And When You Fast | Ezra 8:21-23 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . at 3 a.m. because I was gonna start this talk with a little bit more inspiration but this morning at 3 a.m. the Lord violently woke me out of my sleep and as soon as I woke out of my sleep I started seeing visions of a systematic political and then violent takeover of the United States by a radical ideology that is spreading across the whole world and has entered into the shores of the United States. I started seeing Christians being persecuted through laws and legislations and then physically by this radical ideology and it was like God was showing me as I'm seeing this in our open vision on the side of my bed in the dark before I could even make it to my prayer room as I'm as I'm seeing this imagery in my mind there was this strong sense as I'm seeing this imagery like we are very close to the end it was like I could hear an audible voice saying to me Philip my son we're very close to the end and as I'm hearing that audible voice I begin to weep and cry right there on the side of my bed I'm weeping and I'm crying on the side of my bed as I'm thinking about what I'm seeing in my mind and I'm thinking about what I'm hearing in my heart and I'm weeping and I'm crying not only for what I'm seeing but I'm weeping I'm crying over you and I'm weeping and crying over the church

in America and I'm crying in that moment because I'm thinking if what I'm hearing is the voice of God in this moment then I'm thinking to myself God if it's true that that we're closing in on the end of the age if it's true that we don't have much time left God now I'm thinking about all of us who are Christians who are wasting our time busying ourselves with all of these things that's not gonna matter a hundred years from now they may not matter five years from now I thought about all of the activities of Christians who are wasting their time doing things that's not gonna matter when they die I thought about all of us who are filled with so much ambition we are building monuments like sandcastles not gonna wash away on the shores of judgment I thought about all the things that we think right now is actually important that does not matter in the sight of God and and I thought about oh my god I thought about all of God's children who are running around like blinders on their eyes running in and out of services and might open a Bible for a second during the week and have no idea that we might be at the very end of the church age like I'm hearing this voice like a trumpet blowing in my heart this morning this very morning I'm hearing this and I'm weeping and I'm weeping over you and I'm weeping over me and I'm weeping over my children and I'm wondering like how many of us are really living with this sensitivity to the spirit of where we are on God's prophetic timetable and I'm wondering about that really I am and I'm seeing all of us running around like hamsters on wheels and we're busy doing this and busy doing that doing everything other than the things God has called us to do and this is this is like this is not just me like trying to scare you right this is this is the Holy Spirit this very morning this I wasn't gonna talk to you like this this was the Holy Spirit this very morning sounding a warning in my heart to warn America that if the bride of Christ in America if she does not wake up if she does not pray if she does not repent if she does not stand on business we will be held captive in our own country by a radical ideology we will fall very quickly and our children will suffer this is me warning America

I Don't know what that was don't laugh whatever that was had to been divine God using a prophet to sound an alarm in America give me the camera God using a prophet To sound an alarm in America that we better wake up The bride in this country and we better stand on business And we better pay attention to the people we put in office and we better pay attention To how we're praying and labor and we better pay attention to what we're doing right now This is God sounding an alarm in America for his bride To wake up the sinner cannot see because they're blind the bride of Christ must see And be awakened and today is a good day for me to talk to you like this as we enter into the very first Sunday of a brand new year as We stand on the precipice of a brand new season on the calendar of God's prophetic timetable and while the transition from December to January does not magically erase all of our problems internally and externally this part of the year does offer you every single person an opportunity to reflect an Opportunity to recalibrate an opportunity to reorient your mind and Your heart and your life around those priorities and those things that matter absolutely the most And as I crawled into my prayer room this morning man I fell out on my face and I wept I wept for my children. I pleaded with God God I pleaded for their salvation Lord I don't know I believe but I'm pleading with God for the salvation of my children Because that alarm was going off in my spirit. I'm pleading with God for the salvation of every friend I know who is not saved I'm pleading with God for everyone under the sound of my voice under the banner of 2819 locally and nationally and globally who is not truly saved doing church, but not saved

In a chat, but not saved. I'm crying out to God for their salvation. I'm pleading with God. I'm in tears this morning literally weeping in tears pleading with God that he would fully form in you and Fully form in me the mind and the heart of Christ I'm weeping this morning in tears that God would completely move you away from Ambitions that are vain. I'm pleading with God in tears that God would deliver you and deliver me from worldliness in our hearts and Perversion in our hearts. I'm pleading with God this morning in tears on my knees and on my face tears falling on my Bibles I'm pleading for you that God would work into your heart a desire for purity and a desire for holiness And he would give you such a hatred for sin that you would think wrong and not tolerate that you would talk wrong and not tolerate that Lies will come out your mouth and you'll be grieved in your heart that you would not be able to sin and have peace in your soul I'm pleading with God in tears this morning that scales will fall from your eyes I'm pleading this very morning with God in tears that he would awaken you that he will set you on fire That he will strengthen you we are weak man I'm pleading with God this morning in tears that God would do something so deep on the inside of you And I'm pleading with God this morning that in this very moment He would give all of us the strength that desire to want to bruise this flesh To want to take authority over this flesh to want to subdue this flesh as we pivot and turn towards God towards a solemn week of Consecration with this powerful ancient discipline of fasting and prayer What is fasting it's not just coming off of social media That's lame. That's bottom-shelf. That's American Biblical fasting is the abstinence from food for a period of time To turn one's heart fully towards God in prayer and devotion and seeking his face When we fast we take authority over the flesh and we tell the flesh you have no power over me and when we fast we take power over the flesh and denying it what it wants most food and pleasure we tell the set we tell the flesh no pleasure for you we tell the flesh for a period of time

no food for you we tell the flesh for a period of time you are not stronger than my spirit when we fast we draw closer to god when you fast your body grows weak but your spirit grows strong when you fast you become more sensitive to the holy spirit when you fast you have more spiritual clarity people have fasted and seen god move mightily in their life people have fasted and heard god speak to them while they were fasting people have fasted and god has intervened in their life or in the life of somebody else people have fasted and seen god provide for them supernaturally during that fast people i know have fasted and their bodies have been physically healed during their fast people have fasted and been delivered from things that had them bound for years during their fast fasting and prayer is that powerful discipline we use to curb the appetite of the flesh and to draw closer to god for intimacy and to hear his voice and the scriptures are replete with people groups who have fasted corporately to see god's face i want to remind you of a few of them in ezra chapter 8 for example there was a priest in about the 500s a.d he was a scribe and a leader in the jewish community the people of god are in exile and as was getting ready to lead some thousand jewels out of exile back to jerusalem the traveling distance from where they are back to jerusalem is a dangerous path and many people have died along that road and in ezra chapter 8 we see an example of a corporate fast chapter 21 then i ezra proclaimed a fast there at the river hava that we might humble ourselves before our god to seek him for a safe journey for ourselves our children and all of our goods for i was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way since we had told the king the hand of our god is for good on all who seek him and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him so here is ezra he's about to lead a thousand jews back to jerusalem on a pathway that is dangerous because he was bragging on god he said i can't go to the king and ask this man to get involved if god don't get involved nobody is going to get involved verse 23 so we fasted who fasted they did corporately everybody so we fasted corporately and we implored our god that is prayed and watch how god responds and he listened to our entreaty so here is a corporate fast for protection and as the people fasted together god heard their prayer and provided for them their need so here is an example of god meeting a need through corporate fasting let's look at

let's look at more corporate fasting uh let's go to acts chapter 13 christ is crucified christ is resurrected it is the first century a.d christ is raised the church is born on the day of pentecost in the city of jerusalem the church is growing by the thousands the church undergoes persecution the first christian martyr is killed his name is stephen then james is killed then the people of god scatter to other cities christians end up in a city called antioch and a new who church is formed in an ancient city called Antioch and the believers there don't have guidance for what to do next. Acts chapter 13, verse one. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. Verse two, while they were worshiping the Lord and what? Fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then their fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So here we see a church calling a corporate fast and while they were fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke. Because while you're fasting, your spirit is strong, your flesh is weak, and you set yourself up to hear from God more clearly. So we see one group of people in a corporate fast, God provides a need. We see another group of people in a corporate fast, God speaks to them. So we see during fasting, God provides needs.

And there are people under the sound of my voice right now, you have needs. Maybe you have a mental need or an emotional need or a spiritual need or a financial need. I'm telling you, God can meet that need during your fast. There are people in this room right now, you are going through confusion, you need guidance. You want God to speak to you. Should I marry this person? Should I take this job? Should I move to Atlanta to join 2019 locally? Should I fill in the blank? We see during fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke. And there's some of us right now, we need guidance before you run into the business of a new year, before you start building things God didn't tell you to build, before you start getting into covenants when God didn't tell you to get into a covenant with that person. Before you start making all these decisions, we need to slow down to watch, hear from the one who is the author and the finisher of your faith. So we see during fasting, God provides needs. We see during fasting, God speaks. And what about all of you under the sound of my voice who feels like, pastor, I hear you, but I limped out of 2025. My prayer life is not where it's supposed to be.

I haven't opened my Bible in a long time. I don't feel confident that if I fasted and prayed that God is gonna listen to me. Joel chapter two. The people of God have disobeyed God. God sends a plague of locusts on their land and he is ravishing their economy. This is so powerful to me. God sends a plague of locusts on the land and he's ravishing their economy. They're losing money. They can't pay their bills. They can't buy food because sometimes God will hurt you to get your attention. Amen. When we love disobedience, God and his love would often hurt his children to get their attention. He might take something out of your life. He might disrupt something that you built. God was disrupting their economy to get their attention. Since you want everything other than me, and since you won't come to me, let me disrupt your economy so I can get your attention. I know if I touch your money, I'll have your attention then. Amen. Joel chapter two, for everybody who feels like, I don't know if I'm in a position for God to hear me. While the people are in disobedience, look at the heart of God.

Joel chapter two, verse 12, while the people are in disobedience, look at the heart of God. Yet even now, declares the Lord. I love this part. Return to me. Come back to me, run to me. Return to me with what? All of your heart. How do you do that? With fasting, which is an act of humility. With weeping and with mourning. This is God crying out to some of you right now. I know you're far away. I know you haven't been praying. I know you haven't been reading. I know you've been in sin. I know you feel disconnected from me, but even in your rebellion, return to me. I'm calling you my son. I'm calling you my daughter. Even in your sinful state, even in your rebellion, return to me. Let me say it to the Lord. How? With humility, don't return with pride and arrogance. Return to me, he says. How? With fasting and with weeping.

Verse 13, rend your hearts. That means tear your hearts and not your garments. Pastor, I don't understand. In those times when people were sad, they would rip their clothes as a sign of being sad. But God says, I don't want your outward piety. Your little church attendance, that's not good enough. I want you to tear your heart. I want you to wring out your sin. I want you to come before me broken. I want you to crawl into your prayer place, broken and wounded. Run back to me, crawl back to me, weep back to me, fast and turn back to me. This is God giving some of you an invitation, watch, to just run into the loving arms of your father. Amen. In your insecurities, return. In your rebellion, return. In your weakness, return. In your rebellion, just run back to him, he says. Return to me, how? With fasting and with weeping and with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments. He says again, return to the Lord, your God, for he is what? Gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And he relents over disaster. This is the Holy Spirit giving someone

an invitation right now. You are straying, but return. You feel distant, but return. You feel far away, but return. And there's no excuse for anyone to not fast and pray. Let's go. The invitation goes out to all. The invitation to the holy consecration goes out to all. And maybe there's an outlier in the room. Maybe there's an outlier watching me across the camera say, pastor, y'all can go ahead and fast this week and y'all can do what y'all gotta do. I'm gonna be on the outside watching y'all. I'm not doing seven days of fasting. That's not me. Maybe there's somebody out there feel like that's not for you. That's for the spiritually elite. Did Jesus call his followers to fasting and prayer? Is there any record of the Lord calling us to this discipline? In his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse five, the Lord said to you, his follower, his disciple, his son, his daughter, verse five. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door

and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who is in secret will reward you. I want you to see twice the Lord said to you, my brother, my sister, and when you pray. That is a presupposition in the word of God, meaning the Lord expects for you to pray. He'd never said if you pray. The Lord said to you twice when you pray. So this is not just for the spiritual elite. This is for everyone who calls themselves a follower of God. The Lord calls you to pray and to do it in secret and to come find him in that private place. And he says, if you pray to me in secret, I will reward you. Now I love the fact he made it nuanced. He never tells us what the reward is. So you don't limit your mind in what God can do as you pray and talk to him. I know from 21 years of praying, I've seen great rewards for my prayer. Probably the greatest reward you will have from prayer is not anything you can touch. Lord, help us. Probably the greatest reward you will ever have in prayer is intimacy with Christ. The Lord has healed my heart in prayer. The Lord has given me peace in times of trauma in prayer. The Lord has given me guidance in times of clarity when I needed clarity in prayer. The Lord has helped me lead our church

through some of the most difficult and darkest season through prayer. And I'm telling you, the Lord does his best work in your life in that secret place when you're just sitting in his presence in prayer. But he didn't stop there. He didn't just call you to pray. Their family went just a little bit further in verse 16, and he says and when you fast there it is No, he didn't just stop there. Do not look gloomy like the hypocrites For they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others truly I say to you they have received their reward He says that when you fast don't go around Holding your stomach and going into your job and saying people say oh, what's wrong with you all my church Got me fast in this week, and he said don't do that Don't be bragging every time you bump into somebody. Oh, why do you look like that all that? You know? I'm just I'm fast and I'm Don't do that don't look for that attention They shouldn't even know you're doing it He says when you do that your only reward is people knowing that you're fasting He Said but when you fast This is when you go back to work tomorrow When you hop on social media when you fast anoint your head put on lotion Don't be ashy take a shower get dressed put on your cologne your perfume Put your hair your baby here nice get him get the toothbrush make it look nice and pretty on the side Make sure your bundle is sewn in tight I in your clothes look presentable walk with your shoulders up Go to work get your work done come home handle your business But when you fast

Anoint your head wash your face That your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret and your father who is in secret He will reward you Look at the promise he says if you pray He will promise reward you and look at the other promise and if you fast He will reward you again. The reward is nuanced. I love that It does not tell us exactly what the reward is so that our minds does not limit what God can do as we fast I Want you to see in the text that during corporate fasting God provided for a group of people during corporate fasting the Holy Spirit spoke I want you to see that God invites people to fast and pray even when they are in a season of rebellion when they're hurting when They're going through when you're in a weak place. He still invites you to come so there really is no excuse not to go I want you to see that God calls his people to pray So everybody is called to pray and I want you to see that the Lord calls everyone to fast He did not say if you pray he said when he did not say if you fast He said went and if there's ever a good time for us to pray and fast is now at the beginning of the year Before we start making decisions before we get married Before we start businesses before we shake hands with shady people before We start things that God did not tell us to start before we give birth to ishmael's Before we start doing all these things this year that you put on your vision board some of you got a whole vision board I've everything you want to do that you didn't even run by God I Already know because we're in America I already know it's probably 80% of you right now got a whole vision board of everything all of your goals And everything you want to do that you never even prayed about You got things on there that's outside of his will and so when it doesn't come to pass you'll be hurt at the end of the year Maybe you rewrite your vision board after seven days from now Then I your pastor I'm calling you to seven days of prayer and fasting Beginning Beginning tomorrow

Monday morning until Sunday when we come again into this holy gathering and we break the fast together with communion I am calling us to a corporate fast of seven days of prayer and fasting and seeking God's face of Going after God with our whole heart of Curbing the flesh and running after Christ with our whole heart And I give you two options to do that Okay, they're biblically. There are only two kinds of fasts. The first is a total fast That is we abstain from all food until we have communion next week. That's for the gangsters. That's not for everybody You You should not do that, probably, if you're pregnant, if you work a manual labor job, if you're taking certain medication, if you need to see a doctor, you see a doctor. You do that if you feel led by the Spirit. Let the Spirit guide you in which fast you choose. For myself and other gangsters, we will not see food again until we have communion next Sunday. Let the Spirit of God lead you in what concentration you choose. For those of us who will not do a total fast, there is a partial fast. Total is what Jesus did in the wilderness. No food, no stimulus, no playing around. I'm not talking about these little whack American fasts where you say, I'm going to stop watching TV for a week. That ain't fasting. Look at me. If it don't hurt your flesh, it's not a fast. You gorging yourself on fast food all week while you're not watching TV and calling that a fast? That's American. That's not biblical. Second option is what Daniel did, a partial fast, where he just abstained from meat. He ate vegetables and drank water while he's fast. This is, I will abstain from foods that are delicacies to me.

I might just do salads all week and maybe a fish at the end of the week. This is just you abstain. Or maybe you say, I just do one meal a day. Or maybe I fast from sunup to sundown and I have dinner at night. You choose whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do. But I'm calling everybody in our church, everybody under the banner of 2019, our entire family, our entire family national, our whole global family, I dare I say, I'm calling America to hold right. To slow down and to not try to build into a year with pride and arrogance, what we think the year is supposed to be. And to take the first week of the year, these next seven days, hear me, to tell your flesh, you have no authority over me. I'm serious. I'm not playing with you. To tell that thing that you're wrapped in, that brings you pain and hardship, say, you have no authority over me. I will consecrate, I will fast, I will pray. I will seek the face, not the hand, the face of my Savior. And we stay away from everything from Isaiah 58 when the prophet warns us, if we fast with impure motives, God will not listen. Now look at me. You know what's impure? You spending this week complaining about what you can't eat, or our pastor put us on a fast so we can't eat, and I can't do that. No, you can do whatever you want. The minute you start talking about what you can't do, you've drifted into legalism. At that point, it's just a hunger strike. It's not pleasing to God, it ain't pleasing to you. You might as well go ahead and break your fast and just eat. Maturity says we're not going to spend this week complaining about what we can't do.

We can't eat, and we can't do this. That's immature, and it does not please God. Instead, you should focus this week on what you can do. You know what you can do? You can get closer to Christ this week. You can discipline your flesh this week. You can hear from God this week. You can be healed in your body this week. You can save a marriage this week. You can lay hands on somebody sick this week. You can see a miracle this week. You can be delivered this week. For some of you, maybe this is the week you have no sex this week. You can be delivered from addictions to sinful behaviors this week. Maybe you say, no cigarettes this week, no weed this week, no sex this week. Maybe you come out this week on the other side saying, need that anymore. Don't need the new parts anymore. Don't need the weed anymore. I might just stay celibate till I get married. Maybe this is the week you get delivered from pornography and you realize your wife is enough. You have no idea. You can't even imagine what God would do with a person who turns their plate down and says, God, through you, I will discipline this flesh. Your word will be my food. My prayer time will be my food. For some of you, you know what? You can read the New Testament this week. You can listen to the Bible this week. You can finish the whole New Testament in your ears this week. I challenge some of you to just get a small letter in the New Testament, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, first and second Thessalonians, first, second, third John, get a small one and read that this week. Come up for air and tell me, does it sound like American preaching? You can get a blueprint this week that changed the whole course of your life. You can come off a medication this week. You can get delivered from overeating this week. You have no idea what God will do with a surrendered body. For seven days, the number of perfection, you have no idea what he will do. This week, call one another and text one another and

encourage one another. Say, girl, what is God saying to you? My brother, what is God saying to you? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What chapter are you in? Call us to encourage each other this week and share scriptures with each other this week. Say, girl, I was reading this in first John and share it with somebody this week. First three days, you might start feeling dizzy. You might start feeling weak. By day four, you're going to be cruising. By day five, you're going to be so close to God, you're not going to want food. I'm calling us to seven days of consecration. Turn your plate down however the spirit leads you. Turn your sin down. Turn down your plate and turn down your sin. Bury yourself in the scriptures. Go take prayer walks. Listen to worship as you walk. Take off ungodly music. Listen to praise and worship when you drive to work. Put the Bible on when you're cleaning your house. You're doing dishes and you got the Bible playing in the background. You're in the shower and the word of God is playing in the shower. I mean, gorge yourself on the word and gorge yourself in the presence of God. Everybody, consecrate at some level, however the spirit leads you. This is us as a church, putting God first. Who's with me? I just want to know who's with me. Like, Lord, we're going to seek you this week. Lord, we're coming after you this week. We're coming after your face. We're coming after your heart. We're coming after your will. We're coming after your word. We want all of Jesus this week, more of him and less of you. Seven powerful days of consecration, all of him and less of you. Who's with me for that? So Father, in the name of Yahshua, I pray right now over my brothers and sisters that you would give us the grace, the strength to consecrate, to fast and to pray. We pray Monday morning comes, we will feel an anointing to seek you, an anointing to curb the flesh, an anointing to fast and pray. We pray by tomorrow morning, God, we will feel strength and desire to run after you with our whole hearts, Lord.

We pray your word will be our food. Speak to us this week, heal us this week, deliver us this week, move on our behalf this week, bring clarity this week, break strongholds in the minds of men this week, destroy chains and bondages this week, set captives free this week, change a marriage this week, change a woman this week, change a man this week, change a child this week, move mightily on our behalf across the nation and around the world, God, we pray you would pour out your Spirit upon us for seven days, give us dreams and visions, speak to us in the stillness of the night, let us find great delight in your words and in worship and in your presence. Give us the grace to consecrate, Father, I ask in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen and amen. All praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, all praise to the Lord most high, all praise to the one who saved my life, all praise to Jesus Christ, high King of heaven, my King forever, now if you received that put your hands together Thank you for watching.