Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #184 The Supernatural Power of Prayer and Fasting - Part 2 (With Special Guest Dr. Ronnie Floyd)
Transcript
- 0:00Music.
- 0:06Wants us to do. There is a blessing. There is a sense of God's presence and
- 0:13His power like never before in our lives.
- 0:17And I believe we experience an element of the power of God with and through.
- 0:21Music.
- 0:24Fasting that we may not otherwise.
- 0:30Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
- 0:36The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
- 0:46Well, welcome once again to the One Cry Podcast.
- 0:50I'm Bill Elliff, and I'm so excited to have again my buddy, Ronnie Floyd,
- 0:56join with us. Most of you know Ronnie.
- 0:59He's a nationally known figure and author.
- 1:03He's written many books, and the Lord's used him all over the country in so
- 1:08many ways, and particularly his heart for prayer, his leading of the National
- 1:12Day of Prayer for several years,
- 1:14and the president of the Southern Matters Convention for several years,
- 1:18and building a great church up in northwest Arkansas. saw.
- 1:21But Ronnie, the thing that endears my heart to you, other than just our friendship,
- 1:29and which is pretty rich, is your passion.
- 1:34You just never, I know you always wanted to be a coach and you still do.
- 1:39You mentioned that last podcast and you've got the coaches something.
- 1:44Every coach has got it, that you just won't let up. You're just like a bulldog.
- 1:50And you've got that bulldog passion and tenacity about revival and spiritual
- 1:56awakening and about prayer and fasting.
- 2:00And that's because you've experienced it, I think.
- 2:03And so you've written a new book, The Supernatural Power of prayer and fasting.
- 2:11And tell us about this. It's just coming out right now and people can get it
- 2:17on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles, anywhere you can get books.
- 2:22You can get a Kindle version or even, I think you have an audible version,
- 2:26you said. That's correct. Yes.
- 2:28So tell us a little bit about this book. We're going to dive into it here in a minute. But
- 2:32Why did you write this book? Well, I tell you, thank you very much,
- 2:37Bill, for the privilege to be on again with you.
- 2:40And thanks for our time together last week as well.
- 2:44I really wrote the book because the publisher came and said,
- 2:49listen, you haven't written on fasting in 14 years.
- 2:54And we don't want you to do a rewrite, but would you consider writing a new
- 3:00book on fasting and prayer?
- 3:02And talking about some new truths that perhaps you've learned and principles
- 3:07you've learned over the last 14 years since you talked about some of it before.
- 3:13And that kind of jump-started the conversation. And so that's what we got into.
- 3:20And I prayed about it and just felt compelled to do it.
- 3:26And it took me about two months to write the book. And they wanted a comprehensive
- 3:30version of the book. And that's what I gave them.
- 3:34And so, you know, I pray that it will nourish people and it will flourish lives.
- 3:40And there's a lot of information, but there's also going to be, I believe, deeply.
- 3:45And I claim it in the name of Jesus today. There's going to be much transformation
- 3:50because when people get a hold,
- 3:53not of what I say, but about the principle of just praying and then coupling it with fasting.
- 4:03Yeah. Thing mysterious happens, something supernatural occurs,
- 4:08and we find it in biblical times.
- 4:11We find it historically and we find it presently.
- 4:15You know, I get tickled at people who say, well, you know, you just,
- 4:21I think we're making stuff up.
- 4:23And the reality is we're restating in just simple terms what Christ has already said.
- 4:31Sure. And he's the one who told us to do this. He's the one.
- 4:36You told me, and you got it in the back of your book and one of the appendices.
- 4:40How many references are there in scripture to fasting?
- 4:44Yeah. Well, that's that's great. That's the fifth appendices in the book.
- 4:48And I list all the scriptures of about fasting mentioned in the scripture that's
- 4:53relating to fasting from food.
- 4:55There are 57 verses in the scripture.
- 5:00Referenced 69 times is the word fast or fasting used in the scripture.
- 5:05I told someone the other day in an interview, Bill, you know,
- 5:08if Jesus or somebody would have said it in the scripture. I mean,
- 5:11Jesus wrote the book and, you know, he if he said it once, that was enough.
- 5:16But it's amazing how much the church never declares what was prominent in Scripture.
- 5:25And we know God used in powerful, powerful ways.
- 5:30I really believe that if the New Testament church that we read about in the
- 5:37book of Acts and over in the epistles, but especially in the book of Acts.
- 5:42I believe if the new church that God birthed at that time would look at what
- 5:49the church and where the church is today, I think they would ask us this question.
- 5:56Do you not believe in the supernatural power of God?
- 6:01You guys and your churches are doing ministry without the power of God. Where's the urgency?
- 6:09Where's the need? Where's the passion?
- 6:12And I really believe deeply they would ask us that question.
- 6:15You know, an old professor of mine and yours, Dr.
- 6:20Bill Toler from Southwestern Seminary, He used to say in his hermeneutics class,
- 6:26if the Bible says a lot about something, you say a lot about it.
- 6:29If it doesn't say much, you don't say much. That's a pretty good rule of thumb.
- 6:32That's right. And the prayer is mentioned 650 times in the Bible.
- 6:39My Bible has 1,000 pages in it. So you just think about that.
- 6:43And yet we don't talk about prayer.
- 6:45We don't talk about fasting.
- 6:48We rarely talk about the Holy Spirit, which is one of the most prominent themes.
- 6:53I think 59 times the Spirit is mentioned in the 28 chapters of the book of Acts.
- 6:59So this call in this book, and I just want to say to our listeners.
- 7:05Most of us have your book that was written back in the 90s on prayer in our libraries.
- 7:12This is not a rehashing of that book. This is new information.
- 7:17So you say, well, I already read his book on faith. No, this will help you.
- 7:23This will take you farther.
- 7:25And Lord knows we need to be taken farther in this. We need to understand it better.
- 7:30And part of what you do in really the heart of this book,
- 7:36is you take the value of fasting and what it will do.
- 7:41And it's like Jesus said, you know, if a man can ever find the treasure in a
- 7:46field, he'll go sell everything. If he can see the value of the pearl of great
- 7:50price, he'll sell everything to possess it.
- 7:53And you just say, now look what God will do.
- 7:56Look at the supernatural power. And I don't think you meant by this,
- 8:00Ronnie. In fact, we've talked about it.
- 8:02You didn't mean, well, one, two, three, four, five, these things are going to happen.
- 8:07Right. You are just listing for us all of the potential supernatural things
- 8:13that God can do when we encounter him in a new way to fasting.
- 8:19And you've listed 12 of these. And I'd love for you to talk about a few of them.
- 8:25You talk about that fasting 12 ways God will change your life through prayer.
- 8:33In fast, not just fasting, but through prayer and fasting.
- 8:37And number one is experiencing God's power.
- 8:42Why is that so? Why does that happen in supernatural ways when we fast and pray?
- 8:51I believe anytime we're obedient to do what God wants us to do, there is a blessing.
- 8:57There is a sense
- 9:00of God's presence and his power like never
- 9:04before in our lives and I
- 9:07believe we experience an element of the power of God with and through fasting
- 9:13that we may not otherwise I'm not saying we're not I said may underline that
- 9:21may not experience otherwise but there is immediacy.
- 9:28Of the Lord's presence that comes and walks with you through that.
- 9:34And, you know, the whole element of being in the presence of God and what happens when we do that.
- 9:43Yeah. I mean, there is a powerful moment there.
- 9:47You think about what Jehoshaphat did. He led the people of God into fasting and praying.
- 9:54They were surrounded by the enemies and God did a miracle through that prayer
- 10:00and through that fasting moment.
- 10:02Look at the book of Esther, the same thing.
- 10:05When she called the people to fast and pray, God gave her boldness.
- 10:11God gave her courage. And she said, if I perish, I perish. Wow.
- 10:18Wow. That is a devout commitment. Whatever happens, I'm good because I'm doing it God's way.
- 10:26It's fascinating in it how many times God said, proclaim a fast. I mean, he called for it.
- 10:34Consecrate the people, get them ready. You know, Joel's prophecy, gather them together.
- 10:40I mean, that was almost just the common means that God used to get us back to
- 10:48him and get us on the right track and get us on the same page.
- 10:52We just we see it over and over again, don't we?
- 10:55Absolutely. And you referring to the Joel passage. Think about the powerful promise of Joel 228.
- 11:03You know in relationship after this we
- 11:06will experience this outpouring of of the holy spirit the scripture says and
- 11:12the gospel will be preached whoever will call upon the name of the lord will
- 11:17be saved it's talking about a phenomenal move of god but i i'm caught by those words after this wow.
- 11:27Now, I tell you what, that's strong. I talk about that in the book because you see, after what?
- 11:35I mean, that's what we have to ask ourselves. After what?
- 11:39Well, after they fasted, after they prayed, after they confessed their sins,
- 11:47after they made a new commitment to obedience, after those things.
- 11:53This is what God did.
- 11:56And you know they saw God move before
- 11:59and in it and then all of a sudden God says I'm
- 12:02about to do something that you've never seen before
- 12:06and so that I think one of the
- 12:08most phenomenal passages and now this is after uh over 40 years of ministry
- 12:14uh Bill so I'm about to say something that might sound a little crazy to somebody
- 12:18that thinks they know everything okay but I don't know everything And I preach
- 12:22fasting a lot in my life. I have practiced it.
- 12:28I don't know who's preached on it more across the country.
- 12:31I'm sure there's many people, but I know I've preached on it a lot around the nation.
- 12:36But I tell you what, the Lord showed me something about two years ago.
- 12:40And I think I've only preached it once or twice.
- 12:42Haven't ever preached it at cross church even in my time there.
- 12:46But over in the book of Ezra, in chapter number eight, verse 21 through 23,
- 12:54there is a powerful scripture there.
- 12:57Remember, Ezra was called to lead the people back to Jerusalem.
- 13:03He had told the king how great God was. And the king gave him favor to go.
- 13:13And Ezra knew as soon as the king said, you can go, he had the favor of the king.
- 13:18Ezra knew that he was going to have to go through enemy territory to get there.
- 13:27The scripture says he knew he could call upon the king, giving him a cavalry
- 13:34to show him the way and to protect him.
- 13:38But what would the king think? if my God was so great that I needed men.
- 13:46So I proclaimed a fast. Wow.
- 13:51Wow. I mean, yeah, wow. There's no other word for it. It's wow.
- 13:55He proclaimed that fast. All right?
- 13:58So I think there are some decisions that every fast goes through,
- 14:05individual and collective. And it's all found in those three verses.
- 14:12All right. Let me see if I can recall them in my memory today.
- 14:19Fasting is always a spiritual decision. Then I proclaimed a fast.
- 14:29Very important.
- 14:32It is also a humbling decision.
- 14:37I proclaim to fast that we might humble ourselves.
- 14:43There is a correlation in the scriptures with humbling ourselves before God
- 14:49and praying and fasting.
- 14:52Right. Then he said, so I proclaim to fast so that we might humble ourselves
- 14:59to seek our God for a safe journey.
- 15:05That's the goal. We need a safe journey.
- 15:10And that's the third word is specific. Any fast you go on in your life,
- 15:15there needs to be a specific or a number of specific things you are fasting
- 15:21and praying for in your life. Okay.
- 15:24Specific thing. All right. They wanted one thing. We want to be safe.
- 15:29All right. And then the next one is, so we began to fast and pray.
- 15:36That was a faith decision.
- 15:40Fasting is a faith decision. And then there was a powerful decision because
- 15:46God heard their pleading and he answered their fast. Praise God.
- 15:53The scripture says later on in the verses is one verse later,
- 15:59a few verses later, but there's only one verse.
- 16:01And it says, and God protected them from the ambushes and took them on their way.
- 16:08Wow. That's what God does. and those five things are going to happen in any
- 16:14fast you go through individually or collectively those decisions you're making.
- 16:20I'm not saying to say, no, I got to do this, this is, but it's,
- 16:23it's just a collective mindset.
- 16:26You know, I, I have a feeling that most of us because of our Satan has done
- 16:31a really good job in trying to convince us that God is.
- 16:37It doesn't love us and he doesn't have our best interests at heart and his kingdom at heart.
- 16:43But the Lord, you know, the reason he tells us these things is for our good
- 16:49and his glory and others good.
- 16:51And so when he when he says, I always imagine in that Matthew six passage where
- 16:57Jesus says, now, when you fast.
- 16:59And I imagine if he had glasses, he would lower them and look over his glasses
- 17:03and say, you are fasting, right?
- 17:07You know, when you pray, now you are praying, right?
- 17:11That's right. And it's just assumed by him, but it's for our good.
- 17:16It's for our good. And we don't, you know, we look at fasting as this kind of horrific thing.
- 17:26Well, no, it's a doorway into more of God and more of his power.
- 17:32Right. And we ought to rejoice. We ought to run through that door.
- 17:36Now, you and I both know because we've experienced it's not easy.
- 17:40It's not physically easy to do.
- 17:43I think once you get into a fast, it's a lot easier than deciding, making that faith step.
- 17:51It's kind of saying God is calling me. Okay, I'm going to do this.
- 17:54I'm going to cooperate with God.
- 17:56It gets easier as you're in it because life gets a little less complicated, honestly. Right.
- 18:02And but God wants to do things to that that can't be done any other way.
- 18:09Well, one of these things that you mentioned, I want you to talk about because
- 18:13it's a it's a chapter in your book.
- 18:16Ronnie, I have thought.
- 18:19Pride all my stinking life. In fact,
- 18:22I said to somebody the other day when I had to come back and ask their forgiveness
- 18:27because I had responded to them in pride and I wanted them to know something
- 18:33I'd done and I kind of wove it into the conversation.
- 18:37I said, man, forgive me. I said, I just keep thinking, when am I going to be done with this?
- 18:42I don't think I'm going to be done until I die, probably, because God wants
- 18:48to constantly remind me of how desperately I need him.
- 18:53And there's this little verse in Psalm 35 that David said, I humbled my soul through fasting.
- 19:00You just mentioned in the Joel passage that we will humble ourselves.
- 19:04And one of these, chapter three is walking humbly before God.
- 19:09Why is that? What is it about fasting that helps break the back of pride in your life.
- 19:19And, you know, God says he's opposed to the proud. It's a strong statement.
- 19:24But he pours out grace on the humble. That's right. How does fasting help us get there?
- 19:31Yeah, well, Pastor, I think it goes back to this whole element of not depending
- 19:39on ourselves, because we can't fast if we're depending on ourselves.
- 19:44And I think God uses the simplicity of the weakness that may come at times in
- 19:50our bodies in relationship to fasting.
- 19:54I think there's also an uncovering of sin that goes on in fasting.
- 19:59And that's oftentimes when we have pride revealed to us because we slow down long enough.
- 20:10And we finally hear what God is saying to us and God is reminding us,
- 20:16son, you need to understand this isn't about you.
- 20:20And how many times have we gone to the school of pride, the school and the woodshed about our pride?
- 20:32I mean, I will never forget the moment.
- 20:35Early morning, early morning.
- 20:38In the first 40-day fast I ever went to, and God tore me up one morning early
- 20:47because I couldn't sleep.
- 20:49I got up with my Bible, laid on the living room floor, and I said, God, what's wrong?
- 20:56What's wrong? And God showed me in that time that the problem with our church was not the church.
- 21:06The problem is you. You are full of pride. You are full of yourself.
- 21:14And he crushed me.
- 21:17Isaiah 57, 15 is the text he used to take me to the wood shed.
- 21:27Because there's two places God dwells.
- 21:31He dwells with the high and the holy hill.
- 21:35And he dwells with the humble and the contrite. So how much of God do you want?
- 21:44God doesn't share his glory with anybody. How much of God do you want?
- 21:50In your church or yourself or whatever.
- 21:54And on that night, early morning, I remember writing down a statement and I
- 22:01don't know where it came from except God.
- 22:07When pride walks on the platform God walks off wow.
- 22:17And I try my very best to the glory of God and by the grace of God since that
- 22:24day to try not to ever let my pride walk on the platform because I want God.
- 22:33I mean, if they don't hear from God, Lord, do you think I'm going to help them?
- 22:37I'm not. Yeah. What good is that? Yeah.
- 22:39What good is that? That's a quick fix, man. It's probably real quick with me.
- 22:45You know, you never forget a moment like that.
- 22:48I had in 1986 during a life action meeting in our church, and I was sitting
- 23:00on the front row and I was saying,
- 23:03God, send revival to me first. I need it.
- 23:05And before I knew what was happening, I was on my face. the Delphais McHale was preaching.
- 23:13And the Lord was just that same experience, Ronnie.
- 23:16He just said, Bill, why is it that you get upset when your wife didn't even
- 23:22remember what you preached last Sunday?
- 23:24That's pride. Why is it that you always have to weave your name in the conversation?
- 23:29That's pride. And I'm telling you, Ronnie, he walked through this litany.
- 23:33And I've often said it was the most bittersweet, precious, grueling experience of my life.
- 23:41And I never, he just showed me the groundwork of my heart. I was just full of pride.
- 23:48I've just never forgotten that moment. I forget it temporarily,
- 23:53but you know, all of us need that watershed moment.
- 23:59Yes. When we come to the end of ourself and see the depth of our pride. That's right.
- 24:05And fasting, I think you're saying, and I would agree with this, is...
- 24:10It's just one of the many means that God can use to take us there.
- 24:17And if there's somebody listening today who says, man, I feel distant from God.
- 24:22I don't I don't love the Lord like I once did.
- 24:26I just find that I I'm kind of doing everything in the energy of the flesh.
- 24:31And we're not seeing God move in our church. We're not seeing God move in my
- 24:36family or, you know, one of these here. We don't have time to go into it,
- 24:42but it's believing God for your family.
- 24:46And so many people have a prodigal child and, and, and, and, and God,
- 24:53I remember hearing James Dobson say that he and Shirley fasted every Friday
- 24:58during the whole, I think the whole course of their children's life till they
- 25:02got out of their homes every Friday for his son and daughter.
- 25:08And what a commitment and how the Lord can use that.
- 25:13So, Ronnie, you're just, we could talk for days about this and I would love
- 25:19every minute of it, but I want to encourage people to, we're going to pray together
- 25:24and I'm going to ask you to lead us.
- 25:27But I want to encourage people to buy the book.
- 25:30We're not selling books here, but I just want you to go to Amazon or wherever
- 25:36and get this book and just ask the Lord, God, are you calling me to a deeper level?
- 25:43Are you wanting more from me?
- 25:47Because I see God moving across our nation right now in a way that I haven't seen in 50 years.
- 25:54And we've been praying for it. We've been fasting for it for a long time.
- 25:58And I think we're in the foothills of revival where it's not the tsunami that
- 26:03we want to see, But we're in the foothills and we're seeing extraordinary things
- 26:08on college campuses and in churches.
- 26:11I think COVID was even a part of that that kind of brought us to the end of
- 26:15ourselves and got us ready for this.
- 26:18Even internationally, we're seeing that.
- 26:22And I don't want to miss that. God's moving across something we prayed for for 50 years.
- 26:28I don't want to be twiddling my thumbs over here while the Holy Spirit's moving.
- 26:33And I want to position myself for revival.
- 26:38And I think this book and just the emphasis of it and the whole tenor of it,
- 26:43just there's so many things in here that is not confined to one thing,
- 26:48but just so many things that would help us just position ourselves for revival and awakening.
- 26:56And Ronnie, we're so grateful you came these last weeks.
- 27:00And would you help us by praying over us?
- 27:04We're going to join with you in prayer, but pray over us, asking God to just
- 27:09get us in the right posture.
- 27:13I'll be glad to, Bill. Well, I tell you one thing I want to say before I lead us in prayer is this.
- 27:19I feel deeply led by the Spirit to say this to you, to everyone listening.
- 27:25You said the question comes, how is the church going to answer this moment in America?
- 27:32You know, America has some great moments of hope right now.
- 27:38And many people believe that we are entering a good era here in this nation.
- 27:45Some believe probably not. But regardless, what's our role as the church?
- 27:50I mean, what is the church supposed to do? I'll tell you what the church needs
- 27:54to do. The church needs to embrace the moment.
- 27:58Yes, we need to be the salt and the light in the culture, in the public square,
- 28:03unashamedly, with great boldness and commitment.
- 28:05But we need to be the ones who are doing what the world will not do, and that is pray.
- 28:14Pray, pray for America, pray and fast for America, pray and fast for the next
- 28:22great move of God that God wants to bring to this land.
- 28:26And we don't know where it's going to come from.
- 28:28We don't know who's going to have their life totally turned upside down.
- 28:33And we may not ever even know who they are.
- 28:36And that's fine. What we want to know is we want to know the presence of God
- 28:41and the power of God. And so with that, let's pray and petition the Lord about that today.
- 28:47Lord, you are calling people to pray and fast.
- 28:54Jesus did not say if you pray, if you give, and if you fast.
- 29:02He said when you pray, when you give, and when you fast.
- 29:07And Lord, I pray that we will find moments and times when God is speaking to us that we need to fast.
- 29:16We need to count the cost.
- 29:18Lord, I pray that churches will fast.
- 29:21We've turned prayer into a one minute transition moment in a worship service.
- 29:27Shame on us and we need to repent of it.
- 29:30Yes. God, we need the hand of God to come upon the church of God and Lord,
- 29:35upon churches in this country.
- 29:36And we pray for a mighty, mighty spiritual revival among multiple churches,
- 29:43hundreds and hundreds and even thousands of churches, hundreds of university campuses.
- 29:49Holy Spirit, fall.
- 29:51We plead with God that you would do that. And Lord, we need to be ready.
- 29:57And praying and fasting gets us ready. Praying and fasting escort us into the
- 30:04powerful presence and the supernatural power of God.
- 30:07So I pray, Lord, that we will go and be all that God wants us to be and to go where God wants us to go.
- 30:16Holy Spirit, move.
- 30:19Holy Spirit, fall. Give us a
- 30:22great outpouring of the spirit of God across America and around the world,
- 30:29sweeping literally millions into the kingdom of God. We will give you praise.
- 30:36We will give you glory. And we pray this in Jesus name.
- 30:40Amen. Amen. Amen.
- 30:46Well, strong day. Strong word. And thank you so much, Ronnie, for joining us.
- 30:53And, you know, the wonderful thing about a podcast is it's not confined to this
- 30:58moment. You can come back and listen to it anytime.
- 31:01And I want to encourage our listeners and go on to OneCry.com,
- 31:07get the link for this podcast and send it out.
- 31:11Put it out on social media. Say, hey, listen to this. You need to hear this.
- 31:15And because I think we've talked about some powerful things these last two weeks
- 31:22that people that you know and love need to hear and from a good,
- 31:27reputable source of someone who not only understands this topic biblically and
- 31:33theologically but has experienced it.
- 31:35You know, this is not, well, you ought to do this. I'm not going to do it,
- 31:39but you ought to do this. This is from someone who has been there and has seen
- 31:46the supernatural power of prayer and fasting.
- 31:50So I want you to get the book. I encourage you to do that.
- 31:54And join us again as we meet next week and cry out to the Lord with one cry.
- 32:00Thanks again for joining us.
- 32:02Music.