And you can be turning your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17. We continue in our series on prayer. We don't know how many weeks this series is going to be, but we're just gonna go till the Lord wants us on a different topic. All right. So Matthew chapter 17, we talked about why pray. We talked about some important ingredients of prayer so far. Tonight, it may seem like it's a little bit out of order and yet, We need to do something for those that want a little bit deeper, and we'll go back and cover some other stuff, but we're talking about prayer and fasting tonight. Notice in Matthew chapter 17, beginning in verse 14, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic. and sore vexed, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Man, that's a promise, isn't it? Think about that. Was he kidding? You think he was kidding? I don't believe so. I don't believe he's kidding either. And yet that's a far cry from the average Christian's experience. That ought to be a challenge to us because the problem obviously is not with him. It's with us. Look at the next verse. How be it this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. Let's pray. Father, we come to you now in the name of the Lord Jesus, and I beg you tonight for the filling of the Holy Spirit of God that these spiritual truths would go deep into our hearts. We're gonna look at several scriptures tonight. And God, I just pray that we would have hearts that would be open to you and your might and your power and just simply take you at your word. We don't have to figure everything out. Just need to believe what you've said in your word and then practice it. Lord, have your way in our lives and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name, amen. Well, in Luke's passage, by the way, in this passage, chapter 17 of the book of Matthew, and in Luke chapter 9, those are both chapters that deal with the Mount of Transfiguration experience. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John up onto the Mount, and there Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus and spoke of His coming to see Jerusalem. When they came back down the mountain, they join up with the other disciples. And they find that there has been a problem while they've been gone. A man brought his son who was demon-possessed to the disciples. They tried to cast the son out, the demon out, and they could not do it. So the man in desperation, now that Jesus is there, turns to Jesus. Jesus looks at the disciples. Why didn't you cast them? And they ask, why couldn't we cast them out? And he said, because of your unbelief. Now that's an interesting statement considering in Luke chapter 9 and verse 1, Jesus gave them power to cast out demons. And here was a demon that they did not have power, it seems, to cast him out. Now immediately there will be some lessons for us. As a matter of fact, notice over in Luke chapter 9, since I referred to the passage, let's turn over to it. Get a type of parallel account of what's going on here in verse 37 It says and it came to pass that on the next day when they were come down from the hill Much people met him and behold a man of the company cried out saying master I beseech thee look upon my son for he is mine only child and lowest spirit taketh him and suddenly crieth out and it teareth him that he foameth again and bruising him hardly departed from him and I besought thy disciples to cast him out and and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son thither." Let me stop right there for just a moment. You notice when Jesus rebuked even his own disciples, he spoke rather harshly. I mean, that sounds pretty harsh to me. O faithless and perverse generation, They didn't go running off to the next Messiah. They took the rebuke and they stayed with him. They took the rebuke and they learned. I mean, today, if a pastor talked like that to some church members, people get all upset. They wonder what's wrong. Maybe the preacher's just being like Jesus. Think about it now. I'm just telling you, think about it. This was rather stern what Jesus said to them. So notice we go on verse 42. And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down and tear him and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child, delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power God but while they wondered everyone at all the things which Jesus did he said to his disciples Let these things these sayings sink down into your ears for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men Now he said let this thing sink down Give it some thought. I think that's part of our problem We read a lot of Bible and we don't even stop to give much thought about what's going on. I I guarantee you a lot of people have read over this and they've read it several times, but they never thought, yeah, that's Jesus talking very, very harshly, not to the drunken crowd, not to the morally loose crowd, but to his own disciples. He calls them a faithless and perverse generation. Now, I just want to point that out to you for you to get it. But Jesus, He doesn't say it in Luke, at least it's not recorded in Luke, but in Matthew and Mark it's recorded, that He says, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Now granted, Jesus had given them power over demons, Luke chapter 9 and verse 1, but not all demons. We know from the scripture that there are different ranks of demons. For instance, there's principalities, there's powers, there's the rulers of darkness, there's wickedness in high places. Some may come out with a simple command. For instance, when Paul and Silas had the demon-possessed girl following them around at Philippi, Paul simply turned and rebuked the demon in the girl, and the demon left. But then you have cases like this, this particular case where Jesus said, this doesn't go out except by prayer and fasting. There are certain prayers that will not be answered without. Fasting. Now, I haven't taken a survey. I don't have a clue what the statistics would be. But I wonder how many people, how many of our people, let's say in the last six months, have had at least one time of prayer and fasting. And I'm not talking about fasting to lose weight or fasting to be physically cleansed. I'm talking about fasting and prayer going together. There's some things that's not gonna happen until people get serious enough to be willing to fast. Now, the most normal type of fast or food fast, there are some. Matter of fact, in reading different articles about fasting, there can be a television fast. I don't think that was in the scripture. I thought, wow, fasting from television. That's gotta be a gigantic break right there. That must take a lot of self-will and fortitude. To me, there's a big difference between fasting. and fasting from television. Fasting from television in order to pray. Actually, probably a whole lot of us ought to fast from computers and television, and then we'd be able to pray more and have clearer heads and clearer hearts to pray more. But I'm not preaching on fasting from television tonight. I just thought that was an interesting mention. The most normal kind of fast in the scripture deal with food fast, although sometimes it was a combination of both food and drink. They tell us that man can live about 40 days without food, he can live about 3 days without water, and about 8 minutes without air. I do not recommend having an air fast, by the way. There's some interesting facts in the scripture, some fast in the scripture, Jonah chapter three. Of course, you've got Jonah preaching to the city of Nineveh in 40 days, God's gonna destroy you. And the fear of God came upon them, the king got right, the city got right, they proclaimed a fast, the king proclaimed a fast to the whole city because they were getting right with God. Now, these were a bunch of Gentiles who recognize that they deserve judgment And they went without, they didn't want to be destroyed. And so they fasted and they made it so serious. They even put the sackcloth on the head of the animals and the animals were not allowed to eat either. Not that they made a conscious choice to fast, but they were not to be fed anything as well to show the humility of a people. A people who'd been a wicked people of turning to God, that kind of a fast. In Daniel chapter six, King Darius, Fasted for Daniel. Now here's a man who was, as far as we know, an unbeliever. Here was a man who was a Gentile and we find him fasting for Daniel. In Luke chapter two and verse 37, we find Anna served the Lord in fasting at the temple and was there when Jesus was brought by his mother Mary. This is a neglected doctrine of the church today. I have not preached many messages on fasting in the years that I've been preaching. I've only preached just a very few. And yet just running off the word fast and fasting in the scripture, and I found over three pages worth of references to fasting. And you think, how can something practiced so often in the scripture, not just Old Testament, but New Testament as well, how can it be so foreign to most, quote unquote, Bible-believing Christians? Now, admittedly, most of the references are in the Old Testament, but that shouldn't change anything. The first three gospels recorded the question, remember, to Jesus about why did John's disciples fast, but yours don't. And he said, well, the bridegroom's with him now, but when the bridegroom's gone, then my disciples will fast as well. Well, he's been gone now for about 2,000 years. He's coming back. And it seems like the friends of the bridegroom have ceased fasting. So after his death-bound resurrection and ascension, we have some mentions in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 10 and verse 30, And Cornelius said, four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing. Now in the case of Cornelius, at the time that he fasted then, he was a lost man. Now, because he was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, he understood some things about the Old Testament and the mentioning of fasting and the importance of fasting among God's people in the Old Testament. But he was fasting because he wanted to know God better. And so, in response to his fasting, God sent an angel to him. Now that angel could not tell him how to be saved because God has not given that job to the angels. He's given it to the church. He's given it to his people. It's our responsibility to carry the gospel. How shall they hear except they Get a preacher. There's gotta be somebody to present the message. In Acts 14, 23, the Bible says, and when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. In Acts chapter 17 and verse 30, the apostle Paul is on the ship being driven by that storm in the Mediterranean. It says, and while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, this day is the 14th day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. So they had gone without eating on that rocking and rolling ship and had done that for two weeks. Paul called it fasting. No doubt many of them had cried out to God, did not look like they were going to survive. But you've got other mentions. For instance, Concerning husbands and wives 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 5 defraud ye not one the other talking about the physical responsibility That wives and husbands have to one another in marriage. He says defraud ye not one the other except it be with consent In other words, they both agree to it. So here we have a record that the husbands and wives, at times, are to fast and pray about certain things. Doesn't give necessarily the subject. It might be in the home, might be for the church, might be for the lost around them, who knows. In 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 5, Paul says, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, plural. Then you go to chapter 11 in 2 Corinthians and he gets in more detail. He says, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often. Here's the Apostle Paul. He personally practiced fastings often. Now, it does not say here the type of fast that he had. It doesn't say how long the fasts were that he had, but whatever he did, he did it often when the church was going to send out missionaries in Acts chapter 13, verse 2. And as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And then in verse 3, and when they had fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away before they sent out missionaries. The church fasted and pray. It's an important decision. And the church in the New Testament did that. Another interesting example is found over in the Old Testament. In Ezra chapter 8, beginning in verse 21, the scripture says, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king saying, the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted. and besought our God for this, and He was entreated of us." Now, in most of our cases, we simply would have recommended that people pray. And yet we find several times in the Word of God, men of God calling people to fast and pray, for particular needs. I believe it ties in with Hebrews 11, 6. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Now many of you have heard of the message, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached by Jonathan Edwards back in 1734. Now, that was the message and the meeting that they tell us began the great awakening when, of course, America was just a bunch of colonies that belonged to England. And it was in sorry spiritual shape. That message that Jonathan Edwards preached centers in the hands of an angry God. There are several things that are interesting about it. It's not an expository message. As a matter of fact, he seems to even take a part of a verse out of context from the book of Deuteronomy, "...and their feet shall slide." And he tied that in with sinners being cast into hell and not able to save themselves from the burning. He preached on the holiness of God and the judgment of God, but he didn't get up and preach like I preach. He had a text. He had a manuscript. I've got notes right here as well that I prepare. And you ought to thank God that I have notes. They're the only thing that keep me from preaching for three hours. I mean, really. I've got, it's like a railroad, a train on a track. I follow the track. This is the track. If I didn't have this track, I'm, because I got things coming in here all the time that sound, seem good to say, but they don't go along with what I'm actually talking about. All right? Anyway, he had his entire message typed out. They were in a relatively small church building, much lower ceiling. When he got up to speak in a dimly lit church, He simply read his text in a monotone. with a candlelight in front of him for him to be able to read. And while he was reading his message, sinners in the hands of an angry God, people began to cry out to God for mercy. They grabbed a hold of the pews in front of them or the pillars that came down in the auditorium as they had quite often back then, and grabbed a hold of those as tight as they could because they feared that the floor would drop away at any moment and they would be cast literally into hell. Now, that was a mighty moving of the Spirit of God. It obviously had nothing to do with His oratory. It had nothing to do with a brilliant expository message. It had everything to do with the power of God. Now, a lot of people tell that particular part of the story, but that's not where the power came from. For three days, Jonathan Edwards had cried out to God for revival. For three days, he had not eaten any food. For three days, he'd not drunk any water. For three days, he fasted and he prayed. And he got up and simply read the message in such a way that most of us media-driven people today would fall asleep at because it wouldn't have been interesting enough to even listen to. This kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. You have a bus route you want to see really do something? Have you thought about prayer and fasting? I mean, you have a Sunday school class that you teach that you're burdened about the fact that whoever's sitting in front of you there, they're just kind of sitting there, wait for the hour to end to get on to the next thing so they can eventually go out to eat on Sunday afternoon. And you say, man, I want to see more than that. Have you thought about prayer and fasting? There are some things that only happen by prayer and fasting. Now fasting, as I said, is often doing without food, sometimes without food and water, afflicting yourself because, and here is the because, because there is a great spiritual need. A couple of things about fasting. Normally, now this is generally speaking, it is easier for men to fast than ladies to fast. I'm talking about fasting like what we're talking about here. And people ought to fast for a number of reasons. They ought to fast for the church. They ought to fast for the preaching on Sunday. They ought to fast for their family. They ought to fast for the nation. If you've got a child that's going somewhat wayward, that ought to be worth fasting and prayer. I mean, if you're not willing to fast and pray for your own child, how much do we really love them? We're concerned about the direction we're headed and we're just gonna let it go without laying the groundwork ahead of them in prayer for God to put up roadblocks to keep them from the way that will turn them from what they've been raised up in. Fasting and prayer for brethren in need. We've had numbers of times at Madison Baptist Church in the past when we've had people with severe sicknesses like cancer. that we have felt led to ask people to fast, whether it be for one meal, whether it be for 24 hours, whether it be for two days or three days, we've asked people to fast and pray for those people. And we've seen God do some amazing things. But you know, it's hard to keep doing that, isn't it? Prayer is really, I mean, real prayer is really hard to do. It's easy to bow our head and say, Lord, I wanna thank you for this food, bless it to our bodies now in Jesus' name, amen. That's not so hard, that doesn't take any work. There's nothing to that. We get so used to saying it's become by rote memory. We say the same thing every time and we get it out of the way. But now that's thanking the Lord for the food. It's honoring him, yes, to be sure. But you've already got the food there that you're thanking him for. Fasting and prayer. Our nation's worth fasting and prayer. The reality is that we are in a battle. Turn over to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Fasting and prayer. Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10, take these verses very seriously. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Now, then he gives the armor of God, going down to verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, Notice, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. There's a lot of all's there. And he says, we're in a battle. And it's a battle against the devil and his minions. We are in a major battle. Several years ago, I remember hearing Dr. Howes preach a message called, we're shooting at the wrong king. This goes back to the beginnings of what was known as the moral majority. And of course, with the moral majority, something I could not be a part of. I mean, they included people who preached another gospel. I couldn't be a part of that. But nevertheless, but he preached that message you're shooting at the wrong King He says the danger is we're getting our people to sign up to be precinct captains So we can influence an election to get certain men in power and in many cases that got certain people in power But guess what? Our nation still went downhill He said, we're shooting at the wrong king. Too many times we get upset, whether it be somebody like Trump, or Obama, or Bush, or somebody else about different things that they're allowing going on, or decisions they're making, or simply their own philosophy about governing and all of that, when the reality is what we need to do is go to the God. The Bible says, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, and as the rivers of water He turneth it, whithersoever He will. He tells us in 1 Timothy 2 that we are to pray for all those that are in authority over us. I think that calls for some prayer and fasting. That's more than just wanting them to be saved, it's wanting to be saved and do right. To glorify God that we may live quiet and peaceably in these days, it's a battle. Go over to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. Notice the lesson that we have here in verse 3. He says for though we walk in the flesh We do not war after the flesh. I Think we're caught counting too much on our real physical firepower that we have in our homes Then we are in prayer I mean, we'll go practice, do all kinds of things, spends hours doing it, spend a lot of money getting ready for, you know, the day somebody breaks into the home or that they come for us one way or another. And he says, don't we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. You realize that the weapons that we have, this matter of the word of God, the matter of prayer, the matter of fasting and prayer is mighty that can change things. Now, if you don't believe that you have a God who can hear prayer and change things because of your prayer, then you don't believe in the God of the Bible. earnest, serious prayer to where you're willing to even fast, it does make a difference. Now, some people would say, but preacher, I cannot go without food physically. There are some people that if they fasted, they'd end up in a diabetic coma. And they couldn't do that. There might be some physical needs that would keep somebody from doing that, but you could do yourself without some sleep. You could deprive yourself of something. And the thing is, you determine the time. Do you realize a fast doesn't have to be a 24-hour segment? A lot of people, they try to figure, well, what would be the fast that would be acceptable to God? We're gonna answer that question in just a moment. It really doesn't have a whole lot to do with time. Now, some people say a one-day fast would be this, from the time I go to sleep, like let's say if I was going to fast tomorrow, I would go to sleep tonight. Obviously, when I'm sleeping, I'm not eating. I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Now, most people, when you have breakfast, you realize the word itself is break fast. And people used to say when they invited people over for breakfast, would you break fast with me today? And that break fast was to break the fast of not eating during the nighttime. That's what the term meant, breaking fast. But if I was gonna fast tomorrow, then I wouldn't eat from tonight until then the next night I would go to whatever time I went to bed and wake up the next morning. Well, that's about probably a 36 hour fast. not a 24-hour fast. You might have a 24-hour fast that would go like this from 6 o'clock in the morning till 6 o'clock the next morning. In that case you might eat a bite before 6 o'clock in the morning and then eat again after 6 o'clock the next morning. Or you might start at 8 o'clock and end at 8 o'clock. Now I'm just talking about a 24-hour fast. You might have a fast that simply does away with lunch. You go without eating at lunch to pray. to fast, to seek his face. As a matter of fact, it's obvious that even though it is stated of Hezekiah that he fasted when he was told that he was going to die, he fasted and he prayed earnestly, it couldn't have been a very long fast. I'm talking about, he didn't fast for a day. Now, you may have fast for three days. I remember the first time I fasted for three days. I was pastoring Battle Creek Baptist Church. And we had about, oh, 15 people that came regularly. And I was just really burdened because there was no zeal for the Lord there among the people that we had coming. And I was just so burdened. I wanted to see God do something. And so I started on Thursday fasting. And I decided I was gonna fast all the way through to after Sunday. Now I'm going to tell you what. Friday was a hard day. It was a hard day. I like eating. I'm used to eating. I've done it for a lot of years. Hard to break that habit of eating. And so I thought about food a lot. But when I thought about food, it just simply commended me to go ahead and stop and pray. Now's the time to pray. And I'd pray and then I'd get busy doing something else. If all you're going to do is fast and not pray, you're defeating the whole purpose of the fast. Fasting and praying now, it doesn't mean you're gonna pray the whole day But you need to be praying throughout the day if you're gonna do it for a whole day Well the second day Saturday, you know, somebody had told me this a lot easier the second day. They were lying to me I Was hungry It was harder the second day And so I went all that day fasting and getting up. I remember going to bed that night. Boy, I wanted to get a snack so bad before I went to bed, but I wasn't going to do it. I wanted God to move. And it just created me again that desire to pray because I wanted to see God move. Again told the Lord that I was going to fast and pray until after the Sunday morning service and that morning We had more movement and just that morning than what we had had in the previous three months We had a couple of people get saved. We had a few Christians come forward, but not everyone came forward But for that little bitty church out in the country outside of South Pittsburgh between fiery gizzard Cove and Sweetens Cove That was a real moving You think, well, if you saw that, then why don't you do that more often? Like I said, I like food. Did you miss that part of it? I don't care how many times you've done it, you still have to make yourself do it again the next time. Now, that was a three-day fast. I've had one-day fast. I've had fasts that have gone a little bit longer. Some of you know the name Doug Fisher out in San Diego, California. Doug Fisher, before they will ordain anyone to the gospel ministry, they have to have at least been on one seven-day fast. If they've not at least had one seven-day fast in prayer time, they will not ordain those men to the gospel ministry. Now, the Bible doesn't say that they have to have had a seven-day fast. That's a qualification they have in their church. And I think that's interesting, but here's the basic philosophy. The main part of our ministry is not the preaching. That's the fun part. Main part of our ministry is prayer. When churches have a candidate that they wanna consider to come be their pastor, they bring him in so they can hear him preach. And if they like their preaching, man, they're more than, they'll accept some things that aren't really right on where they ought to be because they like the guy's preaching. When really, and nobody ever asks them the question, tell us about your prayer life. When do you pray? How much do you normally pray? How often do you, do you ever fast and pray? How often have you done that? He said, boy, it's getting pretty personal there, isn't it? Well, the reality is our churches need men who pray far more than they need guys who can really preach good. There have been some guys who can preach good who were sorry spiritually. But it's kind of hard to find a guy who can pray good. I'm talking about in his personal prayer life who's sorry spiritually. Not gonna happen. So that's the thought that they have out there. So, whatever though you do without sleep, here's the thing, whatever, if you decide you're going to fast for something, if it's somebody with cancer, if it's something in your home, if it's something in your church, maybe part of a ministry that you have, you're gonna fast and pray for your nation, whatever it is that it's going to be, you have to understand this about your fast. It's your fast. If you set the boundaries, if you said, I'm gonna fast for three days. Well, what if you can't take it after two days? Oh, I'm a failure, I failed my fast. Wait, what do you mean you failed your fast? You fast for a day. Most people don't fast for a day. And so now you've got yourself on a guilt trip. When God didn't tell you to fast for two days, you just said, I'm gonna fast for two days. You didn't make it two days, you made it one day. Don't you think the Lord gives you credit for that? It's kind of like Bible reading. We set up a schedule for ourselves to read the Bible and then one day we get busy and we're not able to read as much of the Bible as what we normally have to read. And we feel all guilty because we didn't make a goal that was our set goal. It wasn't the goal that God had for us. When I was reading, I've got a different schedule that I use now, but for many, many years, for at least 30 years, I would read six chapters of the Old Testament and five chapters of the New Testament every day. That would take me through the Old Testament twice a year and take me through the New Testament six times every year. Now there are some people, if they read at that schedule, they'd get nothing out of it. There are some people they need to read much, much less and think a lot more about what they're doing. It's a schedule that worked for me. But there might be a day when I get called to the hospital late at night, then I get up late the next day and right away got people that have needs and start dealing with that and only get one chapter read. I'll tell you what some people would do. They would then put themselves on this kind of a level. Well, then I need to read 11 chapters in the Old Testament tomorrow, and I need to read 10 chapters in the New Testament. Why? Why? You got to be done by a certain day. God say you had to be done by a certain day, or was that simply your schedule? Listen, God knows your schedule, and if you get busy, He understands when you don't get to read that day. So what I always did when something had happened, I didn't get to read all the things, all the chapters that I wanted to read, my next day, I had the same goal, and that was to read six chapters in the old, five chapters in the new. No guilt feelings, no reason to feel guilty that I didn't get as many chapters read as what I initially had planned. I believe you ought to read the Bible every day. By the way, if you want to read through the Bible in a year, read three chapters a day, Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday read four chapters, you'll read through the Bible in a year. And that's only about, that averages about 15 minutes worth of reading. And I would suggest, I'm off the subject of fasting for a moment, I would suggest you have a little notebook beside you, and when a verse jumps out at you, write it down, write down what it's saying to you. And you'll have yourself a running commentary of a lot of things, it'll be a great blessing to you. I'm simply saying, whatever fast you set up for yourself. Let's say, for instance, you wanted to fast 40 days. And so you get to day 20, and man, you're having hallucinations. Probably time for you to stop fasting and not feel guilty about not being able to fast any longer. Matter of fact, I'd suggest before you ever think about a 40-day fast that you work your way up. You better find out what one day is like before you go after 40. And then maybe two days. And you may never fast for 40 days. I never have. Matter of fact, I haven't even tried it. But now a several-day fast, that's okay. But what about a one-meal fast? That's a fast too. Would you fast and pray for somebody? Take your lunch hour, instead of eating, just get aside and pray for somebody, somebody that has cancer, somebody has another special need, some family that seems to be breaking up or having a lot of trouble, you'd be willing to fast? Problems in the home, are you willing to fast and pray for? This kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. Now, what kind of, he gives us some warnings in the scripture about the kind of fast that he hears. So turn to it, and we'll close with this. Go to Isaiah chapter 58. The thing is, as I preach on this, you know it's going through your head. That's right. I haven't fasted in a long time, but preach, that is right. We need to fast. It's one of the weapons of our warfare. And we've got it sitting back up in the closet. We're not using it. And we wonder why aren't we seeing a lot accomplished in our prayers? That doesn't mean you have to fast and pray every day. But I mean, these are the big guns for the special things right here. This kind, going not out, but by prayer and fasting. All right, notice chapter 58 of the book of Isaiah, beginning in verse three. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou see us not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou take us no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, exact all your labors behold look at this he fasts for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high is it such Such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul, is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness? to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out of thy house, when thou seest the naked, and thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, And he shall say, Here I am, if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in the drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths to dwell in." And then he says some more. But the point is this, you don't fast and come in with a gaunt look on your face and a suffering look on your face. Instead, while you're fasting and praying, you serve the Lord. You help others. That's the kind of fast that he hears. Not a fast that simply calls attention to yourself. But a fast where you're serving others and helping others while you're fasting and having times of prayer seeking the Lord. That's the kind of fast that God says he will hear and that he will delight in. I think too many times we've got the religious ideas of what fasting are, and I'm talking about the religious, whether it be the Catholics or others, where you simply afflict your soul and that's it. That's not the fastest acceptable to the Lord. Jesus said, this kind goeth not out, but by fasting, Now fasting has not been a part of your life at all. I would suggest you get along with your Bible and spend some time reading scriptures dealing with fasting. Reading the New Testament verses dealing with fasting. It's good, Old Testament or New Testament, doesn't make any difference. It's obvious Paul believed in it so much he fasted often. The New Testament church fasted in the book of Acts. He tells us the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. This kind. Let God speak to your heart. Be a true prayer warrior with what you can do. Let's pray. Father, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We thank you for the challenge tonight. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would deal with our hearts about drawing closer to you, taking you up on the promises that you have for those who fast and pray. Lord, I know you don't necessarily call us to do this every week or necessarily even every month, but Lord, the fact that it's practically nonexistent in our midst is wrong. So Lord, deal with our hearts. Challenge us tonight, I pray. For I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You're dismissed.