Isaiah 58:6-7 ‘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?’

DAILY READING; Matthew 18:1-20; Numbers 5-6; Ecclesiastes 5

During the Great Awakening in the early 1740s, the fire of revival swept mightily through New England. However, while many towns were massively responding to this new move of the Spirit, one town, Enfield, remained resistant. The people of Enfield were notorious for opposing the Gospel and had a reputation among itinerant preachers for being spiritually stubborn and complacent.
Jonathan Edwards, who was one of the foremost preachers of the revival, then took it upon himself to break the spiritual resistance in Enfield. In preparation he went into three days of fasting and praying. Then on July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards went to Enfield to preach.
That day he started a sermon that he would not finish. He preached what is now one of the most famous sermons in history. It was titled ’Sinners in the hand of an angry God.’
Jonathan Edwards preached with such power and fervency that it broke the demonic hold over the people of Enfield and destroyed their resistance to the Gospel.
Such was the impact of his preaching that the people listening began shrieking and crying out. The crying and weeping became so loud that Jonathan Edwards was forced to discontinue the sermon and couldn’t finish. Instead, the pastors went down among the people and prayed with them, bringing many to the saving knowledge of Christ. And from that day, revival swept through the town, setting many souls on fire and filling the people with a new hunger for God. Finally, the stubborn yoke of resistance over Enfield was broken, when Jonathan Edwards engaged the power of fasting and praying.

Matthew 17:21 says: ‘Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting’

Indeed some ‘kinds’ of stubborn spiritual resistance will not go, except with the combined force of prayer and fasting.
Some resistances will continue to persist, even get stronger until you decide to fast. There are some things that if you only pray about them, will keep defying solution, until you attack with a combined dose of fasting and praying.
Therefore in this season of waiting on the Lord, it is an ideal time to tackle some of those stubborn ‘kinds’. As you begin to come against them with God’s Word, surely every such resistance will crumble. God has programmed fasting as a way for us to break stubborn yokes and destroy evil oppressions.

In Isaiah 58:6-7 God 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?’

Fasting releases the yoke-breaking anointing that facilitates speedy answers to prayers. This is why the devil fights hard to keep you from fasting, so as to rob you of your victory.
We must, therefore, endeavor not to sell out our glorious destiny through gluttony and refusal to fast. Remember that Esau, because of uncontrolled appetite sold his birthright for a morsel of bread (Genesis 25:29-34).
But as we engage in fasting and praying in this season we will overcome every resistance and rise to higher grounds.
As we fast, God promises us in Isaiah 58:6 ‘I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it’.
Supernatural lifting and promotions shall indeed be our portion in this season. We must also continually praise God for the grace to fast. Surely, as we bless God for renewing our strength, we will mount up with wings as eagles and our story shall only be from glory to greater glory in Jesus Name.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for the grace to wait upon You in this season. By Your grace I am overcoming every stubborn resistance to my progress and pressing forward into the glorious destiny You have ordained for me in Jesus Name.
Quote
Nothing liberates like truth, the truth you know and act upon will set you free.- – WORDBITE 222.