment like that. (Anger as in: "Let's fire the Pastor!"). Here is something the Holy Spirit has for us to counter such feelings of panic and a sense of being overwhelmed when we even hear the word fasting mentioned: Consider a meal at a time. Consider at the LONGEST one day at a time. Not two days. Certainly not longer. God drops hints to us throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament about the wisdom of living our lives one day at a time. Just a couple examples: When the Jewish people were led out of Egypt to enter into the promise land, God provided manna from heaven for their food source. Observe that He never gave them manna for more than one day that stayed fresh. Each and every day, He provided fresh manna just for that day. He was ingraining a wisdom in doing it that way. One day at a time will enable us to operate at peak spiritual and emotional efficiency in our relationship with God and each other. When the disciples asked Jesus how they could pray more effectively, observe the answer the Holy Spirit gave through Jesus: Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus didnt instruct them nor you or I

to pray to God about Him providing bread for tomorrow or longer just for today. Physical bread; spiritual bread we need both, dont we? Living our lives in our minds one day at a time keeps us operating at peak efficiency in every area of our life. There will be ample grace from God for me to live my life as God determines today. God most certainly will give me grace for tomorrow when tomorrow comes, but tomorrows grace will not help me today. Gods maximized grace comes for just this day. If I live on this planet long enough to see tomorrow come Gods maximized grace will be given me to live tomorrows day. So truly it can be said tomorrows grace for tomorrow will do absolutely nothing to help me operate at peak efficiency today. God is simply trying to get us to constantly realize today is t he most important day we have to operate at peak efficiency, the rest of our lives. Well have plenty of evil opposition tomorrow to have to deal with, rest assured. Prepare yourself to deal with to resist todays evil. Otherwise it can be near overwhelming. [Important note here: Not throwing out the "baby with the bath water" needs to be taken into account regarding living "one day at a time." Most certainly it is appropriate to make certain wise decisions that might well affect our future if we don't make those decisions. Financial investments falls into such a category. Career plans; marriage; children; other matters ... certainly it is wise to plan ahead for certain things. However ... I believe the main thing God wants us to understand regarding living our life one day at a time is that we can come under unnecessary stress and worry and even fear that accomplishes absolutely nothing in terms of adding any quality to our life. Making wise plans for the future is simply wise; God wants us doing such things; but God also wants us realizing that every plan we might make for the future may never be realized, for any number of unpredictable reasons. Planning our retirement twenty - fifty - years from now can be wise ... but simply assuming we'll live to see that day is not necessary wise at all. God may desire to take us home while we sleep tonight. We have absolutely zero control over whether we will wake up to another day on this planet come tomorrow morning. God and God alone determines if that is going to happen]. People who have the grace to fast 40 days arrived at that place by learning how to fast 4 minutes a day. Once they conquered being able to fast 4 minutes a day, the Holy Spirit nudged them to start trying 40 minutes a day, when the time seemed right. Once they realized it didnt kill them to fast 40 minutes a day, the Holy Spirit nudged them to consider fasting 400 minutes a day. Do you comprehend the principal? Small victory by small victory. Small victory to a little larger victory. Confidence building. Peace building. Faith building. Allowing the Holy Spirit to move us from "basic training" to more "advanced training." People who have conquered feelings of panic and being overwhelmed when it comes to pain-free fasting have arrived at that place by allowing the Holy Spirit to help them build a sure and steady foundation. That foundation was built slowly over time, in small bite-size chunks, not trying to devour half the side of a beef in one setting. One brick at a time; not thousands and thousands of bricks stacked side by side and on top of each other without making certain the mortar is holding each brick securely in place. The "mortar" holding our prayer and fasting foundation securely in place to weather every storm that comes our way is insured and secured by making certain the proper Holy Spirit mortar was allowed to be properly mixed, properly applied, and allowed to set up properly before adding any more spiritual bricks in our "spiritual foundation." You may have not been taught this about the three pigs and the bad wolf when you were young. A house made of straw is not necessarily a house less sturdy and secure than a house made of bricks, if the house of bricks was not properly mortared. A house made of straw with the right mortar ingredients properly and wisely applied will allow a person to make a house or a skyscraper or even an airplane that will withstand storms the brick house not properly mortared can withstand. Coming to a place where you can fast one meal a day is an absolute HUGE victory especially if instead of spending the half an hour you would normally take to eat that meal you use that half-hour block and give God your time in prayer and/or immersion into Gods Word, or perhaps simply praising Him. Giving up a meal is a HUGE victory but using that time block to sow into God Gods Kingdom Gods righteousness is even a GREATER potential victory!

Recently (at the time of this writing: January 1, 2008) God showered me with enough grace to do a juice fast for 21 days. Its a first for me! I normally would keep such a thing to myself, simply because I do NOT want to be unwise in causing the Father to withhold any potential reward He might be willing to give me for making it 21 days without food. In times past when I did any form of fasting, I always set a goal to reach. I determined I would try to fast a specific number of days before even starting. It just seemed to make sense to me, what with all the information there is around us about the wisdom and value of goal setting. Well, this time the Holy Spirit introduced me to a radical new way of approaching fasting: Why not just commit to fasting one day at a time and see how it goes for you? Dear reader it was the easiest fast Ive ever done! Knowing how much food has been my idol (confession time), I am absolutely stunned that I was able to log in 21 days without breaking down and having some food. (Not to say there weren't some times of strong temptation however). All glory to God here, folks, but this was accomplished over the Christmas season (2007) as well. You know you meet with your family and friends you havent been able to connect with since last Christmas: Everyone brings lots of goodies lots of delicious Holiday munchies turkey dinner out of the hot oven filling every nook and cranny of the house with its enticing fragrance; mile-high mound of mashed potatoes smothered with succulent turkey gravy; frozen corn and peas smothered with bucketfuls of hot butter; bread rolls so soft they dissolve in your mouth before they even hit the bottom of the tummy ... get the picture? And so you sit there watching all that delicious food being devoured by everyone else, and you sit there with a smile on your face, sipping your liquid manna called water, while most are thinking you are absolutely nuts! Yep I went through that very thing this Christmas, and I am absolutely amazed to end the day thinking to myself: That was really quite easy to pass up. Folks that is the grace of God for the situation, and absolutely nothing else! If you never believe another word I ever write, please believe me when I say that probably the very best meal of the year for me is when family meets and we dive into the delicious Christmas meal. To give that up is nothing short of a miracle for yours truly. Yet it happened ONLY by Gods grace for me to say No to it this past Christmas. And HOW did that grace get released for the situation? By my taking Gods advice and breaking it all down into bite-size chunks. One day at a time; one meal at a time chunks. God was prompting me to go on a fast. I knew that. When I asked Him how many days I should fast for this time, He would only tell me, One day at a time. One meal at a time. When the grace runs out, end the fast. Seek me daily for fresh grace just for that day. Grace ran out approximately three minutes after the 21st day. I was fully aware three minutes prior to the stroke of midnight it was going to! Im going out on a limb here, certainly not to boast in any way, because that is exactly what the devil would delight in my doing. I feel its okay with God to say this, so I will. Up until this recent fast, considering going on a 40-day fast (or longer) would simply have been out of the question for me. Too extreme for ME! That would have been my response, though of course I would n ever admit it. I mean afterall, I want people thinking Im very spiritual, right? But after experiencing God giving me sufficient grace for going without food for 21 days and living only on quality vegetable and fruit juices along with water (mostly flavored by decaff coffee with just enough regular coffee mixed with it to keep from going through caffeine withdrawals this time) in the early morning I would not feel overwhelmed at all if I sensed the Holy Spirit may desire I fast for longer than 21 days in the future. My secret to be willing to do so would simply take it one meal at a time - one day at a time. I will never go back to goal sitting in terms of days to fast before even going into the fast (unless God would specifically ask me to, of course, though I doubt that He would). Knowing how much I love food God knows and my flesh knows and the devil full well knows that I can only be trusted to commit to fasting one day at a time. Am I being stubborn? Rebellious? I dont believe so. I believe Im being wiser than I have been in the past. Thats the grace Im walking in today. You may have grace to see it a different way. Its okay if we view it differently. Whatever helps to get past our resistance to fasting and praying for right reasons that is what is most important.

However - seasoned prayer warriors understand the issue of breakthrough. Patiently and persistently praying until the Holy Spirit clearly gives a release that the matter has been settled in the unseen realm. Gods people who are able to utilize the weapon of fasting along with prayer (when the weapon is called for), also understand that yes God gives grace to fast one day at a time, but He also will give grace to fast long enough until breakthrough in the spirit dimension is accomplished. What God has revealed to us in the Old Testament regarding fasting was always for a specific purpose. A goal was to be realized. A victory needed to be attained. Gods purpose needed to be implemented. A promise needed to be fulfilled. Thus the understanding was that either one or more people simply refused to quit the fast until either God clearly told them to stop fasting and/or praying about the specific issue at hand, OR clear, physically manifested proof that the vi ctory had been attained was revealed to those doing the fasting and praying. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see that principle or purpose altered. The Holy Spirit led Jesus early on to go into the desert to be more fully equipped to battle demonic p owers once Jesus ministry was to move into full swing. The Holy Spirit was assigned by the Father to lead Jesus into the wilderness to fast 40 days for the explicit purpose of being more fully equipped to stay victorious each day at a time for the next 3 years of His earthly ministry. Few of us fully know just how much God may want to use us to combat Satans influence on this planet before we are taken home to heaven. Do not assume God might not call you to a 40 day fast or longer sometime later on in your life for the identical purpose of teaching us advanced spiritual warfare tactics in helping execute His will upon this planet. Fast forward earths time clock: Whoever you are reading this right now, you might be at the time period where the mark of the beast is getting implemented across this world. You know full well you need to make a choice very soon about whether to take the mark to survive, or not take the mark and risk dying which will then most likely mean imprisonment, torture, starvation, and possibly even being killed. Are you aware that God has the ability to translate you to parts of this world and you may not have a dime to your name to afford the fuel to drive there, let alone the means to get a passport in time. Why might God want to translate you to some remote part of the world? Have you considered that He might have some yummy food and protection waiting for you there? Maybe someone He wants you to pray for; to maybe even witness to and lead to the Lord? Fasting puts us more dependant on God than what our flesh is comfortable with. We both know that our flesh has zero power to enable us to translate, should we believe it would be desirable at a moment of possible crisis. Fasting has the potential to silence our flesh more than any other weapon God has given us, and silencing our flesh is Gods way of helping us walk more fully and effectively in the Spirit. The wise soldier of God does not remain staying content indefinitely to constantly come up with reasons never to fast. The wise child of God realizes that every weapon God has given His Church is to be both appreciated and used when the situation calls for it. No condemnation here. No guilt trips. Just be fully informed that when prayer and trust seems to keep falling short there is the weapon of fasting. Its a spiritual nuclear warhead. It can destroy demonic strongholds when nothing else seems to be working. It can destroy Satans plans very easily when God calls His people to use this weapon. The reality of it, however is how many of us fully are persuaded it really is such a potent weapon, and even if we do realize just how potent a weapon it really IS how many of us are willing to learn how to wisely use it, when requested to do so by the Commander in Chief of the universe? Yep God was right. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. When it comes to being engaged and staying engaged in fighting demonic forces and overcoming our rebellious flesh it is ONLY by the grace of God that we can remain in the battle, isnt it? Oh and yes waging that battle one day at a time.

THE AWESOME BENEFITS OF FASTING (Part 4 of 4)

By: Norm Rasmussen When many Christians hear the word Fasting it sends shivers and quivers through their brain. It does the same in demons. Demons know what one dedicated Christian who determines to start incorporating fasting with prayer has the ability through God to stop the rain and to bring the rain. Demons know that as God wills, one believer in Jesus Christ incorporating fasting with prayer can call fire down out of heaven to destroy evil here on earth. With power such as that demons also realize that if a Christians can work in cooperation with God to do things like that would God mi raculously send money from "heaven" (from unexpected places in other words) instead of manna should difficult economic times come where we are located? Well with God, all things are possible, to those who can believe. (See: Mark 9:23). Let us never underestimate what God may do when a Christian believer has his or her back seemingly against a wall of opposition. God knows how to execute miracles, when Hes moved to do so. Many Christians are familiar with this Bible passage from 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV): If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Ive highlighted the word humbled in this passage of scripture, because I think it is very easy to focus on the word prayer in this passage, and the possible benefits that follow once we pray and seek God's face (instead of His hand). Humbling ourselves follows a line of progression in our relationship with God: 1): Our decision to allow Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord of our life.

2): Our decision to purpose to walk diligently in obedience to God daily in accordance to New Testament scripture is then supposed to follow. 3): Our decision to seek God in how He wants to use us to help expand the Kingdom of God here on this planet should be incorporated with step two sooner than later. 4): Our decision to be made fully available to God on a daily basis in how He may want to use us to hinder evil around this planet through our prayer and trust in Him. 5): Our decision to walk in the highest dimension of faith possible in God on a daily basis so we have confidence in our prayers once we pray them. It is this fifth category; the last line of progression, that makes demons extremely agitated. A person who frequently engages in unselfish prayer on behalf of Gods purposes is very threatening to demons and Satan. A person who is willing to include occasional fasting with prayer on behalf of Gods purposes is EXTREMELY threatening. What is so powerful about fasting, many are curious to know. Why does starving ourselves (actually limiting our intake of food for a season) move God to do things we may never see Him do otherwise? Fasting is a MIGHTY demonstration of humility on our part, plain and simple. I humbled myself with fasting - Psalm 35:13

I dont feel to do a lengthily teaching here on pride and humility. Any Christian will do well to do an exhaustive study on their own on these two topics. The Bible is full of words from God about the painful things that can happen to people who give place to pride, and the blessings God grants (promises) to those who purpose to strive for greater acts (dimensions) of humility. The Old Testament provides enough scripture for us to gleam from that when evil was about to attain a major victory against the Jewish people, God would have a call to pray AND fast. Maybe not always fast, but many times YES include fasting with the prayer. On some occasions, the evil was so threatening that the people were told to not only not eat, but neither drink! (See: Esther 4:1517). Though it never was to last longer than three days without taking in some liquids do you think God could call YOU to give up not only food, but liquids as well for three days if the situation was warranted? God gave people 100 years to hear what Noah knew, that a very major rainstorm was coming. God has been speaking to the Body of Christ for many years now about end-time issues. Do any of us know exactly how many years ago He started officially doing that? I certainly don't know. Dear reader were moving into end-times faster than what some may care to give much thought to. Praise God if we get ruptured out of here and leave this evil world behind before things become "more challenging." Praise God if He holds off evil yet for many, many years, wherever we live. But what if He doesnt? What if things are about to accelerate at a speed that tries to send shear panic through many of Gods people? What if our economy (where it is we are living) should essentially come to a grinding halt, and we havent got a logical clue in how we are going to meet financial obligations or even put much food on the table? Must believers all go find a bridge to live under and start living out of garbage cans like the homeless people have been doing? Well, one does what they have to do to survive, I fully realize. HOWEVER here is what I know about God. He CAN, if He chooses, provide for His people in ways we may not believe He would do. If God can supernaturally rein down food from the sky to feed the Jews during their trek through the wilderness, surely He can do the same for Christians right now. Its just a matter of God being willing to do so. If Jesus was motivated to feed the masses with a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread, He certainly can do the same today. What would motivate God to be willing to do so, for each of us? For some of us?

I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate a message to Christians RIGHT NOW to dig in with Him and work through whatever the barriers that exist so they can build a confidence foundation in God to fast along with their praying as the Holy Spirit leads them to do so. Prayer is a weapon and fasting incorporated with prayer has awesome potential in God that we must never lose sight of. Let us carefully mediate on these words God has recorded for us in Deuteronomy 8:2-3;5: And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lo rd. So you should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Fasting in a wise means of humbling ourselves so God will not have to do all of it for us. Whats our ultimate reward in all this? Deuteronomy 8:16 states it clearly: