Why Fast: Part 5
‘Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world’ James 4:8.
Personal Spiritual Development: For personal spiritual development. ‘He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name’ Ps.23:3. There are things that you cannot delegate or ask people to do for you. You cannot delegate praise and worship of your God; knowing your God; intimacy with your God; and personal spiritual growth. There are levels that God has for you that you have to work out by yourself. No Pastor can know God for you or read the Bible for you; no one can grow in fasting and Read the rest of this entry
Why Fast: Part 4
‘Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life’ Psalm 142:5.
Building a Refuge: When you fast, you are building a refuge around yourself. The best time to build a refuge is when there is peace. Fasting [building a refuge] is being proactive; it is like saving for the rainy day. Fasting increases spiritual activity. ‘For the angel of the LORD is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear Him’ Ps.34:7. When you engage in fasting you build a wall of protection around your life, career, family, destiny and even your future. ‘The LORD is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him in Read the rest of this entry
Why Fast: Part 3
‘And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven’ Matt.16:19 [KJV]
Breaking Strong Holds (Contd.): The potency of this scripture [Matt.16:19] is in taking it as it is. We have the keys because we have Jesus Christ and this translates to having influence over the heavenlies. One way of exerting that influence is by fasting. There are forces that are gathered against us [Read Ps.35:1-8]; and one way of breaking their backs is by prayer and fasting. There are times in your life when you will take steps that you are sure that God has asked you to take and you attract affliction. I have had one of such encounters Read the rest of this entry
Why Fast: Part 2
‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls’ Matt.11:29
Fasting Releases Favour: Esther was faced with the challenge of speaking for her people before the king. She needed favour to enter the presence of the king and not be killed. And also to save the Jews who were to be wiped out. Esther took out three days to seek God, to fast and pray [Read Est.4:16-17]. She went to obtain God’s favour first in the spiritual and she obtained favour before the king. Do you need favour in any area? Do some focused thinking about your life and take it to God in fasting. God will arise and favour you in Jesus Read the rest of this entry
Why Fast: Part 1
‘Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust’ Acts 14:23
Your motive provides you with the motivation to engage spiritually. Fasting is a spiritual exercise which when embarked on with the right motives yields bountiful results. Why are you doing what you are doing? Over the next few days, we will be outlining eight reasons every Christian should engage in whole hearted fasting. Today we will examine the first two reasons. Why fast? Read the rest of this entry
Seeking God
‘So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and fasting’ Dan.9:3a
Seeking God is crucial to our love walk. It is in seeking God that we discover why we do what we do and get the understanding to live according to His purpose. Seeking God requires humility and sacrifice. Fasting is seeking God; a choice to abstain for the purpose of seeking God. The primary reason why we fast is to seek God and be still ‘in His presence where there is fullness of joy’. In other words, when you put certain things aside to make God priority and go deeper, He sorts you out. ‘That is why the LORD says, “Turn to me now, Read the rest of this entry
Our Motives
The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit,exposing every hidden motive. Prov.20:27
‘People may be pure in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their motives’ Prov.16:2. Motives are a very powerful emotional force capable of taking you through any commitment from start to finish. It is your motive in any endeavor that keeps you going even in the face of challenges. Your motive reveals your heart. Take marriage for instance; if your motive for getting married is so you can display your husband at social Read the rest of this entry
Direction
‘I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race… It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time’ Ecc.9:11
‘…being in the right place at the right time’. The Way is the most crucial part of acceleration. It would be futile to pride yourself as the fastest runner whereas in every race, you accelerate in the opposite direction, away from the finish line. What is the point of accelerating when you are heading in the wrong direction? ‘You may think you are on the right road and still end up dead’ Prov.14:12 [CEV]. Increased speed in the Read the rest of this entry
By My Spirit
‘Then He said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies’ Zech.4:6.
It is important that as children of the Most High God, we take our Father’s Word to heart because it is always as He says it would be. How far you go and how high you climb will not be by your power, it cannot be by your strength, it will only be by the Holy Spirit. So let your prayer be ‘Lord have your way’. Acceleration only comes from God and can only be sustained by His Spirit. When you operate by the Spirit, all you will do is put Read the rest of this entry
Accelerators – Part 1
The Lord gave His power to Elijah, who tightened his clothes around him and ran ahead of King Ahab all the way to Jezreel. 1kings 18:46 [NCV]
An accelerator is something that causes an object to increase in speed. In a car, there is a pedal called the accelerator which when pushed causes the car to accelerate. There are certain things that are accelerators that God must press in your life to cause you to accelerate.
- Favour: For some it’s the absence of favour that has limited them. Your set time has come [Ps.102:13]. It was favour that made Jacob prosper despite opposition such that his wealth surpassed that of his employer. When God favours you, people around you will say it’s not fair. The truth is favour isn’t fair. God will show you enormous favour.
- Name Change: Having the wrong name is the reason why some people have been held back. For others, their names are not necessarily bad, in fact they are good names but they do not match the great destiny God has for them. The right name would be the accelerator into our destiny. God will change your good name into a great name according to His purpose. A name that will speak the prophetic into you daily.
- The Anointing: Being yoked together with the wrong thing means you can only move as fast as they can move. Some yokes are not necessary evil yokes, but they are just good yokes but God wants you to do great things. You cannot be connected to a good yoke when you have a great destiny. You won’t go further than good when you have a great destiny. That yoke needs to break ‘not by power, not by might but by the Spirit’ of the Living God [Isa.10:27].
‘So then [God’s gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. [It depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God having mercy on him.]’ Rom.9:16 [AMP].
Thought: Ask God to show you dumb founding favour; to give you a name that speaks of your prophetic greatness; to pour out fresh anointing overflowing in your life, in Jesus Name.
