⚡ Fasting: A Spiritual Supercharged Engine

🇺🇸 The Power of Fasting . We are going to address two fundamental pillars of the spiritual life: prayer and fasting. However, it is crucial to start with fasting to grasp its full importance. Notice that we associate the word power with fasting. If prayer has power, fasting possesses a level of power all its own.

Fasting is like adding a much more powerful combustion engine to your old engine. It’s like endowing your normal life with a new dimension, one you’ve never experienced before. It’s like adding a new cylinder to your car. Thus, fasting provides a power that exceeds the norm. Based on my personal experience, I can affirm that fasting is the key to the kingdom for obtaining power in prayer.

You can pray without getting results, but it is impossible to pray and fast without getting results. Sometimes, our prayers alone seem ineffective, but when fasting is added, they produce guaranteed effects. Unfortunately, many of us have never been encouraged or taught to fast.

🤔 Prayer: A Universal Practice, Varied Results

Let’s make a few general observations about prayer. It is a common point for all religions. Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Universalists, and even the Satanic Church pray. Prayer is therefore not unique; it is not exclusive to the Church or Christian believers. In fact, in many cases, some religions pray more than Christians.

Religions like Hinduism pray for hours, Buddhists meditate for days, seeking union with the universe, while Muslims pray at least three times a day. In comparison, most Christians pray much less.

The real question of prayer is not frequency, but effectiveness. This raises important questions:

• Who are you praying to?
• What are you saying in your prayers?
• Are your prayers heard, and if so, are they answered?

Jesus Christ Himself told the Pharisees: “You pray and think that you will be heard because of the multitude of your words.” He was addressing the religious leaders of Judaism who were praying to Jehovah. Yet Jesus told them that their long prayers did not guarantee a response. In other words, even a believer who prays to God may not see their prayers answered. Thus, it is not the length of your prayers nor the grandeur of your words that impresses God.

🛐 Prayer: A Divine Command, Not an Option

Prayer is not an option for us; it is a necessity. It is not a simple personal choice; it is a divine command. God says: “You shall pray.” When you do not pray, you are disobeying God. Prayer is a spiritual law that we must obey.

Prayer is the most common experience for the believer. Every time a person gives their life to the Lord, they are told they must pray. It is the most common thing expected of them.

But here is the paradox: prayer is the subject most discussed, yet least practiced. We prefer singing in a choir, serving as an usher, playing an instrument, or working in a hospitality department rather than spending time in prayer. We have relegated prayer to something we do occasionally. I hope you realize that prayer is no longer an option, but your most important job.

📉 Why Don’t People Pray? The Lack of Results

Why don’t people pray, or attend prayer meetings? My answer is clear: because of the results. They do not see results.

Observe: on Sunday mornings (or days of worship), church buildings are full. But during prayer meeting nights, there is hardly anyone left. Prayer meetings are often the least attended in all churches. Why? Because people do not see results.

If you do something over and over again and it doesn’t work, you eventually stop. It’s logical. For many people, prayer is the same: they pray, but they see no tangible evidence that God is listening or answering. So, they say to themselves, “It doesn’t work,” and they quit.

✨ The Principle of Prayer: A Divine-Human Partnership

By studying the Word of God and His actions in history, we come to a conclusion that John Wesley beautifully expressed:

“It seems that without God, man can do nothing on earth; but without man, God will do nothing on earth.”

This is a beautiful statement. There are things that God wants to accomplish on earth for His kingdom, but He cannot do them without man. And man can accomplish nothing without God. In other words, prayer is truly a partnership between the divine and the human. God needs you, and you need God.

What happens on earth does not depend solely on God, but on you. Jesus said, “Where two or three agree on earth concerning anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” This simple statement has profound implications: heaven wants to accomplish many things on earth, but it waits for two humans to agree in faith and pray to give God permission to act. Thus, earth depends on heaven, but heaven depends on earth for permission to act. Without you, God will do nothing.

🚪 Prayer: Earthly Authorization for Heavenly Intervention

What is prayer? Prayer is man giving God permission to interfere in his affairs through faith.

God can only act on earth if you believe He can. Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be to you.” What happens here depends on what we believe God can do. Many times, when God met with humans, He asked them: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

The Greek word for “believe” is pistis, which is translated as faith. One day, Jesus could not perform miracles in His own hometown, Nazareth, because the people did not believe in Him. All the power of the Universe was present, yet unable to act due to a lack of faith. What man does can either block God or allow Him to act.

Prayer is a necessity. It means that God depends on you to submit requests to Him so that He can accomplish what He has always wanted to do on earth. That is why, often, when prayer is mentioned in the Bible, it is accompanied by a condition (for example, “If My people… humble themselves and pray…”). It is necessary to pray for God to accomplish His will.

📢 Prayer: A Role for Everyone, Not Just for “Professionals”

Jesus established this priority: “When you pray…” He does not say if you pray, but when you pray. He assumes that you will pray.

However, many relegate prayer to a small group of people they call “intercessors,” imagining that they are professionals who pray in their place. But no one can pray in your place. There is no ministry of intercession in the Bible, because prayer is not a gift; everyone is supposed to pray.

Jesus said: “Men ought always to pray and not to lose heart.” Prayer is not reserved for a few specialists; it is a necessity for all. It is good for people to pray for you, but they can never replace your own prayer.

🗣️ Prayer: A Petition, a Legal Right

What is prayer? Prayer is the petition.

Prayer is a legal appeal or request addressed to a governmental authority based on a constitutional right protected by law.

To pray is to appeal to a legal right. This means you cannot beg. Prayer is not desperate supplication, but an appeal based on legal rights. God does not want you to come begging around His throne; He wants to do business with you.

🛠️ The Powerful Effects of Fasting: Changing You, Not God

Fasting is essential. I learned its importance by observing my parents and reading powerful men like Oral Roberts. My life was transformed when I fasted for the first time.

First, fasting changes you. It is crucial to note this: fasting does not change God. God never changes. If there is a blockage, it is with us. Fasting does not move God; it moves and transforms you.

Imagine a huge 50,000-liter water tank connected to a small 5 cm diameter pipe. God’s power is infinite (the tank), but what He can accomplish in your life depends on your spiritual capacity to receive (the pipe). For many, this pipe is obstructed by distractions, useless pleasures, or excessive food.

Fasting increases your spiritual capacity. It’s like replacing the small pipe with a 30 cm one. The greater your capacity, the more God can act in your life. To deal with gigantic problems (national crises, moral decadence), we need a deep spiritual alignment. The Bible says, “If My people… will humble themselves and pray.” The word “humble” actually means to fast.

The example of the demon-possessed boy proves it: the disciples could do nothing, but Jesus, who had just fasted, drove it out immediately. He replied: “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Certain challenges require a greater spiritual capacity. Fasting is the most powerful force in prayer; it enlarges your spiritual channel, cleanses the filth, and eliminates obstacles.

🔗 Fasting Breaks Habits and Spiritual Bonds

Fasting breaks habits and spiritual bonds. In addition to cigarettes or alcohol, there are habits that destroy your life, such as the habit of religiously watching certain television shows that absorb your time.

Fasting can break dependencies, even on seemingly harmless substances like Coca-Cola. If you struggle with destructive habits (pornography, infidelity, etc.), engage in serious fasting. Prayer alone is not always enough, but fasting is. It restores order and subjects the flesh to the spirit.

👂 Fasting Calms the Heart and Allows You to Hear God

Fasting has a direct effect on your mind. Every time you eat, your stomach takes six hours to digest, mobilizing your brain and preventing focus. By fasting, your attention turns to the essential.

Fasting calms the heart and allows you to hear God. It reduces distractions, because your spirit becomes more important than your body. When your spirit takes control, it imposes the peace of the kingdom on your mind and body.

Fasting also promotes divine intimacy. By giving up your bodily desires, you draw God to your spirit. You declare to Him that He is Number 1 in your life. God promises: “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

👑 Esther: The Impact of Corporate Fasting on Destiny

The story of Esther is a striking example of the impact of fasting. Facing a national decree requiring the destruction of her people, Esther understood that prayer alone was not enough. She said, “I will fast three days, night or day, I and my maids; and then I will go to the king, though it is against the law.” This was a corporate fast, a powerful act.

Esther knew that if she went before the king without fasting, she risked death. She paid the price to eliminate all resistance to her success. She declared: “If I perish, I perish.” Solutions you never imagined become possible through fasting. It helps transform the destiny of a country or a life.

Other biblical examples confirm this power:

• Psalm 109:24: David says, “My knees are weak through fasting.” The king knew he needed fasting to rule with the power of God.
• Joel 2:12: “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” Fasting is proof of the sincerity of our return to God.
• Jeremiah 18:7-10: God says He can change His decision to bless or destroy a nation if His people repent and obey Him. We can save our countries through fasting and prayer.

📝 Definition of Fasting: Voluntary Abstinence

To conclude, let’s clearly define what fasting is:

Fasting is the voluntary abstinence from natural pleasures for a spiritual purpose.

The word voluntary is key: no one is forcing you. It is a personal decision. The scope is broad: any natural pleasure (sweets, certain entertainment, even sex) can be the subject of a fast. Fasting is abstaining from these pleasures for a spiritual purpose. It’s not just about skipping a meal, or losing weight.

Fasting is when you turn your face toward God and seek Him. This is why isolation is often necessary (Elijah, Moses, and Jesus went to hills, mountains, or the desert). During fasting, you need discipline: turn off the television, avoid idle conversations, and stay away from people who have no positive impact on your life to protect your environment and cleanse your spirit.

I encourage you to embrace fasting. It breaks the rust that clogs your spiritual channel, offering you unprecedented mental clarity and divine intimacy. These next three weeks could surpass your last five years in terms of breakthroughs.