21 Days of Fasting & Prayer: Day 9

Right Fasting-Right Faith

¹²You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, and rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything;

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

¹³“If you watch your step on the Sabbath

and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,

If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,

God’s holy day as a celebration,

If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’

making money, running here and there—

¹⁴Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!

“You will use the rubble of past lives to build anew and build the foundations from out of your past!”

  I love reading the biographies and memoirs of Christian men and women who knew firsthand the life-altering and effective power of Right Faith that comes out of Right Fasting!  Their heroic stories of faith in God, of His miraculous supply, and supernatural intervention makes my spirit quiver in anticipation that what He did for them He will do for me!

  You would do yourself well to search out these giants of our faith and read how God used them to shape nations, overcome demons, work miracles and spread the Gospel where Christ was not known!  All because they fasted their lives unto Him!

  Dwight Moody, one of the greatest preachers the world has ever known, was but sixteen when he heard a preacher say, “The world has never seen what God can do through a man who is totally surrendered to Him!”  Hearing this, Moody made a promise to God and himself, “By God’s grace I will be that man!”  He was true to his word. Without the use of technology, he won more than one million people to Christ!

  Each day this month read a chapter from the Book of Acts and see how believers generously gave their lives to God for Him to use.  They stood on the shoulders of Abraham, Jacob, David and so many others, and in so doing, they rebuilt the foundations upon which you and I now stand!

  God is waiting for someone whose faith is right-right to be used to reach others, “so others may live!”  What is God asking of you to do with your Right Faith!

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer- Day 8

Right Fasting-Right Faith

¹⁰If you are generous to the poor, and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

¹¹I will always show you where to go.

I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

Right fasting will always birth in you a right faith!   And right faith can always be seen in the actions we undertake!

  Many people have a wrong understanding of faith. They see it as almost as mystical, but that is so far from the truth.  Right faith is faith that can be seen.  It is faith that is demonstrated by our works or actions-by our generosity!  Right faith is not just how you treat others, but how you allow God to use you “so others may live!”

  The Apostle James penned it this way, “You say you have faith and I have works; show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works!”  Right Faith will be seen!

  This is God’s Law of ‘sowing and reaping’ in action!  Each generous act becomes a harvest guaranteed to come forth!  The size of your harvest is determined by the size of your faith sowing! 

Are you ready to believe God through you and for you? I believe you are. The key?  Generous living founded upon faith in our generous God!  The right kind of faith is not self-centered.  It does not limit God’s promise by what we can see. Trust God and begin today with the right kind of faith-one that rest in God faithfulness to do what He said He would do for those who are generous “so others may live!”

  Give your life generously to God!  Be generous in your giving of your time, talents, and finances.  Be generous in forgiveness, compassion and kindness!

  Read again God’s directions and then read it again. What He said he would do for those who take Him at His word He will!  Our Lord has promised, “Whatsoever a man sows, so shall he reap!”

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer- Day 7

Right Fasting-Right Doing

^{Isaiah 58:6}

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

⁷    Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

I love how The Message translation puts it!

Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground

¹“Shout! A full-throated shout!

Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!

Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,

face my family Jacob with their sins!

²They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,

and love studying all about me.

To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring.

They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’

and love having Me on their side.

³But they also complain,

‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?

Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

“Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.

You drive your employees much too hard.

⁴You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.

You fast, but you swing a mean fist.

The kind of fasting you do

won’t get your prayers off the ground.

⁵Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:

a day to show off humility?

To put on a pious long face

and parade around solemnly in black?

Do you call that fasting,

a fast day that I, God, would like?

⁶“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:

to break the chains of injustice,

get rid of exploitation in the workplace,

free the oppressed, and cancel debts.

⁷What I’m interested in seeing you do is:

sharing your food with the hungry,

inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, and

being available to your own families.

⁸Do this and the lights will turn on,

and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

The God of glory will secure your passage.

⁹Then when you pray, God will answer.

You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

God is ready!  Are you?

“If you get rid of unfair practices,

quit blaming victims,

quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

¹⁰If you are generous with the hungry

and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, and your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

¹¹I will always show you where to go.

I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

¹²You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, and rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

¹³“If you watch your step on the Sabbath

and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,

If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,

God’s holy day as a celebration,

If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’

making money, running here and there—

¹⁴Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!

Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.

I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”

Yes! God says so!

  Notice that right fasting is not about changing others!  It’s about me; it’s about you!  Right fasting is how I treat others. It is about me seeking their welfare, our treatment of others and about helping them out of their bondages! 

  Does God really notice?  He must, He is the One that told us what to do and how to do so!  “He that lends to the poor lends to God, the Lord shall repay!” 

 Right fasting turns our focus away from us and onto those things on the heart of God!

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer: Day 6

^{Right Fasting: Getting Right!}

^{Isaiah 58:3-5}

³Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and You don’t pay attention? Why have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge?

  Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors. ⁴Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high

             Is this such the fast that I choose,

              a day for a person to humble himself?

            Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

             and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

              Will you call this a fast,

              and a day acceptable to the Lord?

             

God did not accept their fast because they were fasting not to discover God’s will but to get God to do what they wanted!  They were using fasting as a weapon against others, and were mad at God because He was not responding as they wanted. 

Right fasting is about change-not change in God, but change in us!  During your fast the Holy Spirit will point out areas that hinder our walk, and impede our right future! 

We do not fast to get our will-we fast to get His will!

              What is the Holy Spirit pointing out-speaking to you about?  The Holy Spirit does not use condemnation-deep sense of dread or guilt.  He convicts-points out specifically the area He wants to help you overcome.

              Write down what the Holy Spirit is dealing with you.  Talk to the Holy Spirit and describe the issue and acknowledge you are ready to face and deal with it. Tell Him you cannot overcome it on your own, you must have His strength!  Commit your way to Him, accepting He has heard and answered!

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer- Day 5

^{Right Fasting:  Battling the Demonic}

                      ^{One day a man brought his son to Jesus’ disciples for them to cast a demon out of the boy. The frantic father told them, “Often the demon throws the boy into the river to drown him or fire to drown him!”  But try as they might, they could not free the boy from the powerful hold the demon had over the boy!}

                      ^{Jesus, seeing the crowd and hearing their anger at His disciples approached them, dealt with the demon and the boy, now free from the demon went home with his father.  Jesus’ disciples came to Him privately and asked, “Why could we not cast him out?”  Jesus’ response, “Because of your unbelief. Howbeit, this kind (of demon) will come out by nothing but by prayer and fasting!”  See it!  There are times when prayer alone doesn’t do the job!  This is when the gift of fasting comes in!}

                      ^{A few months ago, I awoke to a powerful, demonic attack; one of the worse I have ever known. It was a heavy oppression, seeking to suffocate my joy in the Lord.  This went on for days, and days into weeks.  I cried out to God, I examined my life!  I fed on Scriptures and surrounded myself with prayer partners.}

 ^{I am sure it all helped, but the demonic presence remained. The best way to describe it was a heavy oppression.  My mind was under constant attack!  Day after day I stayed before the Lord for His deliverance. I used the Word against the mental attacks and spoke the Word. I prayed the Word!  You cannot give in-you must fight!  You are promised victory, but victory comes after you battle!}

^{Then one day it dawned on me, it had been seven days since last time I had eaten!  The next day some family came in town and asked us out to dinner. Just before the waitress came my wife looked at me and asked, “Are you going to eat or are you going to fast until you get a breakthrough?”  Strangely, we had not discussed that I was fasting.  I heard in her words the Voice of the Holy Spirit asking the same question, “Are you going to fast until you get a breakthrough?”   I responded, “Until I get a breakthrough!”}

                

                     ^{On the tenth day I awoke to the light of the sun through my bedroom windows. “Oh no,’ I thought, ‘it’s 7am. I’ve overslept!”  But then an acute awareness of peace filled the room!  I realized the demonic oppressor was gone!  The demonic presence had been broken!  Isaiah 58 filled my thoughts, “…then shall your light break forth as the noon day!”  I knew, “God had done great things for my soul!”  Right fasting is a powerful gift of God!} 

                      ^{Right Fasting is about breakthrough!  It is about breaking the demonic control of your flesh and mind. It is about breaking through Satan’s deception about faith, finances and God’s future for you “so others may live!”}

                      ^{As you fast, ask the Holy Spirit to help you be honest to yourself and to Him in all the areas in your life that are not totally given to Him. Sometimes we find ourselves either ignoring or making excuses why we are not obedient to Him in every area of life.  These all become weapons the enemy uses against us.  That’s right, he uses us against us!  Make a list of these and pray over them each day asking Him to “open the eyes of your understanding.”} 

                      ^{You cannot overcome Satan’s lies on your own!  You need the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to you!  God’s Word is Truth!  Read a chapter each day from the Gospel of John and as you do so, ask, “How does this apply to me?  What is the Holy Spirit speaking to me through this chapter?  What do I need to do with what God has shown me?”}  

                      ^{Remember what Jesus told us, “I am come that you might have life…”  He came-He gave up His life in Heaven and on earth “so others may live!”  So you may live!  Will you give up your life, as He did, so others may live?  You will never regret it!}

                      ^{Pray this prayer with me.  “Father, I want to walk with You and to give my life for You to use as You will.  It is so hard for me to let go and trust You. I know it is the right thing to do.  Holy Spirit, fill me with Your Spirit and with all might in my inner man that I might know with all God’s people the hope and assurance of walking and being led by your Holy Spirit each moment of every day. In Jesus Name, Amen!”}

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer- Day 2

^{Week one:  Day two}

  ^{Read Isaiah 58 silently and then aloud} 

  ^{Our study is focused on the effective power of right fasting, right faith, right finances and experiencing God’s right future for you-and for God’s right future for our Cornerstone family. Remember, God’s way is total transformation!.  Are you open to becoming “like Christ” in every area of life? Is your faith growing?  Are you ready for your faith to be challenged? Are you open for a total life and living transformation?  I pray so!  It will be a struggle, but it is a struggle worth facing so that God can use you “so others may live!”}

  ^{Before you begin, ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to Him, to help you be receptive, and your understanding fruitful.  Read Isaiah 58 several times today. As you do so, He, the Holy Spirit will speak to you and reveal God’s will for you and in you. He will bring to light the hidden things of your heart that are holding you back from the life He has planned for you. Remember, right fasting is about discovering God’s desire, and by His help, giving all of us to Him till we become like Him!}

  ^{As you read Isaiah 58, tell the Holy Spirit that you want Him to show you the things you have knowingly, or unknowingly,  locked away and not dealt with. Get real with Him!  His goal is always your good!  Trust Him!}

  ^{Let’s pray this prayer together:  “Father, thank you for the tender, loving mercy that you have shown to me. I want to know You more, and for all of my life-every area of my life, totally surrendered to You.  Holy Spirit, I need Your help to fast the right way. I need You to teach me how to walk in right faith. Open the eyes of my spirit to a right understanding about money and what the “true treasures are!” According to Jeremiah 29,  I believe You have the right plan and future prepared for me “so others may live!” In Jesus Name, Amen”}

21 Days of Fasting & Prayer- Day 1

^{Week One:  Day one}

^{“What is Fasting? Why do it? How do you do it ‘right?’ How long should I fast? What do I fast?”}

                      ^{To fast is to do without food for a period of time for the purposes of seeking a deeper more intimate relationship with God, or bringing your flesh in submission to your spirit. Others fasted when they were facing overwhelming enemy attacks and others during drought.  Still, other fast occurred when individuals, and or nations, needed Divine Guidance and protection.  There have even been fast recorded in the Scripture for breaking the spiritual bondage of poverty.}

   ^{Our fast is focused on the life-transforming power of right fasting, right faith, right finances and walking in God’s right future for you-and for our Cornerstone family may use us to reach others, “So others may live!”  “So others may live!” is the message God has given Cornerstone to focus upon!}

                     ^{It is very important to have a purpose for your fast.  Your flesh will battle your obedience to fasting.  Your mind will give you reason after reason ‘why’ you cannot fast. The great lie is, “If God wanted me to fast He would make it easy or easier for me to do so!”  Do not give in to the lie!  Satan knows when you discover and experience the powerful weapon of right fasting that he has lost the first of many battles.}

                     ^{Right fasting is not only the separating yourself from food but also the “pleasures” of life that feed your earthly life but devour your spiritual life, hinder your faith devour your finances and impede what God wants to do through you!  For example, during this fast, turn off any television programs that do not feed your spirit.  Except for work- related issues, deny your cravings to search the web, Facebook, unnecessary phone calls or texting. Right fasting denies your flesh the right to rule!}

                     ^{Make the most of every opportunity to feed your spirit on God’s word!  I suggest the Gospel of John as a good beginning place. Listen to uplifting Christian music and ‘sing along!”  The Holy Spirit uses Christ adoring music to prepare our hearts and minds.}

                      ^{How long should you fast?  That depends on several things. If you have never fasted before, I suggest you begin by setting aside one meal a day for three days.  Then go to two meals a day for three days. Then go a full day from sun down to sundown.  Others may vary their fast by alternating days of eating. Others may set aside a total three-day fast or even for a longer period of time. Drink plenty of fluids!}

  ^{If you have physical issues, such as diabetes, consult your physician for guidance. If a physical condition does not allow you to fast food then fast the other things in your life that consume your time, finances and God’s intended future for you!.}                                                                              

                       ^{You may choose what has been called the “Daniel Fast.”  (see Daniel 11)  In this fast a person eats only vegetables and water for a period of time.  Some who have experience in fasting may choose a ‘total’ fast of nothing but liquids for the period of time.  Please remember, it is about feeding your spirit the Word of God, introspection, revelation, worship and prayer, as well as, denying your flesh the right to rule!  You will probably find fasting technology even more difficult than fasting food!}

                     ^{Read Isaiah 58 several times today. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you grace and help to prepare you to say “No” to your flesh and mind and “Yes” to fasting for a higher purpose.  As you enter this fast, ask the Holy Spirit to work in and with you “so others may live!”  A life well lived is one that “lays it down” so “others may live!”} 

                     ^{Let’s pray. “Father, my flesh fights Your will, even though I know it is always the right course.  Help me, by Your Holy Spirit and the Word of God, to bring my flesh into submission that my today and future may be lived in such a way as to glorify You and so “others may live!”   In Jesus Name, Amen!”}