Fasting and Prayer: Accessing God’s Secret Weapon for Breakthrough
In our daily Group Bible Study devotionals, we continue to focus on Growing Faith in God for one more day. We cannot close out the month without reminding you of the power and effectiveness that comes through fasting and prayer. Let’s jump in:
Scripture: “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” — Matthew 17:21
Finding Purpose in Biblical Fasting
During my first extended stay in Israel back in 1977, I lived in Jerusalem with a group of young believers who regularly practiced spiritual fasts. As a young man who thoroughly enjoyed eating, I quickly discovered that duty alone could not sustain a fast. Whenever I snuck away for a quiet roll and a banana, my failure taught me a vital lesson: true biblical fasting requires a clear, God-centered purpose.
Fasting is not a religious ritual designed to earn God’s favor, nor is it a hunger strike to force His hand. Rather, it is God’s “secret weapon”—a voluntary setting aside of physical food to humble our hearts, quiet our earthly appetites, and align our spirit with His.
Aligning Your Spirit Through Fasting and Prayer
When Jesus taught on fasting in the Sermon on the Mount, He didn’t say “if” you fast; He said “when” you fast (Matthew 6:16). He presented fasting as a normal, foundational discipline of Christian life, placed alongside prayer and giving. Fasting starves our self-reliance so that God’s Holy Spirit can move freely through us. As the Lord declared to Zerubbabel when he faced an impossible rebuilding task: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).
In our daily lives, our physical desires constantly press their demands. Fasting serves as spiritual training—like a rider disciplining a powerful horse—placing our physical appetites under the Spirit’s direction. It weakens our reliance on human strength, intellect, and past successes, training us to depend entirely on divine power.
Overcoming Immovable Mountains and Spiritual Strongholds
Certain obstacles in life act like stubborn, immovable mountains—entrenched habits, spiritual oppression, or long-standing crises that will not yield to routine prayer. In Matthew 17, when the disciples could not deliver a suffering boy, Jesus pointed out their lack of spiritual preparation, reminding them that certain deep spiritual strongholds require the focused dependence developed through prayer and fasting (17:21, KJV).
Fasting cleanses our motives and sharpens our spiritual senses. In Isaiah 58, God reveals that His chosen fast is designed to loosen the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, and break heavy yokes. When we align our hearts with God’s heart through fasting, He promises that our light will break forth like the dawn, our healing will quickly appear, and when we call, the Lord will answer, “Here am I” (Isaiah 58:9).
When we step out of the way, surrender our physical weakness, and seek His face, we make room for Christ's supernatural power to rest upon us and work through us. Keith Thomas
A Prayer for Spiritual Breakthrough
Father, humble our hearts and tune our spirits to Your voice as we fast and pray. Break every stronghold, move the impossible mountains before us, and let Your power be displayed in our weakness. Amen.
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Deepen Your Faith & Group Bible Study Resources
For a deeper study into the biblical foundation of spiritual breakthroughs, practical safety guidelines, and inspiring real-life testimonies of fasting, watch the full video teaching with subtitles in 70 languages on YouTube at the following link:
· Read the full study online: Fasting: God’s Secret Weapon to Grow Faith
· Series: This excerpt is taken from the series Growing Faith in God
· Visit the Keith Thomas YouTube Channel for more teachings.
· Bookmark this webpage to browse all our free 3-minute Bible meditations.
· For additional Bible studies and small group resources, visit: www.groupbiblestudy.com
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