"Feed The Spirit"

The Bible is filled with the sacred order of fasting: "Then I proclaimed a fast; ...  So we fasted and besought our God ..."  (Ezra 8:21-23)  "Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assemby; gather the people ..."  (Joel 2:15-16)  "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing."  (Acts 10:30)  Fasting "feeds the spirit" within us; we are 2/3 spirit (spirit and soul) and 1/3 body; the parts we feed the most are the strongest.  We must deny ourselves and "Feed The Spirit."

"As they ministered to the Lord , and fasted,

the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and

Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."

(Acts 13:2)

Things happen when we fast AND pray.  The Spirit of God speaks to our spirits; people are called, angels are loosed, healings and miracles occur, humans are set free  ...  and God arrives!  We hear and see clearly when our bodies are hungry and our spirits are full.  Fasting occurred all through the old testament and continued through the new testament.  Jesus Christ, our Lord, fasted forty days before His crucifixion.  Mighty things happen when huge assemblies of people fast and pray together.  Why?  It is a corporate sanctification of mortal souls; it is a posture of humility and searching, a reaching of those created for their Creator, and it is the loud voice of humanity screaming through the spiritual realms, "We need You, God!"  The Lord God Almighty never turns away a hungry pleading soul.  

"Go, gather together all the Jews ...

and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink

three days, night or day..."

(Esther 4:16)

Fasting and praying changes other people's hearts, as we see in Esther's case.  No one could go in to the King without being bidden; it was considered to be worthy of death, but Esther needed to speak to the King to spare the Jews.  So, she called a fast before she dared to present herself to the King. She had no idea if she would be accepted; only if he held out his scepter would she know that she would not be put to death, so stepping out in faith, she spoke those famous words, "I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish."  (Esther 4:16)  Fasting supplies our much needed answers, direction, and guidance; it opens doors, breaks chains, produces light, changes hearts, and brings us favor.

"I don't really understand myself, for

I want to do what is right, but I don't

do it.  Instead I do what I hate."

(Romans 7:15)

Fasting humbles the "self" to surrender to the good that the flesh doesn't want to do.  Paul voiced what we all go through.  You say, "But Jesus was without sin; why did He have to fast?"  "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)  "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into Glory."  (I Timothy 3:16)  There is only ONE who did all of that:  The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ!  Our God made Himself Himself a body, by being born of a virgin, in order that He could die on a cross for you and me.  While He was in earth, He battled with the flesh just like we do, but He was without sin.  How did He battle it?  Fasting forty days, praying continually, and by rebuking satan who came at Him every chance he got.  The Bible states that Jesus Christ was tempted in all ways as we are, yet He was without sin.  How did He do it?  He fed the Spirit more than the flesh.

 "For word came unto the king  ... and he caused

it to be proclaimed and published  ... saying, Let

neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any

thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let

man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry

mightily unto God  ...  Who can tell if God will ...

turn away from his fierce anger  ...  And God saw ..."

(Jonah 3:8)

When sin becomes a stench in the nostrils of God, and ungodly Nations are on the very precipice of judgment  ...  well, it's time to fast and pray.  Jonah came to the right decision, but he, too, had trouble with the flesh.  Every person in earth has trouble with the flesh.  Nobody in earth has ever been, or will ever be, exempt from temptation, not the Lord Jesus Christ, the Pope, nuns, priests, preachers, Christians, nor even Mother Teresa, when she was alive.  In this flesh dwelleth no good thing.  We have to subdue the flesh, and bring it under the mighty hand of God and His Word. 

Fasting and prayer, deep sorrowful repentance daily, being filled with the Holy Ghost and speaking with tongues, and baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are the foundation for salvation, which will keep us saved until it's time to go  ...  we all will go  ... one way or another  ...

The mighty men and women of the Bible struggled with this thing called "flesh."  From the beginning of time, when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden, because of sinful flesh, it has been the bane of mankind.  But, the answer was provided by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and now as we approach His appearing in the Clouds, we can hear Him say, "Feed The Spirit!"

(Visit promiselandchurch.net and theexperience238.com.)

Pastor Kenneth Phillips

(He's taking the Spirit of Jesus Christ to the Nations)

PromiseLand Church, Austin, Texas

Services Sundays 10:30 am and Wednesdays 7:15 pm

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