Exploring the Spiritual Significance and Transformative Power of Fasting

Fasting attracts divine visitation in this most extreme case Cornelius. He saw an angel. He said

I was fasting when you fast. It's like it's like your spirit man is a giant satellite dish and you

fast and you buff it real good and wax it and move all the debris off and you're more sensitive to

the spiritual realm who wouldn't want that. Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for

joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with City Light Church feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com

that citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit

is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching remember that you

are deeply loved by God that you are surrounded by his grace and that he has a real hope and a

future for you. We have this 21 days of prayer and fasting coming up

in January which means that I have to minister on fasting but the only time I can teach on fasting

is right now during Christmas which really doesn't seem to fit right because it's Christmas

and you're like getting ready to do irreparable damage to your bodies over the next 20 days.

I'm kidding Lord I'm kidding you know I'm kidding

and it's not exactly everybody's favorite message. I'm putting your flesh under

but I want to minister on that because we're going to need it and we all need to be on the same

page because 21 days of prayer and fasting is coming from January 1 we're starting right then

on Monday January 1 and going for 21 days and so we need to be on the same page and talk about

what fasting is what it isn't and so that all of your questions on fasting can be answered maybe

you didn't have any questions on fasting because you never thought of it well now some questions

might arise and you can email us and we'll be sure to get back to you but Jesus he said when you

fast not if you fast yeah he started his lesson with when you fast meaning that he was assuming

he would and Jesus himself fasted for 40 days which he's our example so if the son of the living

God went on a fast immediately after his baptism and his anointing still he went on a fast how much

more should we anyone on a 40 day fast we're not going to do 40 days and it's up to you how long

you fast that's between you and the Lord we'll be praying and fasting for 21 days whether you fast

for one day or three days or seven days or ten days or the full 21 just make it fit so we're all

in unity and doing it at the same time make your block fit in that 21 days interesting to know

there's two other heroes of the Bible who fasted for 40 days that's Moses and Elijah

and when Jesus experienced the transfiguration when the glory that was within him began to manifest

outside of him the two people that met him on that mountain top or guess who Moses and Elijah

it was like the 40 day fasting club met during the transfiguration hallelujah

so fasting is so powerful I'm going to give you five things that fasting will do for you five

benefits to fasting please note that fasting is not a hunger strike it is not us trying to change

God by showing him how we really really mean it and how serious we are and how we're willing

to deny ourselves food because that's how badly we want this thing that he's holding back from us

it's not fasting does not change God God is good whether we fast or not God loves you whether you

fast or not he's a fountain of gifts he doesn't need change he doesn't need convincing we're the ones

who change during a fast so if a fasting changes us it doesn't change God and I said fasting is

an hunger strike because I've so often seen it presented in that spirit in that attitude

like I'm going on strike God until you give me what I really really need and I'm not going to eat

until you get me my breakthrough and it's not that it's just going to change us amen and also you'll

be tempted come January 1 to say yes I'm going to fast because you want to lose those five to 10

fifth vanity pounds and I encourage you do not do not fast to lose weight in fact if you fast

just to lose weight I pray that the Lord will come and stick it right now look at it how come all

the ladies just win no don't take that away but we have to have our motives pure amen sure you're

going to lose weight that shouldn't be your motive here's five things the fasting will do for you

you ready Matthew 17 in verse 15 we're going to read 15 through 21 number one fasting purifies it

purifies your faith 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 disciples but they

could not cure him then Jesus answered and said oh 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 rebuke 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 and Jesus said to them because of your unbelief

everything you never received from the Lord is by faith from your salvation to healing to just

really the daily satisfaction you will get out of life every day it's something we all need to

trust him for just to be contented every single day I got to receive that by faith every day I

got to stand on the word that says he satisfies my mouth with good things you receive that by faith

but it is possible to be in a place where along with that faith there's also some doubt and

unbelief mixed in some confusion that little voice in the back of your mind that's telling you

the opposite of the truth of God's word anybody ever hear that voice fasting shuts that voice up

Jesus said you couldn't get the job done like I could because of your unbelief a lot of us myself

included I like that man who came to Jesus Jesus said to him all things are possible to him who

believes and the man said Lord I believe please help my unbelief well which one is it yes

it's both I believe and at the same time while I believe there's these inner mumblings and mental

ramblings and I'm up one day down the next and I don't know Lord I believe but help my unbelief

you'll see we'll keep reading what the cure or at least one of them is because of your unbelief

Jesus said for surely 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 now specifically here he was talking about a particular spirit a particular demon this kind

does not go out except by prayer and fasting but it's not a stretch to realize that this can

imply to every area of our life that Jesus said your problem is unbelief you should have added

fasting to your praying because fasting will purify your faith and it'll shut down that nagging

voice how many of you who fast that you can say amen I have actually lived this I've experienced

just that a cleansing of the faith amen my first 40 day fast it was year one of city light

and we had initially started in the ballroom on 53rd and 3rd in midtown Manhattan and then we

wanted to get 7th street remember beautiful 7th street for 17 and a half years we had 7th street

a small little place in the east village and out of that small little place was birthed all the

missions endeavors we have around the world this church was birthed out of 7th street the

Brooklyn church was birthed out of 7th street everything we ever did came out of 7th street

I just wanted that place but it was a building that was over 100 years old and I needed a

certificate of occupancy a COO and I had to come up with it I'm 26 years old I don't know what I'm

doing but I'm in the middle of a 40 day fast and somehow I find out I need to go to department

of buildings ended up in Jamaica Queens at the department of buildings and have you ever

been to a bureaucratic institution in New York City so imagine I'm already intimidated as it is

and I come into the department of buildings and it is just wild shoulder to shoulder it actually

looked like the stock market pit you know the pit well just everybody shouting wave in their

hairs and look like a Bosnian flea market I'm going what what do I do and I see a woman behind

a counter and in that moment I'm like I just I just knew that she was saved I just she may not

have been but I knew at least that she would be on my side if she knew I was you know what I'm

it's like the largest I'm looking at everybody I'm like this is this is your woman he says to me

so I I go right up to her and I pull out the pastor card I go right up to her I'm like I'm a pastor

I need something called a COO or we cannot get this building everybody's I've been going around

in circles for weeks now how do I get this thing and she looked at me she went and she disappeared

it was like 15 minutes someone I'm like I think she forgot about me she came back with a document

she and it said there is no existing COO because the building from the 1880s but it was a

document it said whatever we wanted we could do in there and I walked out going hey hallelujah

but I went in there strong and I went in there with my faith unclogged very rarely are we operating

on 100% pure high octane unadulterated faith am I right or am I right there's usually just this

these little grains that the enemy throws in grains of unbelief and doubt and that stuff will

snuff out the power of God Jesus said it right here it said because of your unbelief you were

listening to the little nagging voice more than you worded the truth of my word fasting is a cure

for that amen if it was just that it'd be enough for me hallelujah let's go to Daniel chapter 10

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

verses two through three in those days in those days I Daniel was mourning three four weeks

I ate no pleasant food maybe the Lord came and just poured out his spirit in the beginning of

the service so you'd be able to stomach when I'm about to share right now it didn't go over too well

in the first service and it was just like a side note and the air sucked right out of the room

so this isn't my point for number two but I do just want to point this out that how many of you've

heard of a Daniel fast right no sweets no meats eat a salad this is why I married Emily I'm so

proud of her she's been on a Daniel fast for the last 20 years what a woman of God

I just want to let you know I must say this also just deviating from the message everything is fine

between my wife she's not here her father was in a play in Pennsylvania and she took my kids

and our kids excuse me see I let it out no our kids no because I'm sorry I went into somebody

after the first service the folks from Virginia somebody came up to me very concerned and said is

everything all right pastor I noticed your wife's not here and you have a scar on the side here

so I looked at her very serious and said it's not all right she cracked me over the head with a

bottle and left I didn't say that tour but that's I said yeah everything is fine the scar is a

basal cell I had removed two weeks ago and everything's fine with that too but I don't even think

of mentioning this stuff then you realize where some people's minds go that's really not an NYC

thing I've never done of you all of you you've seen the scar nobody even thought to ask he'll be all

right I'm sure it's fine which is cool your cool I'm cool it's great now where where was I with my

message somebody helped me Daniel fast I thought of my wife because all right in Christianity learn

to question everything somehow we have just accepted this norm of a Daniel fast because so

and so wrote a book about it and then three others so and so quoted it and a Daniel fast is

supposedly a fast where you can eat all you want but you're eating lettuce and chomping on carrots

and having broccoli and it's no sweets no meats yet it never says that that's a Daniel fast

and most theologians agree that the Daniel fast was a full fast in fact the very word fast

means to close the mouth amen but in America especially you're not going to find the Daniel fast in

other parts but is there Daniel fast in South Korea they you know what they got to stop reading

American authors we always want to make things easy Daniel says I ate no pleasant food

you know what kind of food is pleasant food all food he just said I ate no pleasant food no meat

or wine came into my mouth nor did I know it myself at all that's all that said how you get that

you can eat as many salads as you want from that I have no idea but sometimes we just accept

these things without ever questioning them I ate no pleasant food no meat or wine came into my mouth

nor did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled he went on a fast for three

weeks this is during the Babylonian captivity the Jews were taken captive taken a Babylon and Daniel

is praying for breakthrough but not just praying he's fasting for breakthrough and on the 21st

day the angel of the Lord comes and says from the first moment you sent your face to see God I

was sent you know the moment you pray the answer is released but he said there was war in the

heavenlies and I had resistance in the spiritual realms but you were praying you were standing on

God's word and you were fasting on on the 21st day I got the breakthrough amen number two is my

point fasting hastens breakthrough in your life amen okay we should we have a moment for the

Daniel fast thirty seconds of silence for a dearly departed friend I know you've probably gone on

them I tried once felt no anointing on it years ago and then okay now you're gonna get a real

upset at me if you're working then just fast one day fast two days if you're working very vigorously

a working with your body that's my encouragement to you but all I want I just want us to have a

proper fast however long you want but if you're gonna fast make it an actual biblical fast and the

very word fast means close your mouth yeah amen drink oh I forgot to say this in the first service

drink all you like drink lots of water and drink fresh squeezed vegetable juices and fruit juices

don't please don't be making high sea and and you know none of that artificial stuff you can drink

whatever you like drink plenty of healthy juices and and lots and lots of water but nothing

goes in your mouth during your fast amen and I feel like this got popularized because in America

we kept lowering the bar because no one was rising up so it because you know first came the

Daniel fast and it's like well if you want to give up chocolate you know okay personally I'm

fasting radishes major sacrifice and then I heard preachers say you know why don't you fast

television fast screen time you can avoid it or don't do it but it's not a fast amen

oh hallelujah number one fasting purifies your faith number two fasting hastens break through

I don't know about you but there's specific areas in my life some areas where I can feel myself

growing I can feel myself advancing and then there's other areas where it's like I hit a lid

like there's a seven foot ceiling over me and I'm just and I come back down that's where you need

the breakthrough the number one way to get a breakthrough is actually just quickly do something

you're afraid of doing in that particular arena amen but at fasting to the mix and fasting hastens

breakthrough hallelujah remember this isn't a transactional thing with God we're not buying his

blessings those have all been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus and we are not a

where if we are not a works based church we're a grace based church but in grace there still are

some things we can do not do with regard to our salvation that's done but with our Christian walk

there are things that we can do to hasten the blessings of God to hasten the breakthrough of God

number three found in Psalms 35 13 but as for me when they were sick my clothing was sack

cloth watch this I humbled myself with fasting number three fasting humbles you why is that so

important because there are so many blessings associated with the person whose humble the Bible

says God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble he gives grace to the humble so humility is

something to be pursued and humility who can tell me the definition of humility say loud

your dependence on God and that's all it is don't over complicate it it's how much are you

clinging to his cloth how much are you looking to him that's humility it gets warped and changed

all the time to your decibel level your personality type the color of your clothing how much money you

have or don't none of that has anything to do with humility there's some people who are very very

very quiet and very very very poor and there's some of the proudest people on earth amen and I've

seen people were very very loud and very very boisterous and then you talk to them and you realize

they're like Solomon who said I don't even know if I can come in or go out except the Lord

and that was Solomon think of that humility he was already a king who's great but he said Lord

I can't even go through a doorway unless you take my hand you're the dad I'm the child

that's what you want humility how does fasting help with humility well when you fast you'll quickly

find out that you need Jesus when you fast why because food takes up so much of our lives and

fills so many emotional holes that we have in our soul how many times do we reward ourselves with

food especially New York City everything revolves around food let's go out after church for food

let's meet for food everything is food we reward ourselves with food we reward our children food

and the one of the first things you'll notice when you're fasting all of a sudden life gets

very raw and very very lonely anybody experience the loneliness of fasting it's like the old

westerns with the ghost town it's just like a wistling wind and a bramble bush that just blows

because now the entertainment is gone the food is gone you can't suppress any emotions with food

you can't heighten any emotions with food a lot of food is just really powerful drugs that we

ingest now it's raw now it's just you and Jesus and the first 48 hours are the toughest

that's when your flesh just starts to protest really squealing like a stuck pig

and you'll be tempted to quit and you'll be made humble because you'll be needy independent on

Jesus and you'll realize how many little band-aids food had in your life and you'll just be

forced to look to Jesus and he will satisfy your every need and now you will have grown in humility

and when you're grown humility you become a bull's eye for the blessings of God because he

resists the proud but he heaps grace upon grace on the humble hallelujah hallelujah we should look

forward to that to really to get back to the basics when the music fades and all is is it swept

away that whole song and then we come back to the heart of worship and it can be excruciating

oh hallelujah number four acts 10 30 verse acts in 30 to 31

so Cornelia said four days ago I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour say I was

fasting and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright

clothing and said Cornelius your prayer has been heard and your arms are remembered in the

sight of God number four fasting attracts divine visitation in this most extreme case Cornelius

he saw an angel but he said I was fasting when you fast it's like it's like your spirit man is a

giant saddle like dish and you fast and I you buff it real good and wax it and move all the

debris off and you're more sensitive to the spiritual realm who wouldn't want that who doesn't

want that you see every time you see fasting in the Bible there's always some kind of divine

visitation some kind of supernatural breaking into the natural realm

and if you're dry if you feel like you haven't sensed the presence of God and oh too long

I would encourage you to join us on this 21 days of prayer and fasting fasting awakens your

spirit man again it doesn't change God but it changes you and your flesh

scriptureally speaking past tense was already crucified with Christ the only problem is that it

keeps trying to cause you to forget and get up off that cross but fasting puts your flesh under

and causes your spirit man to grow big Smith Wigglesworth used to say I'm a thousand times bigger

on the inside than I am on the outside it wasn't on about the Holy Spirit he was talking about his

own human spirit that's entwelt by the Holy Spirit it grows large isn't amazing you don't eat

but your spirit man grows large hallelujah number five

ax 13 1 through 3 worship team you can come on up

and you can lead us in any language you like

now in the church that was at Antioch there was certain prophets and teachers

Barnabas simian who was called Niger Lucius of Cyrene Manian who had been brought up with

Herod the tetrarkin saw as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said as they

ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said what is fasting do it brings about the

Holy Spirit said fasting it's not that God starts talking more but your satellite dish has been

buffed God's talking all the time we're just so bad at listening but when you're fasting and

the music fades away and all it swept away and you're there you're laying down crying out to the

Lord I'm lonely if this is just different this feels like I'm I'm being born again again like

whoo like that times when I fasted I felt like I was soaring through the cosmos probably my

adrenal glands but it just you know you know when you're fasting nobody gets you nobody gets you

you look around and everybody's going about their merry life you go especially right in

New York City walk on the street what do you see in every window and you're just walking like

nobody gets me the only one who gets you is Jesus you're a high priest the one who was tempted in

every way who knows who also fasted for 40 days he gets you hallelujah and fasting will activate

the Holy Spirit I can do anything I can go through anything if I have the word of the Lord

you want to describe a depressing time whenever the Bible describes a depressing season

in the nation of Israel it always starts off with the word of the Lord was scarce in those days

that the word of the Lord being scarce equals depression so I need him to speak to me not just

from his word thank God for his word I'm in his word daily but I need a fresh word to my heart

there's something that's just been coming up in my life in the last few days that I hadn't had

the word of the Lord on it was a concern having to do with Brooklyn and the flooding and the

and I won't get into the details but I was just pumping gas in my car and the Lord

flashed that anxiety of mine in my mind is this will not happen that was the word of the Lord

I'm at a crusade crusade crusade I said this will not happen and I let it take root in my spirit and

I knew that was the word of the Lord and then all worry all care all anxiety was God you can do

anything you can go through anything as long as you have the word of the Lord as long as you

sense and talk to you in your heart and fasting brings about the Holy Spirit said now separate to

me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them then having fasted and prayed

and laid hands on them they sent them away hallelujah fasting purifies your faith fasting

hasten to break through fasting brings about humility fasting opens you up to divine

visitation and fasting brings about the Holy Spirit said hallelujah and what better way to enter

into 2024 which I believe for us is going to be one heck of a ride and the Lord is going to show

himself strong on our behalf there's never a time where I wanted to be so reminded and be in the

Jesus zone can you agree so I'm encouraging you join us starting January first speak to the

Lord fast however long he tells you to fast we're going to be sending you out an email with some

more details on fasting and if you have any questions please email us but really it's between you

and the Lord and you know I always stress that between you and the Lord

amen because you also don't want to be that person who has to let everybody know that they're fast

all right you people tend to go one of two ways one way is they got to let everybody know I'm

suffering you got to suffer with me they come to the Christmas party and they're they just can't

wait for somebody to ask them why they're not partaking of the cheese dip are you hungry yes

so why so why aren't you eating well are you fasting yes I am

sounding a trumpet before you yes I am Jesus that you lost your reward I came from a church

where there was so legalistic about not telling anyone we'd go out and there wasn't a person

eating and I asked yeah are you fasting and they were like hmm like really nervous like I don't

know how I can't lie to you and tell you I'm not but I can't tell you I am or I lose my reward

like there is there isn't yeah I'm fasting but you don't have to look like you got beaten up

by band of robbers going down all morose she said anoint your head wash your face put a smile

and don't appear unto men to fast for attention your reward is they'll all think oh you're so

spiritual but your heavenly word is nullified then amen hallelujah who'll be joining us January

1st through the 21st hallelujah and trust me if you don't feel it now you definitely will

will be meeting here on December 31st for New Year's Eve not at midnight but same service times

and then the very next day we're getting together amen let's pray father you're so good and you

hold 2024 in your hands we know that we're living in unique times Lord I've spoken to people in their

80s who said that what's happening in the world today and the ups and downs they've never experienced

in their lifetime spoken to people in their 80s on different continents who say the same thing

so it is a unique time and we trust Lord your word that will be the head and not the tail will

be above only an opnith the Bible says in destruction and famine you shall laugh father we just

take this time to pray for our country Lord that your good will happen here father that the word

of God would have free course that the prince of peace that your Shalom would be upon the United

States of America and yes even the whole world we thank you the blood of Jesus is on our land

and that the plans and strategies and wiles of Satan are thwarted and we still have hope in America

in Jesus name but only because of you oh God father that you would turn to nothing the strategies

of the enemy and that you would cause your people to arise we thank you for it in Jesus name amen amen

hallelujah this is the city light church podcast if you've missed any part of today's message

or if you would like to find out more about pastor boy on jansik and city light church visit us at

citylightnyc.com that's citylightnyc.com feel free to visit us online or in person anytime we would

love to connect with you we pray that you have been encouraged today that you have been reminded how

much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace thank you for listening make sure that

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