Why Prayer and Fasting?

In “Why Prayer And Fasting,” Pastors Tyler Lynde and Ebenezer Asiamah go straight to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 to answer a question many of us feel but rarely voice: why build prayer and fasting into everyday life? Tyler begins with the purpose behind it all—God created us for fellowship, not mere belief—and names one of our deepest challenges: distraction. A calendar can be full and a soul still be empty. From Jesus’ repeated “when you pray” and “when you fast,” Tyler underscores that these aren’t occasional religious stunts but normal rhythms for people who want real intimacy with the Father in the secret place. Prayer is not performance; it’s a two-way, ongoing conversation with a Father who already knows our needs. 

Ebenezer offers a clear definition of biblical fasting—voluntarily abstaining from food for a set time for spiritual purposes—and shows why it must be joined to prayer or it’s just dieting. He captures the heart with a simple line: we do not fast to get God’s attention; we fast to get our attention on God. From there he lays out the spiritual benefits found across Scripture: fasting helps set our attention on God (Psalm 42; Matthew 5:6), resets disordered affections (Job 23:12), cultivates humility that fuels revival (2 Chronicles 7:14; Joel 2), and brings clarity and direction in weighty decisions (Acts 9; Proverbs 19:14). You’ll hear biblical and personal stories about guidance, protection on difficult journeys (Ezra 8), and circumstances God has shifted as His people sought Him, all while emphasizing that fasting aligns us to God’s will rather than manipulating outcomes.

The message also highlights spiritual freedom. Tyler and Ebenezer revisit Jesus’ teaching that some resistance only breaks through prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29), offering hope for those facing anxiety, oppression, addiction, and persistent battles. They look to Jesus as our example in the wilderness (Matthew 4), reminding us that we live not by bread alone but by every word from God’s mouth.

Practical help runs throughout: choose a sacrificial fast that costs something, schedule time with God during normal meal windows, consider laying down media and noise, approach food wisely (avoid turning “one meal a day” into indulgence), taper in rather than binge beforehand, and consult a medical professional when needed. Tyler closes with an invitation into a focused 21-day season with intentional prayer gatherings and a simple planning framework so the fast is purposeful, not vague.

If you’re longing for renewed intimacy, clearer direction, a reset of what you love most, and real spiritual power, lean in and begin.

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Transcript

Jesus On Secret Prayer

Prayer As Two Way Talk

Fasting Intensifies Prayer

Tyler Lynde 0:02

All right. Why prayer and fasting? Why prayer and fasting? Isn't that a good question? Well, hopefully we're going to get an answer for you this morning. Why were we created? Why did God create us? What was his purpose? Did he just create us so he could watch us run around and oh, isn't that cute? Isn't that sweet? There's more. Why did he create us? To worship him. And what is at the root of that? Fellowship. God created us to have fellowship with him. He desires for us to have a living, breathing, ongoing relationship with him. How many of you realize that there are a lot of things that can try to get in the way of that? Am I right? Obviously, we know that we can't have right relationship with God or fellowship with him if we're not born again. All of us are born in sin and separated from God. And so we have to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ in order to have our relationship with God renewed and made right again. But God desires for us to have a living, breathing, ongoing relationship with Him. And I don't know about you, but life, what is the key word when people ask you about your life? What is the one answer that is said more than any other answer? I'm really what? I'm really busy. I'm really busy. Right? And and busy is a term that can be uh it can be based on being busy doing things that are really good or that are uh you know that are required. Busy can also be a term that refers to playing Fortnite, right? And I'm not I'm not here to just slam, I know there's there's a fortnight section here, and I'm not I'm not here to slam necessarily to slam that, but I'm just saying busy is a relative term, right? And so we we have to be careful with that. God intends for us to have a real relationship with him that's based on a daily devotion, a daily devotion. And so prayer and fasting are some of the ways that God has given us to remove the distractions from our life and to really focus in on why we were actually created to be in fellowship with him, right? So we're gonna read a couple of passages from Matthew chapter six. We all know that this is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus was proclaiming to his disciples what it looks like to be a follower of Christ, what it looks like to be a citizen of the kingdom. And I want you to pay attention especially to a particular word that's found in both of these passages, and it's actually repeated a few times. So let's look at Matthew chapter six, verses five through eight. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door, and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. And then going down the chapter to verse sixteen, it says, And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you that your word is alive and powerful. We ask that you would help us to yield to it. We ask that you would cause our spirits to be alive today to the Spirit of God. And we ask, Lord, that you would help us this today to remind ourselves of the importance of prayer and fasting in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So, did you discern the word that was found in both passages multiple times? Yes, you got it right. I don't care. They can throw whatever time change they want at you. You are alive, you are well, your mind is active. And when you pray, not if you pray, but when you pray. Not if, but when. It's a given that all of us should pray. Amen. You just prayed. Amen is a prayer in itself. So be it. In other words, God, let your will be done. We need to take the initiative and stir ourselves up to pray. How many of you know it is not necessarily the natural disposition of ourselves to just desire to pray? It's something that we have to, we have to, uh, we have to ask God in prayer. We have to ask God to give us the desire for. And we have to stir ourselves up to pray. We have to remind ourselves of the importance of it. And prayer is not just us speaking. How many of you have ever been in a relationship where only one person spoke? And how well did that relationship go? If you were the speaker, you might have thought, fine, because you got all your words out. But the other person did not have a chance to get a word in edgewise, right? In order for there to be prayer, there's a two-way conversation, there's a communication that happens between you and God. Remember, Paul told us to pray without ceasing? How do we do that? I describe it like this: we have a family chat. And in that family chat, at any given moment in time, you'll see a notification pop up. And usually, if a notification pops up and one of my children is showing one of their children doing something absolutely adorable, within the next three minutes or seconds at times, the other child who has children is posting a picture of their child doing something even more incredible and more beautiful, right? And all of us are going, ah, and I, you know, my emoji game is not very good because I don't always have my glasses on and I don't know what all the emojis mean. So I try not to go there because I don't want to accidentally hit the wrong one, right? But some of you, I have to say, some of you have a pretty strong emoji game. I've noticed that. It's incredible, especially the older generation. I mean, you guys have embraced this. My dad recently was texting in a group chat, in our other family group chat, and he's hitting all these emojis. And I said, I just texted and I said, Dad, man, that's an incredible emoji game you got going there. He didn't answer, right? So I don't know if he he felt called out or if he didn't realize he had hit all the emojis or what. Anyway, I digress. The point being this prayer is an open-ended communication between you and God, like a group chat, like a family chat. We're a part of the family of God. And so we should always be open to hearing from God and speaking to God. So when you prayer, pray. Mark Medley, Pastor Mark, has given us this great definition for prayer. Prayer is an invitation into God's heart and mission. Prayer is an invitation into God's heart and mission. And it doesn't just stop at prayer, it says also, when you fast, what is that implying? It implies that we should fast, right? The Bible clearly tells us that spiritual fasting intensifies prayer. If you want prayer on steroids, here's a way to do it: fasting and prayer together. In fact, if you don't, if you fast without prayer, what are you doing? You're dieting. Even the world understands that there are some natural benefits to fasting, right? How many of you have ever done intermittent fasting? How many of you realize that that is not a 21st century idea? That is an idea that came from God Himself. Can you imagine if you took that idea and you added in it at those times when you would naturally be eating if you took time dedicated in prayer to God? That's what we're talking about. Spending time with Him intentionally. So at this point, I'm going to ask Ebon Asiyama to come. And Ebon is going to, Ebon is a man who has fasted way more than I have. And uh I say that to my regret, but also just to let you know that this is a man who's very serious about his relationship with God. And he's also said that part of the reason why he has fasted more is because when you live in Ghana, it's very much easier to fast in Ghana than it is in America, right? There's not a McDonald's on every corner and a convenience store everywhere, and you actually have to work for your food, you have to to make it and all of that. So, anyway, Evan is going to take us through the spiritual benefits of fasting. Then I'm going to come up and close with giving us some details about our 21 days of prayer and fasting. Let's welcome him this morning.

Resetting Affections And Priorities

Revival Through Humility

Direction And Wisdom In Fasting

Fasting In Hard Journeys

Freedom From Oppression

Ebenezer Asiamah 9:41

Thank God so much for design. God is good. Amen. What a blessing. I am really expectant, and I know that God is up to something in these 21 days of fasting and prayer. And I thank God so much for Tyler and the elders for their leadership. Actually, this is easy for me because uh he's discipling me to fulfill the purpose that God has called me to do. And so as I'm standing here, I'm being discipled. So thank you so much for giving me grace to share what God has laid on my heart. Father, we thank you so much for your kindness. We thank you, Lord, that you are a good father. And that, Lord, you desire to give your children good gifts. And Lord, we thank you that you don't want your children to go without food before you give them what they need. But Lord, your children are distracted in this world. So many distractions. And so, Lord, we pray we commit this time into your hands that you open our eyes and help us to understand the significance of fasting. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. And so fasting actually is designed for us to set our attention on God. God actually spoke to me in a time of fasting and prayer, and he said, Do you know you don't fast to get my attention? I said, Oh, okay. He said, You fast to get your attention on me. Because as a father, he is always ready to hear his children. He's always paying attention to his children, but we are so much distracted. And so the number one significance that I want to share with you, the spiritual benefits and value of fasting, is to get our attention on God and grow in our intimacy with him. I love the word of God so much. There is a word that says that, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. When we hunger and thirst for God, and we get our attention on God, He fills us, or we are positioned to receive all that He has for us. And so we get our attention on God, remove from all the distraction that comes our way, and we focus on building that intimacy with Him. Daniel, a man who lived a fasted life, he was always doing some kind of fast. He wrote in Daniel chapter 11, verse 32, the bee part. He says, The people who know their God, they shall be strong and they will do exploits. And so when we fast, we are building our intimacy with God, we are growing in our knowledge of God, we are focusing our attention on Him. And God said, My children, pay attention to me. In Proverbs chapter 4, verse 20, he says, Pay attention to my words, incline your ears to my sayings, do not let them depart from your heart, set them in the midst of your heart. They are life to those who find it, and health to all their flesh. And so when we do fast and we set our attention on God, it is life to us. We are revived, we are empowered, we are encouraged. The sons of Korah wrote in Psalm 42, verse 1 and 2, it says that as the deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? And so this is the hard cry of fasting. We need God, we thirst for Him, we are hungry for Him. There was a time where the disciples of John went to Jesus and said, Why are we always fasting? But your disciples hardly fast. What is going on? And Jesus said, Well, I'm the bridegroom, I'm here. When we the bridegroom is with them, they don't have to fast. But a time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away and then they will fast. And we all know that we don't have the incarnate person of Jesus with us right now. But his spirit is with us, his presence is with us. But one day when we stand before the bridegroom, we don't need fasting. And don't you envy our loved ones who are with the Lord right now? They don't need 21 days of fasting and praise. But we need it because we are dealing with things that are very heavy. And I know that as we embark on this journey of fasting, the Lord will bring that freedom to us. And so fasting sets our attention on God and deepens our intimacy with Him. The second benefit of fasting is that it resets our affections on God. Personally, the Lord spoke to me in the beginning of the year, dealing with me about my own affections and showing me that I have not prioritized him and I've set my affections on other things. And so he embarked me to fast. And so by God's grace, I've been in partial fast since the beginning of the year. But God is showing me so much during this time because He's showing me the things in my heart that I need to deal with. He's showing me things that needs to change in my life and how to reset my affections. Beloved, when you read Job, I love Job so much. In Job chapter 23, verse 12, the man didn't have any Bible. He didn't have a copy of the Bible. As a matter of fact, some people believe that Job is one of the first books that was written in the Bible. And so he didn't have any written word of God. But Job said, he said, I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. Which tells us that he was having communication with God. And I, you know, as Tyler said, an open-ended communication with God. He said, I've not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. So this is the man who has his affection on God. And no wonder all the things that came at him, he lost everything in a day. He buried 10 children in a day. He lost all his business, all his investment was gone in a single day. But this man could still worship through it and say, the Lord has given and he has taken the taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. How can you worship in such an affliction and such difficult time? He could worship through it because his number one affection was on God. And God saw that in the life of Abraham, and he said, Abraham, can you give me your laughter? Because Isaac means laughter. So fasting will reset our affections. In Psalm 91, verse 14 to 16, he says that behold, because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. And so as we hold fast to God in love and reset our affections on him, he has promised that he would deliver us. The third benefit of fasting is that it is a catalyst for revival and spiritual growth. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7, verse 14, it's a very famous scripture. Said, If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. And many times when you read scriptures and you see they humble themselves, talking about fasting. Because fasting has a way of humbling us. And I love John the Baptist when people came to him and said, you know, the one you baptized at Jordan, he's also baptizing, and all men are going to him. And the response of John the Baptist was so beautiful. He said, Well, he's the bridegroom. I this is my joy that all men are going to him. He must increase, but I must decrease. And fasting is the way where we decrease so that we can experience the increasing of God. It's a catalyst for spiritual growth and also revival. And God is calling us, Trinity as a church, to return to him with fasting and with weeping and with rejoicing also. Because we can fast with rejoicing. We can fast with joy. Anna, the prophetess, I love her so much. You know, she was married and she only lived with her husband for seven years, and her husband passed. And the Bible says that she was a woman of fasting and prayer. And she worshiped God with fasting and prayer. And so we can also worship God with fasting and prayer. In the book of Jonah, the people of Nineveh fasted when they heard the word of God. They decided they were going to do a complete fast, three days, no food, and they repented before God. And God had mercy upon them, and God changed their situation. God spared them. I must say that fasting is not to change the will of God. But fasting is designed to bring us to align to the will of God. Fasting is not to get God to do what we want, but to get us to do what God wants. Because it is actually for our benefit. So when the people of Nineveh repented and fasted, God forgave them and spared them. Number four, fasting can bring clear revelation and direction from God. If you are in a place where you are about to make a big decision, a decision that can impact your life and your family, you can fast. Take some time and fast. I remember when I was in Ghana, I was fasting and praying for my marriage. And I just I was asking God to bless me with. Prudent wife. I wasn't married. I was in Bible school. And I said, God, your word says that houses are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is a gift from you. So, Lord, will you bless me with a prudent wife? And I heard God speak to me. He said, Ask for wisdom to live with a prudent wife. Like, okay, I know what I need, and I thank God so much for my wife, Katie. She's the reason why I'm in this country. And indeed, God speaks to us and gives us direction when we fast. Because in fasting and praying, our attention is on God. So when we when He speaks, we can hear Him. Saul of Tarsus, before he became the apostle Paul, after he had that encounter with Jesus and went blind for three days. He fasted for three days and praying. And God showed him that he's going to send somebody to come and lay hands on him. And Ananias also, when God spoke to him, said, Go, go to Damascus. I have a servant there. Behold, he is praying. He is fasting and praying. And God gave a revelation to Ananias. He knew what to do to go to Damascus and find Brother Saul. And when he prayed for him, he received his sight. It brings a clear revelation and direction from God. And our church last year, when we were praying and fasting about a big decision concerning our place of worship, God was gracious to us in the process and he gave us this place. And there are many other benefits of fasting. Some of them may not be material, some are very spiritual. Fasting can help us navigate the journey ahead with confidence. We are in some kind of journey, one way or the other. And we need God to help us navigate the journey ahead of us. And so fasting helps us to navigate that journey. In the book of Ezra, in Ezra chapter 8, verse 21 to 23, he says that then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask for the king for a band of soldiers, horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way. Since we are told the king, the hand of our God is good for all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. So Ezra had a big journey ahead of him, and he decided to embark on a fast. He said, By the river Ahava. When I was reading the scriptures, I saw that name. I'm like, what does it mean? Sometimes when I'm reading scriptures and I see an interesting name, I want to find out the meaning of it. And that name, Ahava, it means I shall subsist or I shall be taken care of. And the way that Ezra and his people took care of themselves was by humbling themselves before God with fasting and prayer. And so in fasting, we humble ourselves before God and we place our needs before him. And as Ezra experienced the protection of God and success in his journey, as we do that, no matter the journey that is ahead of us, God will give us the wisdom and the protection that we need for our journey. God protected him and his family, his children. The hand of God was so graciously upon him. Paul said that in time of his weakness, God said to him that his grace is sufficient for him and his strength is made perfect in weakness. In fasting, our flesh is weak. But that is the time that we experience the strength of God. And as we humble ourselves, I love this word so much. God said, He dwells in a high and lofty place. He's the most high God. And also he dwells with him who is of a lowly and a humble heart to revive the heart of the lowly and to revive the spirit of the contrite. And so as we humble ourselves, remember that God is with the lowly. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who are in need for God. You recognize your need for God, you recognize that you need God in your life. He says he doesn't bless the rich in spirit. They've got it all figured out. But if you are poor in spirit, you recognize that you need God. And I've been in situations that I knew that I have to fast because until God comes through, it's going to be a disaster. And I remember the whole journey of me coming here, it wasn't easy because the COVID-19 impacted everything and the embassies were closed down. And I was in a backlog, and I was trying to get to my family in difficult times, but all the doors were closed. And I remember in 2022, the Lord impressed on me to fast. And I fasted for so many days. And the Lord led me to a different country that has appointments. Nobody told me that Namibia had open appointments, but God showed me that this country has an appointment, and I was able to book an appointment. And as soon as I booked the appointment, it closed again. Fasting can change our circumstances. God can use it to change our circumstances. But I must also say that even if our circumstances don't change, God will use fasting to change us. I'm going to give you an example. Somebody fasted, David, he fasted in the Bible, and his circumstances did not change. But something about the man changed when David was fasting and praying for his son, his first son with Bathsheba. Many of us know the story. And the boy was sick. So David spent seven days in complete fast before God. Fasting and praying. On the seventh day, the boy died. And when the boy died, David rose from the ground, he washed himself, went to the house of God, he worshiped, and he went home. He said, Bring me food. And the people were like, What is this thing that you are doing? When the boy was alive, you would not eat. And now that he's gone, why are you requesting for food? And David said, Well, when the boy was alive, I fasted because I was hoping that God would change that situation. But now I will go to him and he will not come to me. But I need food before I get to him. He didn't say that, but I'm just adding that to it. Before we get to our loved ones who are with the Lord, we need food to get there. But God can use fasting to change so many circumstances. So many examples in scripture where Esther, when the life of her people were in danger, they decided to fast for three days. She herself was fasting too. And God changed their situation and saved them. Another example is Hannah. When Hannah was needing a son so bad, they went to Shiloh and she refused to eat. When everybody was feasting, she said, No, this is not time for feasting. May God come through for me. And she made a vow that if God will give her a son, she will give the son back to him. And we had the prophet Samuel, who became such a blessing to the people of God. Another example that I want to share is there was a time where the children of Judah encountered three different countries in battle. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 1 to 4. He says, After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and with them the Munites came against Jehoshaphat for battle. And some men came and told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea, and behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar, that is Engedi. Then Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he set his face to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord. And all the cities of Judah came to seek the Lord. And so when all these three countries were coming against them, all that he did was call for a fast and prayer. And the Lord led them in the process. He said, Let the worship people, the singers lead the battle. Let them worship the Lord. And as they worship the Lord, there was an ambush among the three countries. They started fighting against themselves. And they helped destroy one another. And they didn't have to fight because God was fighting for them. So I pray that during this time of prayer and fasting, God would do things that not even eyes can see. He would do deeper things in us. The final thing that I want to share is that fasting and prayer can help bring spiritual freedom. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared and they were talking with Jesus. All these three men during their time on earth fasted for 40 days. Moses, before he received the law, fasted for 40 days. He was in the presence of God. Elijah, after he destroyed the prophets of Baal, went into a very serious depression and wanted to kill him. He said, God, kill me. He didn't want to kill himself. He asked God to kill him. But an angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him bread. And he went in the strength of that bread for 40 days without eating. And we know that our Lord Jesus Christ was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And for 40 days he fasted. But we know that Moses represented the law and the old covenant, and Elijah representing the law, the prophets, and Jesus Christ representing the new covenant. All of these had to do this 40 days fasting and prayer. But if an angel appears to you and gives you bread and you can fast for 40 days, that's fine. But if you are not being led by God to do that, you shouldn't do it. Unless God leads you to do it. But Jesus Christ, when he was going to the wilderness, was filled with the Holy Spirit. And he fasted. But when he returned from there, the Spirit of God was so much on him. And the Lord was showing me that Jesus had the spirit before the 40 days fasting. But after the fast, the spirit had him. And there's a difference in that. It's one thing to have the spirit, and it's another thing for the spirit to have you. And when he stood before the people, he said, The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. And we all saw all that happened. Miracles, signs, we're following him. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. We went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Fasting brings spiritual freedom. Sometimes the enemy tries to oppress believers. And as we engage in fasting and prayer, that oppression can break off of us. There was a time where a man brought his son to the disciples to heal him. And the man was crying. He said, This spirit is tormenting my son. Oftentimes he put him in water and also in fire to destroy him. I took him to your disciples, but they did not, they couldn't do anything. But if you if you can, please help me. And Jesus rebuked the unbelief and he healed the son. And later on, the disciples asked him, Why couldn't we do it? And Jesus said, This kind does not go except by prayer and fasting. And so there is a kind of oppression that when we fast and pray, we can experience liberation and freedom. And I know that during these 21 days, God is going to bring that freedom that we need. You know, anxiety going on, depression going on, stress going on. All of these things, as we fast and pray, God can bring freedom. And who the sun sets free will be free indeed. I want us to pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness. We thank you, Lord, that you are a good Father. Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus that you grant grace even as we embark on this journey. Help us to set our affections on you. Help, Lord, that our attention will be on you. Father, we pray that in this time, oh God, of fasting and prayer, you will cause us to overcome every trial, every affliction. Father, any addiction that is holding your people down. That this time of fasting and prayer, there will be testimonies of complete freedom and deliverance in the name of Jesus. Father, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus that we will receive revival in our spirit. We receive revival in this church. Oh God, revive us again, empower us again. Use this time of consecration to revive our prayer lives. Father, help us to hear your voice again. May we hear you speaking to us as your word says that our ears shall hear a word from behind saying, This is the way walking it. Lord, may we hear your voice in this time of fasting and prayer. And Lord, we thank you that you are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think according to your power at work in us. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

What Biblical Fasting Means

21 Days Plan And Key Nights

Choosing A Sacrificial Fast

Preparing Well And Final Prayer

Praying For Iran And Service Members

Tyler Lynde 39:08

Amen. So good, excellent. Yeah, if you guys in the back, if you could put up the um slide that has a definition for biblical fasting, I appreciate that. Um yeah, Jesus is our great example, right? And Jesus himself fasted, as Evan said. And one thing that's interesting, when Satan came to tempt him, do you remember what the first temptation was? He said, and it says right before this, Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Would you be hungry? Absolutely. And what did Satan say? If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. And what did Jesus say? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Evan brought something to my attention this week that's really interesting. Adam, the first Adam, yielded to the temptation when it came to food. The second Adam didn't. Isn't that good? And he's our example. He's our example, right? So biblical fasting is voluntarily, voluntarily abstaining from food for a specified period of time for spiritual purposes. That's the very basic definition for fasting. Biblical fasting is voluntarily abstaining from food for a specified period of time for spiritual purposes. If you all in the back, if you guys could start handing these out to the to everybody, please, and make sure that you get one of these. This is our 21 days of prayer and fasting sheet that's going to give you all of the dates. We're going to do things, and on the back side of it, it has some practical questions that you can uh ask yourself and answer this week in preparation for starting next week. So we will begin the fast next Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Okay, so we're gonna have a service next Sunday morning, and then at 6 p.m., we're gonna have a time of consecration and dedication to the Lord. And that's gonna be individual primarily. So each of us as individual people are going to bring to the Lord, uh, bring ourselves to the Lord and say, Lord, this time we give to you. Um, and we're doing this sacrificially, right? We're doing this to the Lord out of obedience and out of a desire to clear the distractions out of our lives and all of the things that Evan talked about, that those things will be available, made available to us by the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. So we'll do that. And then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, so the 16th, 17th, and 18th, we will also be meeting here at 6 p.m. And we're gonna try to keep it to an hour each night, so 6 to 7 p.m. And each one of those nights, we're gonna have a specific focus. So on Monday night, we're gonna be praying for salvations. Uh, Tuesday night, we're gonna be praying for marriages and families and for those who would like to be married. Wednesday night, we're gonna be having our worship and prayer night, we're gonna be asking God for healing and for spiritual awakening. Um, and all of those things will happen um that first week. And then so we're gonna ask, even if you don't aren't able to fast the entirety of the 21 days, if you could really focus during those four days, so well, actually it's three days, Sunday night through Wednesday night, we would really appreciate you doing that, okay? And the Lord's gonna be with us and he's gonna help us. He's not gonna ask us to do something that he's not gonna give us the ability to fulfill, right? And then every each Sunday during the 21 days, there'll be prayer that will happen right after the service, right here in the sanctuary. So if you uh would like to come together, just remain for a few minutes. I mean, we're not going to eat typically anyway for lunch, right? So we can join here and be a part of that. On each Wednesday evening as well at 6 p.m., we'll be meeting to pray for specific things. We'll be praying for discipleship and life transformation and also praying for missions during that time. Also, we will have, like we did last year, our Good Friday Solemn Assembly that will happen on Good Friday at 6 p.m. here at the church. And if you missed that last year, it was really a significant time in the Lord. So on the back of this card, you can see that there are a few blanks. Um, the first question is, or the first thing is, I am fasting for. And you can write whatever you would like to write on that. We also have boards that are out on the in the coffee bar area that we'd love for you to fill out. One of them is I'm praying for, another one is I'm believing for this person to be saved. Um and there's there's about there's four different ones. So please. Take advantage of that. Um, you can write my aunt or my uncle if you don't want to put specific names down on those that you're believing for, just in case they come during the fast, right? Um, and the second blank here is I'm fasting in these ways. Okay, so how long are you planning to fast? In what ways are you going to fast? Now, I understand that some people, for example, are on medications that require for them to eat certain things, right? So it's not that you, we're not saying that you, and first of all, if you have any questions, consult your doctor, consult your physicians. We are not physicians, we're not doctors here, right? But it doesn't mean uh all of us should be able to fast something. For example, can we all fast Twinkies? Can we all fast sugar? How about coffee? How about I mean I could tea, yeah. I could list, I could list, yeah, tea. I just got some looks on tea, right? We're a tea church, I know that. All right, anyway. I know, I know. Coffee auntie, I get it, right? Uh we could fast. Um it needs to be sacrificial. Like if you're fasting broccoli, Derek's like, sign me up. If you're fasting broccoli and you never eat broccoli, that's not fasting, okay? So let's fast something. It should be sacrificial, it should cost us something, it should be something that um God's gonna enable us, but it should be somewhat difficult, if that makes sense, right? We should feel it, okay? Um, some of us, uh, all of us, it would be great if we laid down social media for a few days. Please, for the love of goodness, would you would you do that? We could we could lay down watching the news for a few days. We could do, uh we could stop, you know, watching YouTube. There's there's a lot of different things that we could do, but let's try to also include, again, biblical fasting, let's try to include something in the food category that's significant to us, okay? All right, Daniel fasted for 21 days, and and part of his fast was he just ate vegetables, right? And uh John Hefter would tell you about the health benefits of that as well. So uh it's really, really healthy to do that anyway. But um, I am going to pretty I'm gonna start out with basically a liquid fast. I'm just telling you about me personally. This is not to put any uh, you know, to say this is what you have to do, but as an example, start out as a liquid fast. That does not mean frosties or Arby's milkshakes, okay? Because you can pretty much make anything a liquid, right? I'm talking about like V8 juice, chicken broth, you know, things like that, okay. I hate that I have to say that, but there's there's some people, not here, those that are watching online, who would struggle with like you know, not fully embracing the fasting aspect of this, right? I'm into the praying, but the fasting part I'm not too sure about, right? So anyway, um that's what I'm gonna do, and then I may transition into like one meal a day. And if you do the one meal a day, don't make it count for the whole day. Like we're eating break, we're eating pancakes, we're eating a hamburger, we're eating lasagna, and then we're finishing it all off with a piece of cheesecake, right? That's that's actually that's another there's another Bible word for that. It's called gluttony. Gluttony. And that's actually a sin. So let's not be gluttonous, right? So if you do fast and you eat one meal a day, just make sure that you are uh that your smaller portions, you know. It's not this is not to be legalistic, right? It's not to be legalistic, but it is to be serious. It is to be serious. We're living in a serious time, and we really feel like this is what God wants us to do. And we will finish this fast the day before Easter, and so we want to get here on Sunday morning, I'm just on Easter morning, April the 5th. I just believe, is it the fifth? Yes, it's April the 5th. We're just going to just the the praise of God is going to be so loud within this place, and we're gonna rejoice together about what God has done over the 21 days. Are you with me? All right, very good. Um, Derek will be visiting people's homes to check their pantries. Taking a pre-measurement and a post-measurement. I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding. Yeah, all right. Uh let's stand to our feet and I'll pray a blessing over you. There's a couple more blanks on here. The next one is I will fast purposely by scheduling my time with God. Remember, it does not gonna just happen uh accidentally. Let's let's schedule it so we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So during the times where you would normally be eating, just write whatever time that is that you're gonna allocate to the Lord. And then finally, I anticipate God's results from this time. And so you can write any of those things in the bottom uh square that you would like to. All right. Are you ready? You excited? Getting there. You got one more week. Now let's not treat this like a cruise week. You know what I mean? Buffet our bodies daily. Let's get prepared. It's gonna be harder actually to fast. Honestly, I'm not joking. It'll be harder to fast if we gorge this week. It's better to taper, sort of taper into it, right? So let's pray it. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. I also want to just as we close, I just want to say a prayer concerning the what's going on in the Middle East. Not trying to get political with this, but let's pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The the Christians in Iran have been among the most persecuted people on the earth for so long. And regardless of what you feel about how things are what's going on right now, we want to pray for God to bring them freedom and to protect them, right? We also want to pray for our servicemen and women who are actively involved in uh what's going on there. So let's pray together for that. Father, we thank you in Jesus' name that you are God, that you are sovereign over all, and that you know exactly what needs to happen in this earth. And Father, we pray together right now, in agreement, for all of our brothers and sisters in Iran, Lord God, and the surrounding countries who have been crying out to you, Lord God, and fasting and praying for freedom. And Father, we just pray in Jesus' name that you would preserve them, that you would protect them, that you would keep them, that you would speak uh words of encouragement to them. And Father, we do pray that the end result of all that's going on would be that there would be a greater level of freedom for the Church of Jesus Christ around the world and especially in Iran. Lord, we do pray for our service members who are involved actively in this war. Lord, we ask for their safety and protection. We ask that you would watch over them and keep them in all of their ways. We ask, Father, that even during this time, that you would cause men and women to come to know you, who are a part of our armed forces, Father, that they would look to you as their as the great commander in chief, as the Lord who is supreme over all things. And Father, we just pray, not knowing exactly how to pray, let your kingdom come and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.