“Fasting And Praying”
This is a
“Clarion Call”
“Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain.”(Joel 2:1)
It’s time for all people to awaken from their slumber.
This is a time to see clearly the signs of the times.
No.6 JudeoChristianClarion.Com “Fasting and Praying”
The Prophet Joel saw it in his days and we too, must see it in ours.
Joel 2:15-17 says, “Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Have the groom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber.
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar,
And let them say, “Spare Your people, Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, with the nations jeering at them. Why should those among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”
Joel says blow the trumpet. Blowing the trumpet was used for several reasons, but always to alert the people.
Yeshua says this to His disciples in Matthew 2: 1-4, “Yeshua left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Today, I ask you, “Do you not see all these things?” This is a time, and has been a time, when we who have ears, can hear what the Spirit is saying.
Prayer and fasting has been the bedrock of our faith going as far back as Genesis.
Yeshua Himself, fasted and prayed as we see in Matthew 4:2, “And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”
Yeshua saw the day when His disciples would need to fast, as He says in
Matthew 9:14-15, “Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Yeshua said to them, “The attendants of the groom cannot mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
He even told His disciples how to fast in Matthew 6: 16-18, “Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Prayer is a powerful weapon. We see this as a part of our armor as
Ephesians 6: 10-18 tells us how to fight the battle. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints.”
This is the time for all believers to get on our knees and seek the Lord. In our churches and synagogues, our Pastors and Rabbis need to lead the charge. Families and newlyweds, children of all ages, we must blow the trumpet and call for a time of fasting and praying. We must heed the words of the Prophet Joel which is a harbinger of things to come or else we will not have prepared our hearts as the days of the Lord draw near.
Philippians 3:17-21 says, “Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Messiah whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Messiah Yeshua who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Today we must see the times that we are living in. We must see the need to fast and pray. We must prepare our hearts for we are truly in a spiritual battle and we need to fight the good fight and contend for the faith and the only way to fight this battle is on our knees, fasting and praying and speaking truth to lies.
Today we must have the right priorities. We must put down the things of the world. We must let go of our lives for the kingdom. We have a job to do and we need to pick up the yoke of the kingdom and put on the armor of God and fall to our knees and fight. We are lovers of the cross and we must even fight our own desires, including our appetite and fast and pray and contend and yes, we will even win the battle, because Messiah is a mighty warrior fighting alongside of us.
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