Biblical Fasting

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Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. What has been your experience with biblical fasting? What does the Bible say about fasting?

We want your calls today at 866-34-TRUTH-866-348-7884. I'm Michael Zwick. And I'll tell you what the Bible says. I'll tell you what Jesus says. It's right here.

It's Matthew chapter 6 in verse 16. It says, Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint thine head and wash thy face that when you w that when you do fast, you're not appearing to men to fast, but unto your father which is in secret, and your father which sees in secret, shall reward you openly. I don't know if you guys remember, there was an old movie called Fight Club, and they said the first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about fight club.

And so, when you're fasting, when you're doing a biblical fast, and yes, the Bible does tell you to fast, Jesus put it like this: He said, When you fast, He did not say if you fast.

Now, if you're gonna fast, of course, you wanna talk to a doctor, you know, especially if you're a diabetic or if you're pregnant or if you're a young child or something like that.

So, I'm not on here today giving medical advice, but that being said, the Bible has plenty. Plenty to say about fasting, and so when I started to think about this, one of the things that I thought of is that there were two pastors who actually got together one Monday morning after church. And a guy named Steve and another guy named Mike. And Steve said to his friend Mike, he said, I can't believe this. He said, I was at church yesterday and I left my bike inside of the church.

And he said, and somebody stole my bike. And so Mike said to him, He said, I know what you do. He said, if you want to get your bike back, this is what you do and this is what you say. You go back and you preach the next Sunday. Pastor.

And he said, when you go to the church, you tell them the Ten Commandments and you specifically say, thou shalt not steal.

So a week later, Steve and Mike, Pastor Steve and Pastor Mike end up meeting again the next Monday. And so Pastor Steve walks in and he says, You never believe this. He said, I got my bike back. And Pastor Mike goes, Yeah, you told him about the 10 commandments, thou shalt not steal, right? And so Steve said, No, he said, What actually happened was I went in there and I started talking about the Ten Commandments, and I said, Thou shalt not commit adultery.

And I remembered where I left my bike.

So the Bible says in Matthew chapter 7, judge not so that you too may not be judged. For in the same way that you judge others, God will judge you. And it says, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and you don't see that there's a log in your own eye?

So we're not on here today saying, hey, we're fasting, we're better than you, or anything like that. But what we're saying is, what does the Bible have to say? About fasting. And so, one of the things that I thought of today is: I saw it was something by Candace Owens online, and she was interviewing a guy named Andrew Tate. Many of you know who he is.

And Andrew Tate was a Christian, but in the last couple of years or so, Andrew Tate converted to Islam. And so Candace said, Why would you do that? You were a Christian, you knew the truth. Why would you change over? And this is what Andrew said.

It was interesting. He said, When I would go to America, and he was born in Washington, D.C., he said, But when I grew up in America, he said, The Christians were indistinguishable from the non-Christians. In other words, the Christians act the same, talk the same, believe the same as the non-Christians. And he said, Why would I want to be a Christian when there's no difference between them and everybody else? And so, what he said was he said, When he went to a Muslim country, he saw that they were fasting, that they were doing, you know, Ramadan, and they would discipline their bodies and they would discipline themselves.

And he said, You know, he said, I always knew one thing that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of knowledge. And he said, I did not see the fear of the Lord in Western Christianity. And so, we're saved by grace through faith, and we all know that. But the truth is, is that as a Christian, we should live a separated life. As a Christian, we should live.

live differently Than the world does. And so we've got a mic here, and Mike is out of New York. Are you there, Mike?

Well actually I'm in New York now, but I live in Cleveland, Tennessee. But I'm an evangelist. I've been evangelizing for 54 years, and I'm at a church in Hornell, New York. Oh my goodness. And Mike, your name is Mike Shreve, S-H-R-E-V-E.

And Mike, I actually saw you originally on TCT, and then I saw you on, I think it was Sid Roth at Supernatural. You've been all over Christian stations. But you actually grew up, I believe you grew up Catholic, is that right? That's correct. And then once you got older, you went to college and you started a party.

And then all of a sudden, you said you went on a search for God, from what I understand. And you did it by practicing yoga and Eastern meditation and all this and that and the other. And then eventually, well, what happened, Mike? What got you out of that?

Well Part of what attracted me to yoga and meditation Is the intense discipline that was associated with it. where there was a lot of fasting involved. And of course it was a wrong path and it took me the wrong places. But I wanted that kind of disciplined life. And then when I finally became a Christian, I discovered that it's a part of true discipleship.

But I actually turned to Eastern religions because. Uh I had a near-death experience in college. And it was my lifestyle that led me to that that looked like it was the end of my life, and it put me on the search And I searched through Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Yoga, meditation. All of that, and then finally. I was born again in a very miraculous way.

God sought me out and brought me in. That is absolutely amazing. But it's interesting because we're talking about biblical fasting. And when I was talking to you yesterday, Mike, you said you actually wrote a book. And and what was the name of the book you were talking about, Twenty-Five?

Well The reason I mentioned that book, and it was the number one bestseller on Amazon for a while. It's called 25 Powerful Promises from God. And the reason I mention that book is because both times. that I went on very lengthy fasts, God gave me a rhyme a word promise. And there's 7,487 Written word promises that God has given us.

And that's a tremendous treasure for any Christian. But Many times he takes those written word promises and speaks them into our life in a specific way, a momentary flash of inspiration. And the written word becomes the Rhema word. And that's exactly what God did for me the times I I really sought him on lengthy pass. Yeah, and so you said when you did seek God on a lengthy fast, was there ever a time when you really heard from the Lord or you got an answer?

Oh, definitely. They were the key turning points in my life, in my ministry. As I mentioned, I've been an evangelist for fifty four years. And the Pivotal points, the monumental moments. That I can look back to and see it all changed dramatically.

And radically, at that point, they were always associated. with a lengthy fast. And how long of a fast did you do, Mike?

Well, um Kind of reluctant to even share it. I will for the sake of the subject matter. I don't share it when I'm preaching because I'd rather it be just between God and me. But I've been on Two forty-day fasts, actually three, but two primary forty-day fasts. And the first two fasts were the ones associated with a promise.

Right um And the first time, God I was in the middle of a meal. I was Chomping down on some kind of food. I think it might have even been a hamburger. That was before I got real health-minded. And Uh God Spoke to me.

I heard his voice speak to me. out of the Bible, and he said he went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights to the Mount of God, which was a scripture that referred to Elijah. And Mike, we're going to a break right now, but I'm sure everybody wants to hear the rest of this story. A 40-day fast. We'll be right back on Truth Talk Live, 866-8666.

34 TRUTH. We want your calls 866-348-7884. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, this is Michael's Wick. We are back.

What? What has been your experience with fasting, biblical fasting? And I've got Mike Shreve back on the phone. But Mike, when we were on the break, I was reminded that when Jonah was going to Nineveh, to warn them that God was going to judge them. The king of Nineveh came and said And he issued a proclamation.

And he said, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds, or flocks taste anything, and do not let them eat or drink. And so, most of the time, when we talk about a fast, I'm talking about just drinking water. Or, I know different people talk about a different type of fast, but from what I see, a biblical fast is where you only drink water, and that's typically how I see it. Is that how you see it as well, Mike, or is it a little different?

Well I I think any fast has worth And sometimes I may fast seven days on juice. and then sometimes just water. It depends on how I feel Led at the time, and the Holy Spirit really speaks it to my heart one way or the other. But I I I do believe, like you, that the more perfect way of doing it is just water. Yeah, absolutely.

And I'm reminded of a story that Charles Spurgeon told, oh gosh, 200 years ago or 150 years ago or so, 120 years ago. But what he said was, he said, there was a king, and this king, one day, there was a peasant who requested an audience with the king. And the peasant came to the king and he came up to him and he said, King, king, you're such a gracious king. You're such a good king. He said, I've got this huge carrot that I grew in my field, and I wanted you to know that I wanted to give it to you because you, king, are the only king who is worthy of getting this carrot.

And the king was so touched and so moved that a peasant who had so little would be willing to do much for his king. And so, what the king said, he said, You know, I own all the land around here. He said, There's 60 acres right next to where you live because you've been so good to me. He said, I'm going to give you the 60 acres that are right next to your land. And the peasant just said, Thank you so much.

I really appreciate what you did.

Well, one of the king's nobles overheard the whole conversation and he said, Well, if this is what the king is going to do for a carrot, I wonder what he'll do for a real prize.

So the next day, his noble came up to the king and he said, King, you're such a great king. You're so noble and you're so good. He said, This is my finest horse. I am giving this horse to you. And you know what the king said?

The king said, That peasant. He gave that carrot to me, he said, but that horse, he said, you gave that for yourself. And so God is not only searching. That we are doing what he's taught us to do and doing what he's asked us to do. But he's searching the motives behind why we're doing it.

And Mike, I like what you said before. You said, I don't even like to share how long I'm fasting. Is that right? Absolutely. And what happened to me on that first fast really set me up For the second one and the second forty day fast Is when I got the greatest visitation from God.

It was an absolutely incredible visitation. But see in Isaiah 58, The prophet Isaiah said that when you fast, you make your voice to be heard on high. And so, God really does recognize that sacrifice, and it does give you. a greater line of communication that uh greater access to the throne room, so to speak. where you can petition the king and he knows that you mean business.

But anyway, God uh spoke to me to go on that first fast. That first 40-day fast, 40 days and 40 nights to the Mount of God.

Now, I wondered what God meant. by saying I would reach that mountain peak. And when I ended the fast, I I heard his voice again. And he spoke from Ecclesiastes, I believe this chapter twelve. where it said desire shall fail.

And that fast was primarily for me because it was. It was a place of purity and Cleanness and holiness and righteousness Internally, that I had never experienced before, I was lifted to a level of really having a pure heart more than I ever had. And so it really benefited me. But I told God, and I'll try to make it short. I told God, I said.

That's one thing I never want to do again because the last 10 days of that fast, I was like a walking corpse. It was. Very, very, very difficult. And so I had the mindset of never doing it again. And then a couple years later.

God gave me a dream, and in the dream, I saw a man of God holding a large scroll Uh uh and the scroll was about Uh 30 feet by 20. 10 feet. And an angel came up and wrote on the scroll in this incredible dream. And the angel wrote, healing is the expression of God's love. And I had been asking God to release him.

Healing power in my meetings so that people could get a real miracle, a real miracle. From God. And then from in the distance, I heard a man of God cry aloud in the dream. There are even some who will receive creative power. And I woke up.

I woke up and the Holy Spirit swept over me. And guess what? God said, What do you say? God spoke to me then, and he said, if you'll go. on another forty day pass.

I'll release that anointing in your life.

Well, Mike, I'm sure that's exactly what you wanted to do at that point. After the last 10 days, you wanted to go on another 40-day fast, right? Oh, absolutely not. I felt like a living, dead man. But what was so curious about it, Michael, is that when I said yes to God.

And I anticipated this huge struggle. It was altogether the opposite. Because I felt like I was as strong as I would have been if I was eating the whole time, the second 40-day fast. I put up tents. to have revival services in.

traveled all around the country and never felt weak. But at the end of that 40-day fast, because God had given me that vision, that dream of the night where I heard The prophetic voice says there are even some who will receive creative power. than I announced in a meeting in Stanley, North Carolina. I said, I believe that God's going to honor what He spoke to me and There's going to be an anointing here, and it's from him. It's not from me.

We just need to offer ourselves as vessels to be used. And I said there's going to be an anointing here of creative power.

So if you need a creative miracle, you come. And that night, a woman came who had a severe condition where both of her legs were twisted and deformed. And one was a deformity from her From the womb of her mother, she came forth as a baby, and one leg was all twisted around into form. And the other was the result of a car accident. And I gave the invitation for those who needed a creative miracle, and she inched her way.

the front of the church. She dragged her feet. It broke my heart. But I knew every step she took, her faith was rising.

So I didn't go to her. I waited for her to get to me. And then I reached out to pray for her, and this is the truth before heaven. Uh I don't think I even got to touch her. As I reached out to her, the power of God hit her.

She fell under the power of the Holy Spirit and jumped up a few moments later and ran. around the church. And and that was back around nineteen eighty five. And she contacted me just a few years ago on Facebook and said, I'm still walking. I'm still running, I'm still healed.

Praise God.

Well, Mike, I tell you what, that makes me want to go on a fast. I mean, because you know, when what it does, and I heard somebody else say this the other day, is that you know, what fasting can do, it can release the power of God. And there, it's funny when when medical science actually catches up with the Bible, because now they're saying, according to the Wall Street Journal, they're saying that after the first 12 to 14 hours of a fast, your body can go into something called autophagy. And when your body does that, instead of just burning the normal carbohydrates like it normally does, it starts to burn fat. And when it burns fat, you go into ketosis.

And with autophagy, what it does is it gets rid of the bad cells in your body.

Now, we should fast because Jesus told us to do it. And like I said, you want to check with a medical professional before you do anything like this. But when we obey the Lord, it's funny how God just seems to work things out for us. And the Bible really does something else as well. Mike, I want to thank you for the call.

We've got a Ronnie on the phone right next, and we'll be right back. But make sure to check out Mike's book. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, this is Michael's Wick. We want your calls 866-34TRUTH-866.

348-7884. And I wanted to share Mike's website. It's the true light. And he also has a site. It's called Shreve Ministries.org.

And we've got a Ronnie on the phone. I'm going to introduce him in just a second, but I wanted to share with you guys something real quick. In Matthew chapter 6, it talks about do not worry. Jesus tells us, don't worry about our lives, don't worry about this, don't worry about that. And then it goes on to say, as we all know in Matthew 6:33, he says, to seek ye first.

The kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And I'm reminded of a time when I was a freshman year in college at App State, and I went up there and it was a Christian group, and the leader of the group took us out for ice cream. And I said, Oh, I don't know if I want this kind of ice cream, I may want something else. And the lady behind the counter looked at me, and the guy, the leader of the group, looked at me, and I never forgot what he said. This is what he said.

He said, Mike, maybe you should just be happy with what you got. And I do believe that when we fast, We are able to really be satisfied and to be happy with what we've got, and we're really able to focus on the Lord as well. 866-34 Truth. I've got a Ronnie, Pastor Ronnie Winter out of Kentucky. What part of Kentucky are you from, Ronnie?

Um just outside. Louisville, Kentucky. Our church is um. in West Point, Kentucky by Fort Knox, um Stite Station Bible Church. And that's where we're located at.

Yeah, and I actually met you this past weekend at a conference over in Gatlinburg, and the Lord is really just bringing a revival to your church. I believe you said around the last nine weeks or so, you had 50 baptisms, and that was more, I think, than you'd ever had in that time period. But I also wanted to give you guys a plug. You're having something at your church this, it's September the 11th, is that right? Yes, eleventh through fourteenth, Pastor Henry Schaefer.

Um and it's armed and dangerous. You can go to Eventbrite. to get the information on that. But that's september eleventh through the fourteenth at our church. West Point, Kentucky.

Yeah, now let me ask you this, Ronnie. What has been your experience with fasting or what are your thoughts on fasting? Oh, wow. Yeah, there's so many great things with fasting. Obviously, it's something that the flesh doesn't like to do.

But it's, and we go back to this, and Mike done a wonderful job teaching on fasting and talking about it. It was amazing what he brought forward. But he says it's not if you fast, it's when you fast.

So it's one of our spiritual disciplines. And, like Brother Mike was talking about, you know, if you want to see the real power and the glory of God. We've got to get this flesh out of the way. And one thing that fasting does is It afflicts our soul like it talks about in Isaiah 58. It says, you know, it afflicts our soul, we humble ourselves.

And as we humble ourselves Um it gets God's attention basically.

So to speak, you know, he's like, okay, I see my people, they're humbling themselves. And you know, bringing forth repentance and things like that, but it also. It keeps that spirit of of pride from coming in. And I think that's a lot of times ministers, when God begins to use us in ministry and we begin to see the healings and the miracles and deliverances, signs, and wonders. And you know, people start giving you accolades, you gotta, I always tell people, you gotta remember this.

We are the donkey that Jesus is riding on. That's it. Make sure he's getting the glory and point to him. Because that pride, that spirit of Leviathan, which is a spirit of pride that comes in. it wants to take us down.

And you see it happened to a lot of people.

So fasting to be effective in ministry and to be to set yourself as to be a useful vessel for God. It's a must. It's definitely a must. And you said you actually had an experience with fasting. We talked about it a little bit.

What has been the longest time that you've actually done a water-only fast, Ronnie? And like I'm I'm kinda like what But uh brother Mike, you know, it's it's I don't speak a lot on it just because you don't want spiritual pride to get in there or you don't want people to think, well, I can't fast that long or anything. But but we've done like I've done like five, seven days, somewhere like that on water only around there. Um And then a lot of times, you know, we'll do like um Maybe. Like uh like a juice fast.

or maybe even what you call some people call a Daniel fast, I call it a Daniel diet. You know, we'll do that for like twenty one days. Um So the main thing in all of it's the heart posture. And I I believe true A true biblical fast is water only, but obviously you need to consult your doctor or whatever. You know, um if you have a physician, if you take medication and things like that, You don't want to just go and go on some long fast.

It's got to be led by the Holy Spirit. And um So, yeah, just different ways. I like to do three days a three-day water fast only really sets I feel like for me, it sets me in a good spot. It really realigns everything, like you were talking about. Not only is there spiritual benefits, but there's health benefits.

You know, we and in the in the time that we live in, there's a lot of toxins in our food. And what fasting will do within 12 to 24 hours, it begins to draw these toxins out. and flush your body. of these toxins and and and dead cells like you were talking about, you spoke on it a while ago. Um so there's a lot of physical Things that happen, and Isaiah 58 talks about that.

You know, it brings forth health. Your health springs forth, healing springs forth. speedily.

So not only is there Spiritual benefits of drawing near to God. And and hearing I feel like to me, I feel like I hear the Lord's voice very clear. while I'm on a fast. It removes those distractions. Um but it's also got the health side benefit as well.

And I believe that's why he told us to do that And drinking that water in that three days is flushing that stuff out. And, you know, like you said, even your mind, chemicals that come into your brain, your mind flushes them out, gives you clarity. And so so many good things. Like I said, I can go so many directions with this right now.

Well, one of the things that you told me one of the things that you told me is you said one time before you did a fast, you started to write down all of these prayers that you were asking for the Lord and what happened when you did that fast. I begin to see within a, within, sometimes within a few days, and then within that first couple weeks. began to see the door the Lord answer prayers, you know, open doors for things I was praying about. Like I remember one time I was looking for a son, uh a school for my son. And he had some special needs at the moment at that time, and we were praying about it.

Man, God would. Like I would get a phone call or he would direct me to a website and I would call and they'd have a spot for him. to come in so Uh then I would see I pray for salvation of my family and friends. We begin to see them start They would call and they would come to church. And so you see a lot of things happen.

through that and I believe it was from fasting. Because it does get the attention of God, it gets the ear of God. Um And like I said, you know, a lot of people say, well, I fast from television or I fast from that that's just abstaining. You know, a lot of people say, I fast electronics.

Well, Jesus didn't fast electronics, he didn't have it. Right.

So. Part of going on a fast is removing those things, it's removing all distractions. including food. Yeah, because we're pretty fat as a country from what I hear. I just saw something special on TV, and they said that when they did the show, The Biggest Loser.

Do you remember that, Ronnie? Yes, I do. Yeah, they did a show, The Biggest Loser, and they said a certain percentage, and I'm guessing here, but it was like 35% of the country at that time was considered obese. And they said they did this show, they were trying to help people. And they say now, 20 years later or so, like 47 or 50% of the country is obese.

And so, yeah, that's really good. You know, one of the things, too, that I was thinking about is there was a guy named Jimmy Carter. He was a former president who just passed away. And there was a time when he was going to go into the Navy and he was looking for a job. And there was a guy named Admiral Rickover who was interviewing Jimmy Carter.

And Rickover started to interview him. He started to grill him. And Jimmy Carter, you know, just started, he started to sweat. He got nervous. You know, he asked Jimmy Carter about his grades.

He asked him about this, that, the other. And finally, he came up and he asked Jimmy Carter. He said, let me ask you this. He said, when you were in school, when you were doing what you were doing in the Navy, he said, did you? you always do your best.

And Jimmy was just about to say yes, but then he thought about the times when he was at Georgia Tech, and he thought about the times when he slacked off, and he thought about the times when he was in the Navy, and he didn't always give it all. And so reluctantly, he looked at Rickover, and he said, no, sir, I did not always do my best. And Rickover turned around, the interview was over, and he said, why not? And after that, Jimmy Carter looked at himself and he said, if I really believe that my schooling was important, why did I not always do my best? If I really believed that what I was doing for the United States Navy was really important, why did I not always do my best?

And I believe that as Christians, we have to wake up every day and someday we're going to stand before God and he's going to ask us, did we do our very best? Colossians 3.23 puts it like this. It says, whatever we do, whether in work or deed, do it all as if we're working for Christ. And so every day, Ronnie, whether we're fasting, whether we're preaching, whether we're doing a conference or whatever we do, I thank God that we can always do our best. And I know that you're doing your best as well.

Before you go, I wanted to give you an opportunity to give your website. I looked it up. It's Stite Station. What is it? Stitestation Biblechurch.com, or actually, but the sightestation.com is what it is.

StightStation.com, and then you're on Facebook as well, right? Yeah, and also uh winterministries.com. This is my my personal ministry that you know, I travel, do a traveling ministry, we go do boot camps. Deliverance boot camps, healing boot camps, we train to teach biblical and bring instruction and a demonstration. And also we at the end of the month, September twenty second, we start a big tent revival.

in Bullock County, Kentucky. We've got a Master Henry Schaefer Uh we've got Bishop Lance Johnson. We've got Apostle Jeff Scott. Um and several others that that are going to be there preaching that week. Uh, it'll be a great tent revival that we've 7 p.m.

every night if anybody's interested as well. Absolutely, and you can go to his website and you can look that guy, look that up, guys. And remember, September the 11th. But, Pastor Ronnie, you guys have seen some amazing miracles at your church lately, and I wonder if part of that is just your hunger for God. I think it's just number one, believing the word.

Because let's go back to fasting. Fasting is not a, you know, I don't do it to twist arms, twist God's arm. It's not about twisting his arm. It's just a spiritual discipline, but through that We die to the flesh.

So what you feed is what's going to succeed.

So it allows the flesh to die down. And we can crucify it through fasting and humming ourselves, and it allows the power of God because. If we walk in the the the death of the flesh we can walk resurrection. And then God gives us revelation on his word. And upon that word, we can believe and have faith for healing and miracles.

And that's why we see that. Because the Bible says that we lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. That we cast out demons, we do these things.

So I believe that. And as we exercise that in my face. by casting out demons, praying for the sick, and preaching the gospel. We're able to see souls be one and born again, and we'll be able to disciple disci have discipleship. that bring forth healing and deliverance.

And uh and help people in their sanctification, their walk in Christ. That is amazing. And the website is stitesstation.com. If you can make it up to Kentucky, if you're in that area, make sure to catch the revival September the 11th. And then the 10 revival is what date, Ronnie?

September 22nd. It's on a Monday. It starts on Monday and ends on Sunday, 7 p.m. every night. All right.

Well, I'm looking. I'm sorry. I'm looking forward to hearing the good news from that brother. And I want to thank you for the call. We've got a Leslie who is up next out of it looks like Texas.

And we want your calls at 866-348-7884-866-34TRUT. We'll be right back. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, this is Michael Zwick. We are back for the last segment.

I've got Ezra 8:21, and it says, There by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children with all our possessions. And I believe we've got a Leslie out of Texas. Are you there, Leslie? Hello? Hey, how are you?

Now, I know you've done several, what, 40-day fasts? Is that right? Yes, sir. I think that's how we met last year at Pastor Henry's Deliverance Conference. Was during one of the fasts.

That is correct. Yeah, I met you, and Pastor Ronnie, who was just on, was from Pastor Henry as well.

So, but when you've gone on a fast, have you gotten an answer from the Lord, or what have you seen, Leslie? Oh, I've gotten many answers from the Lord. One of my first fasts that I ever did was a 21 day just to I I agreed to a Daniel fast for my son because he was really just not who I knew him to be. to be. He started changing.

and uh found out that I had a cursed coin that was in his possession, which was allowing him to be tormented. And after doing that fast is when I was like, well, if you can do that over just turning away from food for a couple of weeks. I'm in.

So that's what started my fasting journeys. Yeah. And so people say a forty day fast, how could I start there? But I think one of the things that you tell people, Leslie, is you don't have to start with a forty day fast. If you're not doing it at all, you can start doing something smaller.

Is that right? Yeah, in I don't I tell people don't look at like a certain box. Like God's gonna meet you where you are and get you to where you need to go 'cause He's gonna teach you to depend on Him through whatever fast He's calling you to. If he put it on your heart, that means that it matters to him, otherwise it wouldn't be on your heart. And he wants you to succeed.

He wants those bands broken. In Isaiah 58, 6, it says, the reason that we fast, it's to loosen the bands of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke. and to let every oppressed go free and break the yoke that's holding them down.

So there is a reason that we fast and God wants people set free. That is his goal. Yeah, and so when you somebody once told me, they said that when you're hungry, you're hungry. In other words, that when you're hungry, when you're not eating food, it makes you hungry. And I've actually looked at some studies recently, Leslie.

And one of the studies said that when you, when you start to fast, your body starts to get rid of a lot of the junk that's in your body. And they said when they, when you do that, you can actually think clearly. They said another study that was done showed that people who have, who may be older and who may be even starting dementia or something like that, they said it can slow down the stages of dementia. And so, you know, it's funny, we always try to find a reason why we're doing the stuff that we're doing, but the truth is, is that it should be enough that Jesus told us to do it. Yeah, I think that when you have a heart, right, like God says that we have a stone cold heart.

So he's going to give us a new heart and put a new spirit in it, and then he's going to write his laws on our heart.

So, when you start having a heart to love people in ways that the Lord teaches us to love them, then you're willing to do the hard things. To help set them free, because you now see them and have a heart like, I can't help you, but I know God can.

So I'm going to put all my faith into this basket of the Lord's. And I'm going to do what he says to do to try and help you. Because I can't, right? Like we all fall short. We think we're doing what's right and it actually causes more harm.

Like when I saw my son starting to go down this bad path, I tried all I could in the natural to get him back on that straight and narrow path. Bring back my kid, no matter how much I tried, it just made him. hate me more and more and more and it ended up ruining our relationship. It wasn't until the Lord stepped in and said, hey, I'm going to put it on your heart, and I'm going to ask you to do a 21-day fast for him, and I'm going to answer you. And I was like, oh, that's kind of weird, but okay, I'll do anything.

I'm so desperate. I will do anything. That's when things started changing. And that's when this coin came up I never even knew we had. It had put a curse over him.

That's when he started leading us to like Pastor Henry that started delivering him from things that I never knew how to hold on him.

So it was just like a a leap of faith. I I call a fast a leap of faith. A leap of faith. Let me ask you this, 'cause a lot of people may not know. They've heard of a Daniel fast.

What can you eat or drink or what can you eat on a Daniel fast, Leslie?

So I believe a Daniel fast is more of a diet, and I did start off. saying, Lord, I will do this Daniel fast.

However, I found out that it was more Other dieting. Like I I had to cook my food for my kids and for my family. It was extremely hard, and then I had to cook food for myself. And on probably the first couple of days, I ended up getting so frustrated. I'm like, Lord.

Pastor Locke taught me that Fasting should be depriving yourself in that you should be spending this time instead of cooking. with you praying and interceding for these people that you love.

So, I was not doing that.

So, I had beets and onions out on the counter, and I did the dumbest thing. I'm just like, Lord, I'll just eat beets and onions for the next.

however many weeks until you set them free.

So Some people do get breakthrough with Daniel. I believe it's more of a diet. I think it's something that you're supposed to afflict your soul. And the Daniel diet has a lot of. Different sweets and different things that you can do.

It's more of a restricted diet, in my opinion. And I think the only reason that Daniel, back in the old day, this heard on high with the Lord is because his heart was broken. He could not eat. His stomach was so turned about what was gonna come about Israel, you know, and the tribes and the country and if they were coming back or how they were coming back. He was like I'm so desperate.

Lord, I can't even eat. I can't even sit straight right now. I'm so desperate. In despair about what's coming and what you're showing me, I need answers.

So that's why I got anti- you know, honored his Daniels diet. And now We're not like that. It's not our heart posture of being the same way. It's just, oh, I'll just. restrict my diet and eat these things.

So I'm not saying God can't honor that maybe as a starting point. But it's not something that should be an end-all be-all. It should be more the posture of like I can't live in a world knowing my son's in this much torment, and I can't do anything. I need your help, God. My sister is wanting to commit suicide.

Like, how do I break this? How do I really help them?

So it's just a way of seeking him for his understanding. Yeah, because when you're fasting, you're hungry for God. And Leslie, I was reminded of a true story about a guy named Charles Peace, and he had committed these crimes and they were about to execute him over in England. And this might have been 150 or 200 years ago. But when he was walking to where they were going to hang him in the gallows, there was a pastor who was from the Church of England who was just kind of haphazardly, you know, reciting a few Bible verses or this, that, and the other.

And Charles Peace stopped him in his steps and he said, Sir, he said, If I believed what you and the church of England say that you believe, he said that I would crawl across broken glass across all of England just to save one soul. He said, But the way that you're doing this, you act like you don't even care. And I was thinking about this with fasting as well: is that if we really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if we're really praying for somebody's salvation, if we really want to see a revival, Then we're going to do the fasts. We're going to do whatever we feel like we need to do in order to hear the voice of God or in order to answer a prayer. And I'm sure you've heard it before, Leslie, but the expression is: how bad do you want it?

Yeah. How bad do you want it?

Something up for God. move I agree 100%. Yeah, and so you've done this so many times. Does you know, and I've kind of noticed a change in you. Have you noticed that your mind is sharper when you start to fast, Leslie?

Man, your mind gets sharper. You start seeing things in the spirit that you just never understood. When you've on one of the fasts the Lord's like you're going to read through the Bible and do a forty day fast. And I was like I don't know why you want me to do this, but okay.

Okay. It opens your eyes and allows the Holy Spirit to really teach you what the words on the paper. mean. because it starts touching your heart and he starts speaking to you in different ways. And it's just It's I don't know how else.

Yeah. breakthrough. It's like understanding You know, there's something in the Bible that talks about, like, you can't understand the ways of heaven because you don't even understand the ways of the world.

So, first, it starts you showing what is behind the scenes and things in the world that you thought were. you know, good and and righteous, and you're like, oh, wow, that's not really what I thought it was.

So you can start adjusting where you're sowing your seeds and where you're doing things and where you spend your time with so that you're really getting built up. And then after that, it starts opening your eyes to what's true in heaven. 'Cause we think You know, let's talk about Matthew 5 for a second, where he talks about murder. When you have murder in your heart, you don't even get to bring your offer. offerings to the Lord.

Like We don't really understand what that means, but it's Stabbing somebody in the back and believing a lie and using our mouths to discredit their character. And when we do that, we are held in the courts ahead in in a in a place and and they They have legal rights to torment us. Like this is what things that we just don't understand and When you start fasting, God starts aligning you to understand these deeper meanings of his word and and how it plays out for his people so they can get set free. Yeah, because people need a lot of freedom. All you have to do is turn on the TV.

You know, I was reminded of a story. There was a lady named Sandy, and she was dating a guy named Tom. And so everybody told Sandy, you need to get rid of this guy. And one of her girlfriends would come to him and say, Hey, Tom, I want to let you know this Tom guy's on drugs. And so another one of Sandy's friends said, Hey, Look, this was Sandy's best friend.

And she said, look, you know, you need to get rid of this Tom guy. Tom came over to my house and he tried to force himself on me. And so instead of getting rid of Tom, Sandy got rid of her best friend. And so what happens is, is the Bible is very clear that we're supposed to turn away from sin. The Bible is very clear that we are supposed to fast.

It doesn't say if we fast. It says when we fast. But if we don't want to fast, just like Sandy and Tom, she was looking for reasons to continue to date Tom. We could try to look for reasons not to fast, but if the Bible tells us to fast, in my opinion, I think we need to do it.

Well, also, the Bible talks about in Acts that we are supposed to like pray and fast before we even put our hands on people and put them into the churches and into positions. of like authority over others. Like this is how we are supposed to be setting people. And because a lot of Churches don't do that. We end up getting I'm going to say the tears that Satan sews into the church to tear the entire church apart.

And it causes division and it causes strife because they're not set apart. God never chose them for that position. It's really sad seeing it happen. And Leslie, we've got to go for the day. The show is ending, but I want to thank you for calling in.

I will be on tomorrow at 11 a.m. on the Truth Network Kingdom Pursuits. And if not for God, we'll be on tomorrow at noon. Yeah.