Wednesday Service | Getting Directions From God | PART 5: The Secret to Breakthrough

[1] The Bible teaches if you are a believer you will

Luke 4:1-2, 14 (NIV)

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry… ¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

Joel 2:12 (NLT)

¹² That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Matthew 9:14-15 (NLT)

¹⁴ One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

• Denying ourselves comfort and pleasure for a time is part of a disciples

Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves [say no to themselves] and take up their cross and follow me. 

• John the Baptist lived a fasted

Matthew 3:3-5 (NLT)

³ The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

⁴ John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John.

[2] There are different kinds of fasts

Definition – the dedication to a period of time while prioritizing prayer without food

[a] fast: no food or water

[b] fast: abstaining from food but drinking lots of water

[c] fast: can be done in a variety of ways (Daniel’s Fast)

[3] Biblical fasting has the power to move things when nothing else will work

Mark 9:28-29 (NKJV)

²⁸ And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹ So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

Esther 4:14-16 (LB)

¹⁴ If you keep quiet at a time like this, God will deliver the Jews from some other source, but you and your relatives will die; what’s more, who can say but that God has brought you into the palace for just such a time as this?” ¹⁵ Then Esther sent this message to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and gather together all the Jews of Shushan and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day; and I and my maids will do the same; and then, though it is strictly forbidden, I will go in to see the king; and if I perish, I perish.”

Daniel 10:2,9-14 (NIV)

² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over…

⁹ Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.

¹⁰ A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. ¹¹ He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.

¹² Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

[4] There is a way and a way to fast

Isaiah 58:3-10 (NIRV)

³ ‘We have gone without food,’ they say. ‘Why haven’t you noticed it? We have made ourselves suffer. Why haven’t you paid any attention to us?’ “On the day when you fast, you do as you please. You take advantage of all your workers. ⁴ When you fast, it ends in arguing and fighting. You hit one another with your fists. That is an evil thing to do. The way you are now fasting keeps your prayers from being heard in heaven.
⁵ Do you think that is the way I want you to fast? Is it only a time for people to make themselves suffer? Is it only for people to bow their heads like tall grass bent by the wind? Is it only for people to lie down in ashes and clothes of mourning? Is that what you call a fast? Do you think I can accept that?

⁶ “Here is the way I want you to fast. “Set free those who are held by chains without any reason. Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain. ⁷ Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family. ⁸ Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you. That’s because I always do what is right.
⁹ You will call out to me for help. And I will answer you. You will cry out. And I will say, ‘Here I am.’ “Get rid of the chains you use to hold others down. Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong. Stop saying harmful things about them.
¹⁰ Work hard to feed hungry people. Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed.
Then my blessing will light up your darkness. And the night of your suffering will become as bright as the noonday sun.