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Prefacio: ¡Reciba con expectativa!

Introducción: Tiempos de restauración y el mover de Dios

[Link]ón al ayuno

[Link]é es realmente el ayuno

[Link] cuerda triple: ayunar, dar y orar

4 Apropiarse del poder mediante el ayuno

[Link] resultados del ayuno

[Link] de su percepción espiritual

[Link] ayuno provoca un gran avance

Pasos prácticos para

ayunar sobre el autor

Nota : Este libro no está destinado a brindar asesoramiento médico ni a
reemplazar el asesoramiento y el tratamiento médicos de su médico
personal. Ni el editor ni el autor ni el ministerio del autor asumen ninguna
responsabilidad por las posibles consecuencias de cualquier acción tomada
por cualquier persona que lea o siga la información de este libro. Si los
lectores están tomando medicamentos recetados, deben consultar con sus
médicos y no dejar de tomar los medicamentos recetados sin la supervisión
adecuada de un médico. Siempre consulte a su médico u otro profesional de
la salud calificado antes de realizar cualquier cambio en su régimen físico, ya
sea en ayunas, dieta, medicamentos o ejercicio.

A menos que se indique lo contrario, todas las citas de las Escrituras están
tomadas del Nueva versión King James, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 por
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Usado con permiso. La cita bíblica marcada (ampc) está
tomada deEl Amplificado ® Biblia, Edición Clásica, © 1954, 1958,
1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 por The Lockman Foundation. Usado con permiso
([Link]). Reservados todos los derechos. Las citas bíblicas
marcadas (nvi) están tomadas delSanta Biblia, Nueva Versión Internacional ®,
NIV®, © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 por Biblica, Inc.® Usado con permiso de
Zondervan. Todos los derechos reservados en todo el mundo.
[Link]. La "NIV" y la "Nueva Versión Internacional" son marcas
comerciales registradas en la Oficina de Patentes y Marcas Registradas de los
Estados Unidos por Biblica, Inc.® La cita bíblica marcada (kjv) está tomada de
la Versión King James de la Santa Biblia.
El tipo de letra en negrita en las citas de las Escrituras indica el énfasis
del autor. Th

e formas señor y Dios (en minúsculas) en las citas bíblicas representan el

nombre hebreo de Dios YahwehJehová), mientras señor y Dios
normalmente representan el nombre Adonai, de acuerdo con la versión de la
Biblia utilizada.
Las definiciones de palabras hebreas y griegas se toman de la versión
electrónica de Concordancia exhaustiva de Strong de la Biblia, fuerte (©
1980, 1986 y asignado a World Bible Publishers, Inc. Usado con permiso.
Reservados todos los derechos.),Diccionario expositivo completo de Vine de
palabras del Antiguo y Nuevo Testamento (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
1996), o Nueva Concordancia Strong Exhaustiva, © 2002 por Editorial Caribe,
Inc., Nashville, TN.

La mayoría de las definiciones de diccionario se toman de [Link],

2018, [Link] La definición defortaleza
está extraído de [Link], Oxford University Press, ©
2018.
Diseño de portada: Caroline Pereira

Avance rápido: Accediendo al Poder de Dios

Guillermo Maldonado
14100 SW 144th Ave. • Miami, FL 33186
Ministerio del Rey Jesús / ERJ Publicaciones
[Link] / [Link]

ISBN: 978-1-64123-165-7 • ISBN del libro electrónico: 978-1-64123-169-5

© 2018 por Guillermo Maldonado

Casa Whitaker
1030 Hunt Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068
[Link]

Datos de catalogación en publicación de la Biblioteca del Congreso (pendiente)

Ninguna parte de este libro puede reproducirse o transmitirse de ninguna forma ni
por ningún medio, electrónico o mecánico.

incluyendo fotocopias, grabaciones o por cualquier sistema de

almacenamiento y recuperación de información, sin permiso por
escrito del editor. Dirija sus consultas a
allowseditor@[Link].

Este libro ha sido producido digitalmente en una especificación estándar

para asegurar su disponibilidad.
 Prefacio: ¡Reciba con expectativa!

I Anticípese a Dios obrando de maneras extraordinarias a medida que lee y aplica

este libro a tu vida. Es posible que sea nuevo en el ayuno o que ya haya
comenzado a hacer del ayuno una parte regular de su estilo de vida. De
cualquier manera, te darás cuenta de que ...

El ayuno no se trata de privarte, sino de

expandir tu capacidad para recibir y liberar la
presencia y el poder del Espíritu.
El ayuno no se trata de tener hambre física, sino de tener
hambre espiritual de Dios para que pueda estar lleno de la
vida que verdaderamente satisface.

El ayuno no se trata de perder lo natural, sino de

ganar lo sobrenatural.
Puedo testificar del poder del ayuno; tantos avances que he visto en
mi vida personal, ministerio y finanzas se han producido a través de la
oración y el ayuno. Por esta razón, les pido que reciban esta enseñanza
conexpectativa. La expectativa proviene de hacer lo que la Biblia nos
pide que hagamos. Si hace su parte, puede esperar que Dios actúe en
su nombre, no como un “pago” sino como un regalo de Su gracia y
poder. Espere que Dios lo transforme y lo use como un recipiente de Su
poder sobrenatural a medida que aprende cómo entrar en unAvance
rápido.
Introducción: tiempos de restauración y mudanza
de Dios

Poder espiritual en el ayuno

I Si los creyentes de hoy en día solo conocían el poder espiritual del ayuno,
lo practicaría más! Muchas personas no comprenden lo que significa el
ayuno para Dios y lo que puede lograr en sus vidas. Hay un fuerte
énfasis en el ayuno en la Palabra de Dios. También hay muchos
ejemplos del poder del ayuno en la vida de los creyentes desde los
primeros tiempos hasta el presente. Pero hoy, el cuerpo de Cristo ha
ignorado en gran medida el ayuno. Esta es una de las razones por las
que hay una falta de poder en la iglesia en su conjunto, con pocos
milagros, señales, curaciones, liberaciones y otras manifestaciones de
lo sobrenatural para transformar vidas.
¿Por qué el pueblo de Dios ha abandonado esencialmente el ayuno? Hay
varias razones. Una de las causas son nuestras vidas sobrecargadas;
empacamos tanto en cada día que a menudo descuidamos prioridades
importantes. Otro es simplemente la falta de motivación. Pero creo que una
de las razones más importantes es la omnipresencia de una perspectiva de
“hiper-gracia” en la iglesia. Esta perspectiva dice que, dado que Cristo nos
redimió y venció a Satanás, no hay nada que necesitemos para contribuir a
nuestro crecimiento y protección espiritual. ¡Pero esto no es lo que Jesús nos
enseña!

Es cierto que podemos recibir gratuitamente todos los beneficios que Cristo ganó
para nosotros en la cruz. Sin embargo, debemos apropiarnos de Su provisión por fe y
aplicarla a todos los aspectos de nuestra vida. Y tenemos la responsabilidad como
sacerdotes de Dios de ofrecerle sacrificios espirituales de oración y ayuno para
promover Sus propósitos en el mundo y en nuestras propias vidas. (Discutiremos
estos temas con más detalle en los próximos capítulos). Debemos volver a la
intención original de Dios para la iglesia: convertirnos en un
personas que pueden manifestar Su amor y poder en el mundo. La única forma en
que podemos hacer esto es regresar tanto a la oración como al ayuno.

Nuestra necesidad de ayunar y orar se ha intensificado

Además, en este momento de la historia de la humanidad, vivimos en
medio de la agitación y la revolución, tanto en el mundo natural como en la
esfera espiritual. A medida que se acerca la segunda venida del Señor,
estamos lidiando con poderes demoníacos que nunca antes se habían visto
en la tierra. Nuestra necesidad de orar y ayunar se ha intensificado, porque
solo por estos medios podemos estar preparados para enfrentar y vencer
estas fuerzas destructivas del enemigo.

De acuerdo con esto, vivimos en la profecía “Tiempos de restauración

de todas las cosas”:

Arrepiéntanse, pues, y conviértanse, para que sean borrados sus

pecados, para que vengan tiempos de refrigerio de la presencia del
Señor, y para que Él envíe a Jesucristo, que les fue predicado antes, a
quien los cielos deben recibir. hasta los tiempos de la restauración de
todas las cosas, que Dios ha hablado por boca de todos sus santos
profetas desde el principio del mundo. (Hechos 3: 19-21)

La palabra restauracion significa "un regreso a una posición o condición

anterior". Indica que se ha vuelto a la intención original. En estos últimos días,
Dios quiere restaurar la relación íntima de la iglesia con Él y el
empoderamiento en Su Espíritu para que podamos completar Sus propósitos:
difundir el evangelio del reino por todo el mundo, trayendo salvación,
sanidad, liberación y abundancia. Esta restauración incluye un movimiento en
la iglesia para volver a vivir por el Espíritu, sin depender más de nuestras
propias fuerzas y técnicas para servir a Dios, y para prepararse para la
segunda venida de Jesucristo.

El libro del profeta Joel describe la restauración de todas las cosas en

el tiempo del fin, que involucra tanto a Israel como a la iglesia. En los
capítulos 1 y 2, el profeta describe la desolación de Israel y pide
arrepentimiento y ayuno. Luego, hacia el final del capítulo 2,
leemos esta palabra del Señor sobre la restauración:“Te devolveré
los años que comieron langostas, langostas, langostas y
langostas, mi gran ejército que envié entre vosotros” (Joel 2:25). El
tercer y último capítulo de Joel trata de Dios juzgando a las
naciones y bendiciendo a su pueblo.
¿Cuál es nuestra responsabilidad en los planes de Dios para la restauración?
Las promesas de Dios requieren nuestra cooperación personal, mediante la
oración y el ayuno. Una vez más, el ayuno es una herramienta esencial para
recibir el poder del Espíritu; nos permitirá experimentar avances en el ámbito
espiritual, especialmente si lo incorporamos como parte integral de nuestro
estilo de vida. Como escribí en mi libroOración de avance, “Con un gran
avance, lo que necesitamos se trae del mundo espiritual al mundo natural,
para que podamos verlo en una demostración visible o tangible del poder o la
provisión de Dios”. Este principio de la necesidad de la oración y el ayuno se
aplica no solo a la restauración a escala global, sino también a la restauración
en nuestras vidas individuales, ahora mismo, por el poder y la provisión de
Dios, en nuestra vida personal, matrimonio, familia, finanzas, ministerio y
cualquier otra cosa que necesite ser sanada, reparada o renovada.

La oración y el ayuno como forma de vida

En Avance rápido, descubrirás cómo el ayuno te da acceso a la presencia de
Dios. Este libro proporciona una revelación de la Palabra de Dios que cambia
vidas y muchos testimonios personales sobre el poder del ayuno. Aprenderá
qué es exactamente el ayuno; diferentes tipos de ayunos y sus beneficios;
cómo ayunar de forma eficaz; cómo obtener y aumentar el poder espiritual
mediante el ayuno; y pautas y pasos específicos para que el ayuno forme
parte de su estilo de vida. El valor del ayuno es incalculable, para su relación
con Dios y para Sus propósitos en el mundo. Conviértalo en una forma de
vida a partir de hoy. Jesus dijo,“Tu Padre que ve [tu ayuno] en secreto te
recompensará abiertamente "
(Mateo 6:18).
 1
Introducción al ayuno

FAsistir es una de las claves para entrar a la presencia de Dios porque

nos permite enfocarnos exclusivamente en nuestra relación con Él. Una vez,
después de haber adorado a Dios durante una hora completa, sentí algo
dentro de mí que nunca antes había sentido. Así que le dije al Señor: “Se
siente como si algo pesado se hubiera apoderado de mí, algo que no puedo
describir. ¿Qué es?" Él respondió: "Una afluencia de poder entró en tu
espíritu". Le respondí: “¿Qué quieres decir? No lo pediste ". Él dijo: "No tienes
que preguntar cuando tienes una relación cercana conmigo".

Desde el momento en que Dios creó a los seres humanos, ha deseado ser
uno con nosotros en relación. Nuestra comunión con Él refleja la relación
matrimonial como Él la diseñó, en la que las parejas están unidas como una
sola carne. En la iglesia de hoy, muchos creyentes carecen de una relación
cercana, fuerte y continua con el Señor donde puedan recibir Su vida de
manera continua. ¿El resultado?Sin relación, sin poder.

La realidad espiritual es esta: antes de que Dios nos entregue Su poder, Él

requiere que estemos en relación con Él. A menos que entendamos que toda
nuestra vida cristiana se centra en nuestra unidad con el Señor, no tendremos
acceso a Su poder [Link]
aspectos de su poder vienen a través de nuestra unión con él. No podemos
tener un derrame de poder si somos espiritualmente inmaduros,
desinformados, secos o estancados en nuestra relación con Dios. Por esta
razón, siempre busco mantener dentro de mí una atmósfera espiritual, una
actividad espiritual, que recibo a través de la comunión continua con el Padre
celestial.

Una relación presente y continua

Cuando recibimos a Jesús como nuestro Salvador y Señor, nos comprometemos a
entregar nuestra vida a Dios. Pero debemos darnos cuenta de que esto es solo
el comienzo de nuestra relación con el Padre. No se detiene ahí.
Piense en sus relaciones humanas cercanas: para mantenerlas,
¿no tiene que invertir en ellas con un compromiso de amor,
tiempo y otros recursos? ¿Qué aportas a tus relaciones actuales?
¿Eres un dador o solo un receptor? Cuando tenemos una relación
con Dios en la que le ministramos y recibimos de Él, una relación
que está presente y en curso, siempre tendremos acceso a una
fuente de fuerza y poder espiritual.
Todos nosotros, como creyentes, estamos llamados a buscar una
relación más profunda, progresiva, continua e intensa con nuestro
Padre celestial, buscándolo con todo nuestro corazón y llenos de Su
Espíritu. Tengamos sed y hambre de Él, alineándonos estrechamente
con Su voluntad y recibiendo nueva revelación y conocimiento de Él de
acuerdo con Su Palabra. A medida que nos acercamos a nuestro Padre
celestial, seremos cada vez más fructíferos y productivos para Su reino.

Poder Residente y Poder Activo

Cuando Dios me habló de la afluencia de poder que me había dado
durante la adoración, también dijo: “Solo hubo una afluencia de poder;
ahora, necesitas sacar el flujo de ti ". La afluencia no fue solo para mi
beneficio, sino con el propósito de ministrar Su poder a otros. Si eres
un creyente, ya tienes el poder de Dios dentro de ti a través del Espíritu
Santo que mora en ti. Eso es lo que llamamos el "poder residente" de
Dios. Entonces, al honrar al Señor y adorarlo, poniéndolo a Él en primer
lugar en su vida mediante la oración, el ayuno y la obediencia, Él
despertará ese poder dentro de usted. Ese es Su "poder activo", y
entonces Su poder activo debe ser liberado.
Nuestra relación con Dios inicia varios tipos de poder activo, incluido
el poder de autoridad y el poder de obrar milagros. Por ejemplo, Mateo
10: 1 dice:"Y cuando [Jesús] había llamado a sus doce discípulos, les dio
poder sobre los espíritus inmundos para expulsarlos,
y para curar toda clase de dolencias y todo tipo de dolencias ". La palabra
griega traducida "energía , " exousia, generalmente se refiere al poder de
autoridad, o el derecho legal a ejercer el poder. Ese poder solo puede venir en
virtud de una relación genuina con Dios.

Hechos 1: 8 dice: “Recibirás poder cuando el Espíritu Santo haya venido

sobre ti; y me seréis testigos en Jerusalén, en toda Judea y Samaria, y
hasta los confines de la tierra ”.Aquí, la palabra griega traducida
"Poder", dunamis, se refiere al poder obrador de milagros, que se
activa por la fe. Nuestra oración y ayuno, en sí mismos, no liberan tal
poder, pero nuestra fe libera la afluencia de poder que viene a través
de la oración y el ayuno en la presencia de Dios.

Por lo tanto, a pesar de que todos tenemos el poder "residente" de Dios, debido al Espíritu
Santo que vive dentro de nosotros, todavía necesitamos aprender a apropiarnos del poder
para que se despierte y pueda fluir fuera de nosotros para hacer la voluntad de Dios y cumplir
con la voluntad de Dios. muchas necesidades en el mundo que nos rodea. Aquí volvemos al
meollo del asunto: el poder residente se activa por
relación . Además, una relación continua con nuestro Padre conduce a
potencia activa continua.

La ley del intercambio

En nuestra relación divina con el Padre, está en operación la “ley del cambio”, en la
cual recibimos todo lo que Dios tiene para nosotros. Esto incluye un intercambio de
nombre, voluntad, y fuerza . Primero, recibimos un nuevo nombre: ahora
pertenecemos a Dios y somos contados como parte de su familia. (Véase, por
ejemplo, 1 Juan 3: 1.) También se nos ha concedido la autoridad para usar el nombre
de Su amado Hijo Jesús para llevar a cabo Sus propósitos. (Ver, por ejemplo, Marcos
16:17.) Segundo, recibimos un nuevo testamento. Cuando nuestro espíritu se
renueva, Dios escribe sus mandamientos en nuestro corazón. (Véase, por ejemplo,
Hebreos 10:16.) En tercer lugar, recibimos nuevas fuerzas: Su Espíritu vive dentro de
nosotros como una fuente constante de consuelo, guía y poder. (Véase, por ejemplo,
Juan 14:26; Hechos 1: 8.)
 Los elementos de una relación plena con Dios son el amor;
obediencia; reverencia, también llamada “el temor de Jehová” (ver, por
ejemplo, Deuteronomio 6: 2; Salmo 25:14); y compromiso. Debemos
recordar continuamente que nuestra relación con nuestro Padre
celestial se basa en un convenio, y el convenio siempre implica
compromiso. El Salmo 50: 5 dice:“Reúneme a Mis santos, los que han
hecho pacto conmigo mediante sacrificio”.Hablaremos más en los
próximos capítulos sobre este elemento crucial del sacrificio en el
ayuno. Por ahora, centrémonos en el sacrificio que Jesús hizo por
nosotros en la cruz. Debido a que Él murió en nuestro lugar, entramos
en un nuevo pacto con Dios: un pacto de perdón por nuestros pecados,
vida eterna y acceso completo a Su presencia a través de Jesucristo.
Nuestra parte, nuestra respuesta, a este nuevo pacto es permanecer
en estrecha comunión con el Padre.
Dios no da su poder a los extraños, sino solo a aquellos que están
comprometidos con él, aquellos que le aman, obedecen y honran. A medida
que se compromete con el Padre, se vuelve cada vez más uno en mente y
espíritu con Él, de modo que comienza a hablar, hablar y actuar como Él. A
medida que desarrolle esa relación, Dios se comprometerá con usted de una
manera más profunda y liberará más de Su poder en su vida. Él te revelará Su
voluntad y manifestará tu herencia espiritual.

En una relación tan cercana y comprometida con el Señor, podrá

demostrar Su poder, de acuerdo con la dirección del Espíritu, siempre
que vea una necesidad. No tendrá que esperar por una “unción
especial” porque se apropiará del poder de esa relación para sanar a
los enfermos, expulsar demonios y hacer milagros, señales y prodigios.

Ayuno y relación
El ayuno es una parte vital del proceso de mantener una relación continua
con nuestro Padre celestial porque nos permite profundizar nuestra
comunión con Él, lo que resulta en una mayor intimidad y poder.
Durante un ayuno, designamos a propósito períodos de tiempo en los que
dejamos de lado todo lo demás con el único propósito de buscar al Señor. No
nos involucramos en otras responsabilidades u obligaciones,
entretenimiento, trabajo o incluso comida para poner a Dios en primer lugar
y buscar Su rostro. Al hacer esto, vemos nuestras vidas y las vidas de los
demás transformadas. Se superan el pecado y las tentaciones, los miembros
de la familia vienen a Cristo, se mueven las “montañas” y se activa el poder
espiritual para superar las “imposibilidades”.

Muchos cristianos están oprimidos, afligidos, enfermos, deprimidos,

temerosos y solitarios. ¿Dónde está el poder en sus vidas para superar estas
condiciones? Si carecemos de poder espiritual en cualquier área de nuestras
vidas, entonces o no tenemos una relación cercana con Dios, no entendemos
cómo activar el poder dentro de nosotros, o hay áreas en las que todavía
necesitamos entregarnos a Él. No podemos ejercer el poder y la autoridad
espirituales por nuestra propia inteligencia o según nuestra propia fuerza de
voluntad. Necesitamos el poder de Dios para vencer la tentación y derrotar
los ataques del enemigo.

Todos tenemos varios tipos de dificultades. Algunos de nuestros problemas pueden

ser el resultado del pecado. Pero también debemos recordar que estamos en una
guerra espiritual continua con el enemigo. En ambos casos, si carecemos de una
relación vital con el Señor, no tendremos el poder que necesitamos para la victoria.
También necesitamos poder para“[traer] todo pensamiento en cautiverio a la
obediencia de Cristo ”(2 Corintios 10: 5) para que podamos vivir
"Toda palabra que sale de la boca de Dios" (Mateo 4: 4). No podemos
simplemente tener conocimiento mental de que la Biblia dice que debemos
llevar cautivos nuestros pensamientos. Debemos poder ejercer ese poder, y
solo podemos hacerlo desde nuestra posición de relación.

Cuanto más profunda es la relación, más profundo es el poder. De ahora en

adelante, busque hacer todo en su vida cristiana fuera de su relación con el Señor, y
no de acuerdo con su propia capacidad. Se necesita el poder de Dios para remover
montañas y abordar los problemas en nuestras vidas relacionados con nuestros
matrimonios, finanzas, salud, miedos o cualquier otra cosa.
 Una afluencia del poder de Dios
Recuerde que cada vez que un creyente desarrolla una relación cercana,
personal, continua y progresiva con Dios, habrá una afluencia de Su poder.
Los creyentes casuales no producen poder. Efesios 3:20 dice:“[Dios] ... es
capaz de hacer mucho más de lo que pedimos o pensamos, según el poder
que obra en nosotros." Una vez más, ese poder activo y activo dentro de
nosotros viene en virtud de la relación. El poder funciona cuando hay una
afluencia. ¿Cuándo fue la última vez que pasó tiempo en la presencia de Dios y
recibió una afluencia de Su poder?

Mientras ora y ayuna, Dios depositará Su poder en usted. He

descubierto que cuanto más de la presencia de Dios llevamos, más
rápido se activará y liberará el poder; cuanto más oremos, más
rápidamente se manifestarán los milagros. Vemos este patrón en la
vida de Jesús. Pasó tiempo continuamente en la presencia de Dios, y
cuando salió a ministrar, el poder cayó.
Si desea comprometerse o volver a comprometerse a tener una
relación cercana y continua con el Padre celestial, haga esta oración en
voz alta:

Padre Dios, vengo a ti en el nombre de tu Hijo Jesucristo, mi

Salvador. Te honro como Dios Todopoderoso, y reconozco
que estoy en tu presencia. Me arrepiento por descuidar el
desarrollo de una relación cercana contigo. Perdóname por
haberme apartado de las prácticas de oración y ayuno, que
me permiten construir y mantener nuestra relación. Ahora
mismo, me comprometo a amarte, obedecerte y servirte
haciendo tu voluntad. Vuelvo a ti de todo corazón. Deseo
buscar tu rostro en oración y ayuno. Por favor, dame el
poder de mantener y profundizar mi relación contigo. ¡Tú
eres mi todo! En el nombre de Jesús, amén.

Testimonios de ayunos revolucionarios

Mi nombre es Maria Angelica Sherman. Cuando estaba creciendo en
en las Bahamas, siempre se me consideró la "niña de papá" en una
familia unida. Sin embargo, cuando tenía unos diez años, mis padres
tuvieron una discusión. Recuerdo que mi papá hizo las maletas y se fue.
Cuando esto sucedió, me dolió mucho, pero luego también me sentí
abandonada y rechazada porque nunca lo vi realmente después; nunca
vino a verme.

Hace unos ocho años, vine a los Estados Unidos y estaba

pasando por un momento muy difícil. Esta vez, mi papá dejó
todo en las Bahamas para estar conmigo. Cuando vino aquí,
sentí que lo había perdonado. Pero había algo que no me
permitía amarlo como quería.
Comencé a asistir al Ministerio del Rey Jesús y sentí que había
encontrado un hogar. Tuve un encuentro con el amor de Dios
como Padre, y Dios me ministró. Aprendí lo que significaba
albergar falta de perdón, resentimiento y amargura. Cuando los
reconocí por lo que eran, fui liberado de ellos y puesto en
libertad. Pero lo que Dios hizo después fue incomparable. Mi
padre vino a mí, me abrió el corazón y me pidió que lo
perdonara. Y eso cerró todo lo que había pasado.

Seguí yendo al Ministerio del Rey Jesús y sirviendo, y mi papá le dio su

vida a Cristo. Pero luego comenzó mucha oposición. Tuvimos muchos
problemas económicos debido al hecho de que mi padre perdió su
trabajo justo en el momento en que se convirtió al cristianismo. El
enemigo comenzó a atacar mi relación con mi mamá, porque estaba
defendiendo a mi papá. Me estaban atacando durante el mismo tiempo
en que había decidido ir a la iglesia y comprometerme con Dios. Como
resultado, mi madre y yo nos separamos. Pero le di nuestra relación con
Dios y ella terminó entregando su vida a Cristo también. Ella se acercó a
mí y me dijo: “Hija, perdóname por los ataques, por ir contra ti en este
momento”, y Dios restauró nuestra relación. Luego, después de que hice
un ayuno de veintiún días, mi hermana también fue salva, y el
 El Señor restauró nuestra relación. Tenemos la relación más
hermosa que puedas imaginar. El Señor realmente entró en
mi vida y me transformó como persona e hija de Dios.

María ahora es ordenada diácono en el Ministerio del Rey Jesús, ayudando

a restaurar las relaciones de otras personas, ¡incluidas las de matrimonios y
familias!
 2
¿Qué es realmente el ayuno?

Qué es y qué no es el ayuno

W uando vemos cuán vital es tener una profunda y continua

relación con Dios, podemos comprender la verdadera naturaleza del ayuno.
Aquí hay una buena definición fundamental del ayuno:

El ayuno es la abstinencia voluntaria de alimentos con fines espirituales:

buscar la presencia de Dios y profundizar la relación de uno con él.
Al contrario de la forma en que algunas personas lo practican, el ayuno espiritual no es:

Evitar los alimentos para perder peso (aunque la pérdida de

peso puede ser el resultado)

Una "estrategia" o manipulación para que Dios haga algo en

particular por nosotros.

Un medio para llamar la atención sobre nosotros mismos y mostrar cuán

"espirituales" somos.

Necesitamos ayunar con los motivos correctos para obtener los beneficios
espirituales. En los días del profeta Isaías, los israelitas ayunaban, pero por
razones egoístas y de manera incorrecta:

[El Señor declaró], “¿Por qué hemos ayunado”, dicen, “y tú no has visto?
¿Por qué hemos afligido nuestras almas y tú no te das cuenta? De
hecho, en el día de tu ayuno encuentras placer y explotas a todos tus
trabajadores. Ciertamente ayunas para contiendas y debates, y para
golpear con el puño de la maldad. No ayunarás como lo haces hoy, para
que tu voz se escuche en lo alto. (Isaías 58: 3–4)

El ayuno no debe realizarse a menos que sea con el propósito de

buscar a Dios en la oración a un nivel superior. Eso no significa que no podamos
acudir a Dios con nuestras necesidades y peticiones. Sin embargo, elprimario El
propósito del ayuno es buscar a Dios mismo y Su voluntad, recibiendo Su revelación
de lo que Él quiere hacer en nuestras vidas y en la vida de los demás.

Mucha gente piensa que el ayuno es opcional porque no comprenden su

poder transformador y sus resultados. El ayuno no es una opción, es una
necesidad. Todo creyente está llamado a ayunar. De hecho, es una de las
marcas de un verdadero discípulo de Jesucristo.

A algunos cristianos se les ha enseñado que no tenemos que ayunar

porque Jesús pagó el sacrificio por nosotros, y ya no estamos bajo la ley sino
bajo la gracia. Sin embargo, esta no es una cuestión de ley versus gracia.
Aquellos que adopten este punto de vista tendrán que explicarse a los
apóstoles y al mismo Jesús, quien enseñó a sus discípulos a ayunar. El pueblo
de Dios recibe instrucciones de ayunar no solo en el Antiguo Testamento, sino
también en el Nuevo Testamento.

Durante el ministerio terrenal de Jesús, se le preguntó: “¿Por qué los

discípulos de Juan [el Bautista] y de los fariseos ayunan, pero tus discípulos no
ayunan? (Marcos 2:18). Aparentemente, parecía que el ayuno no era parte del
estilo de vida ni de las enseñanzas de Jesús. Pero, como veremos en este
capítulo y en el siguiente, ese no fue el caso. Jesús dio pautas específicas para
ayunar de una manera que agrada a Dios. Entonces, ¿cuál fue la respuesta de
Jesús a esta pregunta?

¿Pueden los amigos del novio ayunar mientras el novio está

con ellos? Mientras tengan al novio con ellos, no pueden
ayunar. Pero vendrán días en que el esposo les será quitado,
y entonces ayunarán en esos días. (versículos 19-20)

Jesús es el Novio. Por lo tanto, mientras los discípulos estaban continuamente con
él, no necesitaban ayunar. Sin embargo, desde el momento en que Jesús ascendió al
cielo después de Su resurrección, la iglesia, la
esposa de Cristo — ha practicado el ayuno. No ayunaremos después de que
Jesús regrese por Su novia porque estaremos con Él para siempre (ver 1
Tesalonicenses 4: 16-17); pero por ahora, el ayuno debe ser una parte integral
de nuestras vidas.

¿Cuándo debemos ayunar?

A lo largo de las Escrituras, vemos cómo el pueblo de Dios buscaba Su
presencia a través de la oración y el ayuno. A veces, Dios ordenó o instó a un
ayuno particular para su pueblo; otras veces, individuos, grupos o naciones
instigaron un ayuno debido a una necesidad. Por lo tanto, un ayuno de gran
avance se inicia de una de dos maneras: la primera es cuando Dios llama
específicamente a su pueblo (ya sea un grupo o un individuo) a un ayuno para
regresar a él y a sus caminos o para interceder por un problema específico.
Esto se conoce como un "ayuno soberano". El segundo es cuando un creyente
origina un ayuno con un propósito particular. A esto se le llama "ayunar por
fe". En ambos tipos de ayuno, debemos confiar en el Espíritu Santo para
recibir guía y fortaleza.

El ayuno soberano
Un ejemplo bíblico de Dios llamando a su pueblo a ayunar se
encuentra en el libro de Joel: “'Ahora pues', dice el Señor, 'vuélvete
a mí de todo tu corazón, con ayuno, llanto y lamento'” (Joel 2:12).
La palabra hebrea traducida"turno" significa volver al punto de
partida. Dios quería que los israelitas volvieran a tener una
relación cercana con él. También quería que lo representaran con
precisión ante otras naciones cuya gente no lo conocía. Antes de
esta exhortación, el profeta Joel había proclamado:“Consagrar un
ayuno, convocar una asamblea sagrada; reúne a los ancianos y a
todos los habitantes de la tierra en la casa del Señor tu Dios, y
clama al Señor ”(Joel 1:14).
Hoy, Dios puede impulsar a un pastor u otro líder a declarar un ayuno para
una congregación o grupo. O, puede llamar a un creyente individual a un
ayuno, dándole el deseo y la voluntad de entrar en él, y la gracia de ayunar.
completalo. Como escribió Paul,"Porque es Dios quien obra en ti tanto
el querer como el hacer para su beneplácito" (Filipenses 2:13). Por
ejemplo, un día, puede que te levantes por la mañana con hambre,
pero también con un deseo especial en tu corazón de buscar a Dios.
Verás que el Espíritu Santo te está impulsando a ayunar y, a veces, ese
sentimiento de hambre cesará. Dios puede o no revelar su propósito
divino para el ayuno. Sin embargo, a veces, discernirá una razón
específica para ello. Puede ser con el propósito de interceder por una
persona, asunto o evento mundial en particular. En esos casos, es un
privilegio ser elegido por Dios para tal asignación.
Cuando el Señor nos lleva a ayunar, debemos responder. Tenga en cuenta
que este será unconvicción ayunar por el Espíritu Santo, lo que significa que
no habrá culpa, presión o condenación relacionada con él. Permita que el
Espíritu de Dios lo lleve a los ayunos que Él tiene para usted. Aprenda a
escuchar y obedecer su voz.

Ayunar por fe
Como se señaló anteriormente, este tipo de ayuno es iniciado por un
creyente o creyentes. Aquí hay algunas razones importantes para entrar en
un ayuno, que ampliaré en este libro.

Buscar la presencia de Dios. Discutimos este propósito

principal en el capítulo 1.

Humillarnos ante Dios. Todos los creyentes necesitan

humillarse regularmente ante el Padre celestial en
reconocimiento de Su soberanía y grandeza, y el ayuno es una
de las formas fundamentales por las que sometemos nuestras
vidas a Él. “Humillaos, pues, bajo la poderosa mano de Dios,
para que él os exalte a su debido tiempo” (1 Pedro 5: 6). La
verdadera humildad es el camino hacia el poder espiritual
porque la humildad siempre atrae a Dios, mientras que el
orgullo lo repele. Necesitamos reconocer que
sin el Señor, no somos nada. (Véase, por ejemplo, Juan 15:
5.) La humildad ante Dios es una señal de dependencia
total de Él.

Para apropiarse de la presencia de Dios, o para traer la

presencia de Dios al ambiente de un lugar o situación para
permitirle trabajar soberanamente.

Estar preparados para responder a los tiempos que vivimos. Vivimos

en tiempos en los que las fuerzas satánicas influyen en todas las
partes de nuestra sociedad. “Pero debes saber esto, que en los
últimos días vendrán tiempos peligrosos” (2 Timoteo 3: 1). Nos
enfrentamos a enfermedades, corrupciones, ataduras, discordia y
desesperanza mayores que nunca. Necesitamos rezar para vencer
estas enfermedades en el mundo. Además, como escribí en la
introducción de este libro, entidades demoníacas peligrosas han
entrado en el mundo con las que no hemos combatido previamente,
y debemos estar preparados para contrarrestarlas a través del poder
de Dios.

Buscar la dirección y la guía de Dios. Cuando no sabemos qué

camino tomar o cuando tenemos varias opciones ante nosotros, el
ayuno es una forma de perseguir la voluntad de Dios para nosotros,
nuestro matrimonio, nuestra familia, nuestras finanzas, etc. Como
escribió el sacerdote y escriba Esdras:“Entonces proclamé un ayuno
allí en el río de Ahava, para que pudiéramos humillarnos ante
nuestro Dios, y buscar de Él el camino correcto para nosotros,
nuestros pequeños y todas nuestras posesiones” (Esdras 8:21).

Recibir poder para el ministerio o para manejar una determinada

situación. Para que ocurran milagros y liberaciones, necesitamos una
atmósfera espiritual. El ayuno nos lleva a un lugar en el Espíritu
donde vemos una nueva actividad espiritual dentro de nosotros y
podemos llevar esa atmósfera dondequiera que vayamos.
 Sin actividad espiritual, operaremos en la carne, y la
carne nunca producirá un milagro.
Para hacer frente a una crisis. Cuando enfrentamos una crisis actual
o inminente, podemos apelar a Dios a través de la oración y el
ayuno. Esto es lo que hicieron la reina Ester y los hebreos exiliados
cuando enfrentaron la amenaza de aniquilación. (Ver Ester 4).

Para superar una imposibilidad. Jesus dijo, “Para los hombres

es imposible, pero no para Dios; porque para Dios todo es
posible ”(Marcos 10:27).

Consagrarse y apartarse a Dios para sus propósitos. A través

del ayuno, podemos ofrecernos como sacrificio vivo a Dios,
pidiéndole que haga Su completa voluntad en nuestras vidas.

Activar dones y llamamientos espirituales. El ayuno cultiva la unción

en nuestras vidas. Hay dones dentro de nosotros que están
dormidos, pero cuando ayunamos, estos dones se despiertan en
nosotros.

Para recibir un avance específico en nuestras vidas. - ya sea

físico, mental, emocional o espiritual. Hay algunos obstáculos
o retrasos en nuestras vidas que no cambiarán ni cambiarán
hasta que ayunemos y oremos.

Siempre que entremos en un ayuno por fe, tengamos en cuenta que el

ayuno cambia nosotros , no Dios. ¡Dios no necesita cambiar! El ayuno por fe
es una forma de mostrarle a Dios nuestro hambre por él. Cuando vea nuestra
hambre, nos responderá por nuestro compromiso y perseverancia; Él nos
transformará e intervendrá en nuestras situaciones. Nuevamente, el ayuno
no es “pagar el precio” para que Dios nos escuche, porque el sacrificio ya fue
pagado por Jesús en la cruz. El ayuno tiene el propósito de agudizar nuestro
enfoque y percepción espirituales para que
puede recibir todo lo que Jesús pagó por nosotros.

Un ejemplo del ayuno por fe del Antiguo Testamento es el ayuno iniciado

por el profeta Daniel para la restauración de los israelitas a su tierra:

En el primer año de Darío, hijo de Asuero, del linaje de los

medos, que fue nombrado rey del reino de los caldeos.
- en el primer año de su reinado, yo, Daniel, entendí por los
libros el número de años especificados por la palabra del
Señor por medio del profeta Jeremías, que cumpliría setenta
años en las desolaciones de Jerusalén. Entonces puse mi
rostro hacia el Señor Dios para pedir con oración y súplicas,
con ayuno, cilicio y ceniza. (Daniel 9: 1-3)

En el Nuevo Testamento, Jesús enseñó a sus discípulos a ayunar por fe, y

podemos ver claramente cuán vital era el ayuno en su propia vida. Jesús no
enfrentó y venció las grandes tentaciones de Satanás en el desierto hasta
que, lleno del Espíritu, se comprometió en un ayuno prolongado, después del
cual comenzó Su ministerio con el poder del Espíritu Santo.

Entonces Jesús, lleno del Espíritu Santo, regresó del Jordán

[después de Su bautismo] y fue llevado por el Espíritu al desierto,
siendo tentado durante cuarenta días por el diablo. Y en aquellos
días no comió nada, y después, cuando terminaron, tuvo
hambre… Ahora, cuando el diablo terminó con toda tentación, se
apartó de él hasta el momento oportuno. Entonces Jesús volvió
en el poder del Espíritu a Galilea, y su noticia se difundió por toda
la región circundante. (Lucas 4: 1–2, 13–14; véanse también
Mateo 4: 1–11; Marcos 1: 12–13)

El Espíritu Santo llevó a Jesús a confrontar al enemigo en el desierto, y el ayuno

correspondiente de Jesús pudo haber sido un ayuno soberano o un ayuno por fe. De
cualquier manera, como un acto de su voluntad, en consagración,
Jesús presentó su cuerpo ante Dios en ayuno. Antes de lidiar con el enemigo,
necesitaba estar espiritualmente preparado. Muchos de nosotros nos
enfrentamos actualmente al enemigo en una crisis particular o en una batalla
en curso. Si esta es su situación, ¿se ha detenido por un momento y ha
reconocido: “No puedo superar esto a menos que entre en un período de
ayuno”?

Jesús fue la Persona más pura y santa que caminó sobre la faz de la tierra.
Él no tenía pecado, sin embargo, como ser humano, todavía necesitaba orar y
ayunar para derrotar al enemigo, conocer la voluntad del Padre y establecer
firmemente Su ministerio en la tierra. ¡Cuánto más necesitamos orar y
ayunar! Hemos sido maravillosamente redimidos por Cristo y se nos ha dado
el don del Espíritu Santo. Aun así, todavía luchamos contra la naturaleza
pecaminosa, que continuamente intenta reafirmar la autoridad sobre
nuestras vidas (ver, por ejemplo, Romanos 7: 22-25) y, lamentablemente,
tenemos una tendencia a alejarnos de una relación cercana con nosotros.
Dios. Además, necesitamos poder continuo para el ministerio. Al ayunar y
orar en la presencia de Dios, Él nos proporciona sabiduría, fuerza y unción.

Como escribí anteriormente, Jesús les dio a sus discípulos instrucciones

sobre el ayuno, y veremos esas enseñanzas en los próximos capítulos. (Véase
Mateo 6: 16-18; 17: 14-21.) Vemos ejemplos adicionales de ayuno en el Nuevo
Testamento. El registro bíblico muestra que los creyentes de la iglesia
primitiva practicaban el ayuno como una parte importante de su estilo de
vida. Por ejemplo, los profetas y maestros de la iglesia en Antioquía oraron y
ayunaron, después de lo cual recibieron una palabra específica del Espíritu
Santo sobre el ministerio de Pablo y Bernabé. (Véase Hechos 13: 1–3.)

Además, leemos en 2 Corintios que Pablo ayunaba con frecuencia. (Véase 6: 4–5;
11:27.) Pablo escribió aproximadamente la mitad de los libros del Nuevo Testamento,
y probablemente fue el apóstol más grande de todos los tiempos; sin embargo, sintió
la necesidad de ayunar con regularidad. Los hombres y mujeres de Dios más
poderosos desde los primeros tiempos hasta hoy han seguido una
estilo de vida de oración y ayuno.

¿Qué formas toma el ayuno?

El ayuno tiene dos formas principales: ayunos parciales y ayunos totales.

Un ayuno parcial
Esta forma de ayuno es parcial con respecto al marco de tiempo
comprometido o los alimentos específicos de los que se abstiene. Por
ejemplo, puede ayunar una o dos comidas al día. O bien, puede comer
tres comidas al día, pero no comer ciertos alimentos que disfruta
especialmente, como dulces, carbohidratos o carne. Para ver un
ejemplo notable de un ayuno parcial con el propósito espiritual de
honrar a Dios, regresemos al libro de Daniel. Daniel y sus amigos
estaban entre los israelitas llevados al cautiverio por el ejército invasor
de Babilonia. Comieron solo vegetales para evitar la carne y la bebida
ofrecidas a los ídolos de Babilonia, y Dios honró este ayuno dándoles
favor con sus captores. (Ver Daniel 1.)

Un ayuno total
Esta forma de ayuno es la eliminación total y completa de alimentos
durante un período de tiempo específico (veinticuatro horas o más). Se puede
hacer de dos formas: sin ingerir alimentos e ingiriendo solo agua, o
eliminando por completo todos los alimentos y líquidos. Este último no se
recomienda porque el cuerpo humano está compuesto por un 80 por ciento
de agua y una abstinencia prolongada de agua podría producir efectos
negativos graves. (Los casos de tales ayunos en la Biblia fueron circunstancias
únicas). Personalmente, ayuno dos días a la semana, ya sea parcial o
totalmente. En otras ocasiones, ayuno durante tres, siete o veintiún días a la
vez. Es esencial buscar la guía del Espíritu Santo al determinar el tipo de
ayuno en el que participará.

Un llamado al ayuno y la oración

Creo que, en estos días, Dios está llamando a su iglesia a regresar a
ayuno y oración. Es uno de los pilares que sustentan nuestras vidas y
ministerios. Muchos hombres y mujeres de Dios hoy en día no están
espiritualmente alerta porque han dejado de orar y ayunar. Han perdido el
fuego y la pasión por Dios, por la oración y por la salvación de las almas. Dios
nos está devolviendo a nuestro primer amor (ver Apocalipsis 2: 4-5) para que
podamos recuperar nuestra ventaja en el ámbito espiritual y caminar en el
poder del Espíritu.

¿Estás listo para comenzar o renovar la práctica del ayuno? ¿Estás

dispuesto a sacrificar comida durante uno o más días para buscar al
Señor? Muchas de las religiones del mundo incluyen el ayuno entre sus
prácticas. ¡Cuánto más debemos ayunar como cristianos para honrar y
obedecer al Dios viviente! Experimentarás avances en tu vida cuando
hagas del ayuno y la oración una parte regular de tu estilo de vida.

Si desea ser parte de esta renovación de oración y ayuno, haga

esta oración en voz alta:

Padre Celestial, te pido que me des la gracia de incorporar el

ayuno y la oración a mi estilo de vida. Estoy entre los que han
perdido mi pasión por Ti y por ministrar a otros en Tu nombre.
Quiero buscar tu rostro. Quiero hacer avanzar Tu reino. Gracias
por llamarme a una relación más profunda contigo y por
llenarme con Tu Espíritu para que pueda recuperar mi percepción
espiritual y ser usado como un recipiente para los propósitos de
Tu reino. En el nombre de Jesús, ¡amén!

Testimonios de ayunos revolucionarios

Mi nombre es Petrus Mashwele Mokgwaui y soy de los
pueblos de Strydkraal Limpopo, una provincia de Sudáfrica.
Tengo veintitrés años, soy enfermera y estudiante de
ciencias. Crecí yendo a la iglesia, pero fue en una atmósfera
en la que no sabía nada sobre lo sobrenatural, y tampoco mi
padre, que era el pastor. No sabiamos que habia mas
a la iglesia que solo una estructura religiosa. Solo había ocho
miembros en nuestra iglesia. Mi padre predicaba, pero no había
manifestaciones sobrenaturales del Espíritu Santo y el poder de
Dios. No vimos milagros ni expulsiones de demonios.

Mientras estaba en mi tercer año de universidad estudiando enfermería, estaba

en el centro comercial de mi ciudad y encontré algunas de las enseñanzas y otro
material sobre lo sobrenatural del Apóstol Maldonado. Sentí un tirón y un deseo
de saber qué era lo sobrenatural, así que comencé a leer uno de sus libros.
Durante los primeros tres días, no pude entender por qué estaba leyendo
contenido que hablaba de cómo la razón y la duda habían reemplazado a lo
sobrenatural. Por ejemplo, mis estudios en enfermería me dijeron que el VIH no
se puede curar y que los muertos no pueden resucitar. Pero las enseñanzas de
lo sobrenatural dicen lo contrario: que los milagros, las señales y las maravillas
son evidentes y posibles hoy.

Decidí hacer un ayuno de veintiún días porque quería que Dios me

revelara el poder de lo sobrenatural; Quería tener un encuentro con el
Espíritu Santo para que me diera a conocer las cosas espirituales.
Durante el ayuno, comencé a encontrarme con Dios y a comprender Su
llamado. Hablé con mi padre y le dije que estaba aprendiendo sobre lo
sobrenatural y que necesitábamos permitir que el Espíritu Santo tuviera
espacio y libertad en los servicios de nuestra iglesia.

Mi padre me permitió predicar en el servicio del Domingo de

Resurrección el mes siguiente. Enseñé sobre lo sobrenatural,
revelando a los miembros de nuestra iglesia que Dios es un Dios
de milagros y que la llenura del Espíritu Santo es necesaria. Llamé
a aquellos que necesitaban un toque de Dios o un milagro creativo
para que pasaran al frente. Una mujer se acercó, y el Espíritu de
Dios vino sobre mí, y comencé a profetizar: "Se te quitó algo, un
órgano ...". Y ella dijo: “Sí, me operaron hace tres años y me
quitaron las dos trompas de Falopio. Como resultado, me es
imposible quedar embarazada o
tener hijos ". Le dije que Dios estaba a punto de crearle nuevas trompas
de Falopio y que, como prueba, ella daría a luz un niño hermoso y
saludable. El Espíritu Santo habló este testimonio a través de mí, la
mujer creyó y tuvo fe, y yo declaré la creación de nuevas trompas de
Falopio. La mujer regresó a nuestro servicio en la iglesia el mes siguiente
testificando de este milagro creativo: ¡estaba embarazada! Más tarde dio
a luz a un niño sano.

Lo natural, que se basa en la razón, la inteligencia y la sabiduría humanas, ha

reemplazado a lo sobrenatural. No habla de la capacidad del poder de Dios.
Mientras que mi formación en enfermería me enseñó que ciertas situaciones no
se pueden cambiar, he visto de primera mano que lo sobrenatural es la realidad
más elevada; resuelve imposibilidades. Cuando lo sobrenatural se manifiesta,
contradice las leyes de la razón y la naturaleza. ¡De ninguna manera se puede
comparar el razonamiento humano con lo sobrenatural, porque lo sobrenatural
está por encima de la naturaleza!
 3
El triple cordón: ayuno, donación y
Orando

I En los próximos capítulos, discutiré más específicamente qué esperar.

durante un ayuno. Pero primero veamos las enseñanzas de Jesús en Mateo 6
para que podamos saber sin ninguna duda que el ayuno debe ser una parte
establecida de nuestro caminar en la fe. Para entender esto, necesitamos ver
la relación entre el ayuno y otros dos aspectos fundamentales de nuestra vida
cristiana.

Tres preceptos vitales

En el Sermón del Monte, Jesús reveló tres preceptos vitales, tres
responsabilidades, que se aplican a todo creyente: dando, rezando,
y ayuno Comenzó hablando de dar ofrendas:

Ten cuidado de no hacer tus obras de caridad delante de los hombres,

para ser visto por ellos. De lo contrario, no tendréis recompensa de
vuestro Padre que está en los cielos. Por lo tanto,cuando haces una
obra de caridad, no hagas sonar trompeta delante de ti como lo hacen
los hipócritas en las sinagogas y en las calles, para recibir gloria de los
hombres. De cierto os digo que ya tienen su recompensa. Perocuando
haces una obra de caridad, No dejes que tu mano izquierda sepa lo
que hace tu mano derecha, para que tu obra de caridad sea en secreto;
y tu Padre, que ve en lo secreto, te recompensará en público. (Mateo 6:
1–4)

Tenga en cuenta que Jesús no dijo: " Si haces una obra de caridad ... "pero
"Cuando haces una obra de caridad ..." Con esta declaración, Jesús mostró
que las obras de caridad, o los actos de dar en diversas formas, son una parte
normal de la vida de un creyente, y explicó cómo ese dar debe ser
realizado. A continuación, Jesús abordó el tema de la oración:

Y cuando rezas, no serás como los hipócritas. Porque les encanta

orar de pie en las sinagogas y en las esquinas de las calles, para
que los hombres los vean. De cierto os digo que ya tienen su
recompensa. Pero tu,cuando rezas, entra en tu habitación, y
cuando hayas cerrado la puerta, ora a tu Padre que está en el
lugar secreto; y tu Padre que ve en lo secreto te recompensará en
público. Ycuando rezas, no utilices vanas repeticiones como
hacen los paganos. Porque piensan que serán escuchados por
sus muchas palabras. Por tanto, no seas como ellos. Porque tu
Padre sabe las cosas que necesitas antes de que le pidas. (Mateo
6: 5-8)

Después de explicar cómo no Para orar, Jesús enseñó inmediatamente la

forma correcta de orar. Les dio a sus discípulos un modelo a seguir, al que
llamamos el Padre Nuestro. (Véanse los versículos 9-13.) Nuevamente, vemos
que Jesús no dijo: “Si rezas ... "pero "Cuando rezas ..." Consideraba que la
oración era algo en lo que todos los creyentes se involucrarían.

Por último, vemos el mismo patrón en las instrucciones de Jesús sobre el ayuno:

Es más, cuando ayunas, no seas como los hipócritas, con semblante

triste. Porque desfiguran sus rostros para que a los hombres les
parezca que están ayunando. De cierto os digo que ya tienen su
recompensa. Pero tu,cuando ayunas, unge tu cabeza y lava tu rostro,
para que no te aparezcas a los hombres que ayunas, sino a tu Padre
que está en el lugar secreto; y tu Padre que ve en lo secreto te
recompensará en público. (Mateo 6: 16-18)

Una vez más, Jesús no dijo: " Si ayunas ... "pero "Cuando ayunas ..."
Algunas personas piensan que necesitan esperar una señal de Dios o un sentimiento
especial antes de emprender un ayuno. Si bien es cierto que Dios nos llevará a entrar
en ayunos soberanos, podemos tomar la iniciativa de ayunar en cualquier momento.
hora. Podemos tomar la decisión de ayunar por fe. Y como demuestran las
enseñanzas anteriores de las Escrituras, el ayuno debe integrarse en el estilo
de vida habitual del creyente.

El ayuno, por lo tanto, no es opcional, sino que se espera de los

seguidores de Jesús. Es un acto de obediencia, así como un medio
excelente para crecer en nuestra relación con el Padre, ganar fuerza
espiritual y dar fruto para Dios.

Motivos y recompensas
Jesús nos exhortó a examinar nuestros motivos al participar en
dar, orar o ayunar. Para determinar si nuestras intenciones son
puras ante el Señor, debemos hacernos preguntas como estas:

"¿Qué quiero más, aplausos y recompensas de otras personas

o favor y recompensas de Dios?" Si buscamos
constantemente el elogio de otras personas, nos
ofenderemos cuando no obtengamos de ellos lo que
esperamos recibir. Sin embargo, si esperamos las
recompensas de Dios, Él nos bendecirá y nunca estaremos
decepcionados.

"¿Cuál es mi razón para hacer ofrendas, orar o

ayunar?"
"¿Siempre quiero que mi trabajo para Dios sea
reconocido públicamente por el pastor u otros líderes de
mi iglesia?"

"¿Me molesta cuando la cantidad de dinero que doy

no es apreciada o reconocida?"
Jesús dijo que lo que hacemos por el Padre "en secreto" honrarlo y servirlo será
recompensado. ¿Cuál será la recompensa de Dios para nosotros cuando hagamos
ofrendas, oremos y ayunamos por las razones correctas? Tendremos
"Tesoros en el cielo":

No os hagáis tesoros en la tierra, donde la polilla y el orín

corrompen, y donde ladrones minan y hurtan; sino haceos
tesoros en el cielo, donde ni la polilla ni el orín corrompen, y
donde ladrones no minan ni hurtan. Porque donde esté tu
tesoro, allí estará también tu corazón. (Mateo 6: 19–
21)

También recibiremos revelaciones de Dios y Su Palabra:

La lámpara del cuerpo es el ojo. Por tanto, si tu ojo es

bueno, todo tu cuerpo estará lleno de luz. (Mateo 6:22)

La fuerza de la triple cuerda

Me gusta conectar estos tres elementos de dar, orar y ayunar
con el "Cordón triple" mencionado en el libro de Eclesiastés:

Aunque uno pueda ser dominado por otro, dos pueden resistirlo.
Y una cuerda triple no se rompe rápidamente. (Eclesiastés 4:12)

En consecuencia, mientras servimos al Señor, debemos enfocarnos en cada uno de

los elementos de este triple cordón:

1. Donación es una forma de honrar a Dios. Honrar significa

valorar, estimar, respetar, reverenciar o considerar a alguien (o
algo) precioso. Cuando honramos a nuestro Padre celestial, no
le damos por conveniencia, sino de acuerdo con nuestro amor
por Él. Honrar a Dios y a los padres (y a los demás) es una señal
de madurez espiritual. El honor también es una moneda
espiritual que es altamente recompensada en el reino de Dios.
Lo que hagamos con la primera porción, o "primicias", de
nuestros ingresos (ver Proverbios 3: 9)
 determine what will happen to the rest of it. Will it dry up,
will it be void of any spiritual significance—or will it
become fruitful and multiply for the kingdom? When we
honor God with our giving, He will demonstrate His power
and provision in our life in a way we’ve never seen before.
Remember, this is not a “payment” for seeking and
honoring Him but rather a response of His love and grace
through Jesus Christ.

2. Prayer is communication with God. Every relationship is

based on communication, and we should continually be in
contact with our heavenly Father throughout the day.
What is the first thing we communicate to Him? Our
worship. Through the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught that we
are to first minister to God when we pray, honoring and
praising His name, and aligning ourselves with His will:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your
kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10). When you honor God with
your worship and praise, you will find that your prayers
are answered. If you don’t honor God at the beginning of
your “Abba Father” prayer, the rest of the prayer will not
be applicable to you. (See verses 11–13.)

3. Fasting is presenting our bodies to God as a living

sacrifice. We will continue to discuss this theme and its
implications in the next chapter.

A Loose Cord?
Many people wonder, “Why am I not receiving answers to my
prayers?” Have you felt that way? Could it be that one (or more) of the
threefold cords in your spiritual life is loose or frayed? Let us search our
hearts to see if we are meeting our responsibilities to give, pray, and
fast—seeking the face of God and honoring Him with our
whole life. When we do what is right in God’s sight, we can defeat our
“flesh,” or the sinful nature, and the devil through the power of the
Spirit. I believe that as you weave together this threefold cord in service
to God, you will experience breakthroughs in every area of your life!

If you want your life to come into alignment with the threefold cord,
please pray the following prayer:

Heavenly Father, I honor Your name and desire to do Your will.

Forgive me for seeking the applause of other people instead of
seeking Your favor and eternal rewards. I want to incorporate the
threefold cord of giving, praying, and fasting into my life. Please
give me the grace to obey You in all areas of my life so I may
grow in my knowledge of You, gain spiritual strength, and bear
fruit for You. In Jesus’s name, amen!

Testimonies of Breakthrough Fasts

My name is Xiomara Antonio, and I am from Angola. When I lived
in my native country, I didn’t have a relationship with God.
However, my father is a pastor, so I did know about God, and I
knew that He is able to do miracles.

I came to the United States as an international student, majoring

in marketing, with a minor in accounting. My parents were not
with me, and I didn’t have anyone to depend on besides God. I
needed a strong relationship with Him. I used to go to another
church, but when I started attending King Jesus Ministry, I really
felt like I was home. I learned many things about prayer and
fasting, and it helped me a lot in my walk with God. I learned I
needed to forgive people. For example, I had a lot of grudges
against my mother. We have the same personality and therefore
we clash a lot. However, through fasting, I learned how I needed
to deal with my mother and all the broken relationships in my
life.
I fasted during the youth conference at King Jesus Ministry and
asked God to deliver a word for me. They called all the youth who
were sons and daughters of pastors to come forward for ministry.
Someone prophesied over me that I would receive a scholarship.
At that very time, I was waiting to hear about a particular
scholarship. I’d had no word about it, and I had started to doubt I
would receive it. I thought, Maybe the scholarship is not for me.

By the end of that year, I was applying to another school because I

wanted to transfer from one university to another. To my surprise,
the prophetic word that had been released over my life actually
came to pass. I was awarded a dean’s scholarship of five thousand
dollars per school year to attend Nova Southeastern University. I
was very surprised because I never thought I would have a
scholarship from a source within the US. I always thought that my
scholarship would come from my native country. But that was not
God’s plan. He is amazing. He works in ways we don’t expect.
 4
Appropriating Power Through Fasting

I n chapter 2, we looked at this foundational definition of fasting:

Fasting is the free-will abstinence from food for spiritual
purposes—to seek God’s presence and deepen one’s
relationship with Him.

In this chapter, we add to that basic definition with these further

aspects of what fasting means:
Fasting is our spiritual sacrifice as priests of the new covenant
through Jesus Christ; it is part of our calling in God.

Fasting is presenting our body as a living sacrifice to God, as an act of

our will, for the purpose of consecration and dedication to Him.

God’s Kings and Priests

Since ancient times, fasting has been a spiritual sacrifice offered to
God by His children. In Christ, all believers have been made “kings and
priests to our God” (Revelation 5:10; see also Revelation 1:6). As God’s
priests, we are to present spiritual offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
The apostle Peter wrote:

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a

holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ.… You are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood , a holy nation, His own special people, that you may
proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:5, 9)

As a holy and royal priesthood, we are to draw near to God every

day, offering sacrifices to Him such as worship, praise, prayer, fasting,
and generous giving. In chapter 2 of Breakthrough Fast , I mentioned
how the leaders of the New Testament church at Antioch
“ministered to the Lord and fasted” (Acts 13:2). We can actually
minister to the Lord as we worship and fast, and these sacrifices
become a sweet aroma to Him. (See, for example, Ephesians 5:2.)
Fasting is a form of worship because when we sacrifice our
normal intake of food, we put our flesh, or the fallen nature,
under submission; we prevent it from usurping authority over our
spirit. This enables us to put God first in our lives.
Today, a number of Christians know how to minister to other people,
and they understand that this ministry is an essential part of serving
the Lord. However, they don’t know how to minister to God, and they
don’t realize that this, too, is a vital part of their calling. The church
must learn how to minister to God as His priests, offering spiritual
sacrifices such as fasting. When we cease eating for the purpose of
worshipping and honoring the Lord, seeking first His kingdom, God
doesn’t take that sacrifice lightly. Remember, “your Father who sees [
your fasting] in secret will reward you openly”
(Matthew 6:18).

Consecrating Ourselves to God—Set Apart

for His Service
There are many different types of sacrifices we can offer God, but the
greatest is the sacrifice of ourselves . One of the best ways we can offer
this sacrifice is to consecrate our lives, or set ourselves apart, to be
dedicated to Him. There are various means by which we approach God
and demonstrate we are consecrated to Him, and one of the most
effective ways is by prayer and fasting.
Many Christians have not yet entered into such a depth of
commitment. They might have experienced God’s fire, been a vessel
through which He has worked supernatural signs and wonders, and
even given tithes and offerings—but they have not yet fully
consecrated themselves to God. They have not made it a regular
practice to submit to Him. To be consecrated to God means to be
totally surrendered and set apart for His exclusive use. We are to be
separated and consecrated to God and for God.

Becoming a Living Spiritual Sacrifice

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. (Romans 12:1–2)

When we fast, we present ourselves, including our body, to the Lord

as a “living sacrifice . ” In the Old Testament, under the law, the
Israelites followed the practice of regularly bringing sacrifices to the
temple in order to have their sins forgiven so they could draw close to
God again. The sacrifices were certain animals that had been slain. But
under the new covenant, Jesus Christ is our eternal sacrifice. He is “the
Lamb [of God] slain from the foundation of the world”
(Revelation 13:8) on our behalf. Consequently, our sacrificial
requirement today is to present ourselves alive to God in consecration
and dedication—and that includes presenting to Him our body.
The body is the outer shell, or dwelling place, of our spirit—our
essential, immortal, inner being. It is also the abode of our soul—our
mind, will, and emotions. Moreover, the body of a believer is a
“temple” where the Holy Spirit resides. (See 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19.) In
Romans 12:1, the expression “living sacrifice” refers to worshipping
God with all aspects of our being—spirit, soul, and body. Since
wholehearted worship takes place where it is offered and expressed
through all these areas, the body must be presented as a living sacrifice
along with the spirit and soul. And a major way we do
this is through fasting. Let each one of us make a steadfast decision,
through prayer, to regularly present our body to God as a living
sacrifice!

Surrendering Our Body

How do we subjugate our body to fast in order to seek God? This is a
challenge because the body always wants to follow the desires of the
flesh, which are contrary to those of God’s Spirit. (See, for example,
Romans 7:5; Galatians 5:16–17.) In the Bible, the “flesh” is also called
“the old man” and the “passions . ” (See, for example, Ephesians 4:22;
Galatians 5:24.) The flesh never wants to fast because it easily conforms
to bad habits and wants to indulge in unrestrained desires—continually
craving more food, sex, sleep, and so on. Therefore, when we present
our body as a living sacrifice before God, we are not just following a
religious doctrine, ritual, or custom. We are, in actuality, consecrating
and dedicating our own body to God in total surrender.

Paul tells us that presenting our body to God is a “reasonable

service” (Romans 12:1). Another translation of this phrase reads:
“reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship”
(ampc). With the requirement to be a living sacrifice, God is not asking
us to do something unreasonable or something we can’t accomplish.
Instead, to offer ourselves in this way is a rational and logical act, based
on what He has done for us. We find an excellent explanation of this in
Vine’s dictionary: “The sacrifice is to be intelligent, in contrast to those
offered by ritual and compulsion; the presentation is to be in
accordance with the spiritual intelligence of those who are new
creatures in Christ and are mindful of ‘the mercies of God.’” 1 We
surrender our body to God as a conscious decision of our will in
gratitude for His mercy and grace in our lives.

Laying Aside Every Weight and Sin

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud
 of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so
easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is
set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

The “weight” mentioned in the above verse refers to any weight that
would keep us from winning the “race” —any hindrance that would
prevent us from staying true to our relationship with God and serving
Him wholeheartedly throughout our lives. Accordingly, we could apply
the termweight to either spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical
weights in our lives.
These weights block the free flow of God’s Spirit. When we carry
excess weight, God cannot accelerate His anointing in our lives or
unfold many of His purposes for us. (In the next chapter, we will talk
more about this factor and how to be set free from these hindrances.)
We cannot allow excess weight in any area to keep us from carrying out
our responsibilities with excellence. Christian living is a long- distance
run of faith and endurance; therefore, to finish it well, our body must
become “weightless” and not hold us back.

The apostle Paul learned to place his body under submission and
present it as a living and pleasing sacrifice before God. Based on his
experience, this is what he instructed the Corinthians:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone
running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I
strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(1 Corinthians 9:25–27 niv)

The reference to “striking a blow” implies the act of disciplining our

body into submission. In fasting, this means sacrificing the desire to eat
(especially the desire for excessive eating) for a period of time and
avoiding taking in anything that might harm the functioning of the
body.
Fasting trains us to discipline ourselves. We place constraints on our
appetite and desire for food, and in so doing, we develop self- control.
Fasting strengthens us to say no to the cravings of the flesh and the
temptations of the enemy.

Maintaining Our Spiritual “Edge”

By offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, we are also enabled to
become more spiritually discerning. We identify with God and receive
revelation about His nature, will, and purposes. The more spiritually
attuned we are, the quicker we will be able to perceive realities in the
supernatural realm. When we fast, God begins to sharpen our ability to
see, hear, and discern those realities. Thus, fasting helps us not only to
gain, but also to maintain, our “edge” in the Spirit, readying us to be
used for His purposes.

Many believers have lost their spiritual edge, with the result that they
are now functioning more in the natural realm than the spiritual
domain. Whenever we lose our edge, our spiritual perceptiveness and
authority are weakened, and we start to function like a nominal
believer or even like someone who does not believe in God and His
power. Fasting brings us into a place in the Spirit where we see new
spiritual activity in our life—things we’ve never seen before. As I discuss
more completely in coming chapters, there are certain places in God—
realms and dimensions of the Spirit—that we won’t have access to
unless we fast.

Consecration Brings or Increases the Anointing

Accordingly, when we consecrate ourselves to God as living sacrifices,
He brings or increases the anointing in our lives. God has given me a
particular commission for ministry: “ Called to bring the supernatural
power of God to this generation.” Therefore, my
conviction is that I owe to the world an experience with the power of
the living God. When I see various needs, it inspires and prompts me to
consecrate myself to God again, so that my spirit, soul, and body will be
dedicated to Him—and used by Him in whatever way He desires for me
to fulfill this commission.
At one point, I was ministering in Argentina, and there were 27,000
people in the stadium for a meeting. In the midst of this ministry, the
Lord said to me, “I want you to do a fast of forty days. What is about to
come into your life demands and requires transition, and that is the
reason you must fast.” There was a time when I didn’t understand why
anyone would go on a forty-day fast, such as we read about in the
Bible. Then I learned that the number forty represents change,
renewal, and transition. There are things in our lives that won’t shift or
change until we fast and pray. God might not require you to do a forty-
day fast, but He will guide you into the length of fast He desires in
order to bring about the necessary transition for your further spiritual
growth, anointing, and service.
Many people today want a shortcut to God’s power. They want the
power but not the fasting. They want the success but not the sacrifice.
But true success in God comes through consecration and surrender.
Those who separate themselves to God for the purpose of fasting will
come into power. Do you really want more spiritual power? Then, start
to regularly fast and pray.

Consecration Stirs Up Our Gifts

Since consecration increases the anointing, when we fast, we can also
cultivate and stir up God’s gifts within us. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I
remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying
on of my hands” (2 Timothy. 1:6). The Greek verb translated “stir up” in
this verse means to “re-enkindle.” Another way of looking at it is a
reawakening or arousing from sleep.
Is it possible for a person to have the anointing and the gifts of the
Holy Spirit but not have spiritual activity in their life? Yes, it is possible.
This happens when the gifts and the anointing are dormant, or asleep.
If this is the case, they need to be activated. Sometimes, we allow our
gifts or anointing to fall dormant, and then we go through a season of
dryness and emptiness. By neglecting or rejecting what the Holy Spirit
has given us, and not allowing Him to work in our lives, we can
“quench” Him. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:19.)
There may be spiritual gifts within you that are dormant, or gifts the
Lord has released upon you that have yet to be manifested. You need
to awaken any dormant places in your spiritual life. It might be that you
have areas of giftedness that have never before come to the surface,
which the Holy Spirit wants to activate in you. Perhaps you haven’t even
realized they’re there. Or maybe you have neglected to use gifts that
you once used regularly. In either of these situations, you can stir up or
awaken your anointing by prayer and fasting. When we fast, the gifts
within us will begin to be stirred up, including gifts of the Spirit and
ministry gifts. (See, for example, 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:11–12.)
God wants us to stir up those gifts!

Consecration Brings God’s Direction

Furthermore, consecrating ourselves to God through fasting
prepares the spiritual atmosphere for His Spirit to speak to us and
guide us. For example, when you have to make a difficult or important
decision and need the Lord’s direction, that is a good time to declare a
fast by faith and make time to pray and seek the Lord. Fasting
increases our sensitivity to God’s voice. It enables us to hear His words
with greater clarity and certainty.

Consecration Angers the Enemy

Please be aware that when you fast, the enemy will send
distractions into your life. He will bring interruptions involving
people, places, and things. For example, the day you start fasting,
someone might offer you your favorite food! Or, you might get a
craving for a certain dish, when you never had a craving for it before.
An old friend you haven’t seen in a while might suddenly stop by and
offer to take you out to lunch. Or, when you begin to pray, you might
get several phone calls in a row.

When you experience such distractions, remember that the enemy

tried the same thing with Jesus when He fasted and prayed in the
wilderness. In Jesus’s case, the devil brought temptations to try to
prevent Him from remaining in God’s presence. The Son of Man
overcame these distracting temptations because He was immersed in
God’s Word and was committed to obeying His heavenly Father. After
He had overcome the devil, “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit” (
Luke 4:14). He went out to the surrounding areas bringing the kingdom
of heaven to earth by healing the sick and casting out demons. (See, for
example, Luke 4.)
The devil doesn’t want you to pray and fast, either, so he will try to
cause you to lose your focus. He knows you will come out of your fast in
the power of God, so that your family members will be saved, you will
receive deliverance in your mind and emotions, and you will advance in
God’s purposes for your life. You will come out in the power of God!
Now do you understand why Jesus fasted? In a fast, you receive God’s
power because you are consecrating your body to Him, you’re offering
yourself to Him, you’re ministering to Him— and God responds to this
ministry. He sees it as a spiritual sacrifice.

People who are not inclined toward fasting miss out on such
manifestations of God’s anointing and the many exciting ways in which
He desires to spread His kingdom in the world. When I want to increase
the anointing in my life, I proclaim a fast and follow it, and the effects
are immediate. Miracles and healings occur more quickly. Deliverances
are vastly more powerful. These results are a sign that the anointing
has increased. All believers need to cultivate the anointing in their lives
through fasting. Start waking up spiritual activity in your life now!
 Consecration Prepares Believers for Ministry and
Leadership
In addition to its importance for the act of personal consecration to
God, fasting is significant in the process of consecrating believers in the
church for ministry. We saw an example of this earlier with the church
at Antioch. Recall how the prophets and teachers of that church prayed
and fasted, after which they received a specific word from the Holy
Spirit about a new ministry of apostleship for Paul and Barnabas. (See
Acts 13:1–3; 14:14.)

Moreover, fasting loosens the impartation to ordain local leaders in

the church, which the newly commissioned apostles Paul and Barnabas
did as part of their ministry:

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made
many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to
continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many
tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” So when they had
appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting ,
they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
(Acts 14:21–23)

When we fast, therefore, we present and dedicate ourselves to the

Lord, ministering to Him with sacrifices of worship, praise, and our very
lives. If you would like to consecrate yourself to God, or renew your
consecration to Him, begin by praying this prayer:

Father God, today, I consecrate myself to You. I present my body

to You as a living sacrifice as an act of my will, for Your exclusive
use. You have my attention, and I will hear and obey You now and
in the days to come. I will fast, I will pray, and I will seek Your face.
I ask You to give me Your grace to do this faithfully. I want to be
Your vessel, used for Your glory. Right
now, I am consecrated and dedicated to You. Use me, Lord. In
Jesus’s name, amen!

Testimonies of Breakthrough Fasts

My name is Carlos, and I grew up in a Christian family in Texas.
However, I was not committed to God. In high school, I didn’t have
a strong role model, and I would go out to parties and drink. I was
also addicted to pornography. Then I went to a deliverance retreat
at King Jesus Ministry, and God encountered me there. He told me,
“You know I am with you! I have always been with you!” He
touched me that day and told me not to worry because He would
always be there for me.

From that moment, my life turned around. I was freed from all my
addictions, and I stopped attending worldly parties and drinking. I
began to fall in love with God. I was able to feel His embrace in my
deliverance. The Lord had restored my innocence. After I was
baptized, I felt an even stronger connection with Him. I had never
experienced anything like that!

One day, I was at football practice when someone ran into me and
broke my hand. From my wrist to my thumb, the bone was
shattered. In the X-ray, my bone looked like a candy cane. My
doctors told me I was done for the rest of the year, and that I
would need to wear a cast all summer. I would also need surgery.
Lastly, I was told I would never be able to play football again.

I told the Lord I needed healing, and I was prayed for, but nothing
happened. I struggled with daily activities like writing and
showering by myself. I remember watching a video on YouTube,
produced by our church, about a guy who had suffered an
accident and injured his eye, but God healed him and restored his
vision. That testimony made me want my healing even more. I felt
I needed to fast all week, so I would eat one meal a day, at noon,
and declare healing over my body.
 I went to a service at my church, and there was a man there
visiting from Germany who asked if he could pray for my hand.
When he prayed, I felt my hand grow warm, and I also felt
something so amazing in my heart. I decided to take a step of
faith, so I took off my cast and touched the bone where my finger
had been popped out, and I didn’t feel anything! I had received my
healing! I was just amazed; I was like, wow! It’s
unbelievable. I knew that I could receive healing, but I had been
skeptical because it hadn’t happened right away. When I saw this
happen, I knew God was real. I went from living a crazy life to
falling in love with God and receiving His healing. He is powerful—
and I am speechless.

1 W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and WilliamWhite, Jr., Vine’s Complete

Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1996), s.v. “reasonable,” 509–
510.
 5
The Results of Fasting

Getting Our Attention!

G od uses fasting to draw our full attention to Him, which allows

Him to work transformation in our life. There are two ways in which this
can happen. The process can begin each time we offer ourselves as a
living sacrifice to the Lord in a regular practice of fasting. In these
times, we purposefully take the focus off our daily concerns so we can
listen to His voice. However, God can get our attention even before we
start a fast—when we face a difficult situation that drives us to
diligently seek Him for answers.
In the book of Hosea, God said of the Israelites, “I will return again to
My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My
face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me ” (Hosea 5:15) A
crisis gets our attention, causing us to turn to God. When we are in such
a quandary, we feel compelled to recognize, “I must consecrate myself
to God and ask for His help. There is no other way to solve this
dilemma.” Sometimes, we can be so out of spiritual focus due to a
preoccupation with “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19), or because of
disobedience to God’s Word, that He allows a difficulty to come into our
lives. He doesn’t send crises, but He uses them to redirect our attention
to Him and take us to the next spiritual level while developing Christlike
character in us.

An Entrance to the Supernatural

It is human nature to seek God during a time of trouble.
Unfortunately, after the affliction ends, we often become complacent
again. That is why God sometimes has to keep us continually on our
knees before Him. He desires to help us in our situation. However,
even more than that, He wants us to understand that He is our only
true Source and Deliverer—not only in the midst of a crisis, but at all
times.

Accordingly, our entrance into the reality of the supernatural often

comes through a difficulty that we are unable to solve. We may never
know how powerful and supernatural our God is until we are in dire
trouble and receive a miracle from Him in the midst of it. In fact, one of
the purposes of miracles is to manifest the nature and power of God.
(See, for example, Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:3–4.)
Yet before showing us His power and provision, God will often use
the crisis to change us from the inside out. During a fast, He usually
won’t reveal Himself to us until He first shows us the needy condition of
our heart and where we have strayed from His truths and purposes.
That is why the beginning part of a fast is often the hardest—this is the
time when God purifies us from our weaknesses and disobedience.
These are the spiritual “weights” that slow us down in the long-distance
run of our spiritual life, which we talked about in the previous chapter.
Let’s look at the processes by which God cleanses us, thereby removing
these weights from our lives.

Fasting Removes “Contaminations”

When we fast, God removes spiritual “contaminations” from our soul.
Our soul needs to be cleansed because, over the course of time, it
becomes infected by negative atmospheres. By exposure to the
influences of the world (the mind-set hostile or indifferent to God), the
soul accumulates spiritual impurities, mixtures of truth and error, and
so forth. For instance, we may be contaminated by harboring bitterness
or unforgiveness toward a family member or a fellow brother or sister
in our church. Or, we may be contaminated by spending a lot of time
with people who have negative attitudes, which we pick up, so that we
cease reflecting the nature of Christ. God wants to remove these
contaminations from us. In fasting, we can
surrender all such things to the Lord. (See, for example, James 4:8.)

When we offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice, we commit

ourselves to come into agreement with His mind and to be obedient to
His will. As we become sensitive to that will, we can align our lives
accordingly and become one with God’s purposes. We can help keep
our soul under the control of our spirit by taking all errant, disobedient
thoughts “into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Thus, as we begin to fast, God says to us, in essence, “Before I show
Myself to you in answer to what you’re looking for, let Me purify you.
You need to really see yourself before you see Me.”

This requires us to humble ourselves before the presence of God.

When we do so, He begins to work in our heart, and we return to living
in the light. Prideful people live in the darkness, but humble people live
in the light. Humble people also carry God’s favor, because His favor is
always attached to humility. After humbling our souls in fasting, we
gain deeper fellowship with the Father. He cleanses us anew through
His Word (see Ephesians 5:25–27) and Spirit, and He sets us apart for
Himself once again. We receive His anointing and power, so we can be
equipped to serve Him.

Fasting Crucifies the “Flesh”

Another way we remove spiritual weights from our lives is by
“crucifying our flesh.” The Scriptures say, “Those who are Christ’s
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians
5:24). As we discussed in the previous chapter, the “flesh” is also
referred to as the “old man” or the “passions.” Additional terms
include the “carnal nature,” the “sinful nature,” and the “Adamic
nature” (in reference to Adam’s disobedience to God in the
garden of Eden).
Fasting breaks down the power of the flesh in our lives very
quickly. That is another reason why the enemy hates it when we
begin to fast. He wants us to remain spiritually immature and
ineffective. Usually, before we fast, our flesh, rather than our spirit, is
more in control of our lives. We need to move out of the natural realm
and the operations of the flesh. As we fast and yield to God, He begins
to transform us and lift us up. Paul wrote, “Those who live according to
the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live
according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit”
(Romans 8:5), and “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16 niv).
When we are living according to the flesh, we can’t perceive spiritual
things (a topic we will discuss further in the next chapter of this book).
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). In contrast, when we fast, the
Holy Spirit becomes a greater reality to us than anything in the natural
world. With a heightened perception of the spiritual realm, the
presence of God becomes more real to us. We also become more
aware of the enemy and his schemes, and how to deal with them. This
enables us to be prepared for whatever difficulties may come our way.

Let me ask you: When a personal crisis looms, which is more real to
you—the presence of God’s Spirit or the problem? When sickness
comes upon you, or you receive a negative report from the doctor,
which is more real to you—the power of the Spirit or the illness? When
a financial emergency arises, which is more real to you— prosperity in
the Spirit or lack?
Fasting puts your flesh under subjection to the Spirit so that the
kingdom of God becomes more significant to you than the temporal
situations of earth. Your fasting communicates to your flesh, in effect,
“Be quiet! I won’t listen to you. You don’t dictate to me—you are not my
master; you are my servant.” As the Holy Spirit begins to take control of
your life, you become more spiritually oriented and
attuned, and this is reflected in your thoughts, words, and actions.

Therefore, until the Holy Spirit and the life of God become our
greatest reality, the flesh will dominate us. We will think, act, and react
according to the “old man.” The evidence of our death to self is that we
have come under submission to Christ. This evidence manifests, for
example, when an angry, discouraged, or fearful person, after having
yielded to God, begins to live in the freedom of life in Christ, exhibiting
the fruit of the Spirit: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-
control” (Galatians 5:22–23).
Fasting accelerates death to the sinful nature. Therefore, in every fast
you undertake, pay attention to how God is working to purify your soul
and subjugate your flesh. When fasting becomes a regular part of your
lifestyle, you will continually live in a place of death— but it is death to
the old nature. So be glad! The life of Christ is becoming dominant in
you and triumphing over the flesh!

Fasting Purifies Us from Negative Cycles

and Patterns
Additionally, as we fast, God breaks us out of negative cycles and
patterns in our emotions, thinking processes, will, and actions. You
might be surprised to find what negative cycles have become
established in your heart and life. (See, for example, Matthew 15:18–
20.) These are not one-time or occasional problems but, rather,
habitual ones. Some damaging patterns of thinking and behaving
include anger, discouragement, depression, bitterness, strife, jealousy,
doubt, unbelief, impure thoughts, fear, sadness, preoccupation with
death, panic attacks, addictions, and sexual immorality.

We all have unhealthy patterns we need to let go of in order to

become everything Christ redeemed us to be. What negative thought
processes are you dealing with? Perhaps, every time someone says
something to you like “You’re no good,” you fall into depression. Or,
every time you have a fight in your family, you become discouraged
and sad. Maybe you have mood swings or constantly deal with fear,
insecurity, or jealousy. Perhaps you feel stuck in a pattern of financial
predicaments, poverty, or broken relationships. You might feel you
have done everything to overcome the situation, and nothing has
changed. But have you fasted about it?

Cycles of negative behavior that reappear in our lives after we

thought we were free of them can be especially distressing. For
example, perhaps, at one point, you were delivered from
pornography or addiction, yet after a period of time, you went
back to living according to the old cycle. You wonder how that
could have happened. Such harmful cycles must be broken
through fasting and prayer.
In my own life, there have been certain cycles and patterns that I
didn’t like, and I told God that I wanted to break them. For example, I
struggled with a pattern that happens with many preachers: Every time
I had a great victory in ministry, either in the United States or abroad, I
would somehow become discouraged, experiencing “the blues.” I
would pray, “God, I witnessed the blind receiving their sight and the
deaf having their hearing restored, but now I feel discouraged.” When I
realized this was a regular cycle in my life, I said, “Wait a minute. Let me
fast about this.” And God set me free!

Do you want the negative behavior patterns in your life to change?

Are you tired of being stuck in a destructive cycle? Mental and
emotional patterns and bad habits can be broken during fasting. If you
notice God bringing these patterns to your attention during a fast,
don’t become discouraged. He wants you to recognize that they are
there, and then to yield to His cleansing work so you can be delivered
from them. Your soul is being afflicted, but remember that your spirit is
alive in Christ. The more of our problems we give to God, the more He
will give of Himself to us.
In a related way, during a time of individual or corporate fasting,
interpersonal problems that had remained buried or submerged—
never having been dealt with—can begin to surface as God confronts
us with our issues. I have seen open conflict erupt in families, churches,
and even businesses when people have begun to fast. The work of
Satan is exposed. People’s good and bad motivations and intentions
are uncovered. Their true hearts are revealed. For example, suppose
there is someone you have harbored resentment against but have
superficially tolerated in your interactions with them. Suddenly, in the
middle of a fast, your resentment rises to the surface and you find
yourself in an argument with that person. Be prepared for issues to
surface, and continually seek God’s forgiveness, healing, and
reconciliation with others.

Fasting Removes Stumbling Blocks

During fasting, God may also point out an area of our lives that is a
stumbling block to us, even though it isn’t a particular sin. For example,
we may have personal preferences that, perhaps unknown to us, are
interfering in our relationship with Him. It might be a romantic
attachment, a superfluous activity, or a certain goal we’ve been
pursuing. We can’t allow any person, activity, or pursuit to become an
idol to us. Anything that has become an idol to us, God will either
remove or cause to be demoted in our life. To experience true, eternal
life—right now, here on earth—we need more of God and less of us.
That is why, as we consecrate ourselves to God, we make a decision to
give up whatever is holding us back from Him.

When we fast, we commit to give more of ourselves to God and ask

God for more of Himself. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He must
increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Similarly, we can say, “I want
the life of Christ to grow strong in me, but for that to happen, my ‘self’
must become less.” As believers, we should want to lift up Jesus by our
lives so that many people will come to know Him and receive His
salvation and deliverance. Fasting is one of the quickest ways in which
we can die to “self”—meaning our willfulness or
desire to do things our own way rather than God’s way. God has
wonderful plans for us, but we hinder them because we think we know
better than He does. Through fasting, we place our lives under
submission to His lordship.
When God begins to confront us with various issues that need to be
resolved, we may feel He is taking away some things that are important
to us or have defined our lives to this point. However, the more He
removes our issues and stumbling blocks, the more He gives of Himself
and His blessings. The priorities of the temporal world will fade away
from our sight, and the eternal kingdom of God will come into greater
focus for us.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” Every time you fast,
something of you will die, but something of Jesus will become alive in
you as the Spirit takes over.

Fasting Brings New Cycles, Patterns,

and Seasons
Thus, the beginning of a fast does the work of fully capturing our
attention so we will recognize our needs and allow God to remove the
negative ways of thinking and behaving we have fallen into, including
destructive patterns that need to be broken. Our soul might have been
contaminated by ungodly spiritual atmospheres, or we might have
gone back into living according to the flesh. We might be stuck in
undesirable mental and emotional cycles, continually repeating the
same patterns and mistakes without understanding how we became
trapped in them.
Do you want change to occur in your life? Or do you want to repeat
your old cycles and patterns of defeat? Unless you have a season of
renewal, you will repeat those old cycles. Tell yourself, “No more
damaging cycles in my life!” Initiate a fast by faith so that these
negative cycles and patterns can be broken. Reach out to another
believer or group of believers who can pray, fast, and stand with you
until you receive deliverance.

When we fast, God not only sets us free from negative cycles and
patterns, but He also releases us into new spiritual seasons and cycles
of life. These are times of transformation, preparing us for what God
wants to do next in our lives and the lives of others. You may have
heard someone give a testimony such as, “I fasted, and God saved my
family.” As I emphasized earlier, this type of result is never a “payment”
from God for fasting. It is because the heart of the person who fasted
became aligned with God’s heart, giving Him the freedom to move in
their favor.
Our hearts must be prepared for the ways in which the Spirit is
moving. For example, suppose God were to bring a large sum of money
into your hands for the purpose of carrying out His will. If your heart
isn’t ready to receive it, having that money could lead you away from
God instead of into His blessing and abundance. God wants you to be
ready for His mega-blessings. That is why, if we want to enter a new
dimension in a particular area of our life, such as our finances, we won’t
move into that new area unless we fast and seek God about it.

The more we fast, the more we will align our spirit with the life of
God and the activity of heaven. If you want to be set free from
contaminations, the desires of the flesh, and old patterns and cycles,
and if you would like to enter into a new spiritual season, pray this
prayer out loud:

Heavenly Father, today, I ask You to show me any way in which

my soul has been contaminated by an ungodly atmosphere. Then,
cleanse me and restore me to You. I willingly crucify my flesh so
that I may walk according to Your Spirit. I acknowledge that I
have negative and destructive patterns in my life—emotional,
physical, mental, and spiritual. [Specifically name any that come
to mind.] Deliver me from them all,
purifying my soul and sharpening my spirit. Enable me to become
sensitive to Your voice. Remove the blinders from my eyes that
prevent me from discerning Your answers to the problems and
crises in my life. Father, release a fresh anointing in me. I declare
that this fast will take me into a new territory, a new season. In
the name of Jesus, amen!

Testimonies of Breakthrough Fasts

My name is Priscilla Rodriguez. When I was twenty years old, I
thought I would spend the rest of my life in jail. I had separated
myself from the ways of God, and my life was very distorted. The
things I was doing were leading to nothing but destruction. I was
living a sinful life! Finding myself in jail, I started to fast for three
days. While reading my Bible, God led me to a word that said, “My
grace is sufficient; when you are weak, I am strong.” (See 2
Corinthians 12:9–10.) As I went before the judge, I started
declaring those words. After I had fasted and prayed for three
days, on the day of the trial, I was cleared of all charges.

That day, I made a covenant with God that when I was set free, I
would come to church and testify about His glory. In jail, God had
allowed me to pray for other girls who were going through
similar things as I was, and I am living proof of His goodness. I
will spend the rest of my life ready to worship, dance, and praise
Him for all He has done in my life.
 6
Increasing Your Spiritual Perception

T here are certain places and realms in the Spirit we won’t have
access to until our fasting and consecration to God open them up to us.
For example, some people say they never hear God’s voice in guidance
or encouragement. What is the reason for this? God has prepared
powerful blessings for them (as He has for all of us), but they haven’t
positioned themselves to be attuned to Him in order to receive that
revelation. Others have received a word from God, but it is difficult for
them to believe for its fulfillment because they haven’t perceived in the
Spirit what God wills and how He is working in the now.

For example, imagine you are in a crisis, and God wants to give you
the solution for it. However, you can’t see the answer because you’re
living according to the flesh, so your spiritual sight is veiled. Or,
suppose you are headed in the wrong direction in life, hitting various
“potholes” in your path. God wants you to be able to hear Him say,
“You’ve been making some bad decisions—stop and listen to Me!” But
your spiritual hearing is blocked by a negative pattern of depression, so
you can’t obtain what He is revealing to you.
Fasting and praying will not only open our spiritual perception, but
they will also accelerate our ability to see and hear what God is
communicating to us. What had previously been unclear or confusing
to us—or leading us astray through deception—will become clear when
God purifies our souls and we become accustomed to seeing and
sensing in the spiritual dimension. Fasting can also enable us to
perceive the root of a problem. Afterward, we say, “Why didn’t I see this
before? It’s so obvious!” There have been times when I have sought
God for something, but I was unable to receive it, even after spending
much time in prayer. But when I engaged in a fast, I heard
His voice and received the answer. Why couldn’t I hear God
beforehand? It was because my soul had not been cleansed and my
spirit had not been sharpened. Fasting prepared me to discern and
receive the answer I needed.

I hope you recognize the necessity and benefits of being cleansed

from atmospheric contaminations, the fleshly nature, and negative
patterns and cycles through fasting. God calls us to fasting and prayer
so we can become focused on Him and see beyond the reach of our
physical eyes. As we cease dwelling on the temporal reality of life’s
events and circumstances, we become more attuned to the greater
reality of the spiritual domain. This enables us to take our eyes off of
our lack, our sickness, or anything else that is outside of God’s will. We
enter a new season in which our level of spiritual sensitivity is raised. It
becomes easier for us to discern the voice of God and learn His
purposes and instructions for us—and to pray accordingly. Our prayers
become more effective. We are able to receive divine strategies and
creative ideas. We develop greater receptivity to the Spirit’s
movements. Thus, after God deals with various issues in our lives, He
reveals Himself and His ways to us. We can perceive what He is saying
about the situations we are going through and His overall purposes for
our life.

Three Kinds of Spiritual Vision

There are three kinds of spiritual vision we can experience as we
consecrate ourselves to God in fasting. The first is “inner” vision, which
is something you see in your mind’s eye. The second is “open” vision,
where you might see something in the physical atmosphere as if on a
television screen. The third is “ecstasies.” This is where you begin to see
into the spiritual world, as in spiritual visions or “trances” (such as the
apostle Peter experienced in Acts 10:9–16, or the apostle John
experienced in the book of Revelation); in this type of vision, it is often
as if you are in a state between being awake and being asleep.
 Remember that, when He operated as a human being on earth, Jesus
needed spiritual clarity in His mind and heart before confronting Satan
in the wilderness (or anywhere else). However, Jesus prayed and fasted
not only for spiritual strength to defeat the enemy but also to
commune with the Father, receive revelation, and act on what was
revealed to Him. For example, Jesus stated, “Most assuredly, I say to
you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father
do ; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John
5:19). God desires us to function in the same way—seeing what He is
doing in the heavenly realm, and then doing the same thing on earth.
He wants to work through us to bring what is in the eternal realm into
the physical world as manifestations of His kingdom.
We see an excellent example of this process in the life of the
prophet Jeremiah, who wrote,

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah,

what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to
perform My word [“I will hasten my word to perform it”
kjv].” (Jeremiah 1:11–12)

In answer to the Lord’s question, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

the prophet replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Jeremiah’s
spiritual vision was sharp, and this enabled him to see into the
spiritual realm to what God was doing. He saw what God saw. And
the Lord told him, “ You have seen well, for I am ready to perform
My word.” In the original Hebrew, the Lord’s reply is essentially
this: “Because you have seen well, I will accelerate and perform
My word.”
Today, God wants to make sure we, too, are seeing what He is
seeing, so we can receive all that He has for us and be able to
fulfill His purposes. I try my best to remain sharp in the Spirit, so I
can receive God’s revelations to me. For instance, sometimes, I am
enabled to see when spiritual danger is coming and what I should do
about it; other times, I am enabled to see what is truly going on in
someone’s life, beneath the surface, that is causing a particular
problem. To minister effectively, I need to stay on the spiritual cutting
edge. And fasting is an important way I maintain my position there.

Whenever we can see what God shows us, we are able to obey His
will, receive His blessings, and walk in victory. When I was ready to buy
the property where King Jesus Ministry now stands, I stepped onto the
land, and I saw, in the Spirit, the building that would become the
sanctuary, educational classrooms, counseling rooms, and more. What
did I do? I started leaping! I started running and repeating, “I see it!”
And God said, “Because you saw it, it’s yours. I will accelerate it.” He
accelerated the process so that it was complete in under two and a half
years. God will do the same for you—if you see something in the Spirit
and accept it in faith, you will receive it, and God will accelerate the
process.
To give you another example, I prayed for five years for God to do
creative miracles, such as generating new organs and other body parts
in people, because I felt that was included in my calling to minister the
supernatural power of God. During that time, I saw a lot of healings—
but not a lot of creative miracles. Then the Lord said to me, “Until you
see them, I am not going to accelerate them.” So I went into a fast, and,
remarkably, I saw in the Spirit a woman’s breast regrowing after having
been surgically removed. God said, “You saw it; now I will accelerate it.”
Since then, I have seen many types of creative miracles in my ministry.

What Do You See?

Many times, we obscure the answers to our prayers because we
haven’t sought God—fasting and consecrating our lives to Him—so we
can see what He wants to show us, and then receive that revelation
in faith. God tells us, in effect, “I was ready to give you the solutions to
your questions and problems last week [or six months ago, or two
years ago], but I haven’t been able to get your attention. However, now
you are fasting and praying, and you will be able to understand and
receive My solutions for your marriage, your children, and your
finances.”

God has answers ready for you. Are you ready for them? Let me ask
you: What do you see about your family? Your finances? Your school?
Your crisis? God’s condition for you to receive what you are waiting for,
or His condition to accelerate your breakthrough, is that your spirit be
sharp and focused on Him. God told Jeremiah, “You have seen well” (
Jeremiah 1:12). It was as if He were saying, “Oh, Jeremiah, you have My
attention, because you’re seeing what I’m seeing, you’re perceiving
what I’m perceiving, you’re hearing what I’m hearing.” Similarly, God is
telling us, “If you see and hear what I see and hear for your situation,
this is what I will do.”
Have you seen your miracle? Have you seen the healing for your
body? Have you seen your house mortgage paid off? Acknowledge to
God what He has revealed to you! For example, suppose, in the spiritual
realm, you see your business growing, and then you tell God what you
see; after that, you are able to sell a product you had a hard time
selling before. Why? Because you saw it happen beforehand in the
Spirit, and now it is being manifested in the physical world.

I believe there’s an acceleration coming in your life! See it and

rejoice!

Faith Has an Imagination

What if you still have difficulty seeing what God sees? You need to
learn to walk by faith. “For we walk by faith, not by [physical] sight” (
Corinthians 5:7). Living according to human reason can block your
miracle. However, when you begin to live according to faith, you will
learn that faith has an imagination that looks into the spiritual realm
and perceives what you can’t see in the physical world. This is what
some people call a “sanctified imagination.” Sometimes, we can’t see
what God sees because of our anxiety over present circumstances or
our fear over what might happen in the future. Fear is a distortion of
the imagination of God. When you fear, you imagine things that don’t
exist. Yet, what you fear, you can attract and cause to manifest in the
material world.
In contrast, when you see by faith, you see what is real in eternity,
and that spiritual reality can be manifested on earth. For example,
when you are praying, you might suddenly start seeing pictures of
something. You think, Why am I seeing these pictures? This is just my
imagination. But with spiritual vision, you experience God’s imagination
in you, not your own ideas. When God called me to minister, I received
spiritual imaginations of big things—of preaching to people in large
stadiums. At first, I thought I was crazy. I didn’t know then that faith
operates with imagination. However, God told me, “I’m showing you
what is to come, because, if you can see it, I will hasten it.”

Therefore, don’t go by the bad news that you see, hear, and feel in
the natural realm, but go by what God’s Word says, and by what you
perceive in the Spirit. If you see something, call it in! Say, “God, I am
seeing something.” You have to declare it. Then God will reply, “I will
accelerate it.” With spiritual sight, we can see that, in God, our
breakthrough is on the way!
It is clear that you begin to see yourself by faith when you stop living
according to your natural sight and senses and live according to the
supernatural. When you walk only by sight and not by faith, there is no
“super” connected with the natural, whether in regard to people,
circumstances, or things. Thus, you end up walking slowly along the
road of life—and stagnation sets in. But when the “super” is placed
upon the natural, things accelerate!

If you want to open your spiritual sight and hearing as you fast and
consecrate yourself to God, say the following prayer:

Father, I need You! I need Your guidance and instructions for my

life. I need to know Your purposes for me and my family. Purify
my soul and open my spiritual eyes and ears. Allow me to see
what You see and to hear what You hear, so I can receive it in
faith. Enable my spirit to be sensitive to the ways in which You are
moving. Whatever I see and hear from You, I will declare! I know
acceleration is coming upon my life. In Jesus’s name, amen!

Now, allow me to pray for you:

Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, remove from Your
people’s eyes any veil or cloud that is obscuring their spiritual
sight, and any interference that is blocking their spiritual hearing.
I release the anointing of deliverance, removing the blinders from
their eyes and the blockage from their ears, so they can see and
hear as You do, and so they can discern with a holy imagination
what You have prepared for them. The hindrances are removed,
right now, in the name of Jesus!

I encourage you to pray in the Holy Spirit, and when God shows you
a solution or a blessing in the spiritual realm, say it out loud— declare
it, and receive it!

Testimonies of Breakthrough Fasts

My name is Devin Perfumo. I grew up in a nice household, but
when I was about ten, I found out that my parents were going to
get divorced. My dad had developed a drinking problem, and
whenever he would drink, he would also end up doing drugs, and
my mother was fed up with it. She did not want her children
growing up in that type of environment. When my parents first
got divorced, it didn’t bother me too much, but as the years
progressed, not having a dad at home left me with a lot of empty time
to wander around. I ended up becoming a street kid and playing in a
band. I, too, began to develop a drinking problem that led me to take
drugs—cocaine and ecstasy.

One day, when I saw all my friends around me getting high, I

knew I’d had enough of that lifestyle. I fell to the floor of my room
and cried out, “God, I don’t know if You’re real or not, but I need to
know, because if this is life, I don’t want to live another day. I need
You to be real.” A week later, an evangelist from King Jesus
Ministry came up to me and said, “I don’t know why, but I see you
on the floor of your room. You cried out to God recently, and
nobody else knows it.” On top of that, he started telling me, “I see
you playing music, I see you in a band, and I see you helping
people who can’t help you in return.” At the time, I worked with
autistic kids, and I was always doing programs with them. When
the evangelist told me these things about myself, it shocked me.

I went to a service at the church, and there was a moment when it

felt like a veil fell from my face; it felt like a hundred thousand
pounds of weight fell off of me, and I began to cry. That’s what
really changed my life because I realized God is real. He isn’t just a
religion. He’s an actual Being who speaks to us. He delights in
fellowshipping and conversing with us. After that, I began to really
experience the presence of God.

I started praying for my family, and, after I had been saved for a
couple of years, I reached a point where I prayed, “God, if You
saved me, You can save my family.” One day, something
happened with my dad, and I just got fed up. I made a covenant
with the Lord that I wouldn’t eat or drink anything until He did
something in my father’s life. My heart was set on this, and I
prayed and worshipped as I went about my daily routines while
fasting. A day and a half into the fast, the Holy Spirit told me I
could eat again; He released me from the fast, and I knew that my
prayer had been answered. A couple of hours later, I got a call that
my father had been rushed to the hospital with severe stomach
pains. The doctors and nurses were very concerned, saying that if
my father’s condition was what they thought it might be, then he
might not live another day. My father was going in and out of
consciousness, and he was scared. But I remember feeling the
Holy Spirit with me the whole time. It was clear to me that what
was happening was a result of what I had prayed for and put a
claim on God to do.

My dad’s condition stabilized, and a couple of days later, he was

discharged from the hospital. I learned that as he lay in his
hospital bed, he made a covenant with God that if he lived, he
would stop doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Now, two and a half
years later, I can testify that my father is still clean; he hasn’t
smoked weed, taken cocaine, or consumed alcohol. He became a
Christian, and he has been attending church. He frequently calls
me to pray with him; in fact, we’re always praying together.

If God hadn’t revealed to me His heart in prayer and intimacy, I

never would have known His plans for my family. But because He
did, I knew how to pray, seek, and push in the Spirit for my family.
I knew how to hear God’s voice for them. Now they’re saved and
have encountered God. My family, which used to lead people into
the things of the world, now leads people into the things of God!
 7
Fasting Provokes Breakthrough

T hroughout this book, we have seen a number of ways in which

fasting appropriates the presence, power, and blessings of God. In this
chapter, I want to focus on some of the most challenging and
entrenched issues—whether spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical
— in which fasting is necessary for breakthrough.

Demonic Forces Operating in the World

As noted earlier, the second coming of the Lord is drawing near, and
thus Satan has released powerful evil spirits on the earth to bring
confusion and destruction in the world and to attack believers. We are
now dealing with high-ranking demonic beings that we have never
seen before. Among these entities are spirits of antichrist, sexual
immorality, rebellion, lawlessness, witchcraft, occultism, false religion,
oppression, intellectualism, and more. These spirits know they don’t
have much time left before their judgment by God, so they are out
tracking the earth, hindering millions of believers, putting limitations
and barriers on them to block their advancement in the kingdom. Many
Christians are dealing with crises, overwhelming circumstances, and
mountainous problems, and they desperately need breakthroughs.

Remember, a breakthrough is a sudden spiritual burst that pushes us

beyond our limitations and into deliverance and freedom. Unless we
pray and fast, we cannot win the victory over these satanic attacks. We
have to fight against them in the Spirit. As we fast and commune with
God, He will put deposits of power in our life to enable us to receive
breakthroughs.

Prayer and Fasting as a Spiritual Weapon

 Jesus taught that fasting, in combination with prayer, is a spiritual
weapon for dealing with powerful demonic spirits. It is important to
read the following passage in its entirety because we will be looking at
key principles from it.

And when they [Jesus, along with Peter, James, and John] had
come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to
Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an
epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and
often into the water. So I brought him to Your [other] disciples,
but 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 bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus
rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was
cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus
privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to
them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you
have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move
from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be
impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by
prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:14–21)

There are some things in your life that you can pray about and obtain
victory over fairly easily. Then there are other situations that are so
tough, they don’t respond to ordinary means, such as “regular” prayer,
counseling, or the skills of doctors. To overcome the kind of demonic
opposition Jesus was talking about, which has developed roots and has
become a stronghold, we need increased power in the Spirit.

Authority Versus Power

Notice that the deliverance of the demonized boy happened
instantly, in the now: “the child was cured from that very hour”
(Matthew 17:18). Jesus was able to immediately expel the demon
because He had a lifestyle of fasting and prayer. As we read in
Matthew 10:1, before this incident, Jesus had already given His
disciples authority in His name to cast out demons. The word
“power” in that verse refers to “the right to exercise power.” This is the
same authority Jesus has given the church: “And these signs will follow
those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons…”
(Mark 16:17). The expression “in My name” signifies “in the power of My
name,” “in the authority of My name,” or “on My behalf.”
In the power of their delegated authority from Jesus, the disciples
had been able to cast out demons—until they came up against this
case they could not handle. When they asked Jesus why they hadn’t
been successful in bringing deliverance, He answered:

Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have

faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from
here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for
you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and
fasting . (Matthew 17:20–21; see also Mark 9:29)

Jesus said there is only one way to expel “this kind” —a certain
demonic entity; there is only one way to move this type of
mountain. Not two or three ways, but one way: prayer and
fasting . Only the spiritual weapon of fasting, in conjunction with
prayer, could effectively deal with it.
The disciples had authority, but they did not have sufficient power to
cast out the demonic spirit. That took prayer and fasting. Likewise, in
order to exercise spiritual authority, we must have the power to back it
up. If not, our authority is meaningless. And fasting is the place where
we can legally obtain and increase supernatural power in our lives to
carry out the authority Jesus has given us.

There was an incident in the ministry of Paul in which he was

confronted by an evil spirit in a slave girl, but he did not immediately
cast out that spirit. He waited days before doing so. I believe he may
have been fasting during that time for spiritual power to defeat the
demon.

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl

possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her
masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and
us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most
High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she
did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to
the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her.” And he came out that very hour. (Acts 16:16–18)

Sometimes, people will try to cast out an evil spirit, but the spirit does
not leave because it recognizes they lack authority and power to
command it. When this occurs, a demon may turn on those trying to
cast it out. This happened to the sons of Sceva in the book of Acts. (See
Acts 19:14–16.) In that situation, although the demon did not
acknowledge the authority of these sons of Sceva, it did readily
acknowledge the authority of Jesus—and of Paul, who was exercising
authority and power in Jesus’s name. When we are acting fully under
Jesus’s authority and the power of the Spirit, then strong demons, or
“principalities and powers” (Colossians 2:15; see also Ephesians
6:12), will recognize our voice of authority; we will have credibility
with them, and they will have to obey us. We can say to someone
who is possessed by a demon, “Be set free!” and they will be
delivered. We can declare to someone who is ill, “Be healed!” and
the sickness will leave. We can command a demonic obstacle, “Be
removed, now, in Jesus’s name!” and it will get out of our way.

Long-Standing Issues
 In a parallel account of the demonized boy from Mark’s gospel, Jesus
asked the child’s father, “‘How long has this been happening to him?’
And he said, ‘From childhood’” (Mark 9:21). I believe Jesus asked the
history of this case because He wanted to discover the demon’s entry
point and longevity in the child’s life. We don’t know boy’s age, but we
do know that the spirit had been oppressing him for many years,
perhaps since the time he was born, or maybe even while he was still in
his mother’s womb. That is why the demon was so strong and
entrenched.
If given the opportunity, the enemy will establish roots in people’s
lives. Whenever a demonic entity establishes a root, it becomes a
stronghold . In the natural world, a stronghold is defined as “a place
that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack.” Strongholds
are not easily removed; it takes a great amount of force to do so.
Likewise, in the spiritual world, it takes increased supernatural power
to demolish entrenched strongholds. The stronghold might be doubt,
idolatry, rebellion, or a religious spirit. It might be sexual deviation or a
gambling addiction. It might be a generational curse, which is an issue
that is passed down through succeeding generations, so that a
person’s children and grandchildren are afflicted by the same malady
they struggled with.
If you are dealing with a long-standing problem with which you or
someone else has been afflicted for five, ten, twenty, thirty—even forty
or more—years, then you must obtain increased power through fasting
to destroy its deep roots. It may take a longer period of fasting for the
issue to be resolved.
Today, Jesus is asking us, as He asked the father of the demonized
boy, “How long…?” He doesn’t ask us this question to gain information,
because He already knows the answer. Instead, it is to help us see the
depth of our need. He is asking, “How long have you had this disease?
How long have you had this financial problem? How long have you had
this depression? How long have you had this
sexual issue? How long have you had these panic attacks?” If it is a long
time, you need to recognize that there are likely negative spiritual roots
present. You must be able to rebuke them in the power of the Spirit in
order to be set free.
Do you need a breakthrough now? Is anything limiting or
constraining you? Is something hindering you from moving forward? Is
your body afflicted? Are you in the middle of spiritual warfare? Are you
facing a crisis in your mind or emotions? Do you need a miracle? I
believe this is the time for you to proclaim a fast in faith. Your spirit
needs to be expanded, through fasting, to act in a higher capacity, in
order to birth extreme and unusual victory in the spiritual realm to
overcome the powerful demonic forces at work.

Moving Mountains
Jesus said that if we have faith, we can move mountains. However,
some mountains take more than just faith to be moved—they
necessitate prayer and fasting. (See Matthew 17:20–21.) When the
enemy places a mountain in our path, it is for the purpose of halting
the advancement of God’s kingdom and God’s children. A mountain can
represent something that blocks the way for you to hear God’s
guidance, receive healing, fulfill your purpose, or anything else.
Sometimes, this takes the form of a “spirit of delay.” A biblical example
of this is when the prophet Daniel humbled himself and engaged in a
partial fast for twenty-one days, and experienced a spirit of delay
(called the “prince of Persia” ) before receiving his answer. (See Daniel
10.)
Today, demonic spirits of delay are causing the holdup of many
answers and blessings that God wants to give us. We must humble
ourselves and begin to fast and pray, waging war against these spirits
— the entities responsible for the delay of our family’s salvation, our
financial prosperity, the development of our ministry, and other
purposes of God. When we seek God’s face through fasting and
prayer, He wages war on our behalf. Thus, if the enemy is blocking or
delaying an area of your life, declare a fast and allow God to fight for
you . Speak to the principality in the name of Jesus and order it to
release your blessings!

Appropriate the Power!

Often, people who are facing demonic strongholds or other difficult
situations want their pastor or another leader in the church to pray for
them to bring deliverance. It is good for spiritual leaders to be involved
in deliverance, and sometimes people are so deeply afflicted they can’t
do it on their own. But it’s essential to understand that every believer
has the right to pray and fast for deliverance when dealing with
demonic attack and oppression. Often, one of the requirements for
receiving a breakthrough is that we become fed up with the issue,
problem, or crisis. If you are complacent about your sickness, financial
problem, absence of peace, or stagnant spiritual condition, then
breakthrough will not come. You need to deny your flesh, declare a
fast, and receive the victory. Decide, “I am going to remove every
mountain from my life!” You will be able to remove entrenched
demonic oppression because you already have the authority in Christ—
and you will receive the necessary increase in supernatural power by
fasting.

Let us receive what God offers us and not take His presence and
power in our lives lightly. Instead of remaining in our needs,
sicknesses, and oppressions, we must make a conscious decision to
receive what Christ has won for us by appropriating His power. Now is
the time to press through to breakthrough by prayer and fasting! There
is always someone “crazy in faith” who reaches out for God’s power and
deliverance, like the woman who suffered from the issue of blood for
twelve years, but then reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’s garment
and received her healing. (See, for example, Matthew 9:20–22.) There
are certain people in my congregation who always receive from God
when they come to services because they don’t
come casually; they come ready to appropriate all of God’s blessings.
Don’t wait for someone else to obtain your breakthrough! Begin by
praying this prayer:

Father, in the name of Jesus, release upon me the desire to fast in

order to receive the power I need to overcome the attacks of high-
level demonic entities and long-standing issues whose roots have
grown deep in my life. Cover me with the blood of Jesus for
protection and victory against the enemy. In Jesus’s name, amen!

Now, I want to speak this declaration over your life:

I come into agreement with you that every demonic attack and
long-standing issue in your life is broken. I demolish every
stronghold in your mind, emotions, family, finances, or any other
area. I break every generational curse and every entrenched
problem of sexual immorality, alcoholism, poverty, fear,
depression, witchcraft, illness, or anything else—now, in Jesus’s
name!

Today, walk in God’s power and authority, and receive your

deliverance. Chains are being broken, and mountains are being
removed, right now. As you are set free, deliver others as you have
been delivered. Stir up the gifts and anointing within you through the
Holy Spirit—to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead, in the
name of Jesus. Amen and amen!

Testimonies of Breakthrough Fasts

Darlise Jackson had been in remission from cancer for two years, but
then the cancer returned, and she had malignant tumors in her breast.
The Lord led her to fast, and she fasted, prayed, and gave offerings.
Here is her testimony:
I was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and after I underwent
chemotherapy, the doctors said the cancer was gone. However,
the chemotherapy had made me sick. The aftereffects were
horrible, and it had taken a toll on my body. Then I started
attending King Jesus Ministry, arriving about the time the Apostolic
and Prophetic Conference was taking place. I decided to read
through Apostle Maldonado’s books, and I came to a place where I
read, “Jesus heals your sickness today.” This was significant for me
because the doctors soon told me the cancer had returned, and I
needed to go back on chemotherapy. I received the treatment, but
it didn’t work, and two weeks later, I was told I needed to have
another round of chemotherapy. I really wanted to be healed, but
I wanted the Lord to heal me, and I was not willing to compromise
my healing by having the chemotherapy. That week, I praised God
as much as I could, and I also worshipped Him. During worship,
the Holy Spirit took over, and I began to sob in His presence. I
couldn’t stop weeping, and I began to cry out to God. Soon
afterward, I checked my breast but couldn’t feel any tumors there.
I went to the doctor, and it was confirmed—the cancer was gone!
 8
Practical Steps to Fasting

W e must personally receive—as revelation—the necessity, the

why, and the how of fasting; otherwise, we won’t practice it. Has
something stirred in your spirit as you’ve read this book? Have
you received the Scriptures and principles on fasting as a
personal revelation? Will you commit to making fasting a lifestyle
in order to seek God’s face, live in His presence, be on the front
lines of the move of the Holy Spirit, and walk in His power?
To help you in that commitment, I want to give you some practical
steps to fasting in faith. I have been in ministry for more than twenty-
five years, and because fasting has become a lifestyle for me, the
recommendations I give you do not come from head knowledge alone
but from my experience in seeing the power of spiritual fasting in my
life and others’ lives.

Steps to Fasting Effectively

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to Give You a Hunger to Fast
First, ask the Holy Spirit to release within you a hunger to fast and a
desire to make fasting a lifestyle rather than just an “event” that you do
every year—or every five or ten years when you face a crisis.
2. Determine the Purpose(s) of the Fast
Determine the specific reason or reasons for the fast you will
undertake. There is reward in fasting, so be specific about what you are
asking God to do for you. (See Matthew 6:18.) Then let Him work
according to His purposes. For example, the reason for your fast may
be to draw closer to God in greater intimacy and to spend extra time
worshipping and praising Him. It may be for someone’s salvation,
physical healing, or freedom from bondage. It may be for guidance and
direction for your life, family, and ministry. It may be for wisdom
in a crisis. It may be for discernment for a business proposal or
relationship. I encourage you to write down your expectations.
Remember, when we don’t expect, our faith is not active. We have to
expect to receive.
3. Choose the Type of Fast
Choose the type of fast you will engage in: partial or total. Also
choose its length: one meal, a full day, three days, one week, three
weeks, or any other time that you have decided on.
4. Prepare Your Body for Fasting
Prepare your body two or three days prior to beginning the fast by
eating less than usual.
5. Declare the Fast Before God and Receive Your Reward Now
Although you have already determined the purpose and length of
your fast, declare it out loud to God. For example, you can say:

Father, in the name of Jesus, I come before You and proclaim this
[one-day, three-day, one-week, or other length], [partial or total]
fast. I give this time to You, so I can draw nearer to You. I declare
that the purpose of my fast is to [name the purpose]. I declare
that as I fast, false patterns of thinking and negative emotional
and behavioral cycles are broken in my life. My spiritual
perception is sharp and more attuned to You. I hear, see, and
perceive in the Spirit with precision. I receive Your grace and
anointing, and the flow of the supernatural is sustained in me. I
proclaim that this fast stirs up and increases the gifts of the Spirit
in my life. I appropriate supernatural power now to destroy roots
and strongholds, and I declare breakthrough in every area of my
life. In Jesus’s name, amen!

Additionally, Jesus said, “Your Father who sees [your fasting] in secret
will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:18), and “Therefore I say to you,
whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you
receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). Therefore, make a
point to thank God beforehand for the reward of the fast: “Lord, in
faith, I receive Your blessings and rewards now.”
6. Spend Quality Time with God
During your fast, spend quality time alone with God as much as
possible. Worship the Lord; pray; read, study, and meditate on the
Word; listen to recorded teachings and praise music; and read Christian
teaching and inspirational books. As you seek God, the Holy Spirit will
reveal to you more of the Father, more of Jesus, more of the meaning
of the cross, and more of the truth of the Scriptures. This is a special
opportunity for communion and union with God. Make the time for it!

7. Present Your Body to God as a Living Sacrifice

As a priest before God, actively present your body to Him as a
living sacrifice. You can pray:

Lord, I am exercising one of the sacrifices of a priest of the new

covenant by presenting my body as a living sacrifice before You. I
die to “self.” I die to what I want, what I feel, and what I think, so
that the will and mind of Jesus will rule in me. Let this fast
accelerate my death to self, so that I will decrease, and Your life in
me will increase. I crucify my flesh and yield to Your cleansing
process, so that my spirit can rule over my soul and body, and I
can fulfill Your purposes for my life. In Jesus’s name, amen.

8. Ask the Holy Spirit to Release His Supernatural Grace

Paul wrote, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now
tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is
in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things”
(Philippians 3:18–19). The flesh will present us with many excuses for
why we can’t fast. It is constantly focusing on earthly matters and
fighting against the cross—meaning the self-denial and self-sacrifice
needed for victory. The flesh doesn’t want to sacrifice, go the extra
mile, or obey God’s will.
Accordingly, keep in mind that the first few days of fasting are usually
difficult, even if you have practiced fasting for a while. Although I fast
regularly, I still find those beginning days of fasting by faith to be hard.
My flesh says, “Please, just give me a little sugar to keep me going!” In
the past, I have tried to fast in my own ability, and it didn’t work. I
needed God’s grace to see it through.
Grace is given to the humble, and it is received by faith. As we
humble ourselves, God enables us to persevere in fasting. (See James
4:6.) Supernatural grace gives us the ability to do what we can’t do in
our own strength, and to be what we can’t be on our own. For example,
suppose you say you’re going to fast but then end up eating. You will
likely feel guilty and want to pull away from the Lord. However, if that
happens, just tell Jesus you are sorry and ask for His supernatural
grace. Tell Him you can’t fast in your own ability: “Lord, You know that I
want to eat my favorite foods today. I ask You to give me an anointing
of Your supernatural grace so that I won’t eat. Please remove the
hunger from me and help me to focus on the purpose of this fast.” In
the meantime, be sure to stay away, as much as possible, from places
where you can see and smell food; don’t put yourself in a position
where you will be tempted to eat or drink something you have
purposed to abstain from for your fast.

Also, remember that, in a sovereign fast, God will often remove your
appetite when He prompts you to begin to fast. One time, He called me
to go on a twenty-one-day fast to release a resurrection anointing in
my ministry, and I found the fast to be easy for me. Why? Because,
when God calls you to fast, He gives you the supernatural grace to do it
in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, maintain intimacy with the
Father through prayer, and ask for His help. He will empower you to do
what you cannot do on your
own.

9. Eliminate Distractions
Fasting is a time of consecration and separation to God in order to
seek His face. As I noted earlier, the enemy knows your fast will bring a
breakthrough in your life or others’ lives, so he will bring distractions
and temptations to try to get you to lose your focus and stop fasting.
Therefore, remove or stay away from diversions that will hinder your
intimacy with God; for example, avoid watching television, surfing the
Internet, and logging on to social media. Turn off your telephone
during times of prayer. Put a temporary hold on your social life.

10. Expect Some Physical and Emotional Symptoms

Expect certain physical and emotional symptoms to arise. As
accumulated toxins and fat in your body are eliminated, you will
likely experience headaches, body aches, bad breath, and
perhaps even vomiting. When these symptoms appear, it is
usually a sign that the body is cleansing itself. Additionally, you
may feel tired or irritable. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you endure.
It’s likely these symptoms will last only one to three days.
Perhaps you have fasted before, and you have struggled to give up
coffee, for example, during that time because you get headaches. As
for me, I don’t want any type of food or drink to be my master—only
Jesus. That is part of my consecration to Him. As mentioned above, in
such situations, you can admit your need to God and receive His grace
to see you through.
11. Exercise the Full Fast
It is obvious that spiritual fasting is not just a physical act but has
much deeper significance. This is clearly expressed by God through the
prophet Isaiah in the following passage:

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? (Isaiah 58:6–7)

As you fast, think of the needs of others, as well as yourself. Fulfill

your responsibilities to your family, give to the needy, deliver the
oppressed, offer hope to the discouraged, and encourage the fearful.

Fasting helps give us an increased awareness of other people’s

needs. Moreover, only when we’ve discerned, through prayer, the
issues and difficulties of our generation can we fully consecrate
ourselves to God to be used to minister to these needs. And, without
the power of God, it is impossible to solve the problems of humanity.
The current generation needs God desperately but lacks the power to
overcome its many issues. During your fast, ask God to show you the
big picture of His purposes for the world: the people in this generation
need to know God and consecrate themselves to Him! Once more, ask
God to release in you a hunger to fast, so that you can advance in your
Christian walk, bringing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to
others and carrying healing and deliverance wherever you go!

12. Prepare to Come Out of the Fast

At the conclusion of your fast, avoid rich foods that might upset your
stomach. It is wise to introduce small amounts of light foods to the
body, a little at a time, beginning with fruit, such as grapes, bananas,
and melons, which are easily digestible. This precaution is necessary,
especially after longer fasts, because after a fast, the enzymes in our
bodies are not immediately prepared to process solid food.

Although our priority when fasting is always to seek God’s

presence, in the process, we can see a difference in our body, our
spirit, and our soul. For example, as mentioned earlier, depending on
the length of the fast, our body may be cleansed of unhealthy and
dangerous toxins. We may experience weight loss. Although that is not
the reason for spiritual fasting, it is a positive outcome for many
people, making them feel better, improving their body’s performance,
and reducing the harmful effects of obesity. As a result of
detoxification, our attitudes and emotions can radically improve.
Fasting also strengthens our “inner man.” (See Ephesians 3:16–17.)
Once our emotions are under submission to the Spirit, they become
more stable, and we are enabled to live at a greater level of anointing.
And because the flesh is placed under subjection, it becomes easier for
us to live in the Spirit.

Make Fasting Your Lifestyle

As I emphasized at the beginning of this book, these are “times of
restoration” (Acts 3:21). God is calling His people to return to fasting,
praying, and seeking His face. Decide today to make prayer and fasting
a lifestyle for you by making this declaration:
I present my body before God as a living and holy sacrifice,
through fasting and prayer. I choose to pray and fast as a
lifestyle.
 About the Author

A postle Guillermo Maldonado is the senior pastor and founder of

King Jesus International Ministry (Ministerio Internacional El Rey Jesus),
in Miami, Florida, a multicultural church considered to be one of the
fastest growing in the United States. King Jesus Ministry, whose
foundation is built upon the Word of God, prayer, and worship,
currently has a membership of nearly seventeen thousand. Apostle
Maldonado is a spiritual father to more than 330 churches in 50
countries throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa,
Asia, and New Zealand, which form the Supernatural Movement
Network (formerly called the New Wine Apostolic Network),
representing over six hundred thousand people. He is also the founder
of the University of the Supernatural Ministry (USM). The building of
kingdom leaders and the visible manifestations of God’s supernatural
power distinguish the ministry as the number of its members
constantly multiplies.
A national best-selling author, Apostle Maldonado has written over
fifty books and manuals, many of which have been translated into
other languages. His books with Whitaker House include
Breakthrough Prayer , How to Walk in the Supernatural Power of God ,
The Glory of God , The Kingdom of Power , Supernatural
Transformation , Supernatural Deliverance , and Divine Encounter with
the Holy Spirit , all of which are available in both English and Spanish.
In addition, he preaches the message of Jesus Christ and His
redemptive power on his international television program, The
Supernatural Now ( Lo sobrenatural ahora ), which airs on TBN,
Daystar, the Church Channel, and fifty other networks, with a potential
outreach and impact to more than two billion people around the world.

Apostle Maldonado has a doctorate in Christian counseling from

Vision International University and a master’s degree in practical
theology from Oral Roberts University. He resides in Miami, Florida,
with his wife and ministry partner, Ana, and their two sons, Bryan and
Ronald.

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