3 Powerful Promises When You Pray and Fast
There are many promises God makes in His Word in regard to the blessings we will receive through prayer and fasting. In my book The Power of Prayer and Fasting, I talk about seven specific promises. I want to mention three of them here that I trust will bless you as you read. I have seen each of these promises come true in my walk with God, and I’m confident they also can live in you, through you, and will be yours as you call on God to do His will in your life.
Promise 1: Prayer and Fasting Provides Freedom
When we pray and fast, God promises that He will liberate us. He will loose the chains of injustice. He declares that He’ll untie the cords of the yoke and will give the oppressed their long-awaited freedom. He will set us free from the bondage of what others think, making us realize that any comparison we make with others is a guaranteed fast track to misery. When we fast and pray, God steps in and frees us from the perceived alienation with Him that has kept us immobilized, fearful, and disobedient for so long. As you consider God’s call to fasting, perhaps for the first time, you may choose to start slowly, fasting and praying for only one day. Perhaps you’ll decide to fast and pray one day each week throughout the year where you declare that specific twenty-four hours as your time of obedience to be alone in the intimate presence of God. As you do, God will give you grace, comfort, and a new direction in your Christian walk. In the end you will be set free.
Promise 2: Prayer and Fasting Teaches us to Share
When we fast and pray, God teaches us how to share with those who have physical and spiritual needs. “Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isa. 58:7 NIV). The book of Proverbs complements this passage by reminding us that when we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord. Fasting and prayer put the self-life into perspective. You are never more like God than when you give. Prayer and fasting can build within you the character to give. Giving is a joy, and we need to be willing to pour ourselves out to those who can do nothing for us in life. We need to be willing to pour out ourselves to anyone, anytime, anywhere. This is the heart of Jesus, and it needs to be our heart. Prayer and fasting build within you the power to give.
Promise 3: Prayer and Fasting Leads us to Answered Prayer
As you pray and fast, you will call on God, and He will answer you. Answered prayer is the quintessence of praying and fasting. If I were to share with you the five or six pages of the prayer journal I prepared prior to my first forty-day fast, and then walk you back through my journal since then, you would see one thing: My prayers were answered. They are still being answered. There is something to the disciplines of prayer and fasting. I could point you to every experience of long-term fasting where God has answered my requests before Him. This does not mean they were answered as I preferred, but it did not matter. He had worked in my heart, and I was released, fully confident that God was ordering my way. When we humble ourselves before the Father, and when God sees we are serious about giving Him our broken spirits, He begins to do things we have never seen before. It’s empowering. It sensitizes us to the needs of others at home and overseas as we suddenly find ourselves quietly praying for people, events, and situations with the knowledge that our prayers not only will be heard but that the Father will answer them.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Parts taken from The Power of Prayer and Fasting by Ronnie W. Floyd. Copyright 2010. Used by permission of B&H Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
9 Strategic Principles for Revitalizing Your Church
Revitalizing a church is an ongoing process and experience, beginning with the pastor and continuing with the church. Without pastor revitalization, there will be no church revitalization. Both pastor and church are in need of continual revitalization.
We never arrive. Church revitalization is about the church becoming stronger and healthier. It is about penetrating your community and beyond with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Crisis is Real
The vast majority of the 51,094 churches and congregations that comprise our Southern Baptist Convention are in need of revitalization. In 2013, LifeWay Research released a graphic that illustrated that no less than seventy-four percent of our churches are either plateaued or declining.
In many ways, all of our churches are in need of ongoing revitalization. In today’s world of endless change, it is inescapable. We have to experience seasons that involve brutal honesty, leading us to re-create our churches and restore the hope that God can use our churches to reach our community.
9 Strategic Principles for Revitalizing Your Church
1: CATCH the Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Catching the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our ONLY hope for revitalizing ourselves, our church, and influencing our community. We can never forget that we were once lost and hopeless until we trusted in the reality that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day to give us forgiveness, power, and hope.
2: CLARIFY Your Mission
Our mission must be biblical and communicated in a way that is clear, concise, and compelling. For many years, our Cross Church Family has operated by this clear missional vision: Reaching Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ. We realize this vision when we are engaged in reaching, baptizing and discipling people of all nations.
3: Consider Carefully What Your People Are Saying
I often counsel pastors moving into new churches to create listening sessions with their people. Formulate four to six questions to ask the groups when you meet. Tell the people, “This is your meeting. I am here to listen to you. As I listen to you and ultimately listen to God, God will use all to speak to me in how I need to lead the church.”
There are seasons in each church when this simple principle needs to be followed strategically.
4: COMPREHEND the Context of Your Community
Communities and cities change continually. Demographic studies need to become an ongoing experience of any pastor and church leader. Never assume you know who is in your community. Demographic shifts may alert you to some challenging demographic realities.
I must see my community as it is, not as it used to be or I choose to imagine it to be. This calls every pastor to act as an ongoing Missiologist. If we do not know our community, how can we reach them? We cannot reach those we do not know are in our community. From knowing this, we must begin to function as Missional Strategists in and for our church.
5: CALL Upon the People to Go With You
After all your prayer and study, there will be a time when the pastor must call upon the people to go with him on this revitalization journey. At this moment, call upon the people to rise up together to reach your community like never before. Going hand-in-hand together is imperative.
6: COMMIT to Hear God’s Voice and Do Whatever He Says
The pastor and the people need to experience a powerful spiritual moment of absolute surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. A strong commitment needs to be made to hear God’s voice through Scripture as led by the Spirit, and do whatever He says to do. This is why prayer needs to become a priority in the entire revitalization journey.
7: CAST Your Vision Continually and Effectively
Whatever vision God has given you for your church, find at least a hundred ways to communicate it. This casting of the vision goes on and on. Preach it, teach it, talk it, pray for it, and equip others to see it come into reality. Cast the vision clearly, creatively, and continually everywhere you go.
8: CREATE Momentum With Wins
Nothing creates momentum like winning. Revitalization begins with a few small wins that lead to bigger wins. Start where you are, identify some easier wins, accomplish them, celebrate them, and go forward from there to more dynamic and impacting influence on your community.
9: CHALLENGE Your Church Passionately and Continually
We must challenge our church passionately and continually. Passionless preachers and church leaders result in passionless churches. Distracted pastors and church leaders result in distracted churches. We must be highly engaged as leaders, overflowing with genuine passion, so we can stand up and challenge our people passionately and continually.
Closing Prayer
“Lord, we pray that You will revitalize pastors and churches so that we will become more effective evangelistically and in making disciples of all the nations. We know it is Your will and stand upon Your Word in Acts 16:5, believing it can be done.”
Acts 16:5, “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and were increased in number daily.”
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
President, Southern Baptist Convention
*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.