Secrets of Answered Prayer by Lester Sumrall

Author:Lester Sumrall
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Prayer, Christian Life, Christianity, General
ISBN: 9780840759252
Publisher: Sumrall Publishing
Published: 1984-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

9

Fasting: Another Secret of Answered Prayer

Prayer and fasting are the believer's secret weapons.

"Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord" (Joel 1:14).

Prayer alone is a powerful force—"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). But fervent prayer in combination with spiritual fasting comprises an "unbeatable duo" against which all the resources of hell cannot prevail. It must be "spiritual" fasting, because mere physical fasting, for health or to lose weight, does not move God.

But when one becomes so concerned, so burdened over a need, a person, a country, or a problem that he chooses not to eat for a period of time in order to devote himself to prayer, then prayer with fasting becomes a power that can shake even the very demons in hell.

Though many fasts are recorded in the Bible, the Bible tells of only three men who fasted for as long as forty days—Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Each of them fasted for a specific purpose. During their lengthy fasts, each was supernaturally sustained. And at the conclusion of each of these fasts, each person had achieved his spiritual objective.

At a time when a great move of the Spirit of God was needed amongst the people of God, "The word of the Lord ... came to Joel... Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly... and cry out to the Lord" (Joel 1:1,14). God knew the power that would be released when His people would cease eating and all ordinary pursuits—and pray. God knew it and commanded the prophet Joel to proclaim the fast.

Throughout the Bible there are examples of outstanding events that came about when God's people fasted. I will show a few of them. The first is when...

Nations Were Saved through Prayer and Fasting

"And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger" (Deut. 9:18). This was a crucial time in Israel's history.

After Moses led the people out of Egypt, they began to murmur, to grumble, to complain. Nothing pleased them. Then they reverted to their former idolatry. At this point God moved to judge them. He expressed His anger to Moses, saying, "'I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven'" (Deut. 9:13-14).

Moses fell down—prostrated himself on his face—before the Lord and prayed. He fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights, without eating any food or drinking any water. He interceded for the people that God wanted to destroy.

Moses was willing to give his very life for these people. It is a medical fact that one cannot live without water for forty days and nights.

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