Fasting: Stay Humble and Hungry | Jentezen Franklin

The purpose of fasting is you seek from God with an intensity and an intentionality. It's going after him with this, I am, I'm intense about it, I'm going after you, I'm not going to halfway serve you. Together we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer. And our mission is to simply point you to him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Judson Franklin. There is nothing that fast tracks the purpose of God like fasting. The purpose of God is so important to discover and comprehend and apprehend in your life. So many people don't know the ancient formula that they used in the Bible. For example, in Acts chapter 13, to find the plan of God, they fasted, they ministered unto the Lord, the text said in Acts 13 and 2. They ministered unto the Lord in fasting. And then the Holy Ghost said, separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them. Now how important was that work? How important was the Apostle Paul's commissioning? And then the Bible said after they had fasted in that same chapter, after they had fasted, they laid their hands on them and sent them forth. That was the commissioning, the sending forth of the great Apostle Paul and his ministry. It was done with fasting. It was the direction of God. The altered course of his life would never be the same. I think that is so important that we understand the power of fasting. And there are options that you have when you really are desperate for God. When you really at the beginning of the year say, I really want to know You. I really want to experience Your power in my life and Your will, Your provision, Your help. You have options and one of those mighty options in the playbook of the church is fasting.

It's not weird. It's not strange. It's not fanatical. But it is not something that you do a lot. But when a fast is called in a church from a leader, it is a powerful thing to hook up to what God is doing corporately. It will impact your life. God will speak to you. God will lead you. God will clearly help you when you fast and when you pray. Now we've been doing this 30 years. And much of the things, when I read through some of my old notes on fasting, many of the things that I read, I am astounded because when I wrote them and when I said them, I was not experiencing what I was believing God for, nor was this church. But I have seen God, through fasting and prayer, do the most miraculous things that you can imagine. This is the secret sauce. This is the key to it. It's seeking God, loving God, putting God first, and refusing to become dormant in our want with God by just settling. Fasting stirs you up. Fasting causes you to use the no muscle. The no muscle is a muscle that the church has lost use of. Athropy has set in. And people don't say no to temptation. They don't say no to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. They don't say no to convictions. They just go with the flow of the flesh. But when you fast, you're flexing the no muscle. You're saying no.

The flesh... must submit, I present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. There are 650 skeletal muscles in your body. The hardest working muscle is the heart. It pumps 2,500 gallons of blood through your body every day. But it's interesting that the strongest muscle in the body, based on the weight, is the jaw muscle. Your jaw muscle is so powerful that it can bench press 200 pounds. It has the power to chomp down 200 pounds, and it's a tiny muscle. But when you conquer the jaw bone and you say to the most powerful muscle in your body, no, I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to participate in normal living for a few days. I'm going to give God my body all over again. If you can conquer that fasting and that muscle of the jaw from eating for a few days, you can conquer all the other issues that you're dealing with with your flesh. That's why the Bible calls one of the fruits of the Spirit, the last one that it lists, self-control as a fruit of the Spirit. It's the hardest one of the fruits of the Spirit to ripen and cultivate in your life. Self-control. Drugs will not control me. Alcohol will not control me. Temper will not control me. Just the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, it will not control me. That's what you're saying when you're fasting. Proverbs 16 and 32 said it's better to have self-control than conquer a city. When you are out of options, when you don't have the power to do something, fasting gives you the grace to do what you cannot do on your own. Fasting is giving up food. You say, well, I don't know how to do it. Don't eat.

That's how you fast. But in the book of Daniel, he said, I ate no bread, I ate no meat, and I drunk no wine, no pleasant bread, which would be sweets. No sugar, no sweets, no bread, no meat. And many people have learned to jumpstart, and if you've never fasted, you just jump in and do it. I don't know any other way to tell you. I can't make it easy. This is a discipline. This is a thing we do because the Bible teaches us in Matthew 6, when you fast, meaning there should be set times when you fast. In the same text, it says, when you pray, when you give, just like you're intentional with it, that's what you do with fasting. It's a predetermined purpose. It's a predetermined time. It's not a diet. It's saying, God, I crave you more than I crave food. It shows God how serious you are. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The greatest miracles I have received in my life can be traced back to seasons of fasting. The purpose of fasting is you seek from God with an intensity and an intentionality. It's going after him with this, I'm intense about it. I'm going after you. I'm not going to halfway serve you. Nehemiah 9, they said that they fasted, and he said what we did was, after we fasted, he said they read the word of God. They stood in a place and read the book of the law of the Lord, their God, one fourth part of the day, or three hours. And another three hours, they confessed, they prayed.

They confess their sins. They confess the covenant. They confess the Word of God. They were into it and they worship the Lord. What kind of church would this be next Sunday? If between now and next Sunday, everybody under the sound of my voice at every campus could spend three hours in the Word and three hours worshiping and praying in personal prayer to God this week, what would happen to families? What would happen to this church? Look out. See, no wonder the devil doesn't want anybody to fast because when Jesus fasted, he rebuked the devil. He said, man will not live by bread alone, but by every word, and Satan had to leave him. Amen. You must stay humble or humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and in due season, he will exalt you. And fasting is humbling, it's being humble, and it's being hungry. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled. Esther fasted in the book of Esther for three days, and she had all of Israel fast as she went in to the presence of the king, and the king gave her favor. God's favor is coming after you in this new year.

And I don't know why, but when you fast and you stay humble and you stay hungry, God's favor chases you down. And the whole nation of Israel was spared from a calamity because the favor of God came on Esther. A fast will cause you to be able to discern the right people. If you have a major decision to make, always go into a season of fasting about it. Fasting purges your motives, fasting purges your body, fasting purges your will, it clears your mind so you can hear God's voice. God will say no, God will say yes, but God will speak to you. I can guarantee you that if you will seek him and you need direction and you need to know his will, you will reach a point while you fast where you want it to be yes, maybe, but God will get you to the place to where you don't just pray for what you want, you pray not my will, thy will be done. And when you do, he'll give you a yes or he'll give you a no. Every major decision that we've made in this ministry we have fasted and prayed about, every major decision. When you fast, it's God giving you a new filter over your mind, hallelujah. You know that your oil is running low when you as a Christian start saying blankety, blank, blankety, blank, little kids listening,

people you don't, blankety, but you need a filter on your mouth, you need a filter on your mind, you need a filter on your eyes, come on. You need some convictions that says turn it off, that's not right, walk out of the movie, that's too much, I'm not going, we need filters, we need fresh oil. And David reached a point in Psalms 92 and 10 when he said, you've exalted my horn like the horn of a unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Everybody throw your hands up and say, Lord, here's the funnel, I shall be anointed with fresh oil on this fast, hallelujah. Hallelujah. The impurities have to get out. Fasting according to Isaiah 58 destroys the yoke of Satan. Is not this the fast that I've chosen to destroy every yoke? It breaks every yoke, it's breakthrough, nothing will break bondage in your life like fasting. Habitual sin, addiction, fasting breaks bondages, it breaks addictions. An empty stomach, listen carefully, positions you in God's presence to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Because the book of John said out of your belly, isn't that interesting? Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water when you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

So isn't it? And it's something that when we fast, we empty our belly so we can be filled. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the Holy Spirit filling like a river coming out of your belly. If you don't change the oil, it breaks down the engine. You don't need to divorce your wife, you need fresh oil. You don't need to quit, you don't need to backslide, you need fresh oil. And when you get that anointing, with the Holy Spirit comes power. And with the power of the Holy Spirit comes willpower to flex the no muscle and say no to that which you know is not pleasing to the Lord. You know something else, the Bible said this kind cometh out but by fasting and prayer. I believe that we are dealing with those kinds of spirits in the age that we're living. And the only way that they can be defeated is when someone has gotten along with the Lord filled up their self with the Word, drained out the old oil, received a fresh anointing with a filter on their mind and their heart. And they look at that situation and say in the name of Jesus Satan, you get out. It's not strange, read this book, read it. In my name you will cast out devils. In my name, he said in Mark 16, you will speak with new tongues. In my name, you shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover. And amazing miracles are coming to Free Chapel in 2026. Amazing. People you thought were never going to get free are going to get free. People you thought would die an addict are not going to die an addict. The prodigals are coming in Jesus' name. They're coming home, they're going to be free. God is going to touch our sons and our daughters. I want to get up in all of God again, in all of life and joy and expectation and praise the Lord. It's a good day, it's a happy day. Just lift your hands right where you're sitting.

I really feel something stirring in this place. I hear the Lord say this now, for he has not given us a spirit of fear. Don't fear the future, don't fear the health, don't fear old age, don't fear any of that stuff. He has not given us, don't fear the economy. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound, healthy mind. Shout, shout, fear must back up, fear must move, fear cannot dominate this year. Amen.