by mondayslife | Aug 13, 2018 | Church, Decisions, Fasting, Laying of hands, mandate, Mondays Life, Praying, Religion, Spiritual Gifts, Wait on God, wisdom
So last week i talked about the 30 day fast The Lord led me on in the month of July. It was probably one of the hardest fast I have been on because of the tough lesson I had to learn.
I often get asked what kind of fast do I partake in? Do I do the Daniel’s Fast? No food at all? Well, it really depends on what The Lord leads me to do. I’ve done many types of fast, but this time I did what I called a 19:5 fast. I fasted for 19 hours of just water and then had a five hour window to eat. Where did it come from? The Lord! I am still a vegetarian and I recently limited my dairy intake from little to none. It was very tough in the beginning because when the five hour window opened up, I was eating whatever I could find. I began to realize that what I was eating was not good for the body and needed to make wiser decisions since it was the only meal I was able to eat. I started eating a little bit more cleaner and when I had very long days I tried waiting until I got home which made it tougher. But when I began to think that what I am doing is for The Lord, I was able to make it through those long days.
I went through an emotional roller coaster in which I could not really tell anyone about. I was a mess. There were some days The Lord called me to the floor of my prayer room and there were days where i just laid in the bed meditating. During that time, The Lord was teaching me about the doctrine of laying hands and walking in power and authority. I heard so many confirmations from others I encountered throughout the fast and when the power of laying hands broke out in the church, The Lord said, “This is part of the reason I placed you on the fast”. To see the power of God move throughout the house in everyone and not just one moment but a week by week encounter is a sight to see. The fast was not just for me but to pray and help push people into their next phase in their spiritual walk.
In my book, Praying and Fasting: Still an Effective Kingdom Principle, I talk about the power of praying and fasting for others. I still get joy out of fasting and praying. Right when I ended my fast, it seems like the enemy was waiting right there waiting for me. But I was not afraid because I heard the Holy Spirit in the midst of it encouraging and comforting me through it all. As I type, I am in peace. Even when the seas of life are raging around me, I meditate on Psalms 27: 13-14 that says, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
What was my take-away from the fast?
As I mentioned last week, The Lord has been working on my heart. The kingdom is about building a community and loving one another. The Disciples spent just about every waking moment together and we as disciples should do the same. Pray for one another. Talk, teach, and to learn from each other. It is definitely a new place for me but I am coming around.
I am definitely in a season of praying and fasting. It has been very interesting to partake in. Nevertheless, i am grateful The Lord finds me faithful do go through. That encourages me even more to keep pressing and praying. I could not tell you why this mandate is on my life, but I will stay the course. It is not pretty and fun but at the end it is rewarding.
by mondayslife | Aug 6, 2018 | Church, Decisions, Fasting, Maturity, Mondays Life, Praying
First I want to say hi to those who may be new to the Monday’s Life Blog. Make sure you learn all about Monday’s Life Here. I hope you will enjoy taking this journey with us of making Monday a great day.
In the month of June, The Lord told me to prepare for a 30-day fast in the month of July. I knew that the fast was coming because then I was feeling very emotional and burned out. I was not connected to God and I know when I feel this way, The Lord wants my attention. I have been more preaching and teaching than usual and in that, every time I finish preaching or teaching, I would feel discouraged and would be very hard on myself. So imagine preaching 4-5 times in one month and feeling down after each event. That was taking a toll on my emotions. I began to question a lot of stuff include His existence. I remember at the end of 2017, I felt the same way and The Lord shifted my life tremendously by showing Himself to me. So I knew something was about to happen during this 30-day praying and fasting moment.
So before entering the fast, I had an expectation that God was really going to show Himself to me! I mean a tangible moment. Little that I knew, the Lord began to show me myself! Ugh! The Lord began to show me what was really in my heart. He was showing me how to become a better leader. When I am faced with situations and they do not go as well, I am always very hard on myself. The Lord ALWAYS jump on my case about handling situations better and be the bigger person in an argument. Even if I am in the right! That was the hardest because I felt since I am in the right, I do not need to apologize. I did not even need their apology. I said what I said. Well, that did not sit well with The Lord and told me fix a situation that occurred during the fast. I said to The Lord, “I will not apologize!” Instantly I felt the anger of God and I heard, “You will not have good sleep until you do”. For two days I did not have good sleep! He literally placed me in a situation that I had no choice but to apologize and it literally shook the mess out of me! But once I apologized, The guilt from myself and anger of The Lord went away.
From this, He began to teach me about leadership. I would always say you will never know what type of leader you are until you are placed in situations to be a leader. I realized in many situations that I was not a good leader. Even though I had people looking up to me, I just did not handle situations in a godly manner. Even if peers around me agreed, God did not agree! God told me the one thing that I was missing in my leadership style was LOVE & COMPASSION! It was not like I did not love the people that I was leading, I did not have a drop of compassion when it came to them not carrying out assignments. My motto was: You only have one chance to mess up big or not complete an assignment when told. That sounds tough but my belief was we are all adults, we should not have to be told twice to do something and if you have a problem, lets talk about it. If you need help, let me know. God began to show me that there are levels to maturity. There are people that will be vocal with their concerns and there are those who will sit there until someone approach them to see if they need help.
If we expect the church to fully operate in its capability, we have to love one another. Love rules all! God is love. We have to show love and compassion toward one another. As leaders we should always position ourselves to learn and we should always be in a position to assist and teach. This season of my life, God is teaching me about love, and I will teach about loving others. Even the most difficult people we encounter, we must love them as well. Even the people that talk about you in your face and behind your back, we must love. My heart is constantly being changed and The Lord is always showing me to myself. I am able to slow down in situations and hear from The Lord what to do rather than reacting so fast to the point where I would miss the instructions of God. What God suggest always goes against the human grain. But I know for sure, whatever God suggests, it is right and good. It is God!
Next week I will talk about what my fasting and praying entailed…
by mondayslife | Feb 13, 2017 | Decisions, Fasting, God Great, heavenly minded, Mondays Life
Last week we look at Isaiah 58 and the meaning of praying and fasting:
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:6-8
It is explained in Isaiah 58 of the fast God was requiring of the Israelites. It was not the ritual of fasting that was a concern, but the attitude behind the fasting. The Israelites felt that because of their fasting, it should equate to righteousness. But at the same time, their fasting held no weight due to the fact they remained in their sin during and after the fast. Our works alone cannot make us righteous or equate to salvation in God.
What is your attitude like behind your fasting and praying? Are you fasting to make yourself look more righteous? Are fasting and praying to brag to others that we fast and pray? We only fulfill one side of fasting and praying by getting ourselves together in God, but the other requirement of fasting and praying remains unfulfilled. In Isaiah 58, God gives Israel the requisites of fasting: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh. It is not to us but for us to help others. We fast to help build up the church. We fast to help others to be set free. We fast to help the poor and feed the hungry.
So the next time you are led on a fast, remember that we are not fasting for only personal benefit or gain but we are fasting and praying to help others. There is beauty in the struggle to see others set free.
by mondayslife | Feb 6, 2017 | Decisions, Fasting, God Great, Mondays Life, Obedience, Praying, Wait on God
For the past month, we have been talking about Praying and Fasting. Many of us can feel led to go on fast or we attend worship assemblies that participate in corporate fasting. At the end of the day we have a choice to answer the call to pray and fast. When God is requiring something from us, our response to the call is what is important. The key principle that is in play here is obedience.
I want to encourage you to pick up the phone and answer the call. When we hear praying and fasting at first hand, we instantly get nervous and start to think of the things we cannot do rather than it being an opportunity to do something for God. Once I started thinking about praying and fasting as opportunity and a privilege, I approached praying and fasting with a better attitude.
It is not just about abstaining from food and praying, but it is the obedience to the call. If you are a believer, then you will get the call to pray and fast. Matthew 6:16, it starts out with, “When you fast”, that means that in your walk with God, you will fast and it will be unto the Lord. God requires our obedience and it is a conscious decision that we must make.
We must remember the fast that God has chosen for us. It is not just abstaining from food, but it is about reaching out to others. I also approached praying and fasting from Isaiah 58. Our fasting and praying helps others and we should be active in helping God’s people. This is God’s Will for us. Look at the beauty of fasting and praying. It is about others, and not ourselves. There is a blessing in choosing to fast and pray.
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:6-8
by mondayslife | Jan 16, 2017 | Fasting, Mondays Life, Praying, Transition, Wait on God
The trend of partaking into the Daniel fast has been around for years. Many churches have taken it on and made it a part of their culture. When churches call a fast, it is usually the Daniel’s fast. We tie and cross the stories together to make it sound more friendly and attainable rather than telling the story how it is supposed to be. The word fast means to “cover mouth” or to abstain from food. If you are not abstaining from food, then it is not consider a fast. If you decide to take some food out of your diet, then it is a diet modification.
When I decided to study Daniel, I was very shocked on what I found out and that we have been approaching the Daniel’s fast completely wrong. It shows that we as a people do not read scriptures for ourselves and allow religious traditions to carry on for years.
It is all about going through the book of Daniel and really read about what is going on.
The church gets the Daniel fast from Daniel 1 when Daniel refused to defile himself and would not eat from the king’s table. He asked permission to just eat vegetables (it does not mention fruit) and drink water and for 10 days and they would be judge accordingly.
But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables.
We have taken this practice and said that when we go on this fast, we would gain intellect and wisdom like Daniel and the other boys had received. This went on for only 10 days. Not 21 days. This was technically not a fast. Nowhere in scripture does it say that it was a fast. It was an eating modification or diet. Daniel and the other young men decided not to go on the fast because they did not want to defile themselves. Their providence, Judah, were under Babylonian captivity. To partake in any Babylonian tradition or lifestyle would be dishonorable to God. So where did we get this from? Over in Daniel 10:
“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.”
Still, in this scripture it says that he did not eat any tasty food, meat, nor wine. Pleasant food in other translations. You have to understand that Daniel had the best of the best. He did not partake in the royal foods. The food that he did partake it could be define to vegetables and unleavened bread. Daniel went on a partial fast because of the news he received. There was so much adversity going on in the land. The Jews has the option at this moment to return to their land, but many decided to stay in Babylon and it grieved Daniel. Daniel constantly had dreams and visions and he was not in a good place. The burden of the people was upon His heart and all He could do was to cry and fast unto the Lord.
Daniel 10:10-14
Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”
This is not a pretty fast that we have portrayed it to be. For years, preachers and pastors have taught this story all wrong. And I am one of those. But I have decided not to walk in ignorance and walk in the truth. Daniel was praying for a nation and it grieved him so much!
So what does this mean?
We as a people are not ready to pray for the nation. We still are fighting over arguments on Facebook media by bashing each other in the kingdom. While the world is dying and perishing, we are caught up in the minor. The enemy has gotten us and we do not even know it. We are not ready for the Daniel fast mentioned in Daniel 10. We do not want that burden nor have a desire to have that burden. The state of the world is not getting any better and the earth is waiting for the sons of God to get in place. Romans 8:19 says that, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” The earth knows who we are but we do not!
So we must be conscious of partaking the Daniel’s Fast. If we are going to do it, let’s make sure we are doing it for the right reasons. I would not recommend this fast if you do not have a strong prayer life. This is another level of spiritual warfare and we must be secured and planted in the word of God.
by mondayslife | Jan 9, 2017 | Fasting, Mondays Life, Praying
We are continuing out Fasting Series and we will be on the topic of fasting for the next few months leading up to the release of my book, “Praying and Fasting, Still an Effective Kingdom Principle”. Many churches have declared their yearly fast and some have given prayer points and many have their members pray on their own. You may have decided to fast on your own get clarity on the New Year. Whatever the reasoning and the process of how you are fasting, it does not have to be announce to the world that you are doing so. There are 3 things that God will reward openly if done in secret
So we are looking at 2 of the 3 which are praying and fasting. If you apply these Kingdom Principles in your life, you will achieve and receive results.
Matthew 6:18- So that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
In the old testament, it was announced when the Israelites fasted and they said to God, In Isaiah 58, have you noticed my fasting? Why should we do it if you do not notice? Even the Pharisees fasted a few times a week and they made it known to everyone. When you decide to pray and fast, make sure you are being led by the Spirit of God. You do not want your practice to become religious like the Pharisees. Then it looses its sanctity. The fast no longer unto the Lord, but to self to show others of how righteous you can be.
During the fast, you may not see any results. When you feel God moving the least, the more He is actually moving. You cannot get discouraged when God is silent, you keep pressing through your fast. When Daniel was not getting an answer from heaven, he remained constant in his praying and fasting until his breakthrough moment. We also have to remain faithful and constant in our fasting and praying until we receive our breakthrough. Until we receive the answer to the reason why we are praying and fasting. That is why we cannot put a time limit on our praying and fasting. You might call a 3-day fast and God has decided that he wants to move on the 7th day. You may fall short of your breakthrough. You go on the fast until you experience your breakthrough. Then you go back and count the days.
Daniel did not decide to go on a 21 day fast nor did Jesus decided to go on a 40 day. It end up being 21 days or 40 days. Try not to put a time limit on God. Just stay in his flow.
Not to say that God cannot give a length of days, but if He has not and He has called you on a fast, stick with it until. It is the until moment we are waiting on.
After your fast, your life should not be the same. If it is the case, you have wasted your time. Something should have eternally adjusted in your life. Rather it be around you but especially inside of you.
The phrase “In Secret” in scripture is translated to mean “the inner part of man- the soul”. So when you read Matthew 6:18 it should say:
“So that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in your inner man, your soul; and your Father who sees what is done in your inner man, soul will reward you.
When you fast, you are afflicting the soul. Afflict means to humble, to bow down, and to weaken.
You soul is stubborn and spoiled. It has no desire to fast, pray or give. So when you decide to afflict your soul, you are putting it under the subjection of the Holy Spirit. It will be a struggle because your soul is determined to have its way.
Romans 8:4
So that the righteous standard of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Philippians 3:3
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh–
Col 4:3- Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds
How are we supposed to live by the spirit? By fasting and praying.
It is in the secret place, your soul, God will reward openly. More than money and tangible things.
You will be renewed and cleansed. Energized and jolted to keep going.
