In this sermon, the speaker encourages listeners to adopt fasting and praying as disciplined, obedient practices that prepare them for God’s challenges. Using 2 Chronicles 20:1‑4 as a biblical foundation, the talk highlights Jehoshaphat’s fear‑driven fast, the collective aspect of fasting, and the need for a proclamation of intent (“I will”). The speaker stresses that fasting is not merely abstaining from food but a posture of receiving God’s power, love, and a sound mind, and it helps overcome fear and darkness. Personal testimony illustrates how fasting delivered the speaker from a period of gloom. Practical steps include setting personal commitments, reflecting on what to abstain from, and repeatedly declaring God’s promises. The sermon ends with a reflective question inviting each listener to consider their own experience with fasting and praying, emphasizing that the practice is personal and cannot be done on behalf of others, though intercession is possible.
Chapters
Blessings everyone and welcome back to Fertile Hearts where we are being fruitful and multiplying. Today's fruit I want to bring is going to be about fasting and praying. And I want to have a conversation over the discipline and the obedience, not just the act of doing it, but understanding what it is and how it applies to your life individually, collectively, and overall. It's building up a discipline and an obedience that we need to be able to face the things that God already knows is going to come our way. So we have to prepare ourselves, not just about being mindful of what we eating, but how are we building up our strength to get us to where God wants us to be. So talking about fasting and praying, I want to say that I will. So first we have to say, I will fast and pray. And once we understand what we are getting ourselves into when we saying, this is how I will act in obedience, this is how I will act in discipline, and this is what is going to produce in me. So I'm gonna read 2 Chronicles 20:1. Verses 3 through 4. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord, and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. So I want to highlight some of the actions that were needed to be taken to actually fast and pray. So Jehoshaphat feared. So that, that right there is an indicator that there was a need for some type of obedience and discipline to what the Lord is trying to prepare us for. So we know that, that the spirit of fear is not what the Lord wants us, but he came to give us power, love, and a sound mind. So therefore it's like, okay, to receive Receive that power, to receive that love, to receive that sound mind, it takes an understanding. It takes a heart posture to say, I am ready to understand what it takes to build up myself. Or you might hear me say the temple, because to build up this temple to be mighty and strong, we have to build things in a way to make sure that it is stable and it is sturdy. So when you get that spirit of fear, this is a good verse to think about and remember and read, and read it for yourself to understand it. But don't lean on to your understanding. Lean and trust it. Trust in God that he is going to provide you with the understanding on how it applies to your life, not to others' lives, but how it applies to your life. And everyone will go through a different experience based off of how God is building up their temple. So Jehoshaphat feared, and he set himself— he set himself— he took himself and said, okay, this— just like I'm sitting here now, I set myself Here to seek the Lord. So we have to sometimes just— we say, be still and know that I am God. Remember, sometimes it just takes us to set ourselves in a position to receive. So it's a receiving posture as well when it comes to fasting. And it's because there is a prep. So we have to set ourselves in a way where we are preparing to receive what the Lord is trying to provide to us as we seek Him. So he set himself to seek the Lord, and he proclaimed. So therefore, that's why I put, I will, I will. So that's proclaiming that this is about to happen. This is what we're about to do. This is the, the plan or the action that's going to need to be taken for us to fulfill our goal or our mission or our Wherever God is calling you to in the end of the fast. So he proclaimed that. He proclaimed the fast all throughout, all throughout Judah. So he said, hey, look, I will, I will fast. How many are willing to get, get that discipline, get that obedience to build up our character in the Lord? How many, you know? So he proclaimed it like We are going to do this. I will. Will you? I am. And when others say they they will, so therefore it's coming together and proclaiming the victory that God has already given us. So so then Judah, after he proclaimed it, Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord. So sometimes. When it comes to asking for help, we need that strength, we need that obedience, we need that discipline. So sometimes we need others to come together for us to help build us up in our obedience and that discipline to be able to seek and ask what we are seeking for. So he gathered everybody together in Judah to pretty much proclaim this fast to be able to strengthen himself because he was feeling some sort of fear. And also, they, they came together to seek the Lord. So sometimes when it comes to fasting, sometimes we have to abstain from certain things so that when we abstain from those things, it transfers over not just to ourselves, but when you do a collective fast, it's building everyone together to build up A team. So this was a way to like, hey, I'm stepping into a new, new role or new avenue that God is calling, saying, I have the help for you. There's, you know, there's people that— but you're going to have to proclaim that we all come together. And the best way to do that is when everybody is operating in obedience and and discipline for themselves individually to abstain from certain things so that we can obtain a certain thing. So when it comes to fasting, that is one of the reasons why you should fast. So just to kind of give a highlight, I like to read, you know, some of the situations that you may face to kind of give you an insight. view of what you can kind of reflect on and devote your time to kind of think about. So we'll have a question at the end for you to kind of, you know, answer the question and, you know, do some deep work and find out what I probably need to abstain from or, you know, fast and pray about. So it's just— but you have to push yourself. It's not going to be easy. It's, it's, it's a, it's a learn. I mean, it can be easy, but at the same time, at some point it can be hard. So we're not exempt from trouble. So just give yourself grace. And you're, you know, if you need to step into the grace space, we have that as well. So the example is this past year and a half, I was in a dark place. The glow I once had was gone. The Bible teaches us that we must fast often and pray in times of distress. God is the only one that can deliver us from those gloomy days. Have you tried fasting and praying? So sometimes when we are in those gloom— it's kind of like a hole where sometimes we might be in a hole and how we dig ourselves out. And God is like, At the top waving and looking down like, hey, fast and pray. I will provide the answer. Because when you, when you fast, you're not only just abstaining from certain things, you're obtaining the Word of God in the process. It's not just I'm abstaining from food but not reading the Bible. I'm not seeking God's Word. It's It's not just praying about the things that he's done, but also praying about the things that he's— he can do, he will do, and praying his word. So sometimes just taking that word, say like, hey Lord, God did not give me this spirit of fear. I'm having this spirit of fear. And you can say it repetitiously over and over, but power, love, and a sound mind. Power, love, and a sound mind. And then continue to repeat those things as many times as you can to get yourself out of that gloomy Into the bright, you know, mist that God has given us, that he wants you to receive. Because then when you, when you push through that and go through that fact, that obedience and that discipline that got you out of the hole will be able to help you when you get into another hole. Or you may face something or approach that hole. You don't have to go through it. You can just basically, oh, walk around it like, oh. You know what, this is that, that, that spirit of fear that I pretty— I previously had. So now I can just walk around and say, hey, while I'm walking around it, God didn't— I'm fasting. God did not give me that spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. And then you find yourself on the other end like, okay, I didn't even have to have that thought. So have you tried fasting and praying? That is the question. So I want to have a little bit of time for everybody to take time to just reflect. Have you tried fasting and praying to build up that discipline that you need for certain different areas in your own personal life? This is personally for you, not for anyone. No one can fast for you. No one can pray, pray for you. Now, they can intercede on your behalf. Um, But they cannot do it for you. So that is the great thing that God has given us, the opportunity to do things for ourselves, receive that power for ourselves, and also have that relationship with him. So thank you guys for joining. Remember, I will. Have a blessed day. Thank you.
