Learning to Fast and Pray

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efore I knew the meaning of the word _{mentor, the Lord gave me} one. Soon after my conversion experience, Venita Mack, an evan- gelist in the truest sense of that calling, became a spiritual mentor to me. Looking back, I realize that the Holy Spirit led me to meet this godly woman; He had chosen her to greatly influence my young spiritual life.

Venita actually did live by faith (“and not by hint,” as she liked to say). She had a wonderful prayer life. When she heard the Holy Spirit tell her to do something or go somewhere, she went wherever God would lead her—Korea, Florida, or Blountville, Tennessee. The Holy Spirit led her to come to our area during the time when many of us had just been introduced to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts.

Venita’s life was so full of love and the power of the Holy Spirit that she easily won my trust. I was still attending a denominational church at the time. But I was also leading Bible studies in our home, teaching hungry believers these fresh new truths of the Holy Spirit that we were learning. Though I was confident of Venita’s genuine walk with God, she startled me by prophesying to me personally.

She declared that I was called to teach and preach and that I would travel around the world carrying the gospel. She was the first person

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Define Your Destiny Through Prayer

to publicly confirm the calling of God on my life for ministry. After the Lord showed her His call on my life, she invited me to join her and minister in some revival meetings.

It was at her invitation that I first experienced teaching and preach- ing in a church setting. I remember how strange it felt to me to stand behind a pulpit and teach the Word of God. It seemed that just yes- terday I was living my little ordinary life on Hermitage Drive, going to the office in the morning, grabbing fast food on the way home. My days had a sameness about them—boringly ordinary. Then suddenly (or so it seemed) I was standing behind pulpits and sharing my heart that was exploding with the wonderful truths I was learning from the Word of God.

It was hard for me to believe that a person’s life could change this dramatically. Was this really me? I mean, had the real me been inside me all this time and I just hadn’t met her yet? Venita told me that was exactly the case. She said I would be amazed at the things with which the Lord would entrust me. And she warned that I would need to accept the responsibility that goes with such a calling.

“what Do you Know about Fasting?”

One day, my mentor introduced me to a new facet of the Christian life. She asked me a simple question: “What do you know about fasting?” I answered weakly, “Well, I know Jesus talked about it. So I have been fasting for twenty-four hours each week. But what do I know about it? Really, nothing.”

Venita began to share with me her experiences of fasting—fasts of short duration as well as longer ones. She told me how fasting had increased the level of anointing on her life so that she could pray for the sick and they would be healed. And, best of all, she said, “Fasting subdues the flesh in such a way that it increases one’s sensitivity to hear from God.”

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Learning to Fast and Pray

Eager to hear from God, I embraced this truth of fasting. As I studied the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit confirmed to me that fasting must become a consistent part of our prayer lifestyle. I was so grateful that He had sent someone to begin to tell me how to order my life as a Christian. I felt so blessed that He would send me answers before I could even ask the questions. I wondered if Manoah felt like this when the angel came and told him and his wife how to raise their son Samson because of the call of God on his life (see Judg. 13:2-23).

The best thing about obvious supernatural intervention in your life is the mere fact of it; you were born for this—to discover your divine purpose. And every touch with divinity becomes a life-changing experience. It validates your personhood and satisfies the deepest longings of your soul for significance and purpose. Then you can say with the psalmist:

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness (Psalm 17:15).

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches (Psalm 63:5-6).

biblical Purpose for Fasting

On one occasion, the disciples tried to deliver a boy who was tor- mented by a demon. His father brought him to the disciples and asked them to use their authority to cast it out. They could not. When Jesus arrived on the scene, He cast it out and healed the boy, returning him to his father.

Then the disciples asked the same question that many believers ask when they do not get answers to their prayers:

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 moun- tain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be

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Define Your Destiny Through Prayer

impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting

(Matthew 17:20-21).

As usual, Jesus spoke directly to their question, telling them the truth about their dilemma and giving them the answer to it. _Unbe-

lief was the problem; prayer and fasting was the solution. It is not the

answer many of us like to hear.

According to Jesus’ answer, fasting and prayer can increase the faith in our hearts and help us to overcome unbelief. Unbelief due to a lack of prayer and fasting kept the disciples from the place of authority required for deliverance and victory over the devil.

Even in the Old Testament, fasting had a divine purpose. In the book of Jonah, the king of Ninevah called a fast when he heard the judgment of God against them. Even the cattle had to fast. And God relented from the punishment He had threatened against their city (see Jonah 3).

Isaiah declared that the true fast was to set the oppressed free, to break yokes of bondage and lift unbearable burdens, to feed the hungry and help the poor. When fulfilled, the promises to that people were impressive: Your light will break forth, your health shall spring forth speedily, and the glory of the Lord shall be your reward (see Isa. 58:6-8).

Daniel fasted in order to receive revelation from God regarding His covenant promises to Israel. Though he had to fast and pray twenty- one days, his fasting and prayer released angels to overcome the evil Prince of Persia resisting God’s people in the realm of the Spirit. And Daniel received the divine revelation he sought (see Dan. 10:11-14).

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul declared that he was in “fastings” often (see 2 Cor. 11:26). And he said that he continually kept his body under control, to “bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast- away” (1 Cor. 9:27).

Anyone who has fasted understands the power of a fast to break addictions and to subdue the desires of the flesh to the authority of the

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Learning to Fast and Pray

Spirit of God. There are victories in life that must be sought through prayer and fasting; prayer alone, no matter how fervent, is not enough.

“when you Fast…”

Jesus did not consider fasting an option for those who wanted to be more spiritual. He presented it as a command to be obeyed. He did not say to His disciples, “If you fast…,” but “When you fast…” (see Matt. 6:16). Then He gave them specific instructions for doing so. It is a great day on your spiritual journey when you discover the blessing of fasting.

Without fasting as an integral part of our church’s prayer lifestyle, I do not believe we would have seen the miracles and breakthroughs we have experienced through the years. During those early years of establishing our church, I fasted so much that I sometimes couldn’t remember if I was fasting or not. When someone would offer me something to eat, I would have to ask myself, “Am I fasting today?”

I only mention this to make the point that the Holy Spirit taught me to fast often. The weekly twenty-four hour fast that I had adopted early in my Christian walk was a given. After that, there have been fasts of varying length and intensity throughout my life. If I neglected fasting, the Holy Spirit was always faithful to convict me and get me back on the path.

For many years, we have fasted and prayed together as a congrega- tion the first full week in January. During that week, we meet daily to pray together. We direct our prayers systematically, seeking direction for every area of the church during the year ahead. After that, we encourage weekly fasting throughout the year on an individual basis.

Fasting is not about being hungry or doing without. Fasting is about quieting the drives of the soul and body and drawing near to God. It is about obedience to the commands of Jesus and receiving the rewards He promises. And it is about breaking bondages that keep us bound to the will of our flesh, the will of people, and the will of the devil.

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Define Your Destiny Through Prayer

The empowering that comes through fasting and prayer would pre- pare me for the challenges that lay ahead. When I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was not aware of the magnitude of the challenges that I would face in the days ahead, but God was, and He was equip- ping me.

I was still basking in the first love of salvation and marveling at the divine change in direction for our lives. I would soon discover that these wonderful spiritual experiences were not just to make me “feel good”; they were necessary empowerment for the task God was about to reveal to us.

Learning to Fast and Pray