Take the time to get before God. Separate yourself from the
things of the world, and fast. I am talking about fasting with
rewards. Jesus said the Father would reward you.
Sometimes the only reward I seek in a fast is the deliverance
of a friend, a situation that needs correcting, or God’s
anointing to minister more effectively. I fast and expect the
anointing of God to operate.

A man living a fasted life lays things aside just to be with
God. Once I fasted my newspaper. I had been spending anywhere
from 15 minutes to an hour reading it each day. For one
week I laid it aside to read the Word of God instead. Years have
come and gone and I have not gone back to it. God honored
that fast.

If you really want to enjoy life and break completely out of
the ordinary, begin to live the high life of which Jesus spoke.
He said if you will lose your life for His sake, you’ll find it
(Matthew 10:39). The Greek text says, “If you’ll give up that
low life, you will find the high life.” This is one of the ways you
shed the low life. The high life in the realm of the spirit is more
than exciting! It is not just a religion full of “dos” and “don’ts.”

As you begin to live the fasted life, the power in the spirit
will begin to work for you. You will be building your foundation
on God. A fasted life is one that feeds on the Word of God
all the time and separates itself to God. It is a life consecrated
and dedicated to Him.

Here is a five-step checklist for fasting. Put yourself in a
position to receive from God spiritually. You can take these
steps and order your thinking by them:

1. Decide the purpose of the fast.

2. Proclaim the fast before the Lord.

3. Believe you receive the reward (Matthew 6:18)—before
the fast. The reward will probably be related to the
first step. The purpose of the fast will have a great deal
to do with the rewards involved. If you are fasting for
revelation knowledge, the reward would be receiving
the knowledge you desire.

4. Minister to the Lord. “Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians
3:16). One of the best things you can do to learn how to
minister to the Lord is to read the Psalms. You minister
to the Lord by speaking of His mighty works. When you
begin to praise and minister to Him, He will get involved
with you! You need to fellowship with Him and He needs
to hear praise and thanksgiving. I heard myself saying
to the Lord one day, “Jesus, You are my High Priest.
Take my praise and minister it unto my Father. Make it
a sweet incense to His nostrils. Blot out all the sin that
has come up before Him from this miserable planet.

Minister my praise and love and adoration to Him.
Cause it to be just what He needs today. I want to bless
His heart. I do not want Him to be grieved by the sinfulness
of man.” I began to realize that my heavenly Father
needs this. Earthly fathers long to hear their children tell
them how much they love them instead of just begging
for things. “I love you, Dad,” is a statement that captures
a father’s heart. Just think how much that means to our
heavenly Father!

5. Minister to others. Always minister to others after the
fast. You need to use the spiritual power within you to
meet the needs of people. If you fast according to the
Word of God, you will be spiritually built up. Minister to
others during the fast only as you are led of the Father.

Living the fasted life will cause you to produce the fruit
of the spirit. This fruit comes forth from the reborn human
spirit. The Holy Spirit is certainly all these things, but He is
not in you to bear fruit. He is in you to teach you how to bear
fruit. He is your teacher, your intercessor, your standby and
helper. He gives you the power—you bear the fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering [patience], gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” These
are spiritual forces. Proverbs 4:20-23 says, “My son, attend to
my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not
depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all
their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the
issues of life.” One translation says, “Out of it [the heart] flow
the forces of life.” Not one force in this list will produce death.
Love produces life. Joy is a life-giving force, etc.

Fasting shuts down the influence of the body, so the spirit
man can dominate. As you stay in the Word and in fellowship
with God, you will not be flesh-ruled, you will glorify God in
your body.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland

There are two categories of fasting: a proclaimed fast (Joel
1:14), and a personal fast as Jesus described in Matthew 6.
First, you do not fast to impress God. Some people think
that if they fast long enough, it will influence Him to do
something for them. Punishing yourself does not impress the
Lord. It will only make you very, very hungry! Fasting changes
you, not God.

Let’s look at a proclaimed fast. Sometimes situations arise
in which you need divine direction. A proclaimed fast brings
believers into a place of hearing from God. When you find out
how to pray about the situation, you can move in the same
area of faith in one accord.

Second Chronicles 20:1-6 says:

It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab,
and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside
the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying,
There cometh a great multitude against thee from
beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be
in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. And Jehoshaphat
feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed
a fast throughout all Judah…. And Jehoshaphat stood in
the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house
of the Lord, before the new court, and said, O Lord God
of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven…. And in thine
hand is there not power and might, so that none is able
to withstand thee?

The main reason a proclaimed fast brings results is
because it directs people’s minds toward God. They drop all
other things and center their attention on Him. This brings
His manifest presence in their midst.

While the believers in 2 Chronicles were in one accord, it
says, “Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of
Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the
sons of Asaph, came the spirit of the Lord in the midst of the
congregation” (verse 14). Did you notice that the Spirit of God
did not come on Jehoshaphat? He was the leader. Thank God
someone in the congregation was sensitive to the Holy Spirit!

“And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto
you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;
for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (verse 15). Imagine
how good that sounded to their ears! The Holy Ghost spoke.
That is what they were seeking.

This principle will also work in our day. A New Testament
example is found in Acts 13:1-2: “Now there were in the
church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers….
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost
said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto
I have called them.” That assignment brought into being two thirds
of the New Testament. What an important day! Those
men did not realize the magnitude of God’s plan. They were
simply being obedient.

The Holy Ghost spoke in the midst of a group of ordinary
men who were fasting, praying and ministering to the Lord. This
set into motion something that absolutely changed the world!

In that kind of atmosphere, God is given the opportunity
to speak. A proclaimed fast is valuable and effective then,
because it causes unity and singleness of purpose. It operates
on the same principle as the prayer of agreement or united
prayer—it produces power.

These believers received their instructions from God. They
laid their hands on Saul and Barnabas and sent them forth.
The results of their ministry were astounding!

By contrast, in Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus spoke of the personal
fast. “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,
of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they
may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have
their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head,
and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Jesus really put the
responsibility on you and me here. He did not say, if you fast,
He said when you fast.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries