Called to Pray and Fast: Prayer as Lifeline

``Understand this. Prayer is is not preparation for the work. Prayer is the work. K? Because sometimes we're like, oh, I'm a pray, and then, you know, then the Lord will tell me what I need to do. And then, you know, if I start off praying, and then I can go do what I need to do. No. Prayer is the work. You put the work in in prayer. And then in prayer, you get the answer, you get the wisdom, you get the discernment to go do the thing, but the work happens in prayer. [00:09:31] (33 seconds)  #PrayerIsTheWork

K? Prayer. Relational communication with God. K? If you are in a relationship, you know that relationships depend on communication. We all know what it's like, don't move, don't flinch, we all know what it's like to be in a relationship with people who don't communicate. Alright. Don't move. Don't move. Don't amen. Don't amen. Don't amen. Get in trouble. We all know what it's like to be in a relationship with somebody that does not communicate. We know the frustration of trying to figure out what someone is thinking because they don't communicate. We know how that affects a relationship and how a relationship can't grow because of a lack of communication. [00:03:38] (47 seconds)  #PrayerIsCommunication

Let me tie it in. When we pray and when we ask God for something, we sometimes get discouraged because he didn't give us what we asked for. Then we go, God, you didn't you didn't answer my prayer and y'all thought you loved me and I was your son and I was your daughter. No. No. No. No. Be so rooted in the love of God for you that even a setback looks like protection. Why? Because some of the things that we're asking for is not the will of God, and we have to be okay with that. [00:15:06] (33 seconds)  #RootedInGodsLove

I wanna talk about in our call to live like believers, we are called to fast and to pray. K? We are called to fast and to pray as believers. I believe that one of, if not the most important tool that we have or or or the most important things that we must make a priority as a believer is prayer. K? Amen. One of the things that we have to do as a believer is pray. Our relationship with Jesus is is the level of that is by the level of our prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is relational communication with God. [00:02:42] (56 seconds)  #FastAndPray

And so in these scriptures, we see the need for prayer. We see the effects and the the power of prayer and the precedent of prayer. We see, in scripture, you see the disciples. The disciples are in prison, and the church comes together not to complain, not to riot, not to petition the city. They came together to pray. They came together to pray. [00:06:42] (28 seconds)  #ChurchChoosesPrayer

Fasting is our surrender. It is our spiritual breakthrough strategy to develop into a powerful believer. Fasting is not about suffering, it is about surrender. Fasting is not about suffering, it is about surrender, and prayer is not about eloquent words, it's about intentional relationship. For those who said, hey, pastor, I'm trying to figure out how to pray, it's just like a relationship, it's conversation with God. [00:36:39] (40 seconds)  #FastingIsSurrender

The Lord has set up a way that things work on this earth. K? God just doesn't just do stuff just just because. He set up a way. And he said on this earth, everything that has that happens on this earth has to happen through a physical body. K? That's the way that this this is set up. And so he's not just gonna go and so he has set up a way to activate his power on this earth, and it happens through us in prayer. [00:11:41] (35 seconds)  #PrayerActivatesPower

I am not doing great on time. Hallelujah. I gotta go. So here's the question. When you're thinking about these situations and things that happen in your life, have you prayed about it? Because I know you're worried about it. I know you processed it. You figured about three or four ways to try to change it. You figured out what to say. When this happened, you went down the line. You analyzed it down to the t, but have you prayed about it? [00:22:17] (25 seconds)  #PrayBeforeYouPlan

Prayer is the earthly license for heavenly interference. K? Prayer is the earthly license for heavenly interference. If you need heaven to interfere in your situation, prayer is the license to allow that to happen. K? [00:11:16] (25 seconds)  #PrayerInvitesHeaven

we want to see the hand of God, it requires prayer. If you wanna see breakthrough in any area of your life, it requires prayer. If you want to see the Lord move in any area on this earth, it requires prayer. It requires prayer. It has to start with prayer. It works through prayer. [00:10:49] (27 seconds)  #BreakthroughStartsWithPrayer

we don't only see the disciples praying, we see Jesus praying, and we see him praying often, which signals to us that there is power in prayer. And as believers, prayer is not optional. Prayer is not optional. [00:09:06] (25 seconds)  #PrayerIsEssential

Most of us simply don't pray because, really, we don't believe. We don't believe. There there there is a belief problem. And so we figure, you ain't gonna do nothing. Why it ain't no it make no sense in praying. I'm not gonna waste my time. And we have begun to believe the lies of the enemy and have ceased praying. [00:17:08] (30 seconds)  #BelieveToPray

We don't believe that he hears us. We don't believe that he will answer us. We don't believe that he can do it. Somewhere along the lines, we bought the lie that God is not listening. We bought the lie that God does not care or that somehow because of what we did or did not do, God is not interested in hearing us. And so we come to prayer with shame. And because we come to it with shame, eventually, we just do away with it altogether. [00:17:38] (36 seconds)  #GodHearsYou

Do not believe the lie. We have to restore our belief in the character and the personhood of God. We cannot judge God by man's standards or make assumption by man's standards. We can no longer allow fear and unbelief to rob us of the greatest tool in our arsenal that God has given us. [00:18:15] (28 seconds)  #RestoreFaithInGod

We serve a God that loves us. We serve a God that cares for us. The scripture says, he harkens his ear to us, and he has established a way for us to communicate with him and make his power active on this earth, and that happens through prayer. He set this up. We have to take advantage of the gift that he has given us. [00:18:42] (29 seconds)  #UseTheGiftOfPrayer

What am I praying for? And I understand that when we go to him, we have desires, we have needs, we have things that we want. But let me tell you what I put on the end of every prayer I have. Nevertheless, Lord, let your will be done. [00:14:19] (17 seconds)  #ThyWillBeDone

Fasting is a time where we are positioning our hearts to draw closer to the Lord. We're positioning ourselves to draw closer to the Lord and to hear him more clearly. When we fast, we're taking authority over our flesh and saying, you are not in control. I will be led by the spirit of God. K? [00:24:55] (27 seconds)  #FastingDrawsYouNear

That's what this is about, and it's not about a show. Okay? It's not about how long you can go without food because you wanna just tell everybody, oh, you know, I've I've been fasting for thirty days and thirty nights. It's not about that. It's about positioning our heart and saying, God, I want you more than I want comfort. I want you more than I want convenience. I want you more than I want temporary satisfaction. [00:27:28] (30 seconds)  #SeekGodNotComfort

Biblically, fasting is a spiritual discipline of voluntary abstinence. K? A spiritual discipline, k, of voluntary abstinence. It is a time where we are deliberately denying our physical appetite to pursue God's presence. K? Everybody with me? Stay with me. A spiritual discipline of voluntary abstinence. We're we're pushing away deliberately our physical appetite to pursue God's presence. [00:24:12] (43 seconds)  #FastForGodsPresence