Something happens when you deny yourself and
you take up your cross and follow him. Follow
me. You know, the key of fasting is that you're
denying yourself. You're saying no to your flesh.
And when you can say no to your flesh, it gives
your spirit an opportunity to rule. Yeah, that's
good. And when your spirit is being ruled in
coordination with the Holy Spirit, you become
a contender in the spirit realm. God promises
in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity.
Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend
for that promise outpouring, we equip for that
outpouring so that we may engage in that very
outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.
Welcome to the podcast today. We are going to
talk about strategies, strategies for helping
you to overcome, for helping us to overcome and
defeat our enemies. We have... enemies, don't
we? We sure do. And sometimes it's our own flesh.
But we're going to talk about some strategies,
and this is part one. I believe we're going to
dig deeply into this subject over the next few
podcasts and look forward to equipping you and
helping you to grow in the things of God and
to prepare you for the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit in your life as you encounter others who
are ready to receive it. Thank you so much for
joining us today. We want to encourage you if
you haven't already done so to go to our website,
globaloutpouring .net. Make sure that you have
hit that teal subscribe button and subscribe
to our email list so that we can stay in touch
with you. And there's a feedback form there that
you can fill out. And I just want to give a shout
out to the people that have been sending us feedback.
We just really, really appreciate it. And I'm
going to read off a list of people that have
written to us in the last so many months. And
I just want to say thank you to each and every
one of you. And Camille, thank you for that gift
that you sent to us. And in case you're interested,
I really don't like talking about money, but
you can go to our website. There's also a button
there to give, and you can set up a recurring
gift if you feel led by the Holy Spirit. And
there's a place there that you can click on to
designate it to support the podcast. And we would
just be so grateful. But integrity is a big thing
to us. And, you know, money is so often, how
shall I say it? I don't think I even need to
say it because I think you understand. I just
hate talking about money because it's been so
abused, you know, the way people can handle it.
But we want to say thank you to Camille for the
gift that she sent and for all of the feedback
that we've received from Von Seal and Rosalind
and Veronica and Julie and Ellen and Cheryl,
Tommy, Wes, Beverly, Raphael, Mindy, Anner, Llewellyn,
Sarah. sandra carol jose esther arif janice joyce
samson daniel penny Barbara, Jenny, Katie, Hope,
Lucas, Janet, Peter and Sandy, Annie, Cecile,
David, Jesse. And if I didn't read off your name,
I'm sorry. But I just want to say thank you.
Thank you. It's so encouraging when we get some
kind of feedback from people letting us know
that what we're doing is a value to you, that
you're growing in God as a result of this podcast.
So let's talk about defeating our enemy. That's
vital in these days. Yes. These are difficult
days. And it's not getting any easier as far
as the pressure of the darkness coming down on
us. But that is a result of the pressure that's
coming down on darkness from the glory. Hallelujah.
It's like the heavens are dropping. Right. The
heavens are pressuring the darkness. And so the
darkness, it's kind of like they're screaming
and running and trying their very worst, shall
I say. It's like they're doing their Battle of
the Bulge. Yeah. That was Germany's last big
offensive against the Allied armies. And that's
kind of what the kingdom of darkness is doing.
Because they know their time is short. They are
almost out of time and they're desperate. And
they're wicked. And they rule with fear. So if
you're finding yourself to have fear, now is
the time. We're going to talk about overcoming
these things. So the thing that I've been meditating
on recently. is out of John chapter 20, where
Jesus has just resurrected and has appeared to
Mary Magdalene, and they've gone to run to the
tomb and found it empty. She thinks he's the
gardener and has this encounter with Jesus. And
then in the evening, the disciples are locked
in a room, and they are scared. And all of a
sudden, Jesus appears. And he says, shalom. Shalom.
Peace. Peace. Okay. Now, they are probably, well,
just put yourself in that position. How would
you feel if someone that you thought was dead
suddenly appears in the room with you? What would
that do to you? Yeah, if you've never seen it
before, never heard of it before. Right. See,
we know through scriptures these things happen.
But if somebody walks through a wall. I don't
think he even needed to walk through a wall.
I think he just materialized. He was there. That's
a good word, yeah. It's just, wow. But wouldn't
you be overwhelmingly shocked? Yeah, especially
if you don't know if it was really Jesus. Well,
who else would it be? And of course, then he
said, do you have anything to eat? Oh, that's
a different scripture. And they gave him a piece
of bread and a piece of honeycomb. Yep. Because
ghosts don't eat. So he sits in front and says,
you know, a spirit can't do this. Right, right.
So that's a parallel passage that's telling the
same story. So he says shalom. That is the greeting
that is peace. Peace. Peace to you. Like, stop
shaking. Stop your trembling. Stop your fear.
And then in this passage, he shows his hands
and his side so that they can see that it's truly
him. Of course, Thomas wasn't there, so that's
another story. But in verse 21, he says to them
again, shalom. So the first thing that we need
when we are going to contend with our enemy,
The first thing we need is for Jesus to show
up. Yes. Because he said to them before he was
crucified, he talked to them about abiding in
him. He talked to them about the Holy Spirit
coming. He talked to them about, you know, lots
of things that were about to happen. But he said,
I can't tell you everything because you're not
ready for it. So now he's starting to download
to them more. So the first thing that he says
to them is peace. And then the second thing he
says to them is peace. So the first thing that
we need is for him to show up. Yes. And he said,
without me, you can do nothing. Before he left.
Without me, you can do nothing. And you've got
to abide in the vine. I'm the vine. You're the
branches. You need me. Yeah. To keep your fruit
growing, you have to be attached. So the first
thing that we have to be aware of as we're...
about to address our enemy, the first thing we
have to do is be rightly related to Jesus, that
he's showed up for us. And he has. I mean, come
on, if you've asked him to live in your heart,
guess where he lives? He lives in your heart.
He lives in you. And if his spirit has come in
you, Paul talks about our spirit becoming one
with his spirit. And we'll go into that in another
podcast. I'm feeling, I'm really meditating on
that subject, that every part of you is touched
by the Holy Spirit. We just have to let him have
his way. It's kind of like a cow, you know, it's
in your first stomach. You're just chewing on
it. It's got to come back around again. Well,
that's good, Philip. That's good. So the first
thing is he's got to show up. And the second
thing is you have to get his peace. He speaks
peace over you. And that is a constant. It is
there for you 24 -7. The Aaronic blessing, Yehovah
bless you and keep you. Yehovah make his face
to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Yehovah
lift up his countenance upon you and give you
shalom. Okay. There's nothing broken, nothing
missing, and everything is paid in full. That's
what Jesus is saying to them when he says shalom.
It's an all -encompassing thing to bring you
into a bubble of peace. So before you go dealing
with your enemy, you can't be afraid of your
enemy. You cannot fear your enemy. If you have
fear, just remember when the children of Israel
were sent out to battle, right? They've gathered
all of the soldiers together. Everybody, every
able -bodied man is out there with whatever kind
of weapon he has. And the first thing that they
say to them when they gather them together is,
okay, if you're afraid, go home. Go home, yeah.
Get in. Yeah. And that's in the law. That's the
first thing that they're supposed to do is send
the fearful ones home because fear is contagious.
Yeah. And so is faith. So when we're rightly
relating to Jesus and we have his peace, we will
have no fear. So we cannot be afraid of our enemy.
Absolutely must not be afraid of him. Whoever
that is, whatever that is. And sometimes it's
their own flesh. Sometimes the thing we're contending
with is their own flesh. We'll get into that
some more in a while. So the next thing that
he says to them is, as my father has sent me,
even so, send I you. Yeah. You know, just as
an aside, when I was a little girl, I think I
was in third grade, our children's choir sang,
so send I you. And it got me. I was ready to
follow Jesus from then on. You know, I was just
out of a whim just a few nights ago looking through
the yearbooks that was called the Aurora. It
was from the Olivet Nazarene College when it
was in Olivet, Illinois. That's a long time ago.
A long time ago. And this is 1914. Whoa, 1914.
1914. Up to 1921, I have some of the yearbooks.
And I'm looking at this one page, and it's a
memorial to one of their missionaries, Susan
of the 30s, that laid down her life in Africa.
Wow. And I looked in a few more pages, and here
were just pages of Bible groups. And like in
one picture, confirmed China, going to China.
Wow. And others are training. And then on another
page, confirmed India. Wow. Big mission programs.
And this was a liberal arts college, but it was
also like a Bible school. Absolutely. And that's
how the Nazarenes were over hundreds some years
ago. Missions was one of their key things. Yeah.
I remember that. And they caught a hold of it
because they didn't have all the distractions.
Right. They took the Word of God literally. Absolutely.
So send I you. Yeah. But you also have to go
prepared. Exactly. And this was the Nazarene
Bible School, and I'm sure a lot of the other
early colleges were the same way. They sent missionaries.
Sent, sent. And the stories that people would
give because of, I mean, missionaries coming
from America. My parents got saved. My grandfather
got saved. Yeah, and your grandfather taught
there. Yes, yeah. So it's just amazing, you know,
the seed planted, how it grows. Absolutely. Because
the Holy Spirit waters it. Right. The idea is
that Jesus was sent and he's sending us as well.
Yes. Now, I find it very interesting that the
Greek words for sent and sent are two different
words, two different root words. Okay. Which
surprised me. I thought it would be the same
word. But the one where it says, as my father
has sent me. is the word apostello. So in other
words, apostle. Apostle. Right? And it's interesting.
It means to order to go to a place. To order
to. So Father sent Jesus. He ordered him to go.
But it also means to send away, to dismiss. So
it's kind of like, could it be? Could it be?
That just like Jesus is saying, Father, can I
go get my bride? Father, can I go get my bride?
And he's saying, well, she's not ready yet. Could
it be that he was also wanting to go the first
time and finally the father dismissed him and
sent him away? I don't know. It was just a thought.
But the other word for even so send I you. is
the word pempo, and it means to thrust or insert,
dispatch, to transmit. So recently I was talking
with someone who was referring to how God's people
get inserted into circumstances, into certain
positions, into certain things that are going
on, and they get inserted into that. And I just
thought that was really interesting that now
I'm seeing this word, so send I you, is, okay,
I'm going to insert you into this place. And
I'm going to use you in this place. So Jesus
is giving a commission here already. Even before
he gives the great commission, he is giving them
an idea that, okay, Father sent me, now it's
your turn. Coming up. But then he said, Receive
the Holy Spirit. And he breathed on them. Yes.
And this is before Book of Acts. Yes. So it doesn't
say anything happened. Right. But he breathed
on them. He breathed on them. And that's the
critical part because the word breathe or breath,
the word breath and the word spirit are the same
word in Greek. It's pneuma. Wind and spirit and
breath are all the same word. So he breathed
on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. So
when we're about to contend, you know, here's
these steps. You've got to have Jesus show up.
You've got to get peace from him. And you've
got to let him send you. Don't go without him
sending you. It's critical. It's critical. And
you've got to do it with him. It's a tandem thing.
It's a cooperating thing. It's a co -laboring
thing that we work with him. Can I interject
something? Please do. Some years back, it was
a missionary who went to India, and the Lord
spoke to him to go home. Oh, yes. I remember
that story. And he didn't go home like he was
supposed to. And finally, when he did go home,
things were just going wrong. And someone had
taken a picture of him right when he got back.
And we saw the picture. And this is days before
you can play around with stuff like on AI or
anything like that. And it showed this demon
right behind him that followed him back. You
can go in God's timing, but you also have to
go home in his timing. Absolutely. Because he
was disobedient and gave a legal right for this
thing to follow him. Exactly. And he was just
having problems after that. True. It's one thing
to go to, but you have to stay. Yes. Stay connected.
Stay connected, yeah. And stay obedient. So as
he sent you, he inserts you into this place,
and then he takes you back out when your work
is done. For any of you going on mission trips,
especially if it's like two weeks or more, a
lot of times you're getting toward the end of
the trip, maybe like three days before you go
home or something. Yeah. And your mind starts.
going on thinking about going home and you can
end up losing your focus fairly easy because
now you're changing your focus for going home
and you still got work to do. It's true. So word
to the wise. It's true. It's true. So the next
thing that Jesus says is, whosoever sins you
forgive, they're forgiven. And whosoever sins
you hold on to, they are held on to. I think
we talked about that recently. So I don't want
to go into that too much. But these are steps
that have to do with your preparation for contending,
for overcoming, for destroying the power of the
enemy over your life. So, like I said earlier,
sometimes your enemy is your own flesh or is
operating in your own flesh. And there are things
that you can do to help to conquer your flesh.
Like fasting. Fasting is one, yeah. Yeah. Talk
to us about fasting, Philip. Yeah. Because when
you look at fasting through the Bible, you know,
even Moses fasted 40 days. He went up into the
mount. Yes. So he's up into the glory. I mean,
he's on Mount Sinai. You know, it's when the
giving of the law and there's thunder, there's
lightning. Yeah. And there's smoke. Yeah. You
know, but do you know what happened? The people
got used to it. Well, where's this man Moses
that didn't come down? And that's when that golden
calf got created. While Moses is getting download
for them, they start to party and they get into
big trouble. So that's some of the first fasting
we hear is Moses. Up in the mount, he's up in
the glory of God. And of course, it's through
the Old Testament. You can find your fasting
there too. You know, fasting gives you authority.
And I'm going to jump to the New Testament real
quick because I just found this. So Jesus takes
Peter, James, and John up into a high mountain
somewhere, and he gets transfigured. We all know
this, you know, when Elijah and Moses show up,
and of course the disciples are beside themselves.
So they've just seen the glory of God, a taste
of it. They've seen a taste of this. And so what's
really interesting is, you know, we hear about
this, the glory and all that. So they come down
the mountain. And it's a very close window here
because, you know, they come down the mountain.
And then the next verse is the disciples are
asking him, when was Elijah going to come back?
And, you know, he says he's come already. It's
John the Baptist. So he's sharing these things
with the disciples. And so they understood, you
know, in verse 13 of Matthew 17, that he's talking
to them about John the Baptist. And then it goes
right in, and then they come to the multitude.
And there came a certain man kneeling down, Lord,
can you pray for my son? He's a lunatic. You
know, I don't know the translation. That means
that he's affected by the moon. Affected by the
moon. Lunar. That's where, okay, I learned something,
too, here. Probably would have figured that out.
Yeah, it's true. It's true that there are people
that they kind of go a little off when there's
certain phases of the moon. You can even learn
something during your own podcast. That's pretty
good. So anyway, he brings them to the disciples,
but they can't cast this thing out. You know,
and then so Jesus, he rebukes the devil and parts
out of him and the child was cured. And the disciples,
after a while, they came up and says, well, why
could we cast him out? Right. You know, and so
now picture this. They just came down from the
glory. I mean, like nobody's ever seen this.
Right. So this is like a picture. How would you
perceive this today? You can go to convention,
you go to some convention somewhere, you know,
get all. You can get spiritually hyped up, maybe.
And there's those that they butterfly. They'll
go to one convention after another. Not really
always putting in practice. It's just like, I
want to get more. I want to get more. But you
have to chew and digest. what you have and you
have to apply it, but you have to apply it in
relationship with Jesus, spending time with them.
Absolutely. And when you spend time with them,
you don't have to run to every convention under
the sun. True. Because you can just hear his
presence on what to do. So a lot of people, they
can go to a convention and you get all this glory
in that, but you got none of it in yourself.
What happened? Yeah. So your soul got... touched,
your spirit too. But if you're not walking in
a place... Your spirit gets it, but it doesn't
apply it to your soul. Your soul, because your
soul is not prepared for what your spirit has,
and your soul has dominion over your spirit.
And it's supposed to be the other way around.
Right. So if you're not walking circumspectly
like with the Lord, you're not going to have
authority over things. It's just like you don't
go with something that you don't outrank. And
if you don't have the blood of Jesus and you
don't have faith operating in you and you haven't
been sent, you can get in trouble big time. So
anyway, so why couldn't we cast these out? And
he says, because of your unbelief. Wow. Unbelief.
Didn't they just see the glory? How come they
have unbelief? He says, if you have faith as
a grain of a mustard seed, and we've seen mustard
seeds in Israel. They're so tiny. Yeah, yeah.
Not like the bigger ones we have here. They're
so tiny, tiny little things. If you have faith
like that, you can say to this mountain, be removed,
or to the circumstance, and nothing shall be
impossible. But this kind comes not out but by
prayer and fasting. There you go. So this is
one of your first scriptures that you will find
dealing fasting as your authority as a believer.
Because Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness.
Right. And then Satan tempted him too. Yeah.
But he knew who he was. Right. So we have to
know who we are. Even in a fast, the devil can
come to you. Yeah. And he's going to get you
to try to break your fast early. Yeah. But you
counter him with the word. Counter him with the
word. And even you go back to the book of Esther.
Chapter 4, 16, Israel was taken captive. Was
this the first deportation? It would have been
after they'd all been deported. This is after
the Medes and Persians have overtaken Babylon.
You can read about that where the king of Babylon
took the children of Israel there. So you have
the book of Esther. And you have Mordecai, it
sits in the gate. He had favor, you know, the
favor of the Lord was on him. And because it
was Ahasuerus, his wife did not come. When she
was bitten because he was a drunken feast, she
didn't come to him. She was having her own party.
Yeah, she had her own party, didn't want to come
to his. So anyway. Because of what she did, she
lost her position. Right. So they're going to
look for a new bride. So here comes Hadassah,
this little Jewish girl. Nobody knows is Jewish.
And the favor of God was on her in the time of
preparation. And she's chosen. She's the queen.
Right. And then Haman, who was a Gagite, who
was being promoted in the ranks under King Ahasuerus.
and even had the king's signet ring, which he
has a lot of authority. And he didn't like Mordecai
because he wouldn't bow down to him because you
don't bow down to anybody. You only bow down
to the Lord God, not to an idol or any other
person. Especially not an Agagite. Especially
that one. So anyway, Haman builds the gallows
for Mordecai because he was sworn. to get rid
of the Jewish race. Can you tell that story real
quick, the one that got away? Yeah. When Saul
was supposed to kill all the Amalekites, King
Agag was brought back with them, and Samuel had
to kill him, but apparently there was some of
the Amalekites that didn't get destroyed. And
one of the reasons why God said to destroy all
of the Amalekites and even all of their animals,
you know, they saved the best of the animals
for sacrifice. That's what their excuse was.
But God said, get rid of everything. And we've
heard that the Amalekites were into such witchcraft
that they were shapeshifters and the people could
turn themselves into animals. So it was important
to... get rid of all of this people group that
was into such dark arts. And that's probably
the reason why Haman, the Agagite, would be so
against the Jews, because they didn't finish
the job. Yeah, he's the one that got away. And
his goal is to destroy the Jewish race. Right.
So here's the remnant of the Jewish race, as
we know it, hanging by a thread. And, you know,
this gallows is built and he's got favor with
the king and the decree has gone forth. The king
signed it. He got tricked that all the Jews to
be destroyed throughout the whole kingdom. Right.
And that kingdom went all the way to India. Right.
It was took a large area. And that's when Queen
Esther got with her because her uncle says, when
they find out you're Jewish, you're going to
die, too. It says your life's not going to be
spared. And he says, fast for me. And my maidens
will fast for me. And after three days, I will
go into the king unannounced. Because you don't
go to the king unless he bids you. Otherwise,
you can be executed. And I will present my case
to the king. Right. And she did an ester fast.
That's what we call an ester fast. Three days,
no food, no water. You don't even swallow water.
That's an extreme fast. But as a result of that,
that fasting, God just orchestrated everything
that happened. And in an instant, Haman got hung
on his own gallows because the king saw who he
really was. And that came through fasting. And
even Hezekiah, in Isaiah 37, you can read the
story there, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.
They're going to come and they're going to, you
know, they want to take everybody captive. And
he spreads a letter out before the Lord and they're
pleading with God. You know, the Lord, you have
made all these promises. This is that. And two
times that happened in Hezekiah's time. One,
and they fasted, and they prayed, and God brought
miracles through fasting. It's a powerful tool.
And when Sennacherib gives them the terms of
surrender, you can go, we'll take care of you.
We'll bring you to a nice place of milk and honey.
And sure, you're going to be in chains on the
way with a hook in your jaw, probably, because
that's what they did back then. when they take
somebody captive. But through fasting, God turned
that whole thing around, fasting and prayer.
Yes. That's the power and the authority that
we have. And there's fasting in the New Testament,
too, because even Paul says in 1 Corinthians
7 -5 that you give yourself to fasting and prayer.
And even in the book of Acts, here's a heathen,
here's Cornelius. He's a centurion, so he's got
rank. This guy's got rank. He's fasting and praying
for God. And so what does God do? Gives him a
dream of Peter coming to him and telling him
what he needs to know. So here's a centurion.
He's not Jewish. So anyway, he calls Peter, and
Peter, you know, he battles with this. But he
goes and others with him. And when he's talking
to him about, you know, the resurrection and
all of a sudden the Holy Ghost falls on all of
them, they start speaking in tongues. Amen. But
he was fasting and praying before the Lord, you
know, a rank heathen. Yes. And another one in
times of desperation, you know, just like Hezekiah
in New Testament in Acts chapter 27, 33. Yeah.
Talks about Paul. He is on his way to Rome. He's
on a boat, and they're in a storm. They're on
the 14th day of the storm. Fourteen days. Fourteen
days they've been fasting. And he says, you know,
you've been fasting all this time, eating nothing.
And he says, the Lord spoke to me, you know,
that we are all going to arrive unhurt. Yeah.
So here you're in a storm. You're getting tossed.
Can you imagine 14 days in a storm? No. All I
can figure, the storm is going with them. Yeah.
It's just one of these, not only, you know, like
a hurricane comes and blows through so many miles
an hour, but if you're caught in a storm and
the wind is taking you, but 14 days in a storm,
you think they're all going to die. I'm thinking
it was a supernatural storm. Yeah, it could be
too, because, you know, and God used Paul. The
ship did get wrecked. They threw out all the
tackling, everything, ran it ashore, and they
came down. The boat's breaking apart. They got
on shore and boards and all that, and they were
all safe. And there was a gathering there. The
cannibals, want to call them, or the... The natives,
anyway. The natives, you know. Don't know that
they were cannibals. They were cannibals. They
would have ate them, yeah. So they had a fire
and everything for them. But they were fasting
out of desperation. Right. And many times we
go on a mission trip, we will fast before that
mission trip for God's protection, his timing,
and all things. There's a lot of fasting. You
can just look at fasting in the Bible. And we
have this excellent book that our founder, Sister
Gwen, wrote back in 1977, I believe, called Your
Appointment with God. And it is a book on fasting.
It's one of the first books that was written
on this subject. There's people out there that
write books on fasting, but Sister Gwen lived.
She sure did. Because she was out there. And
she taught us. And she was out there where the
rubber hits the road. She's out where it's dangerous,
not in the safe confines of the USA or other
nations. She's out there in Pakistan, India.
you know, Russia, places that you can get thrown
in jail, you can get executed. And she has one
of the most well -balanced books on fasting that
you will find because it comes out. It's a Bible
study. It's a Bible study. After each chapter,
it asks you questions. And there's nothing like
a book that comes out of somebody with the experience
that has put it to the test, not writing on somebody
else's experiences. Yeah. And you can get it
on our website. Yes. Globaloutpouring .net or
ORG. It's there in our store. Yeah. Your appointment
with God. Yes. Very powerful. And we have it
as a PDF download, especially if you're listening
from someplace overseas and you don't want to
pay the expense of having the book shipped to
you all the way there. You can download it immediately
when you order it from the website. Because our
founder, Sister Gwen, was a forerunner. Absolutely.
The Lord would give her something and she'd write
a book on it. And all of a sudden, a couple of
years later... It's the big thing going on now,
and people are starting to write books about
it. Yeah, it's true. And so she was a general
in her own right. Absolutely. She wouldn't call
herself that. No. We didn't call her that, but
she really was. She certainly was. She's just
one of these generals that you didn't, name wasn't
always up in lights. Yeah. What does the book
of Isaiah say about fasting? Yeah, actually,
the first part of this chapter in Isaiah 58,
You know, it's talking about those that were
fasting just out of habit by rote. And this is
what, you know, God was dealing with. And it
starts out, and I still remember my grandma.
My Nazarene grandma in the nursing home, she
would quote the Psalms, Isaiah and all that.
She was 92 years old and she had the word in
her. And I remember, cry aloud, spare not, lift
up your voice like a trumpet, show my people
their transgression and the house of Jacob their
sins. Because it says here, they seek me daily
to like to know my ways as a nation that did
righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of
the Lord. They take delight in approaching to
God, but then wherefore have we fasted? You see
not, we have afflicted our soul, and you're not
taking knowledge of this. So they're fasting
and all that, but the Lord answers, you fast
for strife and debate, and you smite with the
fist of wickedness. This is fasting for the wrong
reason. You don't do it out of habit, which is
kind of like going to church, but you don't get
anything out of it. Or anything else we do. Or
to make your voice to be heard on high. Make
your voice to be heard on high, yeah. And so
anyway, in verse 5, Is this not the fast I've
chosen for a man to afflict his soul, to spread
sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call
this a fast and acceptable way to the Lord? Verse
6, this is King James. Is not this the fast that
I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness,
undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed
go free, and that ye, you, break every yoke?
Yes. You know, so there's power. That's what
God will do. Break every chain. This is what
happens in fasting. In verse 8, then shall your
light break forth as the morning, your health
shall spring forth speedily. And righteousness
shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall
be your reward. You can just read this chapter.
And it's just amazing, you know, the power of
fasting. But it's not like when Jesus is given
that parable, when you have the righteous Pharisee
standing at the wall praying, Lord, I've done
this, I've done that, all that thing. I do my
fasting. Yeah, and I'm not like that publican
over there. And the publican is just repenting
before God. And he's saying, who is more righteous?
You know, so it's not fasting. People will use
fasting to make you to feel righteous. In fact,
we have a book and I'll just mention it, you
know, because Sister Gwen has written a book
on fasting and she's seen. All kinds of fasting,
and we have to, and a lot of it was out of the
flesh. And she wrote a book called The False
Fast. Right. And on the cover, it has this lady
kind of with a grin holding a steak, and then
the next, it's in a blender. Yeah, about to put
it in a blender. About to put it in a blender,
you know, and drink it as a smoothie. You know,
that's not, you don't put ice cream in a blender.
Things like that. But it gives you a balance
on fasting. Yes. And the book will do that, too.
The book will give you a balance on fasting.
You have to have the right motive for it. Exactly.
It fits with what we were talking about before,
about Jesus entering the picture. Yes. And sometimes
he will lead us to fast like he did. I mean,
maybe not 40 days, but in order to prepare us
for the thing that's coming next. Right. Jesus
fasted 40 days to prepare himself for the ministry.
He had just been anointed with the Holy Spirit
when he was baptized, and the Spirit drove him
to fast. So that's the thing. It's not about
getting on the bandwagon to fast because other
people are fasting. It's about being driven by
the Holy Spirit, being guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is leading us. Without Him, we
can do nothing. But in fasting, we are loosing
the bands of wickedness if we're doing it for
the right reasons and with the right motive and
with the right guidance. Yeah, and it starts
with us. And then with that, things that are
around us. Yes, yes. And it helps to let the
oppressed go free. Well, maybe you're the one
that's oppressed. Yeah. Maybe you're dealing
with your flesh and you're just trying to get
your flesh under control. And sometimes the Lord
will put you on a fast and you don't know why.
I remember a couple of years ago, I just felt
to do a seven -day water fast. Yeah. And that
meant no coffee. I mean, that, you know. Yes,
that was a challenge. And I did this fast, and
I breezed through it. It was amazing to fast
on water and breeze through it like I did. It
was amazing. I don't know what it was for. Still
not. I still don't know, but it was for somebody
or something else. Yeah, but you were led by
the Spirit. But I was led by the Spirit to do
it. And remember a few weeks ago, you were led
by the Spirit to fast. Yeah, and the second day
is when my brother passed away on it. Yeah. And
it was just a few days more, and then I got attacked
with something in my, it was just, you know,
but it's something I had to do my own health,
but I persevered. Yeah. Yeah, and we did the
four days. And it was kind of like direction
for the new year is what I felt, but it may have
been for something else. Well, I think it helped
with your brother and with dealing with the grief,
really, that comes with it because that was pretty
huge. Yeah. Yeah. So fasting will help you. Fasting
is a key. It's a tool that will make a difference
in your life. When the Holy Spirit leads you
to do it, don't try and do it without his help.
Let's interject one more story. One of our members
was flying back to London after our convention
and was sitting next to a person. And when they
served the meal, the person wasn't eating. And
so she said to her, so you're not eating? She
says, I'm fasting. And just says, but not for
the reason you think. And she must have known
she was a believer. Right. Uh -huh. You know,
otherwise I don't think she would have said it
that way. And he says, we're fasting. I don't
know how long their fast was. It was long. Long.
It was like 40 days or 60 days or something.
And we're meeting in England and we're praying
for Satan to break up marriages. Yeah. Christian
marriages. Mm -hmm. And I think it was attacking
pastors too, wasn't it? And attacking pastors.
Yeah. And you look at how many pastors get attacked.
Yeah. And families getting attacked. Mm -hmm.
And so there's people out there, Satanists out
there, people fasting. Because there's power
in fasting. That's right. And they know it. But
why, you know, many of the Christians don't know
this. Right. But something happens when you deny
yourself and you take up your cross and follow
him. Follow me. The key of fasting is that you're
denying yourself. You're saying no to your flesh.
And when you can say no to your flesh, it gives
your spirit an opportunity to rule. And when
your spirit is being ruled in coordination with
the Holy Spirit, you become a contender in the
spirit realm. And during your fast, you have
to spend more time in the Word and with the Lord.
That's very important. Very, very true. Just
don't fast because, you know, I got to do this,
but fast and seek the Lord while you're doing
it. Right. Seek the Lord. Very important. While
he may be found. One of the promises in Isaiah
58, just to wrap this up, it says, verse 8, Then
shall your light break forth as the morning,
and your health shall spring forth speedily,
and your righteousness shall go before you. and
the glory of the Lord shall be your rearward.
In other words, he'll be in front of you and
he'll be behind you. And then you shall call
and the Lord, Yehovah, shall answer. See, lots
of times we're talking to the Lord, but we're
not getting an answer. But fasting can help you
get a breakthrough. You shall cry and he shall
say, Hineni, here I am. If you take away from
the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth
of the finger, and the speaking of vanity, If
you draw out your soul to the hungry and satisfy
the afflicted soul, then shall your light rise
in obscurity and your darkness be as the noonday.
And the Lord shall guide you continually and
satisfy your soul in drought and make your bones
fat. And you shall be like a watered garden and
like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
And they of you shall build the old waste places.
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations.
You shall be called the repairer of the breach
and the restorer of paths to dwell in. God wants
to use you to restore things that have been broken.
Yes, amen. And fasting will help to do that,
the kind of fast that God has directed. So we
just want to encourage you to look into this
as a possibility of one of the tools that you
might need, whether it's a 40 -day fast or a
21 -day fast. seven -day fast or three -day fast
or just don't eat that piece of chocolate cake.
Stop yourself from eating that one thing. If
Adam and Eve had paid attention to what God said,
don't eat that, we wouldn't be in the pickle
that we're in now. So learn to say no to your
flesh and learn to say yes to the Holy Spirit
and let Jesus walk in on you and say, Shalom.
Shalom. Check out our website at globaloutpouring
.org to find out more information, read our blogs,
connect with us, and donate. You can also browse
our web store for life -changing anointed books.
Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm
Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming,
loving presence.