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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the truth

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PRAYER AND FASTING…THE POWER TWINS

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Let’s say you’ve just committed yourself to a season of

praying in the Holy Ghost. You’re hungry to know God

more intimately and to walk in His plan for your life, so

you’re ready and willing to yield to the Holy Spirit’s

purging process and to push through any impasses you

might encounter.

But what about those areas in your life in which you

have been defeated time and time again? What about

those deeds of the flesh that have wedged themselves so

tightly into the nooks and crannies of your life — the

ones that taunt you into believing that you will never be

any better than you are now and that you will never

accomplish anything more than what you’ve already

accomplished? Is there anything that can help set you

free in these areas once and for all?

I have good news for you — Jesus has given us an

important key for just such a purpose!It isn’t a very

popular key; yet when a person employs it, that key will

shut down the flesh nature with the same vengeance

that God used to slam the door on Noah’s ark against an

entire world that had gone the way of the flesh. That

key is fasting.

You see, if you ever learn to shut your flesh down, you

will shut Satan down, because the only power he has is

through the seduction and manipulation of the flesh

nature, which includes the mental and emotional realm

as well as the physical body.

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My First Experience With Fasting

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God introduced me to fasting during a time when I had

reached an impasse in my prayer life. I had gotten so

hungry for God from just praying in tongues that I was

looking around for ways to get closer to Him. During

this time, my heart cry was “Help me produce

something for the Kingdom in the next month or two,

Father. I have to see something tangible!”

I found out right away that an impasse was overcome

more quickly when I fasted. Not only that, but the

workings of my flesh surfaced much more quickly as

well! I learned that fasting accompanied with prayer

multiplied what was already in me.

The first time I went on a fast, I had amazing results. As

soon as I came off the fast, every-thing in my world

went wrong!

I came off this long fast, which I refer to as a “seeking

time,” and almost had to stagger into meetings. I had

weak knees, and it wasn’t from a lack of food! I could

hardly stand up to preach. It seemed as if God’s

anointing had lifted from me. When I laid hands on

people to pray for them, they wouldn’t have fallen

under the power of God even if lightning had hit them!

On top of that, we were in debt for an entire month’s

budget. I tucked myself away to fast and pray — and I

came out of that time only to be more in debt than

before! I told God, “The least You could do is to

supernaturally arrange for the bills to be paid while I’m

locked away with You!”

I was getting a little short-tempered about the situation.

Anger was building up on the inside because I wanted

to know why.

I began to see clearly. I came to realize that during the

fast, certain areas of my flesh nature that hadn’t been

put to death in the past had come to the surface. When

these fleshly works began to surface, the anointing felt

less, but in reality was greater than ever before.

This is what Paul meant when he said in essence, “For I

would rather glory in my infirmities (or weaknesses as

a man) because when I am stripped of my dependency

on my flesh, it places my dependency on the Holy

Spirit” (2 Cor. 12:9,10). When we feel weakest in our

own natural strength, we are usually the strongest,

because un-mortified areas of our flesh are in the

process of dying.

Fasting and prayer in combination help cause those

fleshly works to come to light in our lives more

quickly.Tests and trials will also bring them to light, but

I would rather not wait for the trials. Fasting and

prayer allow the Holy Spirit to reveal those things

hidden in darkness and to deal with them before the

trials come. This in turn causes our character to be

strengthened.

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Until next time

LARRY