Stand Firm In Fasting

[0:00] Thank you for choosing to listen to today's message by Reverend Dr. David Entry. We know you will be blessed as you seek and serve God. We believe that this message will stir up a desire for more of God even as you listen.

[0:15] Be blessed. In Joshua chapter 4 verse 1, And it came to pass, when all the people were clean past over Jordan, that the Lord speak to Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe, a man.

[0:40] And command ye them, saying, Take you hands out of the midst. When we were crossing the Jordan, they got into the middle of the Jordan. God made the water stand left and right.

[0:52] So it's not only the Red Sea. God caused the waters to stand. The left and the right. And then they passed through. And so God said that, Command these twelve men, Take ye, saying, Take you hands out of the midst of the Jordan.

[1:12] Out of the place. Where the priests' feet stood firm. Twelve stones. When they were crossing the Jordan, I believe it was not, it was a bit shaky.

[1:31] But there were certain places where the priests' feet stood firm. Stood firm. He said, where you stood firm, That's where you can refer the future to.

[1:42] So in times of fasting, you must be firm. So that in future, when your children ask you, Anyone around knows that this fasting is what changed this year.

[1:55] Amen. When there's two firm, And ye shall carry those stones with you, And leave them in their lodging places.

[2:06] You see, the approach or the pursuit of God that comes with, Or that is done with convenience, Is no pursuit. It doesn't yield much fruits.

[2:19] So, It's good, That some of us will be tested, During this fasting.

[2:30] Is that fair? Because you're on a mission. I'm meeting, Oh, I feel, I've made up my mind.

[2:41] Because, You see, When you are fasting, And you don't see the victory through, You have short-circuited something. Some people who need to be here, By now at home.

[2:59] And they are hoping, And maybe God, When it comes to God, Don't wish. Maybe, No, Find what is to be done, And do it.

[3:10] Jesus said, Blessed are you, For the things you hear. He said, For the things you hear, If you do them. John 13, 17. There are things you must hear and do. The secret of your testimony, So long as God is concerned, Is, Is connected to what you do.

[3:28] Not what you wish. You have to be firm. Some, You can be, You might even be invited to go and have dinner, Or to go and have lunch.

[3:39] Or coffee with the chief executive of something. Stand firm. It's not your meeting with him, That will change your story. It's connectivity from above.

[3:53] That changes your story. Stand firm. You hear every evening, If it is time for prayer, You are there. Whether somebody is praying, Somebody is not praying, This is not time even to waste a friend, That will waste your time.

[4:06] Wait for a friend, That will waste your time. Stand firm. Stand firm. You have missed too many meetings too. Stand firm.

[4:18] Because the reference point for your testimony, Has to do with, Your standing firm. It's not where your feet is shaking. So from where the priest stood firm, Take the stone from there, And take it into the future.

[4:31] And keep it in your lodging places. And they say, When your children ask you, Tell them, This is how God delivered us. When I found out, That when you fast, It affects your children, And their children.

[4:46] Fasting is so potent. So powerful. It goes farther than you can go. In 2nd Kings chapter 13, Verse 14.

[5:02] Josh, Josh, The prophet was at the stage where he was about to die. Bible says that his sickness was unto death. Yeah.

[5:13] The prophet, Elijah. He says that, Now, Elijah was falling sick of his sickness where he died. The sickness that killed him.

[5:25] Or the sickness through which he died. He was not in that sickness. He was about to die. Prophet Elijah. And, And, And, Josh, The king of Israel came down unto him.

[5:43] Because the king of Israel has been stubborn. He's been doing his own thing. But he knew that the prophet, I need death. He said, Everybody needs a prophet in your life. Oh, Yeah. You need a man of God.

[5:54] You need it. And not a man of God who will tell you what you want to hear. A man of God who will tell you what you need to hear. Who is not only interested in making you happy, But he's also interested in making you do what is necessary for your future.

[6:09] Yeah. Scripture is given for inspiration. It's my inspiration. It's profitable for you. Proof. Proof. Correction and instructions in righteousness.

[6:22] Those of us who are reading Proverbs very well, You can see instructions, instructions. It talks about instructions is good for the wise man. The wise man hears instructions and learn. The fool passes on and are destroyed.

[6:36] Simple minded. He came, The king came to the prophets. He knew the prophets is likely to die. He came because, I need my prophets.

[6:47] Someone say, I need my prophets. I need my prophets. Yeah. I need my prophets. Some people will never get the best of God. Because they have chosen how to access God.

[7:03] Or how to operate with God. But God has a set laid down principles. When we are fasting, You have to give you.

[7:15] Because, Say, Fasting can change your story. Depending on how you approach it. This fasting should be As something that is setting you up.

[7:31] To start, Sometimes a personal, Spiritual. Give it an assignment. Husband and wife. You are believing God for something. Team up. Let's give.

[7:41] We are fasting for one week. We are fasting for three days. And, Stand firm. You started, We are doing our first, One year anniversary of the child.

[7:53] It's from morning to evening. So, Okay. Alright. I will do the fasting next week. I am coming. The first temptation was food related.

[8:07] That's why, When Jesus, The devil never came. So, He fasted. The devil came. The first temptation of the devil was, Turn these stones into bread.

[8:19] Yeah. Lots of, I sometimes, I am not impressed. When somebody says, Hey, As for me, I like my food. I am not impressed with them. I am not impressed with people who say that.

[8:33] People who say, I like my food. Or, I like my sleep. How, How can you love sleep? Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. A little sleep.

[8:44] A little slumber. A little folding of iron to a, Then poverty comes like an arm rubber. Rrrrraa. Rrrrraa. Pumity. It comes like an arm rubber. Rrrrraa.

[8:54] It comes suddenly. But, It was a little sleep. A little sleep. So, Plenty sleep. You can imagine what to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[9:08] Well, So, When we talk about fasting, One of the things you should understand, There are physical things you do, Which provoke the hand of God, On your life.

[9:23] Physical things you do, In order to see spiritual results. Some people will say, Oh, I don't have to do this.

[9:33] God understands. Look at your situation, Before you say things like that. There are spiritual activities, Physical activities, That bring spiritual hand.

[9:47] Like yesterday, We were reading, From Numbers, Exodus chapter 17, Right from the verse, 11, That was where, They, They went to the mountain.

[10:00] Moses went to the mountain, And kept his hands lifted. So, His hands were up. And Bible says, As long as his hands stayed up, Israel prevailed.

[10:13] As long as his, When his hand came down, Amalek prevailed. Choose, Choose, Where you want to stand. So, But pastor, Sometimes, Let's be honest.

[10:25] Let's be realistic. How long can I keep my hand up? You have to find a way of doing it. Otherwise, Amalek will prevail. I mean, It's a choice.

[10:38] The prevailing of Amalek, Or your prevailing, Is determined by the hands up. So, If you say, My hands are tired, It's like you are, You are hanging on, Yeah, Like a bar like this.

[10:50] And, Crocodiles have come down. They are very hungry. You have to, When you are tired, Afterwards, Use your leg.

[11:01] You have to find a way, Keep it inside. That's what it means, Take a stand. Take a stand. A little, Stress is old.

[11:15] I must die, It's okay. No, You have to prevail. So, Because your prevailing, Is directly connected, To your spiritual activity, Then you have to, Give it your, The focus, The intensity, And make sure, You are prevailing, That activity.

[11:33] That's what happened. So, The device, It means, Put a big stone, For Moses, Sit down. Moses, Sit down. Because your hands, Yeah. And then, Aaron stood on one side, Es stood on one side.

[11:44] So, It's nothing he's saying. No, They were holding the hand up, For him. Because all, It's only dependent, On the hand up. So, We have to find a way, Of keeping the hand up.

[11:56] You have to, Find a way of, Finishing this fast. You have to find a way, Of getting through. I see you, I see you, Getting results. May the Lord, Strengthen you, In the name of Jesus.

[12:11] Daniel chapter 10, Verse 2. In those days, Let's already, All right, Let's go.

[12:22] In those days, I had a good morning, Three weeks of fasting. It calls it morning. Sometimes, The Bible calls it, Humbling yourself.

[12:35] Sometimes, The Bible calls it, Coming in, Before God, In sackcloth, And ashes. He was mourning, Three full weeks. Some of us, Having done three full weeks.

[12:47] Don't let your body, Tell you what you should be doing. That's right. Tell your body, What you are prevailing in doing. Shout, Hallelujah.

[12:57] Hallelujah. Well, Verse 3, Look at verse 3. This is what we'll get there. Let's read it. I ate no pleasant, Where you have been, For my wine, In my mouth, You have been, For my soul, At all.

[13:14] Three, Yeah, Three whole weeks were fulfilled. For three weeks. I ate no pleasant, This is the whole three weeks. Not 60, Not 60, You eat some pleasant bread.

[13:30] But the point here is that, I ate no pleasant bread. Somebody say pleasant bread. Pleasant bread. Please say it again louder. Pleasant bread. Pleasant. The word pleasant, I think is, I think the Hebrew word was something, It sounds something like, Chemna or so.

[13:48] Chemna. Chemna or Chemna. You know, So, The word translated pleasant, Means, Desirable. Right.

[14:00] Lovely. Good. Yeah. So, I ate no, Desirable, Chemna or Chemna. Something like that.

[14:10] Bread. Look at verse 12. Or verse 11. And then, An angel. He said, I saw an angel. And he said to me, Oh, Daniel, Man greatly beloved.

[14:21] The word translated beloved, Is the same, Chemna. Or Chemna. Yes. Now, Angel is saying that, God finds you desirable.

[14:32] Because you, You chose to move away, From what was desirable for you. Now, You have become desirable to God. Move away from something.

[14:45] Move away from something. And fasting, Is to move yourself away. It is not, As I said the other time, It is not only food. Some of us are fasting food, But nothing has changed.

[14:58] You are as active on social media, Like you've always been. But I thought you were fasting. You are as active on your status, As you've always, Even now, More.

[15:12] God, The time to be reading your Bible, You have time, Not to be cooking. You use that, To indulge, On the internet. When you are fasting, A lot of things, It's like, Christmas break, In the city.

[15:29] A lot of shops have shut. A lot of offices, Close down. Offices. A lot of offices, Close down. When you're going to do, Delivery, You go there, Nobody's there.

[15:39] It's Christmas, But other things have stopped. A lot of things stop. It's not only, Christmas trees that are out, Or turkey that are going to be eating. A lot of things stop.

[15:50] Fasting too, A lot of things must stop. Some people should not hear from you, Or you shouldn't hear from them, During the time of fasting. Because they are not a good influence on you.

[16:04] You shouldn't, When they call, You are busy. You don't, Some people, You won't call them. Some places, You will not go. It's not that it's bad, But it's not, You are waiting on God.

[16:17] So, If you add that seriousness to the fasting, It will change your story. Yeah. Is somebody learning something?

[16:28] Yeah. He said, I ate no pleasant food. Some people just don't, May I say this? If you are the kind of person who says, I don't like anyone telling me what to do, God can help you.

[16:42] You are too arrogant. Yes, I'm telling you. You are too proud. You are too proud. You are too proud to be helped. You are like Nehman, The Syrian.

[16:56] They said, Go and watch. Who are you to tell me to, I should watch. Listen, That's the instruction I'm giving you. If you want to enjoy the anointing, Do it if you don't want to go. It doesn't affect the anointed. Your, Your leprous condition stays.

[17:11] When God could have changed it for you, But you are too, Set in your ways. So God, Imagine if that's how you have lived your life.

[17:22] No one, No one tell me, No one tell me, No one tell me, No one tell me, That's how your paradigm, Your disposition has always been. When you arrive in a church, A prophetic environment, You bring it back.

[17:36] No one tell me this, No one tell me, It's very lamentable. Because, You are beyond help. You go to the house, No one can tell me, No one can tell me, Listen, Please, Please, Life doesn't work like that.

[17:54] I see God helping you. I have an intense feeling, That this fasting will change a lot of stories. I have fasted and seen results several times.

[18:08] Every time I fast and give it the attention. And every pastor must be able to be fasting. You must have, You must have scheduled fast.

[18:20] Every now and then you are fasting. Every now, Because you are a spiritual man, For goodness sake. He said, Take the arrow, Take the bow, And then take some arrow. And then when you put, Oh God, This is what I want.

[18:31] Second king chapter 13 verse 16. He said, Take the arrow. And then he took the arrow. And then he said, And Elisha said to the king, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon the bow.

[18:43] And Elisha put his hand upon the king's hand. Say hand upon hand. Hand upon hand. Your hand must go, So God can put his hand upon you. This year, I see, Because of the activities, This year, I see God putting his hand upon you.

[18:58] I see God putting his hand upon you. He said, Take, Until he put his hand on the bow, The prophet couldn't put his hand.

[19:08] He said, You put your hand, And I'm going to put you, So that the resource is going to be supernatural. It looks like, Just you, It's just you, But there is a supernatural hand upon you.

[19:19] But you have to do something. Daniel said, I ate no pleasant food. And at the end, He heard that you are a pleasant man to God.

[19:32] Why do you want to keep the other ones? And then still end up, You think end up being pleasant to God? No. In Matthew chapter 17, Verse 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.

[19:47] But in Matthew chapter 17, Verse 16, This man brought his son to Jesus. And he asked Jesus that, Please, If you can do something, Because the guy is not well.

[19:59] And he brought him to, He said, I brought him to your disciples, And they could not kill him. Then Jesus said, Listen to what Jesus said. Then Jesus answered and said, Faithless and perverse generation.

[20:12] Shall we say that together? Faithless and perverse generation. Say it again, please. Faithless and perverse generation. Say it for the last time. Faithless and perverse generation. For the last generation. Faithless.

[20:24] Faithless means, You are not connecting to God. You are not connecting with God. You have to connect with God. You have to connect with God.

[20:37] You are not connecting with God. Because without faith, It's not possible to connect with God. And when you begin to have faith, That means you are getting in tune with God. It's a faithless generation.

[20:49] It's a generation that have lost connectivity with God. They are living life normal. Why? This is my point here. Listen to me.

[20:59] Brothers and sisters. Why are you a Christian? Why are you a Christian? So-called. Or whatever. You are a Christian. And you live a normal life. There's no difference between you and unbelievers.

[21:11] Because, you see, It is not sinful activities that make people unbelievers. Remember that. Most people, There are most unbelievers who are even decent.

[21:22] In their approach to life. Than some people who call themselves Christians. Or many Christians. So it's not about morality. So it's, I don't steal at work. I don't do this.

[21:33] I don't do that. But there's no sign of believership around you. Spirituality around you. Most people come around you, And they can remain as unspiritual as anything.

[21:44] Until they meet a difference from Christian. So, There are many people who call themselves believers. But no connectivity with God. Faithless generation.

[21:56] And not only faithless. Faithless and what? I can't hear you. I can't hear you. When he talks about perverse and perversion, He's talking about, You are so connected to the world.

[22:09] Because the ways of the world are skewed. You are so in tune with the world. That's why the results are not showing. You are, You are, Watch this.

[22:22] You are disconnected from God, And attached to the world. Faithless and perverse generation. No wonder works are not manifesting. Supernatural works are not manifesting.

[22:33] Then Jesus said, Bring the child. So he said, How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? How long shall I suffer you?

[22:44] Bring him hither. So he brought the child. And then Jesus rebuked the devil. And he departed out of him. And the child was skewed from that very hour. Let's go. Then the disciples, Then, Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, And said, Why could we not cast out that?

[23:02] And Jesus said, So already you are faithless and perverse. Then Jesus said, Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, For verily I say unto you, If you have faith like a grain of master seed, You shall say unto this man, To be moved yonder, And it shall be moved, And nothing shall be possible.

[23:18] Now look at it. Next verse. Let's all read it all together. All right. Let's all read it all. Let's go. Some people are not reading.

[23:32] Shall we all go? Let's go. How be it, This kind word not out by prayer. New King James, please. Let's go. How be it, This kind does not go out, Except by praying and fasting.

[23:49] Say prayer. Prayer. Say fasting. Fasting. What did you describe them to be earlier on? Faithless and perverse. And what did I say faithless is?

[24:01] Disconniction. Perverse. You are so normal with the world. Prayer. Prayer. Is connecting back to God.

[24:13] Fasting is disconnecting from the world. Prayer. Connecting with God. Some people want to connect with God, But they don't want to disconnect from the world.

[24:27] Fasting is an unusual behavior. That's not how everybody behaves. It's an unusual behavior. And as soon as you begin to disconnect, That's why when you are fasting, There must be changes in your life.

[24:43] There must be changes in your life. There must be evidential changes. That you don't do this at this time. You are not doing this. You are not doing this. Maybe after the fasting, By the time you realize, Three weeks.

[24:56] It takes three weeks to form a habit anyway. So, Some people want to stop habits. It's not easy to stop a habit. You have to form another habit to replace that.

[25:08] Yeah. That's how it works. So, You have to form a habit to overcome the existing one. So, Usually, It is believed it takes three weeks to form a habit.

[25:21] So, By the third week, After the third week, 21 days, Your, A certain habit has formed. And that is what helps you to maintain a certain level of disconnection from the world.

[25:35] You know, Most of the things we think, I need, I need, I need, I'm telling you, You are fine without it. Then you do regularly becomes addictive. So, You begin to think, No, I can't withdraw from it.

[25:48] When you begin to fast, Use that period to withdraw from some things. And then stand firm. Some of us, Your problem is you can't stand firm. So, There's no stone you can cut, You can take from where you stood firm to the future.

[26:03] Stand firm. Tell somebody, Stand firm. Stand firm. Tell another person, Stand firm. Stand firm. Be firm.

[26:15] Be firm. Be firm. Don't give up the fasting and say, Oh, oh, I'm feeling some pains in my tummy. Do you normally feel those pains?

[26:26] No. But when I was fasting, I was feeling it. Start firm. Start firm. Do you know why I'm teaching this?

[26:37] Because this year is a very, it's going to take some people to a new realm. But it can't just happen. You need a hand on your hand.

[26:48] But first, bring out your hand. Bring your hand so you can put the supernatural hand on your hand. If you don't pull out your hand, nothing happens. Daniel said, I ate no pleasant food.

[27:01] And at the end of the day, I could hear God say, you are the pleasant man. You want to keep eating pleasant food or pleasantries and maintain your pleasant activities. May I say this in closing?

[27:18] I'm begging you. I beg you. In the name of Jesus, I beg you. Your fasting can change your story. It's not my fasting for you.

[27:28] Your own spiritual. Get on it. Get on it. I'm begging you. It's not a waste of time. It's a very powerful exercise. Please, get on it.

[27:40] Get on it. Don't be soft on yourself. Because your crisis is not soft on you. Don't be soft on yourself. We thank God for using his servant, Reverend Dr. David Entry, to share this awesome word.

[27:56] If this message has blessed you in any way, please spread the word by sharing it and send us an email to amen at caris.org. Remember to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter for regular updates on what God is doing here at Caris Ministries.

[28:12] Stay blessed.