Jentezen Franklin - Fasting: Opening the Door to a Deeper, More Intimate, More Powerful Relationship With God

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my wife, Cherise, for her constant support and encouragement, and to my dear children, Courteney, Caressa, Caroline, Connar, and Drake.

To Richie Hughes for his infusion of energy to get this book done.

To Susan Page for her tireless and wholehearted help.

To Tomi Kaiser for her ability to weave sermon stories and transcripts together to help make this book.

To my mother, Katie Franklin Lancaster, for modeling to me a fasting lifestyle.

To the Free Chapel congregation. Thanks for dreaming with me.

To the Kingdom Connection partners and friends for their support and prayers.

To all the dedicated editors on my ministry staff. Your creativity and attention to detail are a blessing. Thank you for helping me utilize the printed page in order to reach more souls for the kingdom of God.

Jentezen Franklin is the pastor of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia, a congregation that has 10,000 in attendance each week. Named as one of the top forty churches in America by Outreach magazine, Free Chapel has recently grown into a new location in Orange County, California, where Pastor Franklin also speaks weekly.

Through his experience as a pastor, teacher, musician, and author, Pastor Franklin seeks to help people encounter God through inspired worship and relevant application of the Word of God in their daily lives. His nationally televised program, Kingdom Connection, is seen weekly on prime-time television through various national and international networks.

Pastor Franklin is a popular speaker at numerous conferences across the country and around the world. He has also written several books, including the best sellers Fasting Volume I: The Private Discipline That Brings Public Reward, Fasting Volume II: Opening a Door to Gods Promises, and most recently, Right People, Right Place, Right Plan, which quickly became a best seller.

Pastor Franklin and his wife, Cherise, reside in Gainesville, Georgia, with their five wonderful children.

For more information, contact:

Jentezen Franklin Ministries

P. O. Box 315

Gainesville, GA 30503

Or visit us on the Web:

www.jentezenfranklin.org

www.freechapel.org

Chapter 1
Fasting for Your Breakthrough

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your God?

PSALM 42:13

What is fasting? Since there are so many misconceptions about it, I first want to clarify what fastingbiblical fastingis not. Fasting is not merely going without food for a period of time. That is dietingmaybe even starvingbut fasting it is not. Nor is fasting something done only by fanatics. I really want to drive that point home. Fasting is not to be done only by religious monks alone in a cave somewhere. The practice of fasting is not limited to ministers or to special occasions.

Stated simply, biblical fasting is refraining from food for a spiritual purpose. Fasting has always been a normal part of a relationship with God. As expressed by the impassioned plea of David in Psalm 42, fasting brings one into a deeper, more intimate and powerful relationship with the Lord.

When you eliminate food from your diet for a number of days, your spirit becomes uncluttered by the things of this world and amazingly sensitive to the things of God. As David stated, Deep calls unto deep (Ps. 42:7). David was fasting. His hunger and thirst for God were greater than his natural desire for food. As a result, he reached a place where he could cry out from the depths of his spirit to the depths of God, even in the midst of his trial. Once youve experienced even a glimpse of that kind of intimacy with our Godour Father, the holy Creator of the universeand the countless rewards and blessings that follow, your whole perspective will change. You will soon realize that fasting is a secret source of power that is overlooked by many.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

ECCLESIASTES 4:12

During the years that Jesus walked this earth, He devoted time to teaching His disciples the principles of the kingdom of God, principles that conflict with those of this world. In the Beatitudes, specifically in Matthew 6, Jesus provided the pattern by which each of us is to live as a child of God. That pattern addressed three specific duties of a Christian: giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus said, When you give and When you pray and When you fast. He made it clear that fasting, like giving and praying, was a normal part of Christian life. As much attention should be given to fasting as is given to giving and to praying.

The three duties of every Christian are giving, praying, and fasting.

Solomon, when writing the books of wisdom for Israel, made the point that a cord, or rope, braided with three strands is not easily broken (Eccles. 4:12). Likewise, when giving, praying, and fasting are practiced together in the life of a believer, it creates a type of threefold cord that is not easily broken. In fact, as Ill show you in a moment, Jesus took it even further by saying, Nothing will be impossible (Matt. 17:20).

Could we be missing our greatest breakthroughs because we fail to fast? Remember the thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold return Jesus spoke of (Mark 4:8, 20)? Look at it this way: when you pray, you can release that thirtyfold return, but when both prayer and giving are part of your life, I believe that releases the sixtyfold blessing. But when all threegiving, praying, and fastingare part of your life, that hundredfold return can be released!

If thats the case, you have to wonder what blessings are not being released. What answers to prayer are not getting through? What bondages are not being broken because we fail to fast?

Matthew tells the story of a father who had a demon-possessed son. For years he watched helplessly as his son suffered with severe convulsions. As he grew older, the attacks became so severe that the boy would often throw himself into an open fire or a trench of water. A suicidal spirit tormented him constantly; the situation became life-threatening.

Having exhausted every attempt to cure the boyeven taking him to the disciples with no availthe fathers plight seemed impossible. Then he heard that Jesus was near. Going to the Master, he cried, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him (Matt. 17:15, KJV).

When the boy was brought to Jesus, the Bible says He rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour (v. 18, KJV). But what made the difference? After all, Matthew 10:1 records that Jesus had already given the disciples power to cast out evil spirits and to heal every disease. So why couldnt the disciples cast out the demon and cure the boy?

Thats what they wanted to know, too, so later that night, when they were alone with Jesus, they asked Him. Jesus replied, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:2021, KJV).

Now, Ive read that passage many times, and Ive even taught from it on occasion. But each time, Ive focused on the statement and nothing shall be impossible unto you. I think a lot of people stop right there, but Jesus didnt because He knew there was moremuch more.

When you faithfully follow the three duties of a Christian, God rewards you openly.