The Power of Fasting and Prayer (Pt.1) (322) - November 1 2025

This week we are talking about overcoming, through the power of doing the Lord's fast and praying. We will discuss the benefits of fasting.

The Lord's Fast - Isaiah 58 verse 5 - (Amplified Classic Version) - 5 Is such a fast as yours what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul? [Is true fasting merely mechanical?] Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him [to indicate a condition of heart that he does not have]? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 [Rather] is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every [enslaving] yoke?
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house—when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am. If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression [wherever you find them], the finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking,
10 And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like the noonday.
11 And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Proverbs 4:20, Daniel 10:3, Isaiah 58:3-12, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 6:16-18, Jonah 3:5-6, Jonah 3:8, Matthew 4:1-11, Acts 14:23, Nehemiah 1:3-4, Matthew 17:21, Joel 2:12-13, Ezra 8:23, Acts 13:2, Psalm 69:10, Psalm 69:13, Exodus 34:28, Psalm 63:6–7.

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Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And a good day to you listeners, my name is Catrice and I'll be bringing the message today. This is Touch of God ministry. And today we're going to be talking about the power of fasting and prayer and their benefits. So before we get started, you should know that all scripture is coming from the Amplified Classic Edition. And also note that all teachings are for those who are wanting to pursue Jesus the Bible way. There are no shortcuts. It's just Bible, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, obedience, prayer, and fasting. So I give that because as we go forward, don't think that you can still be in your sin and to just see everything that you're wanting to see. Yes, Jesus came and he died for us while we were still in our sin, but it's so that we could turn and we can repent and then we'll be able to go forward. And so what you're hearing today, everything is going to work together for good, for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purpose. And it's God's will that all should be saved, right? So just keep that in mind that you do want to be saved. You do want to be moving towards God because the prayers of the righteous availeth much. And if you haven't become saved, then you would not be considered righteous. And we want to, we want you to be righteous. We want to help you to be righteous. No one is left out, but also keep in mind there are steps that you do have to take. We can pray all day, but if we don't want Jesus to come into our lives, then we're not praying to Jesus. We're praying to another God and you want to only be serving Jesus Christ according to the Bible way. So today again is about the power and the benefits of praying and fasting. How many of you are wanting more of Jesus? You want to grow, you want to get spiritually stronger, closer to God and much more. I know that we are always wanting to grow. These times demand that you change with the spiritual times that we are in, right? And that we stay spiritually connected with the Lord, the Lord's will. And we have to know God's will and to know what to do in demonic atmospheres during these end times. And this is just one of the tools that the Bible talks about. So what do I mean by that? There are lots of things changing on this earth. There's higher demands and the world is placing different things upon everyday life decisions that people have to make for their child's schooling, for where they're going to learn, who they're going to learn from, how they're going to learn. And also with just everyday people, with dealing with atmospheres on the job, coming from family, coming from friends. And you want to be able to use your tools and to not feel like, okay, I'm not doing anything that's helping me or that's working. Well, this is one of the tools that I guarantee it's going to help you when you commit, when you just get desperate in your heart and you're just like, Lord, I'm coming, I'm drawn near to you. Right. And that's what we want. We want everyone to benefit from the Bible and to be aware of the enemy's devices so we can just move forward. So today we will review types of fasting, the biblical fast, benefits of fasting, which explains why we need to fast and to pray. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without ceasing. And I remember when I first heard that verse, I was just like, is it really necessary to be doing all that praying, praying without ceasing, like what? But now that we are in these times, we can see so many things that just need continuous prayer and continuous fasting so that we may be empowered to hear God's voice. Right. So this is where we are and we're wanting to move forward. We're all wanting to move forward. So yes, praying without ceasing. Types of fasts that you can do. You can do no eating or drinking water, water fast, juice fast, vegetable fast, broth fast, fruit and vegetable fast, resisting addiction. You can fast that. You can resist certain bad behaviors that you know you have. You can fast that bad influences from people. You can fast that. You can fast social media. You can fast any actions that you're taking. You can fast different places that you know you shouldn't be going to. You can fast it. You can fast gossiping. You can fast caffeine. You can fast talking negativity. You can fast listening to gossip. And these are just some of the fasts. And also I just want to give a disclaimer. You need to live according to what you believe in, right? So every fast may not be for you. You determine what fast is for you. If you were going to doctors, then you go and you see your doctors because that's who governs you and your decisions in your household. You do what you believe is best and you pray to the Lord according to your household. You fast according to where you are. If somebody else is able to do a water fast, then let them do according to their faith and their belief, right? And then you do according to where you are. When I first started out fasting, I was not able to go extremely long times, right? When I first started out, I did a water fast for like four or five days. That was me when I started out. But there is different kinds of fast that I personally have done that have definitely benefited me. And when you fast, it strengthens you in that area that you're fasting so that you can resist the devil and the devil will flee. Amen. How many of us want that, right? So just before we start, before we really get into this, I just want to pray a little bit. God, I just want to thank you, Lord, that your word is going forth and it's not returning void, God, that your word is hitting the bullseye, Lord, and that when people hear this word, they will have revelation. They will not just be sayers, but they will be doers of the word, Lord. They will be strengthened. They will have hope. They will desire to overcome in different areas and they will be victorious in the name of Jesus. Amen. Moving right along. The other fast that we're going to talk about, we're going to talk about biblical fasts. So the first one that we're going to look at is Daniel 10 verse three. Again, we're listening to the Amplified Classic. So it says in Daniel 10 verse three, I ate no pleasant or desirable food, nor did they have any meat or wine come into their mouths. And I did not anoint myself at all for the full three weeks. So this is the Daniel fast, okay? So he didn't have pleasant food, desirable food. He didn't have meat. He didn't have wine come into his mouth. And he did this for the full three weeks, which is 21 days that it says in the Daniel's fast. So that's one type of fast. There's another type of fast and there's the Isaiah 58 verses three to 12. This is another type of fast that is mentioned in the Bible. So it says in Isaiah 58 three, why have we fasted? They say, and you do not see it. Why have we afflicted ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? So this is a person in the Bible talking to God. And then it says, behold, oh Israel on the day of your fast, when you should be grieving for your sins, you find profit in your business. And instead of stopping all work, as the law implies you and your workmen should do, you exhort from your hired servants, a full amount of labor. The facts are that this is verse four, you fast only for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Fasting as you do today will not cause your voice to be heard on high. So do you hear that? The Lord is talking about when we do fast, according to how we want to do fast, it's not going to cause your voice to be heard on high, right? So keep that in mind when you're doing the fast, according to what you want to do, your voice is not going to be heard on high. Right. And how many of us want our voices to be heard on high? I know I do. Okay. So again, this is Isaiah 58, and we're going on to verse five is such a fast as yours. What I have chosen a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul is true. Fasting merely mechanical. Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him to indicate a condition of heart that he does not have. Will you call this a fast and acceptable day of the Lord? So this is really good because it's being pointed out here that just because you have the appearance of fasting, that's not enough, but it's a heart condition because it's saying this doesn't match your heart. Just because you put ashes on your face and you put a sackcloth on, it doesn't indicate the condition of the heart. So God, when he's talking about fasting, he's talking about a condition of the heart. It's a heart posture, right? It's not just looking like you're fasting like so many things now, you want to look a certain way. Sometimes people are on the social media and they want to look glamorous, but their lives might be really miserable. We don't want to look the part. We want to actually be in Christ. So we're going to go back to Isaiah 58 and we're going to continue with verse six. Rather is not the fast that I have chosen to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every enslaving yoke. So God is talking to us and he's saying, is it my fast for this to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, right? He's talking about what the fast is for. So we're going to go ahead and go to verse seven. Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked, that you cover him and that you hide not yourself from the needs of your own flesh and blood. Verse eight, then shall your light break forth like the morning and your healing, your restoration and the power of a new life shall spring forth speedily. Your righteousness, your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God shall be and shall go before you conducting you to peace and prosperity and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Come on. I need, I just need to stop right there. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. So God is saying, if you do this fast the right way, the way I'm asking you, according to these verses that I'm reading you, that all of these things are going to break forth in your life. I don't know about anybody else, but I want all of this. I want all of it, all of it to break forth in my life. And what you want to do is you want to pray into this. So after I finished all these verses, you can go back and you can pray into it and you can begin planning your fast, how you want to do it. So let's go on to verse nine. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression, wherever you find them, the finger pointed in scorn towards the oppressed or the godly and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking. Verse 10 and if you pour out with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness and your obscurity and gloom become like the noon day. Verse 11 and the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones and you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. Verse 12 and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of buildings that have laid waste for many generations and you shall be called repairer of the breach, restorer of the streets to dwell in. Wow. Did you hear that? God wants to repair all of these things in your life, but we're seeing here that there's precepts, there's concepts in the Bible that we have to follow. It's kind of like when you're working a job, if you want to get that paycheck, there's things at your job you have to do. And so it's not enough to just show up at work. If you just show up at work, you're not going to get a paycheck. It's not enough to show up at work and only look like you're working. Because if you do, you're not going to get the raises that you want. You're not going to learn anything. You're just going to be sitting there looking like you're working. But when you actually work and do what you're supposed to do, there's benefits. You can get a raise. You can have favor. Doors will open for you that God will open because he'll see what you're doing in private. When nobody else is looking, God will see and he'll honor you. He'll honor you out in the open, right? So these are the benefits. So the same thing applies when we come to God, we want to not be just looking like we're coming to God, to everyone else. And we don't want to just look like we're fasting. I want to do these fasts, not just for the benefits, but that the sheer fact that when we're obedient to God, he can direct our footsteps. That all of this stuff that you're going through can be broken off of your life. If you seek his face, right? If you seek him, you will find him. If you seek him with all your heart, right? So this is exciting to me. I don't know about anybody else, but I pray that you have eyes to see, that you have ears to hear, and that you take in this information because the word says in Proverbs 4, verse 20, incline your ear to my saying, for it is life to all who hear it and it is health to all their flesh. So clearly this is health and life to all of your flesh. So fasting frees us from times of trouble when we feel caged or not moving forward. So the definition is it's a yoke of bondage. So the definition of a yoke is a wooden cross piece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or a cart they are to pull. So similar words are, it's a harness, it's a collar. And so a yoke is used in the Bible to refer to a burden or responsibility that one must bear. In Matthew 11, verse 28 to 30, Jesus says, come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and overburdened and I will cause you to rest. I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am gentle, meek and humble, lowly in heart and you will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessings and quiet for your souls. There's a reason why the Lord is saying all of these things. He doesn't want us to have a yoke around our neck. When we do the fast that we were talking about in Isaiah 58, God is saying he wants to release the yoke. He wants to release the burden. But in order to do that, we have to walk in obedience and listen to his precepts, listen to his words, but not only listen to them, we have to do them. We have to follow them. Can you imagine going into a store and saying, okay, I want this, I want this, I want this, but you don't ever go to the counter and buy anything. You're just looking at stuff, talking about what you want, but you're not doing anything to move towards it. You're not using what God said. Many of us are walking in these circles and cycles and we want to get out, right? This is like when the Israelites left Egypt and they wandered in the wilderness over and over and over because they weren't obedient to the Lord. They didn't listen to what God was saying. They didn't carry through and they didn't learn in that process. And we need to be out of that and to be moving forward. How many of us want to move forward? I know I do. So another thing that fasting does, fasting helps you to draw closer to God by fasting and seeking God in private. You can draw closer to him and strengthen your relationship with the Lord. Take a moment to just think about that so you can draw closer to him when you're doing that. And Jesus said in Matthew six, verse 16 to 18, and whenever you are fasting, do not look gloomy and sour and dreary like the hypocrites for they put on a dismal continence that their fasting may be apparent and be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full already. Verse 17, but when you fast, perfume your head and wash your face. Verse 18, so that your fast may not be noticed by men, but by your father who sees in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you in the open. This is something that we talked about. We don't want to just look like we're fasting. We want to actually be fasting so that we can reap the benefits and we can actually be drawing closer to God. Another benefit when we're fasting, fasting helps you to humble yourself before God. The definition of humble yourself, humble yourself means to do or say something to acknowledge that you have been wrong or behaved with too much pride. For example, he needs to humble himself and ask for their forgiveness. So this is the definition of humbling yourself before the Lord. When you fast, you receive reminders of your dependence on God and your need for his help and guidance. In the Old Testament, we see that people often fasted as a way to show humility and repentance before God. For example, in Jonah three, verse five to six. And before I read this, when you go and you look in the Bible and you look in Jonah, Jonah was an individual. He was a prophet that God was speaking to and God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh to deliver his message. But Jonah did not want to do this. So Jonah ended up being swallowed by a whale. You can read the rest of the story on your own time. So in Jonah three, verse five to six, so the people of Nineveh believed in God and proclaimed a fast and put on a sackcloth in penitent mourning from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. Verse six, for the word came to the king of Nineveh of all that had happened to Jonah and his terrifying message from God. And he arose from his throne and he laid his own robe aside, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. So Jonah verse three, verse eight, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from this evil, from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. So in Jonah, Jonah delivered such a message to tell people that they have to turn from their evil ways. And when they're turning from their evil ways, begin to pray and fast so they can be able to just turn from what they're experiencing and remove themselves from the clutches of evil. That's something that is needed, that needs to be done. So let's move on. Fasting helps you to resist temptation and grow in self-control by denying yourself food and other physical comforts. You can learn to rely on God's strength and resist the temptation to give in to your own desires and to your flesh. In Matthew four, verse one to 11, then Jesus was led, guided by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness desert to be tempted, tested, and tried by the devil. Verse two, and he went without food for 40 days and 40 nights. And later he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are God's son, command these stones to be made into loaves. So already we're seeing that Jesus entered into a long fast and he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Now I could continue to go on, but I'm going to let you read this on your own. But the thing is, Jesus himself was fasting for breakthrough and Jesus is our Lord and savior. So as Jesus is, so are we in this world. We want to be doing what Jesus did. You have to use your own discernment. What's good for you for the stage that you're at. The idea for this is when you are a baby, you have to crawl before you can walk. And before a baby can stand, the baby has to strengthen its muscles to be able to stand. So don't take on a fast just because as Jesus is, so are we. If you're not equipped for the fast, you have to strengthen yourself, build yourself up for a fast. And again, always that disclaimer. If you're somebody who you have a doctor for these things, you go to your doctor. You do what you have to do to govern your household. No one's telling you right now that you absolutely have to do this right now and go from zero to 40 days. You have not built yourself up for that. So nobody's telling you to do that. But of course, in these days we have to do these disclaimers because sometimes people think, Oh, let me just go on a 40 day fast. I've never fasted before. I've never done this. No, you build up to it. Maybe you just fast two hours starting off in one day. You just say, you know what? Once a week, I'm going to fast one hour or two hours. And if that's for you and that's helping you to grow, then you do what you're supposed to be doing. And of course, pray, pray about everything and God will confirm your word. So we see that Jesus strengthened himself. He came here and he was tempted by the devil. So, so many times, a lot of us, we're going through a lot of things right now, and we don't know that we have the tools, right? But Jesus himself is showing us the way he's showing us the truth. He's showing us the life he's showing us what's needed to be done. So right now, let's just take the time. God, I just thank you, Lord, for just strengthening your people. I thank you, Lord, for just helping them to set their mind on things above and not below God, to separate themselves out and to be sanctified and holy worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. God, I thank you, God, that they are being led and they are being strengthened by this message. I thank you, God, that they will go back and they will read the word, not ask someone else to read the word, not ask someone else. Oh, what did that say? But that you would study and show yourself approved so that you can have breakthrough for your household. God, I just thank you, Lord, that these people will pray and they will fast themselves and they will not be depending on anyone else or they're not wanting to see a secondhand breakthrough from a friend, but that their household may be saved so that their household may be victorious so that every man is doing what he needs to do in the kingdom of God to have breakthrough and to use the tools that you've given us. God, we just thank you. We thank you, God. We thank you for this tool. We thank you for this knowledge. Your word says my people perish. My people perish because of lack of wisdom or knowledge. So how many of us don't want to perish because of lacking wisdom or knowledge when you can have breakthrough, but that breakthrough is not something that somebody else can do for you. You, you must dedicate yourself. You must pray. You must fast. You stay up at night and you pray and you have that breakthrough. And this is what God wanted. And this is what Jesus paid the price for. Amen. We will see you next time for part two, the power of prayer and fasting.