 |
The Principle of Fasting and
"The Perimeter Defense'
1)
Most of My People wait for the
devil to attack them before they begin
to pray.
And
they suffer through the results of that attack--fear, worry, anxiety,
heart-breaking anguish…
2) Most of My People have no
concept of a 'Perimeter Defense' of My
Word against the enemy.
3)
"Prepare
your Defenses!--NOW!" Don't wait until he attacks first! Pray now,
read now, study now!
 |
4)
You have an 'Applied
Defense'. You have to appropriate it
personally and apply it to yourself personally in order for it to work properly for
you. Why are you so surprised? Your salvation was that way.. "For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish but have Everlasting Life." John 3:16. Did salvation
just "fall on you" automatically or did you have to personally believe
something? And that something you had to believe, was it personal, that He died
for your sins and your
salvation and that this personally
applied to you, and then you personally
believed it and personally confessed
that this Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was now your
personal Lord and Savior? You read in My Word what it took to become saved,
you did that. You applied it to your own life. What makes you think that the
MOST important thing in your life works that way, but now none of the other
benefits that belong to you operate that way? The same operation of personal
appropriation that it took to get you saved
and into the Kingdom of God, is the same
operation that it takes to enjoy the things within
that Kingdom now.
5)
Before any major military operation, the participants in that operation select
the weapons they need for their mission. Their armour, their weapons, their
rations, their maps, other gear and etc. You are no different. Do you know that
in your warfare that there are
different kinds of weapons that you need to use? For instance do you know that
there are atleast 5 to 6 different kinds of prayer, and that they each, like
powerful weapons of war, operate by different
rules and have different objectives? Do you think that all prayer is the same,
prayed the same way, by the same rules for every
situation? In a war people that think that way get hurt, killed, maimed or
injured very quickly. In a war, you don't pull open the breach on your rifle and
then throw your rifle at the enemy
like a hand grenade! You also don't point your hand grenade at the enemy like a gun, then pull the pin on the hand
grenade like it's a trigger! In a War
you don’t wait until you're caught
in the middle of an enemy ambush then try
to figure out how to shoot your gun, or wait till then to try to figure out which way to point it! Yet, when you don't
study the Word and learn about
your armour and weapons of war, when you get 'ambushed' by temptations, tests,
trials and tribulations, that is exactly what you're doing! Stop that!
6)
Satan's
time is short and he is angry, frustrated, terrified
and vengeful. When he gets cut off and effectively manhandled by My Power or
some one effectively using My Word, he looks to take it out on the nearest
available target. You! And if you are not prepared, the results will be anything
but satisfying. Does that mean that I wish you to walk around 'ooooohh--scared
that the devil's going to get you?
Ofcourse
Not! I crushed him long ago. But it also doesn't mean that you walk
around with your spiritual defenses down like you haven't got a clue, then act surprised
when Satan attacks you Remember what my servant Paul told you! Eph.6:11,
6:13, Rom. 13:12.
7)
Lock your Spiritual doors and gates at night. You do it
with your front door, why not your spiritual
door which is wide open! What do I mean and how do you do that? Here's an
example. I once had a mother teach her five year old son how to pray. "Now
I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before
I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take…Amen." When her son was about 16
I prompted her heart one night to watch him pray and ask him a question .She was
obedient and said, "Son, I hope you aren't still praying that 'lay me down
to sleep' prayer that I taught you when you were a kid."
Her
son said:"…Uhh…yeah..."
The
mother said: "Boy, I taught you that prayer when you were 5 or 6 years old.
You need to start praying more mature
prayers now!"
Funny
isn't it? Even I laugh sometimes as I think about that. But My Son, My Daughter,
are you still praying those kind of
"Now I lay me down to sleep" prayers? Short, simple, immature, and no
match for the hellish onslaught that Satan endeavors to unleash at you every
day?
.
That was many years ago. That teenager's mother is here now, in Heaven with Me.
That teenager is now fifty years old.
He's had some ups and downs. But after a number of years of studying my Word, this
is how he prays now.
"Father
I thank you that I will both lay down in peace,
and sleep, as it is written in your Word. I thank you that the Angels of the
Lord encamp round about me to keep me safe through out this night. (Psa.34: 7) I
thank you that there shall no evil befall me and neither shall any plague come
nigh my dwelling for You have given
your Angels charge over me, to keep me in all my ways, even while sleeping, and
so do I (Ps 91). Thank you that You keep me, my family members, loved ones and
all those who are dear to me safe. I will lay down in peace and my sleep shall
be sweet. And I will awake, because You sustain me. " Ps. 4:8, Psa.3: 5.
His grammar may not be entirely perfect, but quite a difference, huh?
This is a prayer I can approve and the Devil must
respect.
8)
There
are scriptures in My Word regarding the protection of your home and family. Find
them. Meditate them. Study them. Pray them. Use them. My promises are not in
there just to hold the pages together--use'm!
9)
Spend time Fasting. No, no, no…Not that starvation
thing you do every now and then and call it
fasting before the Lord. Fasting is so much more than just simply 'not eating'.
Study and read Isa. 58. That whole chapter is about the kind of Fasting that I
like and will respond too, AND the kind of fasting I don't like and won't respond too. Ever fasted and received absolutely nothing?
STUDY Isa.58 and you will be able to see why..
10)
Do you know that My Son, your Savior, Jesus, taught that
My people who fast properly and with the proper motives receive a reward?
Mat. 6:16--17.Read it for yourself and see. And oh, by the way, you
are the one who decides what the reward is. You decide that, and establish that,
before you go on the Fast. (And My
Children, be realistic. Don't try fasting for two Cadillacs and a Mercedes
to drive on the weekends. Fasting is not to obtain carnal things, but spiritual
development. It's designed to improve your relationship with Me.) Fasting is
where you set aside time to be sensitive to Me, and to hear from My Spirit. It's
a time where you give Me time to speak to you. (You're usually too busy at other times.) Yes, I know that you
may have a number of urgent and pressing problems, that you need desperate
answers to, and that's part of your reward.
But worship first.
Do you love Me? Show Me. Do you appreciate
Me? Praise, first. Have you
thanked Me lately for what I've already
done? And trust Me, if you're breathin', you have something to be thankful for.
And the meals that you would have normally eaten, spend that time reading in My Word. Take the money you would have normally
spent on your meals and give that to the poor. Or take the food that you would have normally eaten and give
it away to the poor and those that don't have
any food. Trust me, you will quadruple the effectiveness of your time with Me,
if you spend it reading My Word while you're Fasting. You'll learn more,
understand more, and perceive more, from My Word during this time. Get in it.
THAT'S one of the key ways that you hear from Me during your time of Fasting.
In addition, sometimes you may feel
like you didn't gain a thing while you were fasting (unfortunately My people
have become such a "feeling" oriented people that if you don't 'feel' something right away, you tend to think that nothing is
happening). And good ole' Satan endeavors to convince you that you are no different than from when you began.
NEWS FLASH--he's a
liiiiiaaaaarrrr! (Just incase you've forgotten).
But after the fast is over is when you start to notice a difference
in your life. Things start to run a little bit smoother. Answers to prayers
start to come a little more frequently. Reading the Bible isn't quite the chore
that you found it use to be. Passages from the Bible start to open up, like a
flower. You start to see things in the Word that you've never
seen before. Challenges, even when they come, don't bother you quite as much any
more, and in addition, they don't seem to last as long or have the same
intensity they use to. More importantly, I'll seem closer than ever before. You known
I was there, but you will sense My power and My Presence ever present with
you. You're more aware of the things that are not pleasing to Me. And you're
more aware of the things that are. You're quick to repent, forgive and move on.
Fasting has sensitized your spirit to My Presence. The gossip isn't appealing to
you any more. The bawdy jokes that were funny before, now seem as vulgar and as
tasteless as they really are. What's happening? You're growing My Child. Fasting
will do it every time, and that's only the beginning…
