Prayer and fasting facilitates supernatural breakthrough

This blog post is based on my notes from Engaging the Power of Fasting and Prayer for Supernatural Breakthrough, a teaching by Pastor Abel Kolade at Living Faith Church, Ring Road, Ibadan on Sunday January 5, 2020.

Our prophetic focus for the month of January is Prayer and Fasting: Gateway to Breaking Limits. The title of our teaching series for the month is Engaging the power of prayer and fasting for supernatural breakthrough.

Prayer and fasting is a strong spiritual force that guarantees supernatural breakthrough in the midst of natural breakdown. [Click to tweet]

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord , The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28‭-‬31 )

All through this year, there shall be no weakness around you. And as you wait upon the Lord, there shall be renewal of strength for you.

Why must I engage the power of prayer and fasting for breakthrough?

1. To clear off all enemies, adversaries and obstacles on our path to supernatural breakthrough.

For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9)

There are open doors but there are enemies. The enemies will only turn back when you cry to the Lord. (Psalms 56:9) The 21-day fasting and prayer presents an opportunity for you to cry unto God.

2. To secure divine intervention in the time of need.

Whenever you require God to come into whatsoever has been described as impossible or a closed case, prayer and fasting is required. The divine intervention that you need is just a call away.

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3)

Hezekiah understood this scripture very well. In Isaiah 38:14 he cried unto God on the altar of prayer, and God rose up on his behalf. The death sentence on him was supernaturally reversed.

I pray for you that in every area where you require divine intervention, you will secure it in the course of the 21-day fasting and prayer, in the name of Jesus.

3. To avert impending dangers, disasters and evil.

We see a vivid example of this in Esther 4:16. An evil was determined against the Jews by one devil called Haman, and Queen Esther declared a fast. She thereafter secured audience with the king, against the custom, and averted the evil that had been determined against her people.

The account of Esther shows us that protocols are broken on the altar of prayer and fasting. Expect the unusual to happen for you and around you all through these 21 days.

4. For liberation from affliction, oppression and the wickedness of the wicked.

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6)

5. To secure divine help.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:1‭-‬2)

If God is not your helper, you will suffer. In the name of Jesus, you will experience unusual help in the year 2020. Help will come to you from where you least expected, from known and unknown sources, from home and abroad, in Jesus’ name.

Profitable approach to prayer and fasting

Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. (Matthew 9:14‭-‬15)

The bridegroom has since been taken away. So it is clear that we are in the day of fasting and prayer. If you cannot fast, your impact in the kingdom will be limited. To engage in profitable fasting and prayer, take note of the following.

1. We must come confessing and forsaking our sins.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1‭-‬2)

We must clean up and let go of sin if our prayers will be answered.

2. We must not be offended in God.

“And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Matthew 11:6)

There are people who feel that God has short-changed them or that He has not done well for them in spite of their service to Him. But the truth is God has done everything right. God is your only rescuer. You cannot afford to be offended in Him. I pray that whatsoever you have waited on Him for in 2019, 2020 will deliver to you in Jesus’ name.

3. We must engage our hearts in seeking the Lord.

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. (Psalms 16:1)

Don’t just engage in the fasting and prayer religiously or as a custom, without expectation. You must see it as a personal commitment and not a church practice. You are the one who will enjoy the benefits of the fast.

4. Define your goals and objectives.

Have specific things that you want to address during the fasting and prayer. If I were you, I would divide the 21 days into seven parts and address a specific issue over each three-day period. There is nothing we ask from God that He cannot deliver within three days. So you ought to have nothing less than seven encounters during the 21-day fast.

Communion Service

As we proceed to take the Communion, let us take a look at what we can we expect from partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ.

1. Instant healing and deliverance.

And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. (2 Kings 4:38‭-‬41)

2. All-round blessing.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16)

3. Supernatural strength to carry through.

And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:8)

Every sickness or weakness that may prevent you from participating in the fast is flushed out of your body as you partake of the Holy Communion in Jesus’ name.

Prayer

I receive grace from the Lord to be a full part of the 21-day fasting and prayer, and the attendant blessings.

Father, clear every impending danger off my path. Let me experience liberation and deliverance. Let divine help locate me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.