Latest / Gil I Am / Everything You Need to Know About Fasting __ How to Fast Step by Step

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Everything You Need to Know About Fasting __ How to Fast Step by Step · Gil I Am

0:07
Speaker 1: We love God, we love his spirit, but the human
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Speaker 1: side of us sometimes gets in the way. Sometimes we
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Speaker 1: feel distant from God. Sometimes we find ourselves an addiction.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes we need a refeel of God's presence within us.
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Speaker 1: And one powerful way to seek God for a fresh
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Speaker 1: feeling of his holy spirit power is to do what
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Speaker 1: Moses did, to do what Jesus did, what the apostles did,
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Speaker 1: pray and fast. Now, this episode is going to be
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Speaker 1: a little bit different from what we've done before. We're
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Speaker 1: going to split this message into three sections. First, we're
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Speaker 1: going to look at how fasting was done in the Bible,
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Speaker 1: and then we will look at how fasting affects our
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Speaker 1: spirit and our body. And then we will specifically looked
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Speaker 1: at how to fast step by step so that we
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Speaker 1: will do it in the most effective and safe way.
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Speaker 1: So this is going to be very important, and so
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Speaker 1: let's begin. So what is fasting? Simply put, fasting is
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Speaker 1: when you set aside something that your body enjoys so
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Speaker 1: that you can grow spiritually. Usually, in the Bible, the
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Speaker 1: most common thing that people would set aside was food.
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Speaker 1: And let's face it, there's anything that we like, it's food.
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Speaker 1: And so when God sees that you want so much
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Speaker 1: of Him that you are willing to sacrifice something like food.
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Speaker 1: Oh Oh, it moves the heart of God, and it
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Speaker 1: allows for us to feed the most important part of us,
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Speaker 1: our spirit. Look at what God said through the prophet
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Speaker 1: Joel even now declares, the Lord return to me with
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Speaker 1: all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. God
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Speaker 1: honors when we are willing to return to Him and
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Speaker 1: put him before our body. When we sacrifice our appetites,
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Speaker 1: it does something powerful in the spiritual realm. God honors it.
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Speaker 1: And it is important to note that fasting is not
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Speaker 1: just about missing a meal. It's not just like going
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Speaker 1: on a diet. No, Fasting is really all about seeking
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Speaker 1: God and drawing closer to Him. When the prophet Isaiah
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Speaker 1: was teaching, he explained that it is important that we
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Speaker 1: fast in a way that honors God. In Isaiah fifty eight,
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Speaker 1: he lets the people of Israel know that they're fast
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Speaker 1: was not honored because they just did as they pleased
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Speaker 1: while they were fasting. Look at what he says. Why
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Speaker 1: have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it?
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Speaker 1: Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed yet?
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Speaker 1: On the day of your fasting, you do as you please,
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Speaker 1: You exploit all of your workers. Your fasting ends and
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Speaker 1: quarreling and strife and in striking each other with wicked fists.
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Speaker 1: You cannot fast as you do today and expect your
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Speaker 1: voice to be heard on high. The principle here is
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Speaker 1: when you fast, change your schedule, you have to change
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Speaker 1: your mind. It's a time of seeking God more than ever.
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Speaker 1: If you're fasting and your prayer life is not changing,
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Speaker 1: you're seeking of God is not changing. You're not fasting,
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Speaker 1: you're dieting. And so if you're going to seek God
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Speaker 1: more than ever, that may mean that during a time
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Speaker 1: of fasting, you may have to cut back on the television,
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Speaker 1: take a break from games, start reading the Bible, that's
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Speaker 1: a big one, and binge watch Jesus content instead of
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Speaker 1: fantasy movies. Fasting is about appnormally putting God first above everything.
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Speaker 1: And you may wonder do I really have to fast? Well,
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Speaker 1: let me ask you this, how much of God do
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Speaker 1: you want? Do you want His spirit to work powerfully
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Speaker 1: through you, to lead you? I mean that's the question,
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Speaker 1: how much of God do you want? Look at Jesus,
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Speaker 1: he fasted, and since Christ is our model. How much
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Speaker 1: more should we now? Why is Jesus our model? Well,
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Speaker 1: when Jesus died on the cross, he allowed us in
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Speaker 1: a way to become the body that he sacrificed. The
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Speaker 1: scriptures say that we now have His spirit living within us,
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Speaker 1: which allow us to literally now be the body of
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Speaker 1: Christ on earth. You know, because the spirit of Christ
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Speaker 1: is within us, and so you're earthly life now is
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Speaker 1: a parallel of the earthly life of Christ. It's really
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Speaker 1: deep you really think about it. This is why if
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Speaker 1: you're now the body of Christ, his spirit is within you,
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Speaker 1: and so your life now must parallel his life. Now
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Speaker 1: you see why if Jesus got baptized, we also should
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Speaker 1: be baptized. If Jesus prayed, of course we also must pray.
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Speaker 1: And if Jesus fasted, we should also follow his example
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Speaker 1: by fasting as well. Matthew four, Verse one. Jesus was
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Speaker 1: led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
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Speaker 1: by the devil, and after fasting forty days and forty nights,
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Speaker 1: he was hungry. Jesus fasted, and we see in the
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Speaker 1: scripture that Jesus lived a lifestyle of fasting, and he
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Speaker 1: taught his followers to do so as well. In Matthew
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Speaker 1: six point sixteen, he says, when you fast, do not
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Speaker 1: look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their
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Speaker 1: faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly, I
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Speaker 1: tell you they have received their reward in full. But
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Speaker 1: when you fast, put oil on your head, wash your
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Speaker 1: face so that it will not be obvious to others
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Speaker 1: that you are fasting. But only to your father in heaven,
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Speaker 1: who was unseen, and your father, who sees what has
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Speaker 1: done in secret, will reward you. First of all, notice
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Speaker 1: that Jesus didn't say if you fast when he was
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Speaker 1: talking to them. He said when you fast. And so
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Speaker 1: therefore it is implied that believers are expected to fast,
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Speaker 1: just as we pray we are expected too fast. And
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Speaker 1: he shows here a principle that when you fast, don't
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Speaker 1: make it obvious. Don't show off as the religious people do.
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Speaker 1: Don't try to go and show off in front of people. Oh,
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Speaker 1: I'm so holy, bragging about it. No, keep it to yourself,
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Speaker 1: keep it between you and God. And if you do so,
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Speaker 1: as Christ says, your father in heaven will reward you.
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Speaker 1: And we also see more reasons why Jesus fasted. In
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Speaker 1: Matthew Chapter seventeen, Jesus was a man of power. He
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Speaker 1: was known for healing the sick and being able to
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Speaker 1: cast out evil spirits that had possessed people. And in
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Speaker 1: chapter seventeen, Jesus was able to cast out an evil
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Speaker 1: spirit from a child. And his disciples they saw this,
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Speaker 1: and they wondered how he was able to do that,
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Speaker 1: because they had previously tried to cast out the evil
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Speaker 1: spirit and they couldn't do it. And so they asked, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: you know, how were you able to cast the spirit out?
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Speaker 1: But we couldn't. And look at what Jesus says to
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Speaker 1: them Matthew seventeen twenty one kjv. Howbeit this kind goeth
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Speaker 1: not out but by prayer and fasting. And again we
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Speaker 1: see that this same event is described in Mark nine,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty nine. And again he said, unto them, this
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Speaker 1: kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.
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Speaker 1: And so here we see another example of how Jesus fasted.
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Speaker 1: And because of that he had a greeter's spiritual ability.
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Speaker 1: And I know someone may say, well, Jesus is the almighty,
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Speaker 1: can't he just do anything? Well, we have to remember
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Speaker 1: that Jesus came to us in a human body, and
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Speaker 1: so he did the things that we as humans have
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Speaker 1: to do to be used by God. And one of them,
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Speaker 1: as Jesus practiced and demonstrated, is fast. And we see
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Speaker 1: that after Jesus ascended to heaven and poured his spirit
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Speaker 1: out on those who followed him, they too began fasting.
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Speaker 1: Look at what happened in next chapter thirteen. While they
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Speaker 1: were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
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Speaker 1: set apart for me, Barnabason saw for the work to
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Speaker 1: which I have called them. It was after fasting that
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit's said, now I am ready to use
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Speaker 1: Barnabas and Saul for the work I have for them.
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Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit spoke to them. And so when we
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Speaker 1: ask you know, do I really have to fast? The
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Speaker 1: question is are you ready for the Holy Spirit to
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Speaker 1: speak to you? There is an assignment on your life.
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Speaker 1: God has a work for you to do. And you know,
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Speaker 1: sometimes we are always waiting on God. But in reality,
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Speaker 1: God is often waiting on us to worship him, to pray,
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Speaker 1: and sometimes he's waiting on us to fast. And then
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit will speak to you and tell you
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Speaker 1: where to go. Acts Chapter thirteen, verse three. And so
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Speaker 1: after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands
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Speaker 1: on them and sent them off again. In Acts fourteen
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Speaker 1: we see fasting. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them
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Speaker 1: in each church, and with prayer and fasting, committed them
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Speaker 1: to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.
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Speaker 1: And so here we see that they also fasted before
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Speaker 1: committing others into the work of the Lord. And so
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Speaker 1: we see in these chapters here the value of fasting
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Speaker 1: as being a critical part of being in service to God.
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Speaker 1: You could almost say fasting creates an atmosphere for people
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Speaker 1: to move into their ministry. Now, in Mark chapter two,
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Speaker 1: Jesus breaks down fasting even further and he compares it
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Speaker 1: to a new wine being poured into new wine skins.
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Speaker 1: And so that's so deep, and we don't have time
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Speaker 1: to get into that very complex subject here. But if
12:48
Speaker 1: you go to AOC network dot org and then you
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Speaker 1: click on Exploring the Bible series and then you go
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Speaker 1: to where it says Patreon videos, you can watch our
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Speaker 1: study video on that subject, and it's pretty deep, and
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Speaker 1: I believe you will enjoy that. And so now let
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Speaker 1: us discuss what happens to our spirit and our body
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Speaker 1: when we fast. With biblical fasting, the maximum one is
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Speaker 1: shown to fast in scripture is around forty days. And
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Speaker 1: so that has to be brought up because I know
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Speaker 1: some of you are going to be so amped up
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Speaker 1: that you know you're gonna say, well, if Jesus fasted
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Speaker 1: forty days, then I'm going to fast forty days too,
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Speaker 1: And you know that is a very long time. And
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Speaker 1: so you know, we have to remember that Jesus was
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Speaker 1: led to fast that long. Moses also was led to
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Speaker 1: fast that long, and he was in the very presence
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Speaker 1: of God like in a physical way of sustaining him.
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Speaker 1: And so it's it's not something you do because you think, well,
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Speaker 1: forty days, that's a good idea. You know, it's something
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Speaker 1: you have to be really pushed and driven to do
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Speaker 1: by God. And nowhere in scripture do we see anyone
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Speaker 1: fasting more than forty days. In fact, it is likely
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Speaker 1: that if you were to fast for more than forty
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Speaker 1: days that you would be heading towards extremely dangerous levels.
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Speaker 1: In fact, what we usually see in scripture and what
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Speaker 1: most believers practice today are much shorter fasts. Many go
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Speaker 1: on a three day fast or even better a seven
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Speaker 1: day fast, some going fourteen day fast or even a
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Speaker 1: twenty one day fast, and God honors all of these
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Speaker 1: and they are beneficial in many ways, especially anything between
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Speaker 1: seven and twenty one day fast. So again, anyone thinking
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Speaker 1: of going forty days, you know, I would just exercise
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Speaker 1: extra extreme discernment with that and caution and prayer. You know,
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Speaker 1: I know some just jump into things, and we want
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Speaker 1: to make sure that we are always led. And in fact,
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Speaker 1: medically speaking, it is interesting. Scientists say that the body
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Speaker 1: can survive without food for thirty to forty days only
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Speaker 1: if you are properly hydrated with plenty of water. Around
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Speaker 1: after thirty to forty days, the body begins to enter
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Speaker 1: extreme dangerous levels of starvation and one can experience organ failure.
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Speaker 1: That also depends on how much body fat you had
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Speaker 1: before you even began fasting that long. But yes, the
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Speaker 1: body I can go without food for a while when
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Speaker 1: it is properly hydrated. In fact, I think a good
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Speaker 1: example of what the human body can sustain is Gandhi.
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Speaker 1: He for political purposes went without food for twenty one
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Speaker 1: days with only water. You survived it. So just from
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Speaker 1: a healthy standpoint, Yes, the body can go without food.
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Speaker 1: I don't mean if you are concerned about that, And
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Speaker 1: of course, if you know that you have some underlying
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Speaker 1: health issues and that you have to monitor certain things
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Speaker 1: within your body, talk to your physician about how your
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Speaker 1: body may be able to handle fasting in the best way.
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Speaker 1: But it must be said that many studies do show
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Speaker 1: that going without food for a time can have health benefits.
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Speaker 1: For one, fasting helps to break the addiction to bad,
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Speaker 1: unhealthy eating habits that we develop over time. There's something
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Speaker 1: about seeking God through fasting that just empowers you to
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Speaker 1: set aside things that normally you just wouldn't be able
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Speaker 1: to do. Fasting gives the body a chance to consume
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Speaker 1: the gunk and junk that we've been feeding it, old
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Speaker 1: food residue that is within our bodies that has been collected.
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Speaker 1: Fasting allows the body to eat that bacteria and to
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Speaker 1: consume all of that old residue and to clean out
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Speaker 1: toxins from the food that we have been consuming. And
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Speaker 1: so during a fast there is a cleansing that will
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Speaker 1: take place not only within your body, but also within
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Speaker 1: your tongue. Your taste buds will be renewed. You will,
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Speaker 1: after a fast, begin to enjoy natural foods in a
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Speaker 1: way that you could not have imagined. An apple will
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Speaker 1: be like dessert. And these are just some of the
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Speaker 1: physical benefits of faster. Spiritually, it's even more beneficial. You see,
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Speaker 1: fasting is really about starving the flesh or the physical body,
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Speaker 1: and instead feeding the spirit. It's about becoming a balanced
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Speaker 1: human again. As long as you have an earthly body,
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Speaker 1: we need to fast from time to time to decrease
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Speaker 1: the land lusts and the cravings of the body, and
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Speaker 1: to increase our cravings for the things of the spirit.
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Speaker 1: Fasting will allow your spirit to be fed, and you
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Speaker 1: will find that you will start craving the things of
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Speaker 1: God more. And that's an amazing state to be in
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Speaker 1: because there is no negative side to feeding the spirit.
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Speaker 1: So specifically, how do we fast. The main thing that
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Speaker 1: we must do during a fast is seek God with
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Speaker 1: all of our hearts with abnormal zeal. True fasting is
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Speaker 1: when you use the time that you would have used
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Speaker 1: to prepare meals and eat for time with God. You
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Speaker 1: are showing God that He is more important than your belly.
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Speaker 1: During a fast, wake up earlier and have prayer time
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Speaker 1: with God as Jesus often did now before you begin
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Speaker 1: a fast. I know some of you may be starting
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Speaker 1: a fast tomorrow, but if you, you know, have some
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Speaker 1: time between now and when you will fast, Ideally you
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Speaker 1: will want to eat very, very healthy leading up to
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Speaker 1: a fast, mainly fruits, vegetables, water. And the reason why
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Speaker 1: is because whenever you fast, you're going to get intense
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Speaker 1: withdrawal symptoms. We just got to live with it. It's
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Speaker 1: going to happen. Your stumach's gonna ache, you're gonna be
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Speaker 1: lightheaded for a while, You're gonna have really bad headaches.
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Speaker 1: And the reason why is because many of us are
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Speaker 1: addicted to food and ingredients like caffeine. But if you
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Speaker 1: eat very healthy about a week leading up to a fast,
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Speaker 1: you're you're gonna still experience some withdrawals, but you will
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Speaker 1: experience less intense withdrawals. And so that's just a heads up.
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Speaker 1: You know the body will fight you in this, but
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Speaker 1: once you get over that withdrawal hump, you thrive in this.
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Speaker 1: And finally, your spirit will control you, not your body.
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Speaker 1: So what type of fast should you do? Well, that
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Speaker 1: is between you and God. He is the one who
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Speaker 1: will lead you and give your spirit the right idea
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Speaker 1: about how many days you should fast and what type
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Speaker 1: of fast you should partake in. Some people are led
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Speaker 1: to fast for three days, some people are led to
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Speaker 1: fast seven days, ten, fourteen, twenty one, even forty days.
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Speaker 1: And so you have to seek God for guidance on
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Speaker 1: how long you should fast and he will give you
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Speaker 1: peace and confidence about it. Types of fast? What types
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Speaker 1: of fast are there? There's three main types were going
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Speaker 1: to cover here. The first one is what is referred
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Speaker 1: to as a sunset fast. With this fast, you only
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Speaker 1: eat one meal per day after sunset. One reason why
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Speaker 1: is because with Jewish days, after sunset that's the end
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Speaker 1: of the day in a way. So basically you just
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Speaker 1: spend the whole day seeking God, prayer, studying the Word,
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Speaker 1: watching Jesus content like you're doing right now, and then
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Speaker 1: after sunset you eat. And it is very common and
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Speaker 1: beneficial for believers to practice what is referred to as
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Speaker 1: the Daniel fast at the same time as a sunset fast,
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Speaker 1: to eat in that way. What am I referring to, Well,
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Speaker 1: there was a point in scripture where for ten days
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Speaker 1: Daniel only ate vegetables, fruit, and water to honor God
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Speaker 1: and to seek God and at another point he did
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Speaker 1: this for twenty one days, and God greatly honored him
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Speaker 1: and blessed him with great revelation and visions, as you know.
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Speaker 1: And so it is very beneficial to do a Daniel
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Speaker 1: type of eating during the sunset fast in your one meal.
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Speaker 1: That meal would only consist of vegetables, fruits, and water.
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Speaker 1: No meats, no breads, no sweets, no, none of that.
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Speaker 1: We see that Daniel he mourned, and we know why
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Speaker 1: because he wasn't eating what he wanted. The King James
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Speaker 1: version and Daniel chapter one, verse twelve says that he
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Speaker 1: only ate pulse, which would basically include foods that you know,
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Speaker 1: we grow, such as fruit and vegetables and water. And
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Speaker 1: so the Daniel fast is really not that complicated. Sometimes,
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Speaker 1: you know, we ask questions like, well, can I have
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Speaker 1: dairy products? Can I have milk? No, it's vegetables, fruit
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Speaker 1: and water. That's it. Now. Of course fruit could include
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Speaker 1: fruit juice, you know. But you know, we often over
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Speaker 1: complicate things, you know. You know, we try to do
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Speaker 1: Daniel fast casse roles and all these fancy dishes to
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Speaker 1: make it taste good, but actually it's not supposed to
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Speaker 1: taste good. You know, this is a time of mourning
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Speaker 1: rather than creating new recipes and spending more time cooking. No,
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Speaker 1: it's about not doing that. It's about sacrifice and spending
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Speaker 1: our time seeking God, not trying to make green beans
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Speaker 1: taste good. Okay, So keep it's simple, okay, And I
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Speaker 1: recommend eating that one meal after sunset, And after sunset
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Speaker 1: is great because then of course you can spend the
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Speaker 1: whole day to not even think about food, but only
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Speaker 1: about your walk with God and get the most out
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Speaker 1: of your fast. The second type of fasting that is
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Speaker 1: really the main way that the people of God in
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Speaker 1: scripture fasted, is the full day fast. That's right, full
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Speaker 1: day okay, twenty four hours. That's no food, only water. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Now there are some who will practice a full day
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Speaker 1: fast and they will have water and fruit juices. You know,
23:37
Speaker 1: many will do that, But again that's something that you
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Speaker 1: have to pray about and seek God on what exactly
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Speaker 1: is He calling you to specifically fast from. That's between
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Speaker 1: you and God. There's no food on that type of fasting,
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Speaker 1: not really anything to complicate there, just don't eat, drink water.
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Speaker 1: And the third type of fast is the specialized fast. Okay,
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Speaker 1: the specialized fast is a type of fast where the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit leads you to fast from certain foods, drinks,
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Speaker 1: or even certain actions for a period of time so
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Speaker 1: that you can seek Him with everything you have, and
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you with
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Speaker 1: the right ideas about what you need to set aside
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Speaker 1: as you seek God during a fast, you're going to
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Speaker 1: want to stay very, very hydrated, drink plenty of water,
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Speaker 1: at least eight glasses a day. That will help to
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Speaker 1: flesh out your system and it will help you to
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Speaker 1: get through this much better. Those are the three main
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Speaker 1: ways to fast that we see for many of you.
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Speaker 1: That isn't too much new information. But what is rare
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Speaker 1: and kind of new that we don't hear many talk
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Speaker 1: about is how we should eat once the fast is over.
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Speaker 1: This is very important, especially if you're going on a
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Speaker 1: longer fast, anything more than seven days. You're going to
24:54
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you safely in that fast.
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Speaker 1: You see, fast can place your body in such a
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Speaker 1: purified state that if you immediately end a fast and
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Speaker 1: then start just eating meat and bread and unhealthy foods,
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Speaker 1: you know people have died from that. Especially if you're
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Speaker 1: going a really long fast, you know you're going to
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Speaker 1: twenty one day no food fast and then you celebrate
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Speaker 1: with a junk food feast. That would be very very
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Speaker 1: bad for you. And if you don't die, you will
25:27
Speaker 1: feel like you're going through. And so if you have
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Speaker 1: been doing a fast, it is important to get your
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Speaker 1: body used to food again. And so the first few
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Speaker 1: days three four days after a fast, try to eat
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Speaker 1: very very light, not many calories. Only eat soups, fruits,
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Speaker 1: and vegetables. Give your body a chance to adjust to
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Speaker 1: food again with small portions. And then after that time
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Speaker 1: you can start to resume normal eating, but healthy eating,
25:54
Speaker 1: you know, I mean during a fast, this is your
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Speaker 1: chance to overcome food addictions and you're going to have
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Speaker 1: a clean and pure body. So the last thing God
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Speaker 1: would want us to do is to clean his temple
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Speaker 1: and then return to bad eating habits. That's killing us.
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Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna say this, some of us are
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Speaker 1: killing ourselves with how we eat, killing ourselves, and we
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Speaker 1: know it. Listen, we cannot look down on someone who
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Speaker 1: is addicted to crack or cigarettes if we are addicted
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Speaker 1: to French fries and fried food, because it doesn't matter
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Speaker 1: what the substance is. If it's killing you. Satan's gonna win.
26:38
Speaker 1: Satan doesn't care if he kills you with a crack
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Speaker 1: pipe or with a slice of pizza. He just wants
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Speaker 1: you dead. He just doesn't want to see God's will
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Speaker 1: done in your life. He's gonna try to kill you
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Speaker 1: by any means, and it may be with food. I
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Speaker 1: know this is a tough message because I'm speaking to
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Speaker 1: someone here, but many of us have been killing ourselves
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Speaker 1: with food, and God says enough is enough. There's time
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Speaker 1: for my people to purify themselves and prepare for me
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Speaker 1: to work through them. But I can't do that if
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Speaker 1: they are addicted to what's going to put them in
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Speaker 1: an early grave. Satan will not win. And this is
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Speaker 1: why we're going to fast. After your fast, eat in
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Speaker 1: a way that honors the temple of God. Focus on
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Speaker 1: eating smaller portions, more fruits, more vegetables, and drink more water.
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Speaker 1: We got Google, It's easy to research how to eat healthy.
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Speaker 1: There's no excuse these days. We know what to do,
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Speaker 1: and God will give you the power to do it. Now.
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Speaker 1: If this is so new to you, fasting and you
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Speaker 1: want to enter this, but you don't know if you're
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Speaker 1: ready to do a full you know, seven day, full
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Speaker 1: day fast. One thing that you can do is these
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Speaker 1: three types of fasting, you can actually combine them and
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Speaker 1: mix them up, you know, as the Holy Spirit leads you.
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Speaker 1: I myself have sometimes practiced the sunset fast for a
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Speaker 1: few days and then transition into a full day fast.
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Speaker 1: God honors that because you're still setting sight things that
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Speaker 1: the body wants to feed his spirit. He loves that
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Speaker 1: you're seeking him and setting things aside and sacrificing. So
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Speaker 1: you can mix it up, mix it up to what
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Speaker 1: God is leading you to do. But again, whenever you're
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Speaker 1: done with it, don't just binge eat terrible food as
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Speaker 1: a celebration, because that can really mess you up. And
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Speaker 1: if you haven't seen our recent fasting commentary video on
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Speaker 1: the dangers of eating the wrong foods after fast, please
28:47
Speaker 1: see that video. It's so important. It's in our commentary
28:51
Speaker 1: section great content there on the dangers of eating bad
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Speaker 1: after fast, So definitely check that out. And the last
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Speaker 1: thing I will say on this is that when you
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Speaker 1: are fasting, be vigilant. Satan knows that you are seeking God.
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Speaker 1: He knows that you are about to be empowered for
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Speaker 1: the kingdom, and so he will try everything that he
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Speaker 1: can to stop you. And we know that Jesus, who
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Speaker 1: modeled the Christian life, demonstrated how during a fast, the
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Speaker 1: enemy will try to tempt you to sin and will
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Speaker 1: try to tempt you to cheat on your fast, and
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Speaker 1: so expect it. Remember the biggest temptation of Christ came
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Speaker 1: while he was fasting, and so that is a lesson
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Speaker 1: for us because we know that, you know, Jesus was perfect,
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Speaker 1: and so of course he didn't give in to that
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Speaker 1: temptation to break his fast. But with us being imperfect
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Speaker 1: and being prone to making mistakes, it's possible that some
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Speaker 1: of us could slip up during fast. Okay, it's possible.
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Speaker 1: And if you do fall, if you end up eating
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Speaker 1: a French fry, whatever happens, don't give up on your fast.
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Speaker 1: Whatever happens during your fast, don't let it cause you
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Speaker 1: to drop out. No, you come back stronger than ever.
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Speaker 1: You repent, you dust yourself off, and the next day
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Speaker 1: you continue seeking the Lord with everything you have during
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Speaker 1: your fast. So many of us have had moments where
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Speaker 1: we have fallen during a fast and then we just
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Speaker 1: gave up and didn't continue the fast. And that's what
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Speaker 1: the enemy wants. He doesn't want you to get what
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Speaker 1: God wants to give to you. He doesn't want you
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Speaker 1: to break free and break out of chains. But I'm
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Speaker 1: here to say this, whenever you fall, do not tap out. No,
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Speaker 1: that's when you go harder than ever. That's when you
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Speaker 1: seek God even stronger, and you will not lose your
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Speaker 1: reward because God is honoring the fact that you are
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Speaker 1: seeking Him, and what pleases him is that you are
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Speaker 1: determined to finish your fast no matter what. Fasting is
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Speaker 1: a time that you set aside to go into battle
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Speaker 1: with your flesh. And this is a lifelong thing that
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Speaker 1: we do because the war between the spirit and the
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Speaker 1: body won't completely be over until when, well, when Jesus returns,
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Speaker 1: and then we are raised and we receive a new body,
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Speaker 1: then the body won't ever be a problem for us anymore.
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Speaker 1: But in this age, we fight the flesh, we suppress
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Speaker 1: the flesh, and we fast. So get serious about it.
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Speaker 1: Set the date on the calendar and commit to it
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Speaker 1: as soon as the Holy Spirit leads you to do it.
32:00
Speaker 1: And for much more on the details of fasting, be
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Speaker 1: sure to visit aocnetwork dot org and in our Bible
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Speaker 1: study resources, you will find the Fasting Guide and it
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Speaker 1: breaks down even more about this and it will be
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Speaker 1: a great read for you. I'm during your time of
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Speaker 1: fasting and stay tuned. We have an upcoming video on
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Speaker 1: walking in the Spirit, but before that we will also
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Speaker 1: have a video on well You'll see God bless you.