4 Keys to Fasting For Spiritual Warfare
As I listened to the podcast on fasting, I was reminded of how impactful fasting was in my own life as I was breaking the chains of an abusive marriage just last year. I was at a point in my life where I knew that I was in a situation that only God could get me out of, and so I turned to him like never before. I started watching a lot of YouTube videos on spiritual warfare and cleaning your house. I threw out any and everything that could be seen as an idol or that served as any point of contact for the occult or the demonic, and then I stumbled on a gem of a video that explained the power of fasting to break demonic strongholds.
I understood that what I was dealing with in my marriage had to do with a spiritual battle, for the word tells us that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12), so I knew that I had to take this earthly fight I was in for my life and safety straight to the devil himself with the power of Jesus Christ on my side. As I searched YouTube for answers it was brought to my attention that in Isaiah 58 God talked about, not only the type of fast that was acceptable to him, but what the purpose of fasting was for. Isaiah 58:6 says Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Coming out of an abusive marriage I knew that I was dealing with some bands of wickedness, heavy burdens, and oppression, and that fasting was the key to my personal deliverance. Not simply for the sake of getting out, but for dealing with the root issues of mental strongholds and generational curses that led me to accept abuse in the first place. During that time period I learned so much about fasting and the power of fasting so I want to share with you all four keys that I learned to fasting for spiritual warfare.
Key #1 Prepare
So the first key is a very practical one. I have lost track of the amount of times I have broken a fast simply because I wasn’t prepared to carry it out. Obviously the easiest fast to prepare for is one where you’re only drinking water, or a dry fast where you’re not eating or drinking anything at all, but if you’re doing a liquid fast where you’re consuming soups and/or juices, or a fruit and veggie fast, you’ll want to make sure that your refrigerator is just as prepared as you are. The last thing you want to do is tap out because you don’t have everything you need. The spirit is willing, but I’m a witness that when you’re presented with some chicken and you’re hungry and you forgot to pack your soup or veggie lunch, the flesh is weak.
You also want to make sure that you’re mentally prepared. Is your mind made up that you’re going to complete this fast? Do you already know how many days you’ll be doing it? Having an end goal in mind can help you stay on track when it starts to get really hard and you’re not sure if you can take it. It also helps to know how far your body can go and keep that in mind. Maybe you have a pre-existing condition that doesn’t allow you to do a dry fast so maybe you should only do a Daniel’s fast or a fruit and veggie fast. Or maybe you’re like me and no matter how hard you try you just can’t make it past the second day of a three day fast. I believe that God knows and understands the limitations of our bodies and honors the intent of our fasts.
Key #2 Know What You’re Fasting For
It is very important to know the purpose of a fast and exactly why you’re fasting. Isaiah 58 gave us a very clear picture of what we should and shouldn’t be fasting for. We should not be fasting for strife, debate, wickedness, or even to “make our voice heard on high,” (Isa 58:4) As I previously mentioned, we should be fasting to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free. What that looked like for me escaping an abusive relationship was that I knew I needed to tackle the root issues of why I would accept abuse, and what was keeping me bound to abuse. As I soul searched and searched the scriptures I found that the fear of man is what caused me to accept abuse, and witchcraft was what was keeping me bound to it.
When I began my season of fasting and prayer I armored myself with the scriptures that focused on fear such as Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe, and 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I also focused on scriptures that dealt with witchcraft and my position as a believer, and how I have authority over the forces of darkness. When it came to that I focused on scriptures like Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, and Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Not only did I focus on these scriptures to empower me, but I prayed these scriptures out loud along with others during my season of fasting.
Now, I want to be very clear that I never prayed that the Lord would kill anyone who was operating in witchcraft against me. To pray that kind of prayer I would be operating in witchcraft myself, but declaring Exodus 22:18 in my prayers was a way of serving the devil notice that I understood the severity of witchcraft and that death was it’s portion. Because I understood Ephesians 6:12 I knew that I wasn’t battling against a person per say, but the spirit behind that person so that’s what I dealt with in my prayers. It’s very important that we don’t use scripture to pray against people, but we do use the scriptures to tear down strongholds (2 Cor 10:4-6), and to declare our position and authority in Christ (Matt 4:1-11).
Key #3 Meet Someone Else’s Need While Fasting
One key to fasting for spiritual warfare that I had no idea about was tending to the needs of others. In Isaiah 58:7 after God starts to talk about what kind of fast is acceptable to him he goes on to say, Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? During my season of fasting I discovered that even though my fasts were mainly focused on myself and my household, it still wasn’t all about me. When I became aware of this truth, I saw the opportunities that were presented to me every time I fasted to give to someone else.
This part of fasting should definitely not be ignored because right after verse 7, God goes into what will happen once you complete a fast according to HIS standards. He says in Isaiah 58:8-11 after you’ve completed a fast that’s acceptable to him THEN shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. THEN shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and the speaking of vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; THEN shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
I don’t know about you, but to me that sounded like some conditions that I needed to meet, and I saw the breakthrough in my life when I began to fast according to the standards that God laid out in his word.
Key #4 Pay Attention To Your Dreams
Now this particular key was very new to me, and I stumbled across the significance of understanding your dreams Biblically, especially as it relates to fasting, while browsing YouTube. I always knew that I was a dreamer and that God showed me things in dreams, but I didn’t always understand my dreams. I learned that not only does God speak to us in dreams, but Satan also tries to infiltrate our dreams through various means, and God allows us to see what’s going on. Job 33:14-17 says For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
When we are asleep we are in a vulnerable state, not just physically, but also spiritually. When we are dreaming we have direct access to the spirit realm and the spirit realm has direct access to us, which is how astral projection is possible. Astral projection is when a person intentionally detaches their spirit from their body to enter the astral plane as they are falling asleep. Astral projection is not recommended and is forbidden as a Christian as the practice is tied to New Age spiritualism. Sometimes astral projection can happen unintentionally which is how you have people who tell stories of having out of body experiences where they could see their bodies as they were dying or while undergoing an operation. I explained all of that to give you an idea of how connected to the spirit realm we are via entering sleep or dreaming, and the Lord often reveals to us the things that are going on in our lives, or the plans of the enemy.
I could write an entire blog on dreams and spiritual warfare, but I want to make this important point. One of the things that Satan tries to do while we are fasting to break yokes and tear down strongholds, is he tries to reinstate everything that we tore down via our dreams. Satan knows that God deals with covenants and contracts, so Satan tries to get us to come into agreement with his plan via our dreams. Last year while I was fasting to break the demonic strongholds of abuse in my life and off my bloodline, I had three dreams in a row either while fasting or after I had just completed a fast.
In the dream I was at work accepting packages, as I am a concierge, and there was a lady mail carrier who had a package to give me. Somehow I knew that the package represented abuse. I immediately woke up from that dream and canceled it in the name of Jesus, and declared to the enemy that I would not be accepting that. I went back to sleep, and entered into the same dream with the same lady mail carrier who tried to drop the package off at my desk again. I immediately woke up and canceled the dream in the name of Jesus, and then went back to sleep only to enter the same dream for the third time. This time I saw white gloved hands that were waving over the package as if they were trying to put a spell on it, and then the SAME lady mail carrier walked up to my desk, slammed the package down, and angrily pointed at it as if to say “you’re going to take this package!” Of course I woke up again and told the devil no, that I would not be accepting anything from him and I canceled the dream again.
I share this experience to shed light on the tactics of Satan, and how as I was fasting to break the yoke of abuse, he was trying to reinstate a covenant with me via my dreams to rebuild what I had already torn down. When we are aware of this particular tactic, it takes us to a new level of spiritual warfare and clarity where we are no longer simply operating from a place of defence when things start happening in our lives, but we get to operate from a place of offense where we are aware of the plans of the enemy and can attack it spiritually before it even gets to materialize physically.
The four keys that I have just gone over are not something that I’ve just read about, but I put them to practice in my life and I saw the benefits. Not only did I receive deliverance from an abusive marriage and the mental strongholds that kept me bound to it, but I also tackled the spirit of poverty and received financial breakthrough like I’ve never seen before. In a period of 5 months I went from working full time making part-time money while living with my parents, to a salaried position making enough money to have my own apartment, pay all my bills, and have some money left over for fun. No one can tell me that the principles for life found in the Bible do not work, and if they worked for me, they can definitely work for you.
References:
House Cleaning (Spiritual Warfare)
