“Fasting: Clean Slate” with Jentezen Franklin

the following program is sponsored by

friends and partners of kingdom

connection

i’m so glad you’ve joined me today for

kingdom connection

you if you follow this ministry know

that for many years now we’ve been doing

the 21 day fast and we’re

into that fast and we would love for you

to join us and today on the program i’m

going to be talking about things that

i’ve

picked up learned through the years

learned from other people some great

material that we’re even sharing through

this ministry and

some people who mentored me like elmer

townes and bill bright

and and chris hodges and all kinds of

people that have poured into my life and

i’m going to relay some of those lessons

that i’ve learned

even from my own experience today in

fasting and prayer and i believe

that god is going to speak to you about

seeking him as

never before in the new year this is the

perfect time for you to clean the slate

and say god i’m coming after you i love

you and i want more of your presence in

my life and in my family

than ever before so let’s go right into

this service i know it’s going to speak

to your life and i’m going to come back

and pray for you

in just a moment listen to this message

and let it speak

[Music]

today we’re talking about having a clean

slate starting the year outright

starting the year with a clean slate

rearranging our lives and saying god

we’re coming after you

in prayer and fasting so if you have

your bibles i’d like for you to open

them with me to the book of matthew

chapter 17

and verse 15 lord

have mercy on my son for he is suffering

severely and he

often falls into the fire and often

into the water and i brought him to your

disciples

listen to this and they could not cure

him

and jesus answered and said o faithless

and perverse generation notice those two

words

faithless and perverse generation

jesus said you could not

handle and rebuke the devil in this boy

for two reasons here’s the problem my

disciples

my my my spiritual family my sons

my daughters have two problems even

though they’re my disciples

number one they are faithless and number

two

they have become perverse it is possible

for disciples for people who love

jesus to absolutely become

faithless and perverse that word is

where we get

perverted or or sinful uh

it it is a word that has to do with the

clutches of sin and the iniquity getting

a hold of your heart

and he says what i want you to

understand is they’re unbelieving

they’re unbelieving they’re unfaithful

they do not have faith they’re faithless

they’re unbelieving believers

they’re disconnected from god listen to

me

they have become doubters they’re not

connected enough

they’re not connected enough with my

word they’re not connected enough

with my holy spirit they’re not

connected enough

in worship they go through the routine

but it’s not connecting with me and so

they’re

faithless they don’t have the faith they

ought to have

to deal with the problems and the and

the things that they’re dealing with and

secondly not only are they faithless but

they

they now find themselves as verse 7 17

says perverse

and that means they’re not just

they’re not just disconnected from me

but they are too connected to the world

so you have this dual problem going on

they’re disconnected even though they’re

my children my disciples

they’re disconnected they’re faithless

they’re disconnected from god

and they’re too connected they become

perverse

to the world so it’s like the enemy

is pulling them away from god and

he says that’s the problem and then

jesus rebuked the demon verse 18

said and it came out of him and the

child

was cured from that very hour then the

disciples came to jesus privately

later on that day they said lord why

could we not cast

out the spirit why couldn’t we deal with

this what was missing

in our situation here he comes again

jesus said because of your

unbelief you’re my disciples but you’re

not believing me for great things

you’re not believing me for mighty year

you’re not believing me to bless you

and to keep you and to raise you and to

anoint you and to give you dreams beyond

anything

you can even imagine you have become

faithless and you’re unbelieving

believers

you just kind of go through the routine

and i’m not pleased with that

and not only are you disconnected from

me but you’ve become

perverse you’re plugging in to the wrong

things you’re connecting

to the world and your disconnecting from

me

but then he makes this powerful

statement jesus is so good

because he doesn’t just tell him what

the problem is and leave him there he

brings the solution

if you feel disconnected from god you

love him but

you just don’t you really want to draw

closer to him

and you also know deep in your heart if

you were to tell the truth

that you’re too connected to some things

in the world you’re beginning to dabble

you’re beginning to get involved you’re

beginning to get a little entangled

you’re beginning

this happens to everybody you find

yourself

disconnecting from god in prayer in the

word

in worship in seeking god and

even church and and and worship and all

of that

and then you’re then what happens is you

begin to get

too connected to worldly things

and he says here’s what here’s what you

do about it

he said verse 21 however i say to you

this kind does not go out

except by prayer and by fasting now

you’ve got to see this

my friend chris hodges taught me this

the problem is unbelief

and perverse sins and entanglements

the answer is prayer because

just as you’re full of unbelief because

of your lack of connection with god when

you pray prayer is connecting with god

and when you fast fasting is

disconnecting

from the world so the

solution is prayer and fasting the

problem

is being disconnected in unbelief

and in perverseness i love the fact

that all i’ve got to do to turn this

thing around is when i begin to pray and

fast together

praying connects me back to god and

fasting disconnects me

from the world and sin and things that

pull me away from god

if there was no other reason that i

talked about for fasting

if you did that for 21 days and said for

the next 21 days

i’m connecting back to god i’m

disconnecting

from all of those things that are

pulling my heart and soul

so that i can feel the anointing again i

can feel the presence again

i can get into your word again that’s

worth the whole fast

we’re not just fasting and praying about

what we can get from

god but when we fast and we pray it

pleases god because we express a heart

of worship and gratitude fasting is

about

taking going into the presence of god

with our lives and saying lord we we

long for you

we we we show you our sincerity

by pushing away from the things of the

world

and even the flesh for a season we can’t

live here

you made our bodies to eat we we can’t

do this all the time

but this is a different time i’m

rearranging

everything the next few days and i’m

coming after you

with all of my heart mind soul and

strength

fasting and holiness go hand in hand

when you fast you are saying to god that

you want that you want to

separate yourself from the clutches and

the lust

of the world you’re saying clean me up

bring me back to purity i’m coming

before you

give me a clean slate tear me up

rip me up any evil in me any iniquity in

me

anything that i’ve been compromising

anything i’ve been dabbling in

anything holy spirit that’s been

grieving you

go through me and check me and convict

me and

fix me and clean me and anoint me

and use me come on and give god a praise

that’s what fasting is about

when it feels like the heavens are shut

up and your prayers keep bouncing off

the ceiling

when the clock is ticking and you don’t

know what you’re going to do and you’re

running out of time and you need an

answer that’s when it’s time to get

serious

and fast and pray

jesus tied amazingly the lord’s prayer

to fasting it’s in the same chapter that

he gave us

pray like this to his disciples and he

said our father which art in heaven and

he went all the way through

the lord’s prayer and then at the end of

that he said and when you fast

as if he was he was absolutely expecting

his church to not only pray the lord’s

prayer

but grab hold of that prayer

with fasting it’s in the same chapter

matthew chapter 6.

and he didn’t say if you fast he said

when you fast

meaning i fully expect my disciples

to seek me in seasons of prayer

and fasting when you understand that

you understand that he waits for you to

seek him

your father does not answer your prayers

because you withhold

food instead fasting communicates your

need to the father

it demonstrates your trust that he will

provide

all of your needs and you’re saying god

i’m fasting to you

in demonstration of my dependency upon

you

i’m saying to you this year i am

depending on you

i cannot do this without you this this

is how i fast this is why i fast

i’m saying to god with my physical body

going without food i am desperate

for you i i am fully

depending on you this new year

to give me the help the strength the

wisdom the direction

the finances the the favor the blessings

the steps the all of the things that i

need

i desperately am depending on you and

that’s what i’m saying with this fast

i’m not going to make god do anything

i’m not trying to make god do it i’m

saying

i’m depending on you i need

you in my home

in my family in my church in my career

in my walk in my talk i need you i’m

depending on you this year

fasting is is saying god i’m willing

i’m willing it’s not outrageous to

consider fasting

for a spiritual purpose it’s not

ridiculous or wrong for a person to fast

so that they will be alive spiritually

it’s not unreasonable

to fast so that you keep your walk with

god your number one priority

that’s not ridiculous if people could

adjust their diet

to lower their cholesterol and when they

get high cholesterol that’s exactly what

they do

and when they get sugar diabetes that’s

exactly what they do

then why is it ridiculous for me to

protect my spiritual life

and my my my passion for god

by saying uh this is an interruption

of everything normal and regular in my

life for the next 21 days

i am not going to go on a fast and sit

and watch tv all day or be on facebook

or do all of this you you miss the whole

point

if your fast is not turning your world

completely away

unplugging

and and saying god every time i could be

eating a meal

what i’m going to do if it takes 30

minutes to eat a meal

to an hour then at breakfast

my time will be spent reading something

or

maybe the bible or praying and pray a

while read a while

listen to preaching listen go on youtube

if you’re gonna

go on that then go on and listen to some

good preaching and

download you some ipod messages get you

some good cds

and during that time you would eat you

go and you spend that time with god

and i’m telling you that’s where the

presence of god will come

and then at noon you get in your car and

you get in your truck or you

go in your office and you shut the door

or you

get away from everybody and go for a

walk somewhere in the woods or

out on a track somewhere or whatever you

want to do but you pull away you’ve got

30 minutes to an hour

and you get out there and you talk to

god talk to them about your fears

talk to them about your needs talk to

them about your children

talk to them pray pray pray fast fast

fast what are you doing you’re praying

you’re connecting to god

you’re fasting you’re disconnecting from

the world and

suddenly the anointing suddenly the

favor and most importantly the presence

of god begins to find you

wherever you are you’ll get some of your

greatest blessings laying in your bed

and at four in the morning you’ll wake

up and you’ll feel the presence of god

in your room and

you’ll hear that with gentle whisper of

the holy spirit saying i’m here

i’m here to bless your children i’m here

to take control of your life

i have a plan for you i have a destiny

for you

i have a calling for you my hand is on

you

it’s coming to your life if you will

fast and pray

everybody take a 2014 praise break

and give god some praise if you’re

hungry for him

come on just take a moment stir it up

stir it up there’s nothing that

satisfies

like the living bread the living water

jesus nothing

nothing

one of the things this fast does to me

is it causes me

when i fast to turn

and refocus on eternal things

so much of our life is is all

about ball games and practices and get

to school

and all and what fasting does

is it says that’s not all of my life

you are all of my life again

and i’m letting you know that and i

refocus

listen on eternal things

when i begin to fast a lot of the things

that

that i give a lot of attention to and

make a big deal about

they they become blurred

and when you fast you begin to refocus

on eternal things

you you think about the rapture

you think about the fear of god returns

the

the the the you you think about heaven

you think about hell you think about

your

children you think about the need for

revival

in your own household some of the most

blessed times that i’ve ever had on

fasting

is when my whole household was fasting

and we reconnected with god

because maybe the kids were fasting from

the internet

because nowadays it’s everybody’s doing

their own thing everywhere in pockets

all over the house but what would happen

if we would

reconnect with god while our families

are fasting

you begin to go around that room at

night you read a little bit of the

scripture and let the children pray and

then you end

praying i’m telling you there will be

times

when the presence of god because that’s

the greatest reward of fasting

what elmer towns calls in his book the

atmospheric

presence of god will come to your life

have you ever been in a service or in a

move of god

where you could literally feel the

presence of god in the atmosphere

it’s going to get that way around here

every week it intensifies i know what’s

going to happen

and the atmospheric presence of your

life begins to change because you

you you are so connecting to god and and

unconnected to the things of the world

even

not necessarily evil or bad things but

things like media you know

uh tv and all of that you need to pull

away from that

the social media facebook and all of

that stuff

pull away from that pull away and spend

that time in the word of reading a good

christian book or listening

to hillsong or somebody whoever floats

your boat if it’s the gaithers or

whoever it is

whatever you like the country the

bluegrass gospel

the thump thump wrap whatever it is

lecrae

who cares whatever gets in your spirit

and gets you

thinking about god hook up to it and

turn everything off

i won’t even listen to secular music i

won’t even i don’t want to be i don’t

even go to movies when i’m fasting

i don’t want to be around it i i i it’s

not legalism

it’s just i’m this is for a while i’m

not going to live here all the time

but this is a season i give to god

fast the satan loves to get us

preoccupied

about i’m giving this up i’m hungry i’m

hungry i’m giving this up

no don’t let your mind even go there

see let me explain something to you you

are body soul

and spirit body is your flesh your body

your your soul is your emotions your

body is

is connected to you it’s all about you

it’ll tell you

about you ah if i want to sleep with

somebody i can sleep with them

if i want to do this i i that’s what the

flesh does

but the soul is about others you get

your emotional

feelings from others you know that

person makes me happy or that person

really makes me mad or that person makes

me

that’s what your soul feeds off of

others

your body feeds off of what you want but

your

spirit is the other part of you and it

feeds off of god now here’s the key

the one that will be strongest body soul

or spirit

will be the one you feed

so if you feed your body your body will

rule over your spirit

and say i don’t care what your emotions

say i don’t care what your spirit says

if this is what i feed all the time on

the lust of the eyes of us the flesh the

pride of life and i don’t ever try to

subdue and get my body under subjection

then guess who’s gonna rule i don’t feel

like going to church today

and i’m not going so emotions you get in

line with me

and spirit i don’t care what you’re

saying my body

is going to control my spirit and my

soul

or some people just get into you know

they’re they they get

depressed and they allow their emotional

side to be so

filled up and so fat and sassy that

their emotions say i’m depressed

so body be depressed spirit be depressed

uh

i’m mad so so that affects you spirit

and that affects you body get all tense

and get all worked up

or watch this you can fast and pray

and the amazing thing about fasting and

prayer is it affects

two out of the three the majority

because when you pray

and you fast fasting

connects your spirit to god

and it disconnects your body from its

power source

and then the emotions are just standing

there saying

well if he’s going that way i guess i’m

going that way

and then you end up with a praise like

david had about three or four days into

the fast

bless the lord o my soul and all that is

within me

bless his holy name come on somebody

give him one of those

if you’re gonna give him your body your

soul

and your spirit on this fast

nothing impresses god more than your

hunger and desire to reach out and so i

want to close with this

there are three thens that he promised

when we fast in isaiah 58 the fasting

chapter

he said when you fast and you come after

me and you rearrange your life that

whole chapter if you read it

is about rearranging your emotions your

life the way you treat people

the way you deal the way you think a

fast a god

chosen fast will rearrange your whole

life

for the period that you go on it and

then lastly listen

he says when you do that the three thens

kick in he makes three promises he says

after you fast

then your light will break forth and

your healing

shall spring forth speedily

everybody say healing from a marriage

from a life from a brokenness for my

broke places for

for my body healing

and then comes the second then then your

righteousness

will go before you what does that mean

that means you will be

in right standing you will be back

in right place with god you will be

reconnected

you will be in right position for your

purpose that god has for your life when

you fast

then your righteousness will get you

right in line

in alignment for your assignment and the

purpose that god has called you because

when you when you get into the uh the

the uh perversion of a generation

and the disconnection of god the un the

unfaithful and the unfaithless

the faithless life then you get out of

sorts and you’re not in alignment for

your assignment but fasting puts you

back

in the right place and then lastly

he said and you shall call upon the lord

and he will answer you

and he will help you so he said

healing healing will come and he said

holiness will come back to your life

and you will be helped supernaturally

when you call on me and fast and pray

he said that when we fast and when we

pray that he would meet with us

and that he would answer our prayers in

isaiah 58

he said he would send help and he would

send healing and he would send

his presence into our life like never

before to go before us and his rear

guard

would cover us and we would see the

favor and blessing of god

and i want to encourage you to fast and

pray join us on this 21 day fast we have

all kinds of materials and of course the

books that god has

given us and many of you have read them

but if you haven’t it’s not too late to

join us on this fast and

even come in on the 26th we’ll be

praying a blessing we always one of the

highlights of the fast is the last day

of the fast

we anoint and lay hands on every person

it’s amazing what god does and in orange

county california

at our campus there in the four and six

p.m service and

right here in georgia nine and 11 a.m

always capacity crowds and you don’t

want to miss it

i believe that god is going to do

amazing things in your life in 2014

thank you for helping us

thank you for supporting this ministry

thank you for sowing your first fruits

gifts

and for helping us in haiti as we’re

seeing a miracle marketplace provide

food for life for so many people you

know 540

000 meals a month lives being changed

and that marketplace

is going to impact the whole region and

perhaps the whole nation

we’re believing god for great things

help me today so

to the poor while you you know

fast and pray when you give when you

fast and when you pray

that’s a combination a threefold cord

that absolutely breaks the heavens open

and causes i believe blessing to come

into your life

the blessing of giving and the god who

loves to see you receive

thank you we’ll see you next time right

here on kingdom connection

start your year off on the right path

seeking god’s best in 2014

this month we’ve prepared a brand new

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this month we’ll also include the clean

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a great marriage is more than a sweet

melody of love

it can be a beautiful symphony when two

hearts are

joined as one husband and wife

join jensen and cherise franklin for the

one marriage conference

february 21st and 22nd at free chapel in

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i’m gonna go home with a new whole

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this weekend will be filled with music

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go online for registration and more

information and see how you can have a

marriage that’s whole

fulfilling exciting and strong as one

husband

one wife one accord

this program has been brought to you by

the friends and partners

of jensen franklin media ministries for

more information on this broadcast

or for additional resources go online at

jensenfranklin.org