I want to quickly share the guidelines I call the 11 laws of fasting. Whenever a man wants to separate himself and get closer to the Lord, especially for a long period of time, there are laws, there are principles that you must invite in order for the fast to be effective. So I’m going to quickly share this with you to make this fasting effective and productive to God, and please write them down.
Make this fast effective and productive to the glory of God, and please write them down, because in every subsequent fast you engage in, you will apply these laws.
The 1st is the law of separation.
When a man wants to fast, he is actually seeking separation. 2 Chronicles 20:12 says: Turn on to me with all your heart and with fasting. Return to me with your heart and with fasting. So when we fast, our focus is not to waste time.
You know, there are many people who, when we are fasting like this, begin to create all kinds of distractions so that they are able to achieve fasting time, but they don’t get any result because they don’t understand the laws of fasting.
Fasting is a period of separation from God in prayer. You don’t fast if you are not praying. That’s why many times when the word fasting is used, you hear fasting and prayer because it’s important that you are separated unto God.
So I know most of you walk. I know most of you are busy, but as much as you can, set aside time to pray. Don’t wait until 3:00 PM to pray together; pray once, twice or twice a day. Spend 30 minutes. Even if it’s 10 minutes, at least make it periodic. I’m going to pray 3, 4 or 5 times a day. But just create that discipline, create that time to separate yourself.
The reason is that you are trying to conduct your heart towards God. This is where we realize our hearts will be completely tuned to God’s frequency. So, if you want to be productive in fasting, first separate yourself to God in prayer.
The 2nd law of fasting is saturation with the word of God.
If you want to fast, make sure you are committed to the Word. You are not fasting if you are not searching the mind of God. You are not fasting if you are not looking into the perfect law of liberty to secure the heart of God and the body of the Spirit for the time; glory to God.
You know Jesus taught in Matthew 4:4: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So when we are not eating food, we have to be eating the word of God. You know, Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 15:16, “I found that what I did eat became the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. When we fast, we spend time with the word of God. I’m going to give you a reading program, maybe after that. Because many would have joined and would have kept the frequency.
But there has to be an attitude of study in the time and the day of fasting to isolate the mind of God.
The 3rd law of fasting is the law of kindness.
Kindness and justice. You cannot claim to be fasting when you are not showing kindness to those in need or those less privileged. So if you are fasting, it’s a time when you show kindness. Kindness is supposed to be your lifestyle, but the day of fasting is a time to be more deliberate about showing kindness and exercising justice and fairness in all you do.
Many people fast, but why are they still fasting? Reflecting how they deal with others. It doesn’t. It doesn’t show that you are committing your heart to the Lord for that season. One thing God looks for when people fast is whether they show kindness toward others.
The 4th law of fasting is humility.
Fasting is actually a time when we humble ourselves before the Lord. Again, humility should be. But when we are fasting in particular, we are deliberately humbling ourselves before the Lord in brokenness so that he can show mercy unto us. That’s why, if you study the Old Testament, when they fasted, sometimes they were secluded, with ashes on their head.
The idea is to demonstrate a humble countenance and give glory to God. Jesus was speaking to hypocrites. Is it when you fast? Don’t be like the hypocrite who wears sad clothes. They want to show everybody their spirituality. They want everyone to see they are exploiting the spirit so they receive men’s praise.
When you fast, you humble yourself; you come under the authority of brokenness. You show it in everything you do because the other purpose of fasting is transformation, and you are not transformed if these things, you know, do not predominate your thinking and your way of life, glory to God. So you show kindness, and then you demonstrate humility.
Number 5th law of fasting is the law of purity.
When a man begins to fast, is it time to do away with every form of sin, every form of idolatry, and to uphold purity? One of the things we do when we fast is that as we mingle with God, as we draw close to God, we are purged; we are washed of every iniquity. Enjoy the two vegetating.
When we fast, we come to the Lord to purge ourselves because the Bible tells us clearly: He said, “The Lord will not hear me” (verse 66:18). Is it time we pause ourselves? It’s a man punching himself from these things. So if there’s anything you are doing that isn’t of God, this is the time to cleanse, purge and purify.
This is what fasting is meant to help you achieve. It is a time of self-examination so that we approach number six. The law of fasting is the law of the leading of the Spirit. It’s also called the law of wisdom or the law of grace. Don’t overdo things when you are fasting. Allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you. You know, I know people who ended up dead in the course of fasting.
We say we are fasting for 40 days. We’ve been told that if you dehydrate too much, you can drink water. We have been given the instruction that if you are a pregnant woman, mother, eat something. I mean pregnant people. If you are not a nursing mother, we say you can take something light. If you are sick, you are still trusting God for healing; we say you can take something light.
You are walking and dehydrated. You can drink water, juice or tea. I mean, this isn’t about eating food, just staying hydrated.
When we are fasting, it’s important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to apply wisdom and to do so based on the level of grace we carry, giving glory to Jesus. In Matthew 4:1-4, when Jesus fasted for 40 days, the Bible says the Spirit led him into the wilderness.
He was tempted by the devil, and then he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. This means Jesus was operating based on the Spirit’s wisdom and discretion. It wasn’t just zeal. I’ve seen people who fast like this before and went down with us, and they were never able to fast again.
So when you are fasting, you must sustain the law of the fasting. You know the Spirit and the love, grace and wisdom; then
Number 6th law of faith and expectation.
You are waiting on the Lord, and as you are waiting on the Lord, you should be expectant. This is not about setting a time target for who we are going to fast for 40 days. No, we have an expectation. We believe it’s a transition season, and that’s why I told you that there are three major things God is going to do to help your expectation, because when you are fasting, your faith level should be high.
Your expectation level is high because something has to be achieved is not an exercise in futility. The Bible says in Hebrews, at the level of expectation, that whoever comes to him must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder. And that deeply, gently seeking.
So when you are fasting, there must be that expectation of what God is going to do. There must be that hopefulness of God’s power, you know, manifesting glory to God. It’s very important. So if you don’t have an expectation, write it down, along with the three things I’m going to give you.
Don’t waste your time at the end of 14 days; what’s the point of saying me to my first step for 40 days, and there’s nothing to show for it? So the law of faith and expectation is critical. And then
Number 7 is the law of focus.
When you are fasting, don’t lose your focus. This is not showmanship. You know, the Bible said something that amazed me in Isaiah 58 around verse 3 or 4. He said, “You fast for strife and for debate.” Fast to brag. You know, I’ve already told you about humility, but it’s important for you to maintain focus when you are fasting.
They go eat on corrupt. Don’t corrupt your fast through bitterness, or corrupt speech through malice. They fast not to prove a point to anybody. And they go on the fasts, not to brag. We must know why we are fasting. I told you already, one reason we fast is because God is saying he wants to bring us encounters, and we need our hearts prepared.
God is bringing encounters because we are in a season of transition, and we need them to move to the next level. So you. You maintain this focus. This is why we are fasting. Don’t fast for strife. Don’t fast for vanity. Don’t fast for debate. It’s not necessary. You don’t need to punish yourself for 40 days at the end of the day to win the trophy of a debate. That’s a waste of life.
These are lots of fasts. When you see people who fast and make the most of it, these are some. They apply them consciously or unconsciously.
Number 8 is the law of persistence.
Many times, that weakness will come. I’m going to stop. I’m tired. See, you must press to hit the mark. Fasting requires discipline. Follow us, and after seven days, don’t say, ” I’ve tried my best, no, that’s not how I work. When we started, we said the 40-day fast: you have joined the train, come what may, finish it, because there are things that only answer to you; things that will only be activated when you finish.
Consistency has its power in the realm of the spirit. Look at Daniel. When Daniel began to fast, Daniel said in Daniel Chapter 9, I think verse three, he said, when I prepared, when I set forth my heart to wait upon the Lord, so the guy was ready. There was the discipline, there was a persistent disposition and guess what: nothing. Only after 21 days, what if Daniel stopped? What if he stopped halfway? What if he stopped on the 19th? Some of you, what God will do for you is on the 40th day.
So you have to press on. You started Daniel Chapter 9, verse 3, verse 20 and 21; Daniel chapter 10, you know, verse 2 to 3, verse 12 and 13; we’re going to find. It’s going there that there was more going on in the heavenly places. If Daniel had stopped working, that encounter would have been cut short because Gabriel came out at 21 days. What if Daniel stop?
So the system is necessary. There are days you wake up, and it will look like if you don’t eat, you will die. It’s a lie. You will not die. If you don’t eat, you will not die. Be sure that you will continue for the 40 days, and some of you, by grace, will even be able to continue. So please, consistency is necessary. Persistence is a critical law in fasting.
Then 9 is the law of warfare.
Every time you begin to fast, get ready. But don’t expect that, as I’m fasting now, come on. And not, I’m floating in the spirit. No, the moment you start fasting, you are releasing energies in the spirit. Satan can dish on it.
When Jesus started fasting in Matthew 4:3, the Bible says he didn’t show up until Jesus fasted. Now the tempter came to him, and he was with Jesus three times. You see that Jesus had persisted. He would have stopped at the first thing he saw, but he stayed focused.
He could have switched to what the devil was offering, but Jesus knew his objective because the Spirit led him. That was why all the demons against it gave up, and Jesus never did. Focused. He was persistent and said I couldn’t stop him. Glory to God.
So when you first expect battle, some of you, now that you started fasting, demons will intensify, attacking your dreams. Some of you, some of the things you had your hands on. Businesses will suddenly start failing. Some of you accusation will come.
The whole idea is to discourage you because Satan knows you are ascending to a higher ground. But if you understand the law of warfare, you will know that the battles are battles that the devil has used against you for 10 years. He just converged it so that he can discourage you with the fast.
But if you don’t stop, you are going to overcome, and when you overcome, you are going to discover that the battle will not only be dealt with, but at the end of the day it will be removed from your life forever.
Number 11 is the law of love.
Paul was speaking in First Corinthians 13 from verse one to three. And the summary of it is: what does any spiritual team profit me if I don’t have love? That means fasting is useless if there’s no love; tongues, prophecy- is there? All these things are useless to me if I don’t have love. So if you want your fasting to be effective, love must be critical.
Those of you who cannot have a good relationship with anybody, you can’t afford that during this fast; you must master the act of love. And you know, love is not a feeling. I’ve told you before, love is patience, love is kindness, love is meekness, love is endurance, love you love is faithfulness.
Embody every attribute of love in this season so your fasting becomes very, very effective, because you can’t do it without it. Love substantiates the spiritual engagement we find ourselves in. So make sure you are totally, totally foolish with love, and then, finally, it is the love of the sun. When you fast, your spiritual senses activate. Sometimes you can pick frequencies from God.
Sometimes you can pick frequencies from the demonic realm. You need to pray for discernment. Don’t just take. Shows carelessly. I know most of you. Any vision you see is from God. You start acting. This is not the season to just take action because your spirit is opening up; you are charging your spirit. You are going to pick a lot of frequencies, especially if you are not a world-based person.
This is the time for this. If you pick anything in your spirit and lose your peace, if you pick anything in your spirit and it’s not in the Word of God, consistent with the revelation of the Word of God, please don’t act upon it. Pray about it, and ask those who are more mature than you. Let them guide you on what to do so that you don’t get into trouble fasting.
I’ve known people who fasted before I had the money for counters. Somebody went to the mountain to fast, and an old person appeared and gave them instructions. The person will beat the instruction and become demonized. So there is the law of discernment.
When you fast according to these 11 laws, if you invite them, you will discover that your fasting will not only be effective, but it will leave you with something that outlives the fasting period. Glory to God.
