FASTING AS A DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

01/18/2024

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11).

This year, in manifesting the God-life, we are going to encounter some opposition from the enemy, which is why we will be fasting and praying a lot more than we did last year. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:27 NIV, "...do not give the devil a foothold." Why? Because for every inch the devil desires to have in your life, he actually wants ten miles.

What fasting would accomplish for you is that it will bring your body and soul in alignment with your recreated spirit. You see, many times, the enemy will tempt us on two frontiers this year. He will tempt us in the area of the intellect, to get us to act based on logic, which is pride. Or he will tempt us to act on our feelings by using emotional triggers. The only way to ward off this onslaught, as the enemy challenges God's sovereign statement that we are the God-kind is to exercise ourselves unto godliness through prayer and fasting. In 1 Timothy 4:7, the Bible says, "But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness." This means praying in tongues every so often and fasting every so often.

Hear me, Jesus didn't say, "if you pray" and "if you fast." He said, "When you pray..." (Matthew 6:5) and "When you fast..." (Matthew 6:17), implying that there ought to be times when we pray and fast.

While prayer helps to condition your spirit via the process of interaction with God, the technology of fasting is designed in such a way that when you do it, you are humbling your soul and body before the Lord. In Psalm 35:13, the Psalmist says, "...I humbled myself with fasting..." It is the way by which you gain an advantage over the enemy on the two fronts that he typically targets Christians with deception.

The enemy uses head knowledge to attack believers. This is what the Bible refers to as strongholds. Much of how you knew things before you got born-again was by head knowledge, and the enemy can easily inflate the soul of a Christian with knowledge so that you trust logic to solve or address certain challenges that require a God-response. When you fast and pray, one of the things that happens is that your reliance on head knowledge recedes, and the possibility of receiving spiritual knowledge is heightened.

The other frontier where the devil attacks you is in your emotions. He will project information at you through people, advertisements, and other forms of messaging to make you sad, anxious, angry, or excited as long as it will lead you to sin or make an error. Again, fasting, if done correctly, shuts down the sensitivity of the soul to worldly issues that could trigger your emotions. Fasting correctly entails studying and meditating on the scriptures while praying at regular intervals with little or no contact with popular culture via books, films, or social media.

This year, take advantage of times of fasting to humble yourself before the Lord shuts down the temptations to depend on head knowledge or be swayed emotionally.

God bless you.

Faith-Filled Confession

I am smart to take advantage of calls to fast and pray. I bring my soul and body under my recreated spirit so that I may offer acceptable sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ. I am a defended city, never swayed or lured by the wiles of the enemy. Hallelujah!

Day 17 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

▪ Pray for the increased reach of the Grace Daily Devotionals and ministry materials around the world.

▪ Pray that through the Grace Daily Devotionals and ministry materials, salvation, healing, hope, peace, and joy will come into the homes of many.

▪ Pray that through the Grace Daily Devotionals and ministry materials, the saints will be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

▪ Pray that testimonies will abound on account of the Grace Daily Devotionals and ministry materials to the glory of Jesus.

One-Year Bible Reading Plan: Genesis 42-43; Matthew 13:33-58