THE PRIORITY OF FASTING AND PRAYER
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be FILLED! —Matthew 5:6
Fasting recalibrates you and reminds you of what your heart truly desires.
For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness. —Psalms 107:9
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! —Psalms 34:8
Fasting communicates to yourself that your flesh is not calling the shots!
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. —Galatians 5:24 - 25
Anything you get to do on this side of heaven that is sacrificial moves the heart of God and is extraordinarily significant.
My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. —Psalm 84:2
Fasting is voluntary weakness that breaks down your resistance to truth!
“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” —Matthew 26:41
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. —1 Corinthians 9:26 - 27And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” —1 Corinthians 10:7
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. —Romans 14:17
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. —John 4:31 - 34By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. —Colossians 2:14 (ESV)
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. —Galatians 5:16 - 18Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! —2 Timothy 3:5
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. —1 Corinthians 2:14
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” —Matthew 17:20 - 21