The Bible teaches that “those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength“. I hear a clarion call in my spirit that, the church should arise in prayer with fasting. We must arise and renew our strength.
[Isaiah 40:30-31 KJV] “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Join us as we wait on the Lord in prayer with fasting. This is one of the greatest secrets to empowerment. Isaiah 58 teaches us how to fast as appointed. The prophet Isaiah teaches us three cardinal truths about fasting;
- What fasting is
- Why fasting is important
- How to fast effectively
What is fasting?
Fasting is abstaining from food to seek the face of God. In this season, we are going to embark on three types of fasts;
- Fasting for 7 days with water
- Fasting for 3 weekends with water (beginning from Friday and ending on Sunday night for three consecutive weekends)
- Fasting for 21 days with water, skipping breakfast and lunch.
Every one of us is at liberty to choose the type of fasting that suits your schedule. Remember fasting is your sacrifice to God.
Six things you must do when fasting
- Find time to sing, pray and study
- Bath and groom well; dress in modest clothes if you are a woman.
- Ease the burden and yoke on those under your control
- Show compassion to the hungry, naked, poor homeless, and your own
- Set aside a day you keep holy unto the Lord. No true believer works 7 days a week. It is dishonouring to God.
- Read the Bible or watch select videos at break time. There are over 426 videos on our YouTube channel and Facebook pages. Follow or subscribe to HighCity Church and Pastor Simpe Online both on YouTube and Facebook.
- Attend the evening services which start at 6:30 pm; 6:30 pm Dedicated to personal and private prayer|7 pm Welcome and Exhortation|7:15 pm Singing and Praying and Supplicating and Interceding and Thanksgiving and Ministering|8 pm closing and mopping up
There are 7 Blessings to expect
Fasting as appointed by the Lord releases seven blessings. These are seven things that each of us can expect to come out of this prayer with fasting.
1. Prominence:
Your light shall break forth as the morning. Your light shall rise from obscurity and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
2. Health and healing:
Your health shall spring for speedily. God will put none of the diseases of Egypt upon you. You will be healed.
3. New frontiers and safe passage:
Your righteousness shall go before you and the glory of the Lord shall be your rereward. That is to say that your righteousness shall pave a way for you and God will secure or guarantee your safe passage. (See Isaiah 58:8)
4. Answered prayers and help:
When you pray the Lord will answer and He will respond to your desperate cry. (See Isaiah 58:9)
5. Providence, satisfaction, fattening, and overflow:
The Lord shall guide you continually, satisfy your soul in drought, and make your bones fat; therefore you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose water fail not (See Isaiah 58: 11).
6. Empowerment to influence social change, development and restoration of habitats:
Those who shall align with you shall build old waste places. You shall raise the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in. (See Isaiah 58:12)
7. Promotion, elevation, and sustenance:
The Lord shall cause you to ride upon high places of the earth and shall feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. (See Isaiah 58:13-14)
I do not doubt that this fasting season shall be a season of empowerment for us. The Lord shall renew our strength and cause us to soar on wings as eagles.
