And When You Fast | Ezra 8:21-23 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Summary

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Episode Overview

Episode Title: And When You Fast | Ezra 8:21-23
Speaker: Philip Anthony Mitchell, Lead Pastor, 2819 Church
Date: January 5, 2026

Theme:
This episode delivers a heartfelt and urgent call for a week of prayer, fasting, and spiritual consecration to start the New Year. Pastor Mitchell, drawing from personal spiritual experiences and deep biblical teaching, exhorts the 2819 Church community—local and global—to forsake distractions, humble themselves, and seek God's face. Using passages from Ezra, Acts, Joel, and Matthew, the message powerfully lays out the biblical pattern and purpose of fasting, the urgency of spiritual awakening, and a corporate invitation for transformation.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. A Wake-Up Call for the Church and the Nation

• Pastor Mitchell recounts a sobering vision from God at 3 a.m. that pressed upon him the nearness of the end of the age and imminent dangers facing Christ’s followers (05:57).
  • Quote:

    “It was like I could hear an audible voice saying to me, 'Philip, my son, we're very close to the end.' … If it’s true that we don't have much time left… I thought about all of us who are Christians who are wasting our time busying ourselves with all of these things that's not going to matter a hundred years from now.” (06:14)

• The vision compels a heartfelt plea for personal and communal repentance, spiritual vigilance, and sobriety about eternal priorities (08:28).
  • Quote:

    “I'm seeing all of us running around like hamsters on wheels. We're busy doing this and busy doing that, doing everything other than the things God has called us to do. … If the bride of Christ in America, if she does not wake up, if she does not pray, if she does not repent… we will be held captive in our own country by a radical ideology.” (08:28 – 09:45)

2. Personal Intercession: Pleading for Salvation and Holiness

• The Pastor shares vivid emotional moments, weeping over his family, his church, and the wider Body of Christ (11:58).
  • Quote:

    “I wept for my children. … Pleading with God for the salvation of every friend I know who is not saved… pleading for you that God would work into your heart a desire for purity and a desire for holiness.” (11:58 – 13:58)

3. What Biblical Fasting Is—and Isn’t

• Biblical fasting is defined clearly:

  • “Fasting is the abstinence from food for a period of time to turn one's heart fully towards God in prayer, devotion, and seeking his face.” (14:15)
  • Not just abstaining from social media or personal pleasures:

    “That’s lame. That’s bottom shelf. That’s American biblical. … If it don’t hurt your flesh, it’s not a fast.” (14:15; 35:29)

• Outcomes and Benefits of Fasting:

  • Heightened spiritual sensitivity and clarity
  • Deliverance from bondage, habitual sin, and physical ailments
  • Deeper intimacy with Christ

4. Examples of Corporate Fasting in Scripture

• Ezra 8:21-23: A fast for protection and provision; God responds when people collectively humble themselves and seek His face (17:06).
• Acts 13:1-3: A fast for divine guidance; God speaks clearly during seasons of collective fasting (18:45).
• Joel 2:12-13: A call to return to God in humility, even for those in active disobedience, through fasting, weeping, and mourning (23:54).
  • Quote:

    “Even in your rebellion, return to me, said the Lord. How? With humility, don’t return with pride and arrogance. Return to me...with fasting and with weeping.” (24:01 – 26:11)

5. Jesus’ Expectation: “When You Pray… When You Fast…” (Matthew 6)

• Jesus assumes that His followers will regularly practice both prayer and fasting:
  • “He did not say if you pray, He said when. He did not say if you fast, He said when.” (32:49)
• Instructions on the posture for fasting: Not for show, but for intimacy with God (30:07–31:42).
• The reward for private prayer and fasting is left open-ended by Jesus, but is sure to be rich and personal (28:22, 31:42).

6. Practical Call: Seven Days of Prayer and Fasting

• Start: Monday morning
  End: The following Sunday with communion
• Two biblical options outlined:
  • Total Fast: Abstain from all food (recommended only if healthy and led by the Spirit)
  • Partial Fast: Pattern after Daniel—the removal of certain foods, or limited eating windows (36:28)
    • Emphasis: Fast as the Spirit leads, with personal honesty and humility
  • Quote:

    “Everybody… I dare I say, I'm calling America, the whole bride, to slow down… to take the first week of the year, these next seven days… to tell your flesh you have no authority over me.” (37:03 – 37:39)

7. Mindset and Heart for the Fast

• Avoid legalism, pride, or complainers’ spirit—focus on what you gain, not what you lose (37:59).
• Motive: Seek God’s face, not just His hand (37:59).
• Possible fruits: spiritual deliverance, answers to prayer, clarity for life’s direction, healing, restored relationships, personal holiness (39:41–42:03).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Wake up the bride in this country, and we better stand on business and we better pay attention.” (10:27)
• “When you fast, you have more spiritual clarity. People have fasted and seen God move mightily in their life… their bodies have been physically healed during their fast.” (15:18 – 16:10)
• “There really is no excuse not to go… God calls his people to pray. So everybody is called to pray… the Lord calls everyone to fast.” (32:45 – 32:49)
• “Before we give birth to Ishmael’s, before we start doing all these things this year that you put on your vision board, some of you got a whole vision board of everything you want to do that you never even prayed about… let the spirit of God lead you.” (34:26 – 36:28)
• “If it don’t hurt your flesh, it’s not a fast. You gorging yourself on fast food all week while you're not watching TV and calling that a fast. That's American. That's not biblical.” (35:29)
• “Turn your plate down. However, the Spirit leads you. Turn your sin down. Turn down your plate and turn down your sin. Bury yourself in the scriptures.” (42:37)
• “We coming after your face. We coming after your heart. We coming after your will. We coming after your word. We want all of Jesus this week, more of him and less of you.” (44:39)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Vision and Urgency for the Church/Nation: 05:57 – 10:39
• Personal Intercession and Plea: 11:58 – 14:15
• Definition of Biblical Fasting: 14:15 – 16:51
• Scriptural Models for Corporate Fasting: 16:57 – 24:01
• Invitation for All (including spiritual outliers): 26:38 – 27:15
• Jesus’ Instruction on Fasting/Prayer (Matt 6): 27:28 – 32:49
• Practical Instructions for the Corporate Fast: 34:26 – 38:00
• Heart Posture During the Fast: 37:59 – 40:57
• Encouragement and Vision for Breakthrough: 40:57 – 44:36
• Prayer of Consecration Over the Church: 44:36 – 47:40

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Flow and Tone

Pastor Mitchell’s tone is deeply passionate, urgent, vulnerable, and loving—moving from a prophetic warning and personal brokenness to confident, scriptural guidance and hope. The language is direct, not watered down, interspersed with moments of humor, challenge, and deep pastoral care.

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Actionable Summary for Listeners

• Accept the Call: Participate in seven days of prayer, fasting, and consecration.
• Choose Your Fast: Total (abstain from all food) or Partial (abstain from certain foods or limit eating windows)—as led by the Spirit.
• Prioritize: Major on time with God in the Word, prayer, and worship; minor on complaining or self-pity.
• Encourage One Another: Share scriptures, testimonies, and support fellow church members.
• Expect: Guidance, breakthrough, deliverance, new intimacy with God, and clarity for the year ahead.
• Remember: The main reward for fasting and prayer is deeper relationship and intimacy with Christ (29:44).

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Final Charge

“Who's with me for that? ...Lord, we’re going to seek you this week. Lord, we coming after you this week. We coming after your face. We coming after your heart. We coming after your will. We want all of Jesus this week, more of him and less of you. Seven powerful days of consecration. All of him and less of you.” (44:39)

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For more details and resources, visit 2819church.org.

Transcript

[Lead Pastor]

Be seated.

[Assistant Pastor]

Happy New Year to you, my 2019 church family. If you are guests, we want to welcome you to. These sacred gatherings at 2819 Church. A mighty move of God in the earth where we are serious and striving for the spread of the Gospel, for the multiplying of disciples to all of our digital disciples watching live across the nation and around the world. You are our family. We praise God for you. We love you. We intercede for you. You are our disciples in cities all across America and around the world, holding up the blood stained ban of the Lord Jesus Christ, standing on God's business and taking territory for the Lord. Wherever you are, you are part of our family. We love you. We are a global family that goes far beyond a room in Atlanta, Georgia. And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, you crept in here on the first Sunday of a new year or crept into this chat on the first Sunday of a new year. We are thankful that you are here. We recognize you and we honor you. We want you to know that you could belong before you believe and you could be amongst us before you believe. And our prayer for you is at a moment's notice and worship is going forward or where the word is being proclaimed. The Spirit of God will snatch you from the fires of hell.

[Lead Pastor]

And bring.

[Assistant Pastor]

You into this covenant of safety with the Lord Jesus Christ before you have drawn your last breath, which could be for you next week, next month, next year. Now, family, we as a church for the last three years have been walking through the Book of Matthew. And you are aware that we're coming down to the very end of that series. I think you know that with just a few messages left in that series. However, today we're going to press pause on our series through the Book of Matthew as I want to use this morning, this moment, to call us together locally, nationally, globally, to a time of holy consecration. So eternal, God and of a wise father. To you and you alone. And you only be glory and honor and homage and praise. We are weak and we are frail.

[Lead Pastor]

And we have come before your holy.

[Assistant Pastor]

Presence, leaning on your strength, leaning on your wisdom, trusting in you. We do not trust in ourselves. We come before you, God, in this first Sunday of this new year, asking you to minister to our heart, to speak to us right where we are, to awaken us right where we are. Minister to us, your sons and daughters and even the atheists under the sound of my voice. I ask for help now in the mighty and the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and all God's people said amen and amen and amen. This morning at 3am because I was going to start this talk with a little bit more inspiration. But this morning at 3am the Lord violently woke me out of my sleep. And as soon as I woke out of my sleep, I started seeing visions of a systematic political and then violent takeover of the United States by a radical ideology that is spreading across the whole world and has entered into the shores of the United States. I started seeing Christians being persecuted through laws and legislations and then physically by this radical ideology.

[Lead Pastor]

And it was like God was showing.

[Assistant Pastor]

Me, as I'm seeing this in an open vision on the side of my bed in the dark, before I could even make it to my prayer room. As I'm. As I'm seeing this imagery in my mind, there was this strong sense as I'm seeing this imagery, like we are.

[Lead Pastor]

Very close to the end. It was like I could hear an audible voice saying to me, philip, my son, we're very close to the end. And as I'm hearing that audible voice, I begin to weep and cry right there on the side of my bed. I'm weeping and I'm crying on the side of my bed as I'm thinking about what I'm seeing in my mind, and I'm thinking about what I'm hearing in my heart. And I'm weeping and I'm crying not only for what I'm seeing, but I'm weeping. I'm crying over you, and I'm weeping and crying over the church in America. And I'm crying in that moment because I'm thinking, if what I'm hearing is the voice of God in this moment, then I'm thinking to myself, God, if it's true that we're closing in on the end of the age, if it's true that we don't have much time left. God, now I'm thinking about all of us who are Christians who are wasting our time busying ourselves with all of these things that's not going to matter a hundred years from now. They may not matter five years from now. I thought about all of the activities of Christians who are wasting their time doing things that's not going to matter when they die. I thought about all of us who are filled with so much ambition, we are building monuments like sand castles that are going to wash away on the shores of judgment. I thought about all the things that we think right now is actually important that does not matter in the sight of God. And I thought about, oh, my God, I thought about all of God's children who are running around like blinders on their eyes, running in and out of services and might open a Bible for a second during the week and have no idea that we might be at the very end of the church age. Like, I'm hearing this voice, like a trumpet blowing in my heart this morning. This very morning I'm hearing this.

[Assistant Pastor]

And I'm weeping and I'm weeping over.

[Lead Pastor]

You and I'm weeping over me and I'm weeping over my children. And I'm wondering, like, how many of.

[Assistant Pastor]

Us are really living with this sensitivity.

[Lead Pastor]

To the spirit of where we are on God's prophetic timetable. Like, I'm wondering about that. Really I am. And I'm seeing all of us running around like hamsters on wheels. And we're busy doing this and busy doing that, doing everything other than the things God has called us to do. And this is. This is like. This is not just me, like, trying to scare you, right? This is. This is the Holy Spirit this very morning. This. I wasn't even going to talk to you like this. This was the Holy Spirit this very morning, sounding a warning in my heart to on America. That if the bride of Christ in America, if she does not wake up, if she does not pray, if she does not repent, if she does not stand on business, we will be held captive in our own country by a radical ideology. We will fall very quickly and our children will suffer. This is me warning America.

[Assistant Pastor]

I don't know what that was. Don't laugh. Whatever that was had to been divine. God using a prophet to sound an alarm in America.

[Lead Pastor]

Give me the camera.

[Assistant Pastor]

God using a prophet to sound an alarm in America. That we better wake up the bride in this country and we better stand on business and we better pay attention.

[Lead Pastor]

To the people we put in office. And we better pay attention to how we're praying and laboring. We better pay attention to what we're doing right now. This is God sounding an alarm in America for his bride to wake up. The sinner cannot see because they're blind. The bride of Christ must see and be awakened. And today is a good day for me to talk to you like this. As we enter into the very first Sunday of a brand new year, as we stand on the precipice of a brand new season on the calendar of God's prophetic timetable. And while the transition from December to January does not magically erase all of our problems internally and externally, this part of the Year does offer you, every single person, the opportunity to reflect, an opportunity to recalibrate, an opportunity to reorient your mind and your heart and your life around those priorities and those things that matter absolutely the most. And as I crawled into my prayer room this morning, man, I fell out.

[Assistant Pastor]

On my face and I wept.

[Lead Pastor]

I wept for my children. I pleaded with God. God, I pleaded for their salvation. Lord, I don't know. I believe. But I'm pleading with God for the salvation of my children because that alarm was going off in my spirit. I'm pleading with God for the salvation of every friend I know who is not saved. I'm pleading with God for everyone under the sound of my voice, under the banner of 2819 locally and nationally and globally, who is not truly saved. Doing church, but not saved in a chat, but not saved. I'm crying out to God for their salvation. I'm pleading with God. I'm in tears this morning, literally weeping in tears, pleading with God that he would fully form in you and fully form in me, the mind and the heart of Christ. I'm weeping this morning in tears that God will completely move you away from ambitions that are vain. I'm pleading with God in tears that God will deliver you and deliver me from worldliness in our hearts and perversion in our hearts. I'm pleading with God this morning in tears on my knees and on my face, tears falling on my Bibles. I'm pleading for you that God would work into your heart a desire for purity and a desire for holiness. And he would give you such a hatred for sin that you would think wrong and not tolerate, that you would talk wrong and not tolerate, that lies will come out your mouth and you'll be grieved in your heart that you would not be able to sin and have peace in your soul.

[Assistant Pastor]

I'm pleading with God in tears this morning that scales will fall from your eyes. I'm pleading this very morning with God in tears that he would awaken you.

[Lead Pastor]

That he will set you on fire, that he will strengthen you. We are weak, man. I'm pleading with God this morning in tears that God would do something so deep on the inside of you.

[Assistant Pastor]

And I'm pleading with God this morning that in this very moment he would give all of us the strength, the desire to want to bruise this flesh, to want to take authority over this flesh, to want to subdue this flesh.

[Lead Pastor]

As we pivot and turn towards God, towards a solemn week of consecration with this powerful, ancient discipline of fasting and prayer. What is Fasting, it's not just coming off of social media. That's lame. That's bottom shelf. That's American biblical. Fasting is the abstinence from food for a period of time to turn one's heart fully towards God in prayer, devotion, and seeking his face. When we fast, we take authority over the flesh and we tell the flesh, you have no power over me. And when we fast, we take power over the flesh and denying it what it wants most, food and pleasure. We tell the. We tell the flesh, no pleasure for you. We tell the flesh for a period of time, no food for you. We tell the flesh for a period of time, you are not stronger than my spirit. When we fast, we draw closer to God. When you fast, your body grows weak, but your spirit grows strong. When you fast grow, you become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. When you fast, you have more spiritual clarity. People have fasted and seen God move mightily in their life. People have fasted and heard God speak to them while they were fasting. People have fasted and God has intervened in their life or in the life of somebody else. People have fasted and seen God provide for them supernaturally during that fast. People I know have fasted and their bodies have been physically healed during their fast.

[Assistant Pastor]

People have fasted and been delivered from.

[Lead Pastor]

Things that had them bound for years during their fast. Fasting and prayer is that powerful discipline we use to curb the appetite of the flesh and to draw closer to.

[Assistant Pastor]

God for intimacy and to hear his voice.

[Lead Pastor]

And the Scriptures are replete with people groups who have fasted corporately to seek God's face. I want to remind you of a few of them in Ezra chapter 8. For example, there was a priest in about the 500s A.D. he was a scribe and a leader in the Jewish community. The people of God are in exile, and Ezra is getting ready to lead some thousand Jews out of exile back to Jerusalem. The traveling distance from where they are back to Jerusalem is a dangerous path, and many people have died along that road. And In Ezra chapter 8, we see an example of a corporate fast. Chapter 21. Then I, Ezra, proclaimed a fast there at the River Hava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek him for a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all of our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the King for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way. Since we had told the king, the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. So here is Ezra. He's about to lead a thousand Jews back to Jerusalem on a pathway that is dangerous because he was bragging on God. He said, I can't go to the King and ask this man to get involved. If God don't get involved, nobody is going to get involved. Verse 23. So we fasted.

[Assistant Pastor]

Who fasted?

[Lead Pastor]

They did. Corporately. Everybody. So we fasted corporately and we implored our God that is prayed and watch how God respond. And he listened to our entreaty. So here is a corporate fast for protection. And as the people fasted together, God heard their prayer and provided for them their need. So here is an example of God meeting a need through corporate fasting. Let's look at more corporate fasting. Let's go to Acts, chapter 13. Christ is crucified. Christ is resurrected. It is the first century A.D. christ is raised. The church is born. On the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. The church is growing by the thousands. The church undergoes persecution. The first Christian martyr is killed. His name is Stephen. Then James is killed. Then the people of God scatter to other cities. Christians end up in a city called Antioch. And a new church is formed in an ancient city called Antioch. And the believers there don't have guidance for what to do next. Acts, chapter 13, verse 1. Now there were in the church at Antioch, prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul, verse 2. While they were worshiping the Lord. And what fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. Then their fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So here we see a church calling a corporate fast. And while they were fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke. Because while you are fasting, your spirit is strong, your flesh is weak. And you set yourself up to hear from God more clearly. So we see one group of people in a corporate fast, God provides a need. We see another group of people in a corporate fast, God speaks to them. So we see during fasting, God provides needs. And there are people under the sound of my voice right now. You have needs. Maybe you have a mental need or an emotional need or a spiritual need or a financial need. I'm telling you, God can meet that need. During your fast, there are people in this room right now. You are going through confusion. You need guidance. You want God to speak to you. Should I marry this person, Should I take this job? Should I move to Atlanta to join 2819 locally? Should I fill in the blank? You see, during fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke, and there's some of us right now, we need guidance. Before you run into the business of a new year, before you start building things God didn't tell you to build, before you start getting into covenants with God didn't tell you to get into a covenant with that person. Before you start making all these decisions, we need to slow down to watch, hear from the One who is the author and the finisher of your faith. So we see during fasting, God provides needs. We see during fasting, God speaks. And what about all of you? Under the sound of my voice, who feels like, pastor, I hear you, but I limped out of 2025. My prayer life is not where it's supposed to be. I haven't opened my Bible in a long time. I don't feel confident that if I fast and pray that God is going.

[Assistant Pastor]

To listen to me.

[Lead Pastor]

Joel, chapter two. The people of God have disobeyed God. God sends a plague of locusts on their land, and he is ravishing their economy. This is so powerful to me. God sends a plague of locusts on the land, and he's ravishing their economy. They're losing money. They can't pay their bills. They can't buy food. Because sometimes God will hurt you to get your attention. When we love disobedience, God and his love would often hurt his children to get their attention. He might take something out of your life. He might disrupt something that you built. God was disrupting their economy to get their attention. Since you want everything other than me, and since you won't come to me, let me disrupt your economy so I can get your attention. I know if I touch your money, I'll have your attention. Then, Joel, chapter two.

[Assistant Pastor]

For everybody who feels like I don't.

[Lead Pastor]

Know if I'm in a position for God to hear me while the people.

[Assistant Pastor]

Are in disobedience, look at the heart of God.

[Lead Pastor]

Joel, chapter 2, verse 12. While the people are in disobedience, look at the heart of God. Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me. Come back to me. Run to me. Return to me with what? All of your heart. How do you do that? With fasting, which is an act of humility, with weeping and with mourning. This is God crying out to some of you right now. I know you're far away. I know you haven't been praying. I know you haven't been reading. I know you've been in sin. I know you feel disconnected from me. But even in your rebellion, return to me. I'm calling you my son. I'm calling you my daughter. Even in your sinful state, even in your rebellion, return to me, said the Lord. How? With humility, don't return. With pride and arrogance, return to me. He says, how? With fast, fasting and with weeping. Verse 13. Rend your hearts. That means tear your hearts and not your garments. Pastor, I don't understand. In those times when people were sad, they would rip their clothes as a sign of being sad. But God says, I don't want your outward piety, your little church attendance. That's not good enough. I want you to tear your heart. I want you to wring out your sin. I want you to come before me broken. I want you to crawl into your prayer place, broken and wounded. Run back to me. Crawl back to me. Weep back to me. Fast and turn back to me. This is God giving some of you an invitation to just run into the loving arms of your Father. Your insecurities return and your rebellion return. And your weakness return. And your rebellion just run back to him. He says, return to me. How?

[Assistant Pastor]

With fasting and with weeping and with mourning.

[Lead Pastor]

Rend your hearts and not your garments. He says again, return to the Lord your God, for he is what, gracious and merciful?

[Assistant Pastor]

He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

[Lead Pastor]

And he relents over disaster.

[Assistant Pastor]

This is the Holy Spirit giving someone an invitation. Right now, you are straying, but return. You feel distant, but return.

[Lead Pastor]

You feel far away, but return.

[Assistant Pastor]

And there is no excuse for anyone to not fast and pray. The invitation goes on to all you. The invitation to the holy consecration goes out to all. And maybe there's an outlier in the room. Maybe there's an outlier watching me across the camera say, pastor, y', all, y' all can go ahead and fast this week, and y' all can do what y' all got to do. I'm gonna be on the outside watching y'.

[Lead Pastor]

All.

[Assistant Pastor]

I'm not doing seven days of fasting. That's not me. Maybe. Maybe there's somebody out there. Feel like that's not for you. That's for the spiritually elite. Did Jesus call his followers to fasting and prayer?

[Lead Pastor]

Is there any record of the Lord calling us to this discipline? In his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter six, beginning in verse five, the Lord said to you, his follower, his disciple, his son, his daughter, verse five. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners that they may be seen by others.

[Assistant Pastor]

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

[Lead Pastor]

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father, who is in secret.

[Assistant Pastor]

And your father, who is in secret will reward you. I want you to see twice the Lord said to you, my brother, my sister. And when you pray, that is a.

[Lead Pastor]

Presupposition in the word of God, meaning the Lord expects for you to pray. He never said if you pray. The Lord said to you twice when you pray. So this is not just for the spiritual elite. This is for everyone who calls themselves a follower of God. The Lord calls you to pray and to do it in secret and to come find him in that private place. And he says, if you pray to me in secret, I will reward you. Now, I love the fact he made it nuanced. He never tells us what the reward is. So you don't limit your mind in what God can do as you pray and talk to him. I know from 21 years of praying I've seen great rewards for my prayer. Probably the greatest reward you will have from prayer is not anything you can touch. Lord help us. Probably the greatest reward you will ever have in prayer is intimacy with Christ. The Lord has healed my heart in prayer. The Lord has given me peace in times of trauma in prayer. The Lord has given me guidance in times of clarity when I needed clarity in prayer. The Lord has helped me lead our church through some of the most difficult.

[Assistant Pastor]

And darkest season through prayer. And I'm telling you, the Lord does.

[Lead Pastor]

His best work in your life in that secret place when you're just sitting.

[Assistant Pastor]

In his presence in prayer.

[Lead Pastor]

But he didn't. He didn't stop there.

[Assistant Pastor]

He didn't just call you to pray. No, he didn't just stop there. Family. He went just a little bit further in verse 16. And he says, and when you fast, there it is.

[Lead Pastor]

Do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. He says, and when you fast, don't go around holding your stomach and going into your job and saying, people saying, oh, what's wrong with you all? My church got me fasting this week. And he said, don't do that. Don't be bragging every time you bump into somebody, oh, why you look like that? Oh, man. You know, I'm just. I'm fasting. I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm. Don't do that. Don't look for that attention. They shouldn't even know you doing it. He says when you do that, your only reward is people knowing that you're fasting. He said, but when you fast, this is for when you go back to work tomorrow or when you hop on social media. When you fast, anoint your head. But put on lotion, don't be ashy, take a shower, get dressed, put on your cologne, your perfume, put your hair, your baby hair, nice. Get in, get the toothbrush, make it look nice and pretty on the side. Make sure your bundle is sewn in tight iron. Your clothes look presentable. Walk with your shoulders up. Go to work, get your work done. Come home, handle your business.

[Assistant Pastor]

But when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face. That your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father, who is in secret, and your father, who is in secret, he will reward you. Look at the promise. He says if you pray, he will promise reward you. Now look at the other promise. And if you fast, he will reward you again. The reward is nuanced. I love that it does not tell us exactly what the reward is so that our minds does not limit what God can do as we fast. I want you to see in the text that during corporate fasting, God provided for a group of people. During corporate fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke. I want you to see that God invites people to fast and pray even when they are in a season of rebellion, when they're hurting, when they're going through, when you're in a weak place, he still invites you to come. So there really is no excuse not to go. I want you to see that God.

[Lead Pastor]

Calls his people to pray, so everybody is called to pray.

[Assistant Pastor]

And I want you to see that.

[Lead Pastor]

The Lord calls everyone to fast. He did not say if you pray, he said when. He did not say if you fast. He said when. And if there's ever a good time for us to pray and fast, it's now, at the beginning of the year. Before we start making decisions, before we get married, before we start businesses, before we shake hands with shady people, before we start things that God did not tell us to start, before we give birth to Ishmael's, before we start doing all these things this year that you put on your vision board, some of you got a whole vision board of everything you want to do that you didn't even run by God. I already know because we're in America. I already know. It's probably 80% of you right now. Got a whole vision board, have everything, all of your goals and everything you want to do that you never even prayed about. You got things on there that's outside of his will. And so when it doesn't come to pass, you'll be hurt. At the end of the year, maybe you rewrite your vision board. After seven days from now that I, your pastor, am calling you to seven days of prayer and fasting beginning tomorrow, Monday morning, until Sunday, when we come again into this holy gathering and we break the fast together with communion. I am calling us to a corporate fast of seven days of prayer and fasting and seeking God's face, of going after God with our whole heart, of curbing the flesh and running after Christ with our whole heart. And I give you two options to do that. Okay, they're biblically. There are only two kinds of fasts. The first is a total fast. That is, we abstain from all food until we have communion next week. That's for the gangsters. That's not for everybody. You should not do that, probably, if you're pregnant, if you work a manual labor job, if you're taking certain medication, if you need to see a doctor, you see a doctor. You do that. If you feel led by the Spirit, let the Spirit guide you in which fast you choose. For myself and other gangsters, we will not see food again until we have communion next Sunday. Let the spirit of God lead you and what consecration you choose. And for those of us who will not do a total fast, there is a partial fast. Total is what Jesus did in the wilderness. No food, no stimulus, no playing around. I'm not talking about these little whack American fasts where you say, I'm going to stop watching TV for a week. That ain't fasting. Look at me. If it don't hurt your flesh, it's not a fast. You gorging yourself on fast food all week while you're not watching TV and calling that a fast. That's American. That's not biblical.

[Assistant Pastor]

Second option is what Daniel did, a partial fast where he just abstained from meat. He ate vegetables and drank water. Why he's fast. This is, I will abstain from foods that are delicacies. To me, I might just do salads all week and maybe a fish at the end of the week. This is just you abstain. Or maybe you say, I just do one meal a Day. Or maybe I fast from sun up to sundown and I have dinner at night. You choose. Whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

[Lead Pastor]

Okay.

[Assistant Pastor]

But I'm calling everybody in our church.

[Lead Pastor]

Everybody, under the banner of 2019.

[Assistant Pastor]

Our entire family. Local, our entire family. National, our whole global family. I dare I say I'm calling America, the whole bride. To slow down and to not try to build into a year with pride and arrogance what we think the year is supposed to be. And to take the first week of.

[Lead Pastor]

The year.

[Assistant Pastor]

These next seven days.

[Lead Pastor]

Hear me?

[Assistant Pastor]

To tell your flesh you have no authority over me. I'm serious. I'm not playing with you. To tell that thing that you're wrapped in that brings you pain and hardship, say you have no authority over me. I will consecrate, I will fast, I will pray.

[Lead Pastor]

I will seek the face, not the hand, the face of my Savior. And we stay away from everything. From Isaiah 58, when the prophet warns us if we fast with impure motives, God will not listen. Now look at me. You know what's impure? You spending this week complaining about, but you can't eat. Or our pastor put us on a fast so we can't eat, and I can't do that. You can do whatever you want. The minute you start talking about what you can't do, you've drifted into legalism. And at that point, it's just a hunger strike. It's not pleasing to God and ain't pleasing to you. You might as well go ahead and break your fast and just eat. Maturity says, we're not going to spend this week complaining about what we can't do. We can't eat and we can't do this. That's immature and it does not please God. Instead, you should focus this week on what you can do. You know what you can do. You can get closer to Christ this week, you can discipline your flesh this week, you can hear from God this week you can be healed in your body this week, you can save a marriage this week, you can lay hands on somebody sick this week, you can see a miracle this week you can be delivered this week. For some of you, maybe this is the week. You have no sick sex this week you can be delivered from addictions to sinful behaviors this week. Maybe say, no cigarettes this week. No weed this week. No sex this week. Maybe you come out this week on the other side saying, I don't need that anymore. Don't need the new ports anymore. Don't need the weed anymore. I might just stay celibate. Till I get married. Maybe this is the week you get delivered from pornography and you realize your wife is enough. You have no idea.

[Assistant Pastor]

You can't even imagine what God would do with a person who turns their plate down and says, God for you. I will. I will discipline this flesh. Your word will be my food. My prayer time will be my food. For some of you, you know what?

[Lead Pastor]

You can read the New Testament this week. You can listen to the Bible this week. You could finish the whole New Testament in your ears this week. I challenge some of you. Just get a small letter in the New Testament. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. Get a small one and read that this week.

[Assistant Pastor]

Come up for air and tell me, does it sound like American preaching? You can get a blueprint this week that changed the whole course of your life. You can come off of medication this week.

[Lead Pastor]

You can get delivered from overeating this week. You have no idea what God will do with a surrendered body for seven days. The number of perfection. You have no idea what he will do. This week. Call one another and text one another and encourage one another.

[Assistant Pastor]

Say, girl, what is God saying to you, my brother?

[Lead Pastor]

What is God saying to you? What are you reading?

[Assistant Pastor]

What are you listening to?

[Lead Pastor]

What chapter you in? Call us to encourage each other this week and share scriptures with each other this week. Girl, I was reading this in First John and share it with somebody this week. How you. The first three days, you might start feeling dizzy, you might start feeling weak. By day four, you're gonna be cruising. By day five, you're gonna be so.

[Assistant Pastor]

Close to God, you're not gonna want food. I'm calling us to seven days of consecration. Turn your plate down. However the Spirit leads you. Turn your sin down. Turn down your plate and turn down your sin. Bury yourself in the scriptures.

[Lead Pastor]

Go take prayer walks.

[Assistant Pastor]

Listen to worship as you walk.

[Lead Pastor]

Take off ungodly music.

[Assistant Pastor]

Listen to praise and worship.

[Lead Pastor]

When you drive to work, put the Bible on. When you're cleaning your house, you're doing dishes and you got the Bible playing in the background. You're in the shower and the word of God is playing a shot. I mean, gorgeous self on the Word and gorgeous self in the presence of God. Everybody consecrate at some level.

[Assistant Pastor]

However the Spirit leads you. This is us as a church putting God first. Who's with me?

[Lead Pastor]

I just want to know who's with me. Like, Lord, we're going to seek you this week. Lord, we coming after you this week. We coming after your face. We coming after your heart. We coming after your will. We're coming after your word. We want all of Jesus this week, more of him and less of you. Seven powerful days of consecration. All of him and less of you. Who's with me for that? So, Father, in the name of Yeshua, I pray right now over my brothers and sisters that you would give us the grace, the strength to consecrate, to fast and to pray. We pray Monday morning comes, we will feel an anointing to seek you, an anointing to curb the flesh, an anointing to fast and pray. Pray. We pray by tomorrow morning, God, we will feel strength and desire to run after you with our whole hearts, Lord. We pray your word will be our food. Speak to us this week, heal us this week. This week, deliver us. This week, move on our behalf. This week, bring clarity. This week, break strongholds in the minds of men. This week, destroy chains and bondages. This week, set captives free. This week, Change a marriage. This week, change a woman. This week, change a man. This week, change a child. This week, move mightily on our behalf across the nation and around the world. God, we pray you would pour out your spirit upon us for seven days. Give us dreams and visions. Speak to us in the stillness of the night. Let us find great delight in your words and in worship and in your presence. Give us the grace to consecrate.

[Assistant Pastor]

Father, ask.

[Lead Pastor]

In the mighty and the.

[Assistant Pastor]

Majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[Lead Pastor]

Amen.

[Worship Leader]

And praise to the Lord most high hope. Praise to the one who saved my life. Single praise to Jesus Christ, High King of Heaven, my King forever. All praise to the Lord most High. All praise to the one who saved my life. All praise to Jesus Christ, High King of Heaven, my King forever. To the Lord most High. All praise to the one who sa my life. All praise to Jesus Christ, my King of Heaven, my keep of Praise to the Lord most High give all praise all praise to the one who saves take my life. All praise to Jesus Christ, my King of heaven, my king. All pray all praise to Jesus.

[Lead Pastor]

You'Re my king forever.

[Worship Leader]

We give our praise to the one who sa. We give our praise. All pray to the the Lord most High. All praise to the one who saved my life. All praise to Jesus Christ, my King of heaven, my king forever.

[Assistant Pastor]

Now if you receive that, put your hands together.

[Lead Pastor]

Come on.