The way that I remain in Him: Dwelling in the Kingdom, is through fasting and prayer. Since the beginning of time from all corners of the earth–humankind has fasted whether intentional or not. Take the cave man for example. They were hunters and gathers. In the warm months thy killed animals and picked berries then dried them for food in the winter. However, that Mammoth bone and those berries did not last until spring. Fasting took place. Additionally, Hindus and Muslims observe such traditions as Ramadan in terms of fasting as a religious practice. Jews observe fasting for the High Holy Feast Days and Passover. Jesus as a Jew understood fasting and invites us to regard it in a different light in terms of waiting on Him to move us into, more “wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Through intentional fasting and prayer, the Lord leads me to a specific “focus.” That focus may be for healing, finances, refreshing, or whatever my request may be–but my deepest desire is just to be in His presence.
Intentional fasting and prayer is focused; it is worshipful and devoted prayer in seeking the heart of God.
Jesus says, “come unto me and I will give you rest. Rely on, cling to, adhere to me. I will take the burden from you. Come to me and I will not give you a stone when you ask for bread.” I will just put it this way: Intentional fasting and prayer is the practice of seeking the face of the Lord in (not for) resolve, solutions, direction, healing, provision, revelation, comfort, peace, or anything else that you need in “making your requests known to God.” I seek the Lord intentionally (hear me on this) not in terms of a specific answer–but in knowing His heart–His ways-His Power-His authority over that which I am asking. If I am asking for healing, I am seeking His healing power. If I am asking for provision I am clinging to the fact that He promises to provide for me.
If I am seeking God from a human vantage point for something, it will always lead to a form of unbelief because it places an expectation on something within my capacity–and I am nothing apart from God; apart from God, I can do nothing. I make my requests known to God on His turf not mine: in His presence, in the Holy Place, on Mount Zion, IN JESUS, not in “god” Sally. This is why when I hear people praying, “I command this or that,” or “I tell cancer to be gone in the name of Jesus,” or any other “order” towards God, my faith is diminished because humans have no authority to tell God what to do. My Spirit woman always recoils when I discern myself or another believer operating in any capacity within personal strength. There is power in the name of Jesus but it is not in His name that we ask–it is in Jesus who is the Ha shem–it is He in whom we ask. The name of Jesus is not just a name–it is a whom–the infinite ruler of the universe
Rejoice and ask, rejoice and ask, rejoice and ask. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Intentional fasting and prayer is focused; it is worshipful and devoted prayer in seeking the heart of God, the ways of God, the nature of God, the power of God, the authority of God through God by faith. The moment I think it’s me rather than God I know it causing my faith to diminish which results in doubting that God is hearing me (wow, I am pushing from my old nature on to God’s nature and the result is opposing rather than uniting. My water does not mix with the oil of God.) My heart needs to be guarded from myself. What I mean is that God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and has given me the means in how to do so. I need to approach His Spirit with my spirit completely yielded to His will.
The moment I think that I have anything to do with hitting the “bulls-eye” in terms of seeing the move of God in answered prayer, I fall into unbelief–it is simple. I do not have faith in myself even if I am claiming to have faith in myself–that may sound counter intuitive but it is the only way I can express this. My heart needs to be alined with this: to God ALL THE GLORY IS DUE. That means, when I see answered prayer, I do not say, “Oh look! I was praying for this or for that and look what God did because of me.” LOOK WHAT GOD DID BECAUSE HE IS GOOD! I lose the ‘I prayed and fasted’ part out of the statement. I don’t go showing off that God answered a prayer because I prayed–it is my intention to always put the spot-light on the infinite ruler of the universe.
What is the will of God? The will of God is always for the good and lines up with the Word. If it is in the Word, He will show me. Will I see it? YES YES YES! How? When I rejoice I am in expectation of the mighty right hand of God moving into my request. He will inhabit my request with His will as long as I stay intentional about letting Him do so. He will never fail me or forsake me–Jesus is the Light who will guide me into His Way, Truth, and Life. I can be sure as long as I am alive that God’s purpose is manifesting every moment of the day. My day can be one of blessing or one of mundanity, one of miracles or one of the ordinary. I choose Jesus! Fasting is like putting a gratitude highlighter all over my intention so that it stands out; so that it stands out mostly to me so that I may aline myself to the perfect will of God; and tell my flesh to “stand-down.” The “highlighter” of gratitude shines into His heart and is like a bow; the arrow of faith will hone into the heart of God every time I pray from this place–especially when I fast because my hunger is redirected to the heart of God.
Jesus fasted and prayed into a “lifestyle;” a lifestyle of prayer.
The way that I remain in Him: Dwelling in the Kingdom, is through fasting and prayer. If there is one thing Jesus often engaged in was prayer. This is because, as man, he was dependent on God. The beginning of the ministry of Jesus, when He fasted in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus fasted and prayed into a “lifestyle;” a lifestyle of prayer. The only thing the disciples actually asked Jesus to teach them was how to pray. Prayer facilitates the ongoing relationship in full reconciliation with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Prayer strengthens my flesh in terms of willing the Spirit to have the upper hand in the most fulfilling way–my cup runneth over.
My lifestyle of prayer is shaping me into the new creature. My lifestyle of reading the Word is part of that shaping but if I do not pray first for His illumination and after for His will in my life, the intention gets muddled with my particular human view from the untransformed me. I need to be at all times in a state of yielding to His Spirit and in essence totally dependent on Him. I must remain in Him. That means while walking out this life–my eyes are always on the LIGHT of His Love.
Mathew 26:41– Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
If I do not “watch and pray,” I may not have the grace to overcome temptation, or the focus to be intentional. Fasting and prayer is in essence allowing the spirit to overshadow my life in the “flesh.” When my carnal nature is led into temptation–my perception of reality defaults into the realm of sin. Sin is anything that takes me away from the abundant life Jesus has for me because I am yielding to my emotions, feelings, thinking, ego (baggage motivation) aversions (what I do not like) attachments (I deserve this or that; I put in the time) or fear (the mantel of satan). Fasting and prayer changes the atmosphere of the dictates of the world and actually places me into heavenly realms of “wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
Fasting and prayer is telling the “weak flesh” that it must submit; yield to the Spirit. This is not like a self-punishment, on the other hand, fasting and prayer is the gateway into the presence of God. What happens in this is irrevocable. I am never the same following fasting and prayer because God alway without fail meets me in this place. Fasting and prayer will assist me in allowing my flesh to submit to the spirit wherein: “In His presence is fullness of joy.” In this place, it is my desire to remain.
Ephesians 6:18–Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
The way that I remain in Him: Dwelling in the Kingdom, is through fasting and prayer. A life of ongoing prayer will do this: mental health is giving thanks in everything, surrendering to God, the key to emotional health is rejoicing, the key to a clear heart is praying without ceasing. If I remain in prayer I find that in every circumstance that vexes me in one way or another it is softened with love. This is allowing me to seek the heart of God in a relational way–I do not lose the connection with Jesus, I am abiding in Him, He is the vine, I am the branch; I am interested in His intentions not mine. It is a co-labor in doing life with Him, not doing life on my own.
Often prayer and fasting has allowed me to “see” things before they happen.
Touching the heart of God, is allowing God to touch my heart with His love and compassion. Touching the heart of God always allows The Spirit of the Lord, wisdom, understanding, council, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord in every day life. Often prayer and fasting has allowed me to “see” things before they happen. More times than I can count, God prepares me for events in my life through fasting and prayer. God brings resolve into a seemingly impossible situation, He delivers me, He transforms my thinking regarding a person while imparting a way to communicate, forgive, and love. This has also prepared me for loss, insight into a event or circumstance, knowledge in the midst of confusion, how to navigate through a problem, revelations upon revelations-being in the right place at the right time–calling someone in the moment that they are crying out to God, in other words, living a Christ centered and anointed life that is His promise to me and seeing Him manifest Himself.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18–Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
When I “pray in the Spirit” at ALL times, I will put it like this: it is like having the radio on low every moment of the day; the radio is my will in constant surrender to His will. I call it “the pause” when the radio is too low to hear, when I forget that I am in communion with God. When I succumb to ego, attachment, aversion, or fear, I return to the pause which immediately turns up the volume and places me back in the presence of God. Am I perfect in this every day in my life, absolutely not!
When my flesh is weak with the cares of this world, the presence of God is the only remedy. Fasting and prayer is like re-start, or perhaps shut-down then re-start in my spirit woman. The word says: “put on the new man,” and what I have learned is that this only happens with prayer and fasting. The new creature is indeed who I am but I still remain in the flesh. Guess what? The reason Jesus came in the flesh to this world, is to help us overcome this world. To complete the thought: to overcome the flesh in this world and walk in the Spirit of the Living God on the earth is to accomplish our true destiny and purpose as an ambassador of Christ. Every believer has been given permission: As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord (Isaiah 59:21). We can hear from to God!
Luke 21:36– Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
The way that I remain in Him: Dwelling in the Kingdom, is through fasting and prayer. He is the vine and I am a branch. When I meditate on this, I understand that in order to escape “all these things,” prayer is my escape. When I am faced with “these things,” if I have made fasting and prayer a lifestyle, I must say, I can actually rejoice. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds–James 1:2. I rejoice because the moment I do, the trail or tribulation no longer has power over me to be tempted to fall into my ego, attachment, aversions or fears because I am in the vine–in His dwelling–in Zion–in His presence.
When Jesus tell us to make my requests known to God, that is exactly what God wishes for me to do. There have been times in my life when I have asked God to reveal things to me that I would have never recognized on my own. When I pray for people in the Healing Room ministry, without fail, the Lord shows me how to pray for someone. I always ask God how to pray. The Father will show me a vision, give me and interpretation, a scripture, some wisdom on how to approach someone–it is always different for each one. I am always learning how to hear the voice of God–it is never the same-ever unique to the situation at hand.
He is making intercession for us from the throne room of heaven.
Through the years, there have been times in my life when I actually did not have the strength to pray because of the depths of despair I was experiencing. Jesus did not fail me–He is making intercession for me from the throne room of heaven. I have come out of every trail, heart-break, agony, failure, sin for that matter, stronger in my spirit. I put on the garment of salvation each morning when I spend time in the Word and prayer.
I am willing to do your will God, and I am grateful for the descernment to know the difference between my voice and your voice. Thank you Father that I have made my dwelling with you in fasting and prayer. Thank you Father that you answered my heart-cry every time even if not in the ways that I wanted. Thank you Father that you and I are in relationship through your precious son Jesus. Oh how I rejoice in your presence–you are my portion and my cup, in Your presence are pleasures for ever more. The way that I remain in Him: Dwelling in the Kingdom, is through fasting and prayer.
Our Father who are in Heaven–Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptations but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. Amen. . . .