THE PURPOSE OF FASTING

A. To personally encounter the Lord. As He does His work in us, He works more through us. We are fasting to personally encounter God and His love and for a renewal in our spiritual life.

I set my face toward the Lord God…by prayer… (Dan. 9:3)  

“You set your heart…to humble yourself before your God…” (Dan. 10:12)

1. To confess and renounce our compromises and recommit our life to fully obey Jesus.
   I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin… (Dan. 9:20)  
   19“Repent…that times of refreshing may come from God’s presence…” (Acts 3:19)

2. To receive insight into God’s love—Daniel gained understanding that he was beloved.
   He said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you”… 18Then again…19he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not!” (Dan. 10:11, 19)

B. To pray for a breakthrough in a “family spirit” as a church community. We are seeking a greater measure of a family spirit in our midst which means we focus on the first family, Trinity, to cultivate our spirit of unity.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. 2Cor. 13:14

C. To ask for a greater release of Holy Spirit power personally and corporately.

We are crying out for a greater release of the power of the Holy Spirit, and to see God’s power break in upon our families and upon national and international crises.

21“This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt. 17:21)

D. To remember our corporate and individual prophetic history. Daniel was reading the scrolls of Jeremiah in Daniel 9 when the Spirit of God revealed to him that the 70-year period of captivity in Babylon was nearly finished. Commentators consider that the events of Daniel 9 took place in the 67th year of Judah’s captivity in Babylon. Daniel’s response to prophetic timing was to seek the Lord with an increased intentionality through prayer and fasting.

1. It is important for God’s people to remember the promises God has made in order to inspire and empower faith and hope; and to engage our hearts in prayer not passivity.
   In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years [timing] specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face [gave my attention – NASB] toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Dan. 9:1-3)

2. Daniel was a student of the Word of God and the prophetic seasons of his people.
   ”the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…” (1 Chron. 12:32)