Prayer & Fasting - Power Secrets / Articles / Free Bible Email

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This subject, from my experience in the ministry, is considered the bedrock of power to the church. While some in the school of thought with me believe that both prayer and fasting are essential tools to disarm, disorganize and dismantle the kingdom of darkness, some believe in prayer alone. I know of some believers who can fast very well but will forget to either pray or pray a little. Some will not even bother to pray. What an interesting community! Howbeit, I shall endeavor in this subject to x-ray some merits and demerits of prayer with fasting, as well as fasting without prayer and vice versa.

Divine Couple

One day I began to meditate on a conditionality-for-power secret given by our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples (including today's believers) in St. Matthew 17:20-21. I concluded that many of us had violated the marriage decree perhaps deliberately or ignorantly. But ignorance, they say, is no excuse in law.

"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."

That means we cannot divorce prayer from fasting. But you must not be scared by that, for there are various modes of acceptable fasting.

I heard some folks saying one day that Jesus had done all the fasting on their behalf. That is a fallacy. Certainly, their Jesus will not be the same as the one quoted by St. Matthew. And I must let you know that abstinence from food is not the only denial that should be regarded as fasting. If you deny yourself food and fail to go further into the other important aspects, you will be like a man mentioned by Apostle James: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (Jam. 2:10).

What I am saying is that if there are still some things in your life, which you have to say "No" to, such as carnality which you still enjoy, your prayer will still be unfruitful. It takes a couple to bear fruits. Your prayer has to couple fasting like a man hast to couple a woman to be fruitful. This was ordained by God from the beginning: "And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen. 2:18). Jesus Christ also said it in St. Matthew, "But by prayer AND fasting" (Matt. 17:21). My friend, the only help meet for our prayer is fasting.

But do not forget that the fasting I am referring to is not abstinence from food alone, but from all forms of unrighteousness or unholiness as lined up in Romans 1:28-32. Please read that passage for yourself right now. If you pray all your life without imbedding the aforementioned fasting, your prayer will still not be able to hit any target. Similarly, to abstain only from food without the fasting in question is all religiosity. I mean, it is faith without life, religion without Christianity, soup without salt. What a sheer waste of time!

The Almighty God who created the heaven and earth made day and night to complete a whole day (Gen. 1:5). "And God saw every thing that HE had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day" (Gen. 1:31). Therefore, we cannot divorce acceptable prayer from complete fasting (Rom. 12:1-2). Friend, the two work together; they cannot be divided, separated or put asunder. And, Jesus Christ, HE that is AMEN, will never welcome any believer filing a divorce paper on their behalf. If you uphold their marriage covenant in your life, your prayer will be effective (Matt 17:21).

Prayer Breakthrough

I have taken pains to study some Christians; they are ready to spend hours before God in prayer for business or prosperity breakthrough, with little regard to fasting. These folks, I am sorry to say, have really missed the foundation or basis of their need. David said, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD" (Ps. 122:1). What really made him glad? I asked one day, and the Holy Ghost told me that the pattern of prayer in the house of God, the inspiring Word of God to be preached, and the fellowship with the brethren who give edifying testimonies were enough to get David excited anytime he heard that it was time to go into the house of the LORD.

Many times today, our prayers in the church lack the necessary substance or ingredients; hence, we pray with much zeal and no impact. The message is preached and it bears no fruit because the preacher did not take enough time to pray. There is a saying: if the students had not learnt, the teacher had not taught. Show me a fruitful preacher, and I will show you a man or woman of God who has gotten a prayer breakthrough (not a money or prosperity breakthrough). It is very easy to arrive in the ministry today; of course, how you made it will determine its divine glory and longevity. But I must tell you clearly that prayer breakthrough requires some hard work with perseverance. I must not fail to let you know that the devil will do everything possible to hinder you and keep you from a prayer breakthrough, because he knows that you will become a threat to his kingdom. But if you fail to be a threat to the kingdom of satan, the kingdom of darkness will continue to be a threat to you. So the choice is yours. I hope you choose the former!

Prayer Express

Besides the ordinary mailing system, there is an express mailing system. Each of them is equipped and commissioned differently because their assignment differs, though they belong to the same organization. A dispatch clerk or man for ordinary mails may be given a bicycle to facilitate his job, or in some cases he has nothing to ride to where he will distribute letters. But the case is different with his express mail counterpart whose job demands speed, with no time to waste. One day the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that there is an angel who collects express prayers to the throne of God and that He expects me to be in prayer anytime he comes to me. Remember, He has no time to waste, because waste is not in His own job description. Amen!

If I am in bed, and the Holy Spirit wakes me up reminding me that the prayer express angel is on his way, I must get up to start praying; otherwise, I will have nothing to send with him to the throne of the Father above. Sometimes when I am in a discussion or tete-a-tete with somebody, I will break the discussion to package my prayer points for express delivery. It's no joke. Prayer breakthrough is an absolute must. I must let you know, and without mincing words, that prayer breakthrough is a must for anyone to be effective or successful in any form of Christian endeavor, even for a Christian to be immovable in whatever God has destined him/her for in life (Matt. 11:12).

Any church or gathering of believers that has not gotten the prayer breakthrough will always be tossed here and there in any exercise or assignment of the church routine. The demons will be having a field day each time, just like the school children at playtime with the ball. That is not to say that the church or fellowship which has gotten the breakthrough in prayer should be reckless. Apostle Peter said, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world" (I Pet. 5:8-9).

Also, when Apostle Paul was writing to the Colossians, he said, "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience" (Col. 3:5-6). I want you to mark the first word - MORTIFY. My Webster's New World Dictionary of American English defines mortify as: to kill or destroy; to punish (one's body) or control (one's physical desires and passion) by self-denial, fasting, (etc.) as a means of religious or ascetic discipline.
Apostle Paul further said,

"In the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Col. 3:7-17).

Prayer Breakthrough For The Word

I am still going to treat the Word Study when we get to the subject, but to make us realize that the prayer breakthrough will have a great influence on our study life, I shall touch some points in the interim. When the Lord was instructing Joshua,( the minister of Moses), HE made it clear to him that it was one thing to have a ministry and it was another thing to have it with good success. One day the Holy Spirit sat me down and told me that the only thing that would make a founder to be honored in both heaven and while on earth was if his ministry had good success. He told me that some leaders or founders of ministries or churches might receive much honor while on earth, but there would be no place for them in God's Kingdom, because they had poor success, or did not even finish well.

In the very first chapter of the book of Joshua, I read verse eight over and over again, as if I could not read further - WHY? I was stunned by the mysteries that are contained therein. Praise The Lord for His Holy Spirit. "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success." A law book, according to my dictionary, is "a book containing or discussing laws, especially one used as a textbook by law students." Howbeit, the only law book of God is the Holy Bible, which could not be mistaken by Joshua for the book of Pharisees. Joshua was not expected to eat the book physically like bread; the only way for Joshua to retain the book in his mouth was to believe and confess the contents therein.

Apostle Paul said to the converts in Rome, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Rom. 10:9-11). I must let you know that since I got the mystery in the afore-stated verses several years ago, I would never waste time in leading a new convert in a confessional prayer. It works mysteriously. Without any iota of doubt, Joshua believed his Lord, Who had called him to take over from where his master stopped. So, the book shall not depart out of Joshua's mouth, if he could confess the contents therein day and night. It takes a man of fervent prayer, a prayer warrior, to do that.

Furthermore, this kind of prayer has to couple fasting, the very type that I mentioned earlier on, as it states in every verse, "...that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein." Some folks can quote verses from the books of Genesis to Revelation, but to practice it or apply it into their lives is difficult. No wonder our Lord Jesus said, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt 7:21-23).

When the Lord gave the condition to Joshua in Joshua 1:8, it was not without its reward - he would "have good success." Many times we Christians feel bored by certain conditions in the Bible, forgetting that they are for our own good. The words "good success" point to the fact that there is a counterfeit, "evil success." Some ministries or churches are successful today, but we cannot call them ones with good success, because in holiness they get nil.

They carry Christ's name without His characteristics. Howbeit, they themselves know, and their leaders know also, that they are neither honest to Christ nor the folks following them. But I pray that those folks will see the light one day to be free from captivity. I remember a saying that a good idea does not mean a God idea. Although those folks may have flamboyantly attractive programs to lure innocent worshippers to their congregation, be careful, God is not there. The Lord said to Joshua, "Then thou shalt have good success." The kind of "good" we have here is a God that is devoid of satanism, because satan is the father of all lies and evils (John 8:44). That is why we call him devil. God is good, that is why He is God (Gen. 1:31).

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