"Fasting can bring faith" - Miracle stories #25

Katie and look at some of the role of faith has in seeing God at work and how fasting is a gift to increase faith and expectancy.  Also the importance of making sure we are not allowing unnecessary satanic attack in our lives by what is being watched.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Hey, thank you so much for coming. Thank you to all of our audience who's tuning in to this Miracle Stories podcast. My name is Katie, and this is my husband Wade. Today we're going to be talking about a subject that came about because of a text that my husband received. So, Wade, why don't you go ahead and read that text and we'll just jump right into it?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yep, dear brother in Christ wrote this and it's a good point. So we were praying into it. He said, How about an episode on Jesus could not do many miracles because of their unbelief or their lack of faith? In other words, an episode on times when you felt that God wanted to move, but people refused or resisted. I think it would be an encouragement to hear about times when miracles are missed. So that was a great thought-provoking question, and we were praying about it. It actually led me to want to segue to something later. But actually, Katie, you had why don't you bring up yours? That was a good one that you had said about the right now? Sure. It was just a minute before we were talking or we were praying together, and this just came to mind.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

We were just trying to think of examples of times when we felt like because of unbelief, that or some sort of hindrance, you know, what God wanted to do didn't happen. And so this one was a really long time ago for me, actually before I was married. So this was probably 30 years ago or so. I used to go to a big church in Cincinnati, Ohio called The Vineyard. And I can't remember if I was on the prayer team or if this lady was on the prayer team. But for whatever reason, I was up toward the altar praying with a woman that I did not know. And as we were praying, I got a word of knowledge. And we talked about that in our last episode. Um, how the gift of word of knowledge for me sometimes comes in the form of like words that I see almost like written on top of people. And in this instance, this is one of those, this is one of those times I saw the word dyslexia written over this woman. So I went over to her, or I was with her, and I said, Hey, I don't know what this means, but I'm seeing the word dyslexia. Does that mean anything to you? And she got instantly so hostile and offended with me. You know, she was very agitated and she basically said, Shut up. She goes, like, shut up, shut up. Like, I don't, I don't want to hear you talking about that or something. And she basically like just ended our time together. And honestly, like I was pretty new in the faith, and I didn't know how to respond to that kind of hostility or like angry yet. I think nowadays I would have dealt with that totally different. However, back then it made me shrink back. And I did nothing with that word of knowledge other than talk to her about it because I think God wanted to deal with it. God wanted me to pray for her. God wanted maybe to deliver her or heal her of that condition, I'm assuming. Because it was obvious. Because she was hostile and proud, right? I went back to my seat.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, I mean, what's the what's the point of being angry? I mean, if if it didn't apply, she would have said it didn't apply. But the fact that she got really hostile indicated.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

I don't remember exactly what she said, Wade, but she did say something about being dyslexic. But I can't, it's been 30 years and I can't remember the exact exchange. But I do remember that that word was confirmed out of her mouth that she was dyslexic, but she clearly did not want to talk about it. She didn't want to pray about it, she did she didn't want anything to do with me after that word came to me. It was a point of shame or embarrassment, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

So that that would be a good example of pride being the issue that keeps a lot from people seeing the glory of God. I mean, uh, whereas, and that obviously could be tied to unbelief as well, um, but it is a good example that what was the Lord wanting to do in that situation, but it was it was shut down. Um the reference to the scripture that was given in the text from uh our brother in Christ is Matthew 13, and I think that what I understand here is that they stumbled over the identity of Jesus. They they said, Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these mighty things? And they were offended at him. Um they stumbled over who he was. And Jesus, of course, says, a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house. Now he did not do so many mighty, many mighty works there because of their unbelief. So the issue oftentimes is we don't even come to Jesus um for his power. We that's where the stumbling often takes place, is that people don't recognize who Jesus is, and therefore um they don't even come to him. And I think that's partly what's happening here. They just didn't even come to Jesus, and therefore he didn't do many mighty works because they didn't come to him. Uh, not that he wasn't willing to, but they didn't, um they were offended at who he was, and uh therefore, but I I would say we were talking about it, and I think yes, we would say there I'm we're sure there's times that we did not see many things in our lives because we didn't simply come to Jesus about it. Um does he always give us exactly what we want? Absolutely no. But the point is who do we run to first, right? And then God speaks in that and through that, and uh, but oftentimes we can go right kind of default to what's comfortable or what is I don't know, kind of a the natural way of thinking rather than the supernatural. I think that a couple of testimonies came to mind. I'm sure we we have seen or not seen a lot of things because um I'm quite confident we have not seen a lot of things because of our periods that we have had not had faith or unbelief. Uh is God able to make all things work together for good? Does he and already know these things? Is he sovereign? Obviously, we all know that he is, but I I would say I look back and I also stand amazed more at what God does in the face of unbelief than even um what I I see him not do. He is so good and merciful, so good and merciful. But do we run to him as the as our first option? I think that's the bigger issue that we need to really examine ourselves in. We were Katie was reminding me of a time that I went out with a guy um it was a through an organization to do door-to-door, and it was um in the midst of a natural catastrophe that took place. It came to one house and the woman was in great pain. Uh, she was devastated with an um with what happened through a storm, like she was a tornado. And when um found out that she was in crazy pain, like constant pain, um, I asked if I could pray over her and prayed over her. The power of God went into her body and she started crying and started doing things she couldn't do before. It was in her legs. And I remember the guy that I was with was actually upset at me at the way that I prayed. Didn't even give like acknowledge the miracle that it plays, but was actually angry at me uh because I didn't pray the way he thought I should pray. And God still did the miracle. So that's an that's an area where I'm just always amazed that in the face of unbelief and even opposition, God can still work. Um, but it it led me.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

But that relationship that you had with that man who was your partner for the week was so touchy because of his unbelief that I wonder how much more God could have done if you had had a supportive partner for the week, you know?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah, the unity and the humility that could have happened.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

God was doing things in spite of it, but it was maybe not as much as he'd wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah, pride is a terrible thing. And there there's, I know there's obviously a connection between pride and unbelief, not always, um, but I definitely can see how there's often that connection. Um, what what I wanted to segue, actually, you have the reading, um, into that question about unbelief. I want to share, I was just praying about that question. I want to share something that the Lord has taught me um through another brother in Christ about something that really combats unbelief. This is just my own testimony. I'm not saying this is something that's prescriptive. I'm just saying this is what I've experienced, and if it's an encouragement, uh, to God be the glory. But if you could read that passage from Matthew 17.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

So Matthew 17, verse 14 through 21. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic. He's sore vexed, and oftentimes he falls into the fire, and oftentimes into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to me. Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and he sat and said, Why can we not cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, and you say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

So I know that that's if you look at some translations, it will not have verse 21 in Matthew. Um my personal conviction is that it it it it should be there, and um, and I want to give testimony to that, and I just submit this. Not that it's what I'm sharing is solely based upon Matthew 17, 21.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

But can you explain why that verse is not in some translations? Because some viewers might not understand that.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Yeah, I don't want to go into all the about textual criticism, but concerning the Masoretic um majority text versus what they would say were newer texts, um Alex, the Alexandrian family, that they that's that verse is does not appear in every manuscript. And so uh they would say the older ones don't show that, but the majority do. So in the textual family that that's pulled from. So I would just uh my personal conviction is that that one bears witness, and I believe, to the scripture, and and I believe a very powerful point concerning fasting and the role of fasting uh even in combating unbelief. So in the in the text that Katie just wrote down, we're gonna get to a couple testimonies here, so uh hang with us um in that regard. So in the text, the the disciples could not cast out this unclean spirit. And you know, Jesus doesn't say, Well, it wasn't the will of God. He he actually says, Oh, faithless and perverse generation. So the issue he he addresses, the disciples say, How come we couldn't cast it out? And Jesus doesn't he doesn't say this was at a very unusually serious demon, big demon. Um this is something I needed to to give you more lessons or teaching on about spiritual warfare, uh, that you would understand the secrets of spiritual warfare and how to deal with uh different demonic beings. You should have known the spirit of this thing to be able to cast it out. No, none of that. We don't see that anywhere in scripture. Um Jesus simply says, Because of your unbelief, and that's that's all that he addresses is their faith. So we don't need some secret knowledge in order to be able to deal with the demonic. We need to be humble and believing. And so I want to give a couple testimonies. First one in regard to this issue of fasting, and that is I have found, you know, so the question is when Jesus says this kind doesn't come up up by prayer and fasting, it could be interpreted as the demon itself, but the issue is not the demon here, it's because of your unbelief. So what I submit is, and I'm I'm not saying that, you know, my way or my interpretation is the only way, but I know others that under see it this way. The issue of fasting that I see here of what kind is removed is unbelief. And uh my my experience is that by fasting, yes, um, I've seen the Lord deliver me, and I'm still growing in my faith. Obviously, I want to grow so much more, but it's I I found fasting has been a powerful thing that God has used to fill me with more faith. And I believe that again is connected to humility. I see there's a tremendous connection between faith and peace, but I also see in the scripture a connection between faith and humility. Because humility is a dependence upon God, it's a recognition that it isn't by might or by power, it's by his spirit, and it's it's a recognition that I can't do anything apart from Jesus Christ. So that humility that's when this when the centurion came to Jesus, we see a humility there. I'm not worthy of you to come to my house. Just say the word. And Jesus says, I I've not seen this faith even in Israel. So I see there's that connection between the two of them. Anyways, I remember a time um specifically that I felt really impressed in my heart to fast every other day. Yeah. Remember that? When we were in West Africa, coming back to what you had said, Katie, actually, you had said we were seeing a lot of God doing a lot of miracles in Charlotte.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Yes. We go to Yeah, that's what I wanted to share was that when we had this season that we worked at a ministry called Jackson Park Ministries. And I am not exaggerating when I tell you that we were seeing miracles every single week. And sometimes multiple bona fide miracles each week. I mean, is that not true?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah, I mean, I have documents. I was in fact, I was just reading through them recently again of many, many outstanding miracles.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Yes. And we were seeing them on a regular basis. I mean, Wade would come home from work in the afternoons because we lived on this campus of the ministry that we worked at. So he'd come back to the kids and just tell the kids what he had seen that day. And it was always something exciting that God had done. So we went through a season like this for a couple years, and then God called us back to the mission field to West Africa. So we moved everything we own, we moved to West Africa then, and all of a sudden we didn't see any miracles. Like it just stopped. Like people that were sick that we prayed for, they did not get healed. You know, and um had it had something fundamentally changed about us? I don't think so. Our level of faith or expectation hadn't really changed. But what we realized was the atmosphere, the spiritual atmosphere that we were in, had not been covered in prayer, was not saturated in fasting and prayer, you know, and that atmosphere that we lived in in Jackson Park had been, that had been saturated in lots and lots of people that had joined us there in the ministry to pray for it. And that's all I can think. There was just a saturation of prayer. Well, I think so then Wade started fasting every other day.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

And I think that that it's possible that there was unbelief in my heart because I don't want to put pin it on an atmosphere. Um, although could it be that people began to see Jesus more clearly and they came to him right regularly? That's possible. But to your point, um, we didn't, it was like we had seen all these things and we come to Guinea-Bissau and we hardly see anything.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

And it's like I felt like it was it felt like the heavens were grass for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, so there was a there was definitely maybe again what I had just shared, this is a tie to humility, coming to a deeper place where God just showed, yeah, you apart from me, you can do nothing. Right. And uh through fasting and prayer, well, we opened up the prayer house. It got it brought us to a deeper place of dependency. So I remember I was fasting every other day at this period of time, and in that process, I believe my own expectation was growing through fasting, through humbling myself, saying, Lord, I want you to be glorified through this. And there was a hunger that was increasing, an expectation that was increasing. And I just I just there's one testament that stands out that I just want to encourage everyone with this, what I would call the gift of fasting. I don't see it as much as like this religious obligation and this great burden. I think it's a gift that God gives us to be able to humble ourselves before Him and to deny our flesh and to just to declare, Lord, I'm more hungry for you than even physical food. I believe it's it's something that we need to really understand more as a body of Christ. So at that time there was just faith building in me. And I remember there was I I preached uh with our brother Lala at a town called Lending, and it was a powerful time together in the church service itself. Right after the church service, as people were beginning to leave, uh someone came kind of running in saying, Come, come quickly. And uh was like just all of a sudden, just panic just kind of filled the atmosphere. Didn't know you know what was going on. We got led to a house, and there were two elders from I think it was like one of the larger churches in the country that were there, and they came with us, and we came in this house. This guy was yelling, he was vomiting, he was grabbing a side, he was saying, I'm dying, I'm dying. Uh I didn't understand what was going on, but it was just kind of it was a chaotic uh scenario. The wife was weeping, and basically now I I we kind of realized what it was. It was what appeared to be a ruptured appendix. Right. That's all the symptoms that were being shown. And he said, I felt something rip here, and he was he was yelling and he was like, I'm dying, I'm dying. He felt something internal had happened, and that's something that obviously is not um all that uncommon in different places, and so I But in that in that part of the world, it can be a death sentence because the hospitals aren't equipped for that kind of surgery, right? It usually is a death sentence, yes, and um that's what he understood, and that's why the wife was weeping so much. So I deep I felt at that point in time because of fasting, I was in such a place of peace. I had so much expectation. Yeah, it was supernatural. I I I don't I can't explain it any other way.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

There was like there's a grace on you to believe.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, it was like I was it was like you're ready for this moment, you just feel a readiness through fasting. And so I actually had a I defaulted to the two elders to pray, and they were yelling over him prayers of like deliverance and commanding, and I I just felt like in my heart, like they weren't, I'm not judging them, but I'm just feeling just to be transparent to say I didn't feel like they would there was faith. It was like more of a like this is a formula or whatever, I don't know, but I I just I felt they were not in a place of faith. In fact, I I know that because after they prayed, they they made this response, they went like they just threw up their hands like he's gone, like and they were like almost like angry.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So it wasn't out of compassion, it was like we're we wipe our hands of this. And I remember when I saw that, I knew Yeah, that they weren't moving in faith. They the the pastor, there, the local pastor said, Let's take him to the hospital, and and he said that basically to say, let him not die. In the presence of the family.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Right. Take him to the hospital to die.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Yeah. So wait, will you and Lawless take him in your truck? And so we got in the truck, and he was shaking, like yelling, I'm dying, I'm dying, and peace was all over me. And I just remember turning to Lawless and said, Lawless, lay your hands on him. Let's pray right now. And I was driving, I put my hand behind the seat, and I was laying hands on him as well. And we just began to pray for healing and to be in. Because I believe through the grace of fasting, the Spirit of God, I was at such peace. I had faith that this man died that we would have seen him come back. That's that's the peace I was in. Anyway, so we kept praying, and as we're praying, the presence and the power of God is filling the truck, and um he gets healed in the truck. We get to the hospital, he he's at total peace, the pain is gone, and he goes in just out of because we were there, and there's nothing wrong with him. To the shock of the pastor with us, and of course, to the shock of everyone back, he comes back perfectly fine. And just this to bear witness, a few months later, same symptoms with somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Really?

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, and they they end up dying. Same thing with you? No. With another situation, we had heard the same symptoms. I see. Felt a ripping through here, same kind of yeah, and they end up. So I just to bear witness that that was a miracle what had taken place. This guy was miraculously healed. So I would have say, if I had not been fasting, I don't know, only the Lord knows, but I believe that it brings us to a great place of peace to believe that he can do anything. And so I would just encourage anyone that um the issue is often faith. Faith is what pleases God. Is God sovereign? Absolutely, but when we read from scripture, Jesus says repeatedly, um, because of your faith, let it be done according to your faith. So God's sovereignty doesn't negate human responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

And we can't get away from the passages that faith is what the Lord responds to and he's glorified in. And so we have to acknowledge that um that's uh what the scriptures reveal and we need to demonstrate.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

Well, bottom line is a prayerless life is a powerless life. I think um the times in our life when we're seeing the most, right, are the times when we're praying the most or fasting the most. There's been seasons when you have the grace of God on you to fast, like you did every other day for, I don't know, no, six months or whatever. How long was it?

SPEAKER_00 24:57

I was about four months.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Four months. So, yeah, God gave you tremendous grace, but in that there was breakthrough.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I wanted to share a testimony to encourage people in regard to this fasting as well, in context of Matthew 17 with a demonic. Um here in the States, um, in North Carolina, I had a dear friend who said, Would you come pray over these people that are dealing with demonic activity? They were experiencing um light switches going off and on by themselves. Uh, they would see a shadow stop with the lights on, they would see it physically. This image had like a hat on and it would just stop, and some really dark stuff was happening in this house. And um one night the guy he he had his necklace on. He woke up the next morning and the necklace was taken off around his neck and put neatly on his dresser. Uh that was another sign that there was something um not right out of their control. They still kept trying to put it, you know, deal with this manifestations until finally one night this something unseen grabbed his leg and almost physically pulled him off the bed. That was the final straw. They reached out for help and said, Do you know anyone that um has dealt with this and can help us in this situation? So they reached out to me and they said, Wait, would you be willing to meet with them? I said, Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Fasting. To come with faith and to believe and to humble myself and my dependence on the Lord. And so came over to this house. Uh, one thing that was interesting, just a kind of a sidebar, was their dog uh was terrified. They they felt this evil presence, especially in their bedroom. And uh the dog would actually come into the bedroom, look over towards the closet, and begin to whimper and begin to look terrified. And uh one time I actually said that the dog actually peed on the ground and was so afraid and refused to even start coming inside of the room. I believe that animals are very in tune and can see the spirit realm, and um, that's just from multiple examples I could give. That's just one. So the young lady also had had her own encounters with the spirit realm. She had um felt a presence for years in her life that she wouldn't would say was not of God. And uh so I came over to their place, I could feel something unclean in the atmosphere and something a little demonic presence. Found out first whether they even knew the gospel, which is always where we begin. And we we should never assume, right? No, never that someone knows the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Never.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Many people grew up in church.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

And they don't know the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

They don't know the gospel. No, they they they know about Jesus, but they don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. So I shared the gospel, and um tears came to his eyes. He said, I want to give my life to Jesus. And so we prayed together. He surrendered his life to the Lord, prayed over uh the young lady as well, and um who they're now married, praise the Lord. After that time, I said, Listen, you it was clear he g he was born again right there. I said, Listen, now you have the ability to hear the voice of God just as much as I do. So I said, we're gonna pray together. We're gonna ask the Lord, why are these things coming into your house? Why is this allowed to be in here? The word of God says, Don't give the devil a foothold. Um and there's often a reason why something unclean is coming into a house. I was thinking about that testimony that you Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

That's a you want me to share that?

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yeah, you can share that.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Right at this minute, keep going with your story and then I'll tell it.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Okay. Um and so I said, let's pray, and he we began to pray, and uh the Lord revealed something to me, but anyway, so he says, I think it's because of the they had a TV in their bedroom. I think it's because of this program we're watching on TV. I said, Well, well, what is it? And it was uh this program about going to different haunted sites, it's actually like ghost hunters. Like ghost hunters, and he said, I think that it's connected to this that we're we're watching this on a regular basis. So I said, You need to repent of watching this program. And right then and there, he asked God forgiveness and purpose of we're not gonna watch this program any longer. It's good. And immediately as he was praying, I felt an atmosphere shift inside the room. Um, let that be a word about what you're allowing into your home because it matters what you're watching. I I don't, I'm not gonna say I know how it all works, but it can be your TV or your screen can be something that invites something unclean in your house. And uh you're wondering why there's strife all the time in your house. It could be because things, things you're allowing to come into your house. Our homes are to be homes of that are sanctuaries of God's presence and peace and power, not places where there's warfare. And if we're allowing things to be watched, it can open up the door.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Absolutely. Wade was just reminding me of another testimony that I knew about. I I was not, this isn't this isn't a firsthand testimony, this is secondhand. I heard it from the people that that witnessed it. But a friend of mine in high school, whose mother was a very godly woman, very precious, a very godly woman. Her husband had died, and he was, I believe he had died in the military. And so she had a son and an only child, and so they went ahead and sold their more expensive house and bought a tiny little house. And so they invited the church to come and pray over the house before they moved in. And so, in this team that the church sent, it was like they had an intercessor, they had a person who operated in like the gift of discernment, like discerning of spirits, they had like a person who had a lot of faith. And so this team came to the house and they prayed room by room, which really that testimony in and of itself almost puts me to shame because like how seriously they took that assignment, you know, with using the gifts of the Holy Spirit like all together, pretty beautiful. So they went room to room, room to room to room. And when they got to the basement, they were like, the person with the gift of like seeing was seeing like an unclean spirit, like standing there in this basement. And the person who had the gift of like discernment was like, that is like, that's like lust. Like, I just know this is like a spirit of lust. I can feel it. And then the person with the word of knowledge felt like they were like, chuck the ceiling down.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Well, remember that you said that they they was to command it to leave.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Oh, that's right. They prayed and they commanded that thing to leave, and it didn't leave. It just was standing there, not leaving. And they kept praying and kept persevering in faith, you know, and standing and praying, and nothing was happening. So the person who had that gift of word of knowledge was like all of a sudden, like the ceiling tiles. No, this was back in the day when our ceilings had like little squares that you could literally like poke out with like a broomstick. And um, so it was one of those kind of ceilings, and so they did take a stick and poked, and sure enough, up there fell down a whole bunch of Playboy magazines. And so this person, whoever had lived there before, had stashed their porn up in the ceiling of this room, and so that's why that thing had all authority to remain there because it was just right, holding its position.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Property of the devil.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yeah, so that that's an example of things that you can be welcomed into the house because uh that it's it's from the from the darkness, from the evil one. Um, so just to finish the testimony, um, as soon as you repented, the atmosphere shifted. I brought up something else the Lord had revealed to me that they needed to, I feel like if it bore witness and it did, and they repented, they got down on their knees and repented. And um after it was over, the peace of God came into the place, and uh I had left. And anyway, ever since then they've been living for the glory of God. But they told they called me a couple weeks later and said, Wait, we forgot to tell you that right when you left, our dog came into the bedroom and sniffed all around and went over towards the closet, sniffed around, and just lay down and rested right there on the closet.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

And uh, they never had another instant again of light switches or shadows or things around. So uh that's the power uh of the name of Jesus. Uh that's the power of what happens when God responds to repentance. The atmosphere shifted, not even when I per se commanded whatever was there to leave. The enemy left when there was repentance um and he was resisted in that way. Do we sometimes need to take authority? Yes, I believe absolutely, but to me it shows how the Lord responds to repentance. And I want to encourage those who might be watching this that uh the Lord um responds again to uh faith, to humility, and to repentance. And that um the gift of fasting is something that can be powerfully used by the Lord to humble ourselves, to expose pride and self-dependence. And I want to bear witness that I've seen the Lord do this in my life, we've seen it in our lives, that it is a gift. It is something that we need to return to more as a church, um, to humble ourselves in this way on a regular basis and to say, Lord, expose anything in my life that is self-dependent or proudful. And I believe it just keeps us in a place of spiritual alertness and vigilance against deception or schemes of the enemy and uh unbelief, but also it fills us with expectation that Lord you could do anything, and we just feel like that readiness to respond in faith to a situation. So, anyway, thank you to the brother who wrote that in. I hope that this has been encouraging to you. Know that Jesus is Lord, whatever you're facing, God is greater. And remember that we don't need some secret formula. Uh, let's humble ourselves, submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. The issue is really our unbelief, just as we see in Matthew 17, not on some secret knowledge. And if we're led by the Spirit of God, the Lord is going to reveal his glory and he'll do what only he can do. So we pray God's blessings on you. We pray that your home is a place that's a sanctuary. And uh if there's something that you're convicted of, please don't hesitate. Please repent. Get it out of your house. Um, it's not worth it, it's a lie, it's bringing in darkness into your life or your home. And the Lord wants us to walk in the light as He is in the light, and He wants us to walk in victory, and that's through the path of holiness. Um, and and and saying and inviting God to be the Lord of everything in your house. As Katie said, Lord, if there's anything in my house, anything in any of these rooms, reveal it because I want you to be the one glorified in it.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Amen. I was just thinking one more thing is that uh there was a single mom that Wade and I used to minister to a long, long time ago. And prior to coming to Jesus, she had been very like, um, had slept around a lot and had been given a lot of gifts from those boyfriends. And even things like that can need to be gotten rid of. And so, like, yeah, like she just went on like a a binging, a full purge of her house where she just threw out everything attached to, you know, like unclean relationships and all of that. Even if it's something valuable, get rid of it. Like if it's attached to something in your life that wasn't holy, there's why are you keeping it?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, get it out.

SPEAKER_03 38:45

Get it out. Anyway, she did that. And I remember the freedom that came over this woman, her whole life changed. That act of faith, it was really hard for her to throw certain things away that she really loved.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Because it could be you have seen as value.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Yeah, like designer, designer bags or whatever. But you know what? She just purged it. She didn't try to make money off of it, she purged it. And that woman, that woman, to this day, it has now been, I mean, 25 years. She has just walked in so much freedom. It's amazing. And God gave her a beautiful husband and and more children. So it's amazing. Anyway, I was just thinking about that. Well, let me pray a blessing over you guys as we close out today. Father, thank you so much for each and every single listener. And Lord, we just trust you. We trust that this episode is gonna get out there in the algorithm to whoever needs to hear it. Lord, we pray for this one that's listening right now. Holy Spirit, would you rest upon them and speak to them? God, would you get out of them any form of unbelief, any form, God, of holding on, clinging to the things of the past? Lord, we ask that you would just show them is there anything in their life that they need to get rid of, Lord, that they need to discard and Lord, to arm themselves with the word of God, with fasting and with prayer. Lord, that they would just grow in faith and be rooted and established in the love of God and the truth of God. God, we pray for you. Bless them this week ahead. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

Amen.