The Importance of Incorporating Fasting and Prayer 

So I'm going to share a bit about fasting just from a biblical point of view, outside of the context of businesses, just as a believer why fasting is important. I'm going to talk about how we can integrate that into our lives and highlight how being a business owner, being an entrepreneur and being a creative, how fasting can really empower you to walk more fully, more deeply into what God has for you in that area of your life. Let’s read this prayer together:

Jesus, I just thank you so much for who you are. I thank you for being sovereign. I thank you for being a good, Father God, like you've done so many times. The business owner, the entrepreneur, the creative who doesn't really feel like God needs to be a central part of their business plan, their strategy. Father, I just pray for conviction of heart, Lord, that you would begin to open our eyes of spiritual understanding to what you're doing, to what you're saying, Father God, I ask that whoever would have ears to hear, Lord, that you would just prune them to hear even more deeply and even more clearly, Father, what the spirit of God is saying to them, and we love you, we thank you in Jesus name, we pray Amen.

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We see fasting in a lot of different places in the Bible. The most common point of fasting and prayer is in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew Jesus models prayer for us and he says “when you fast and pray”. Just that small little gesture right there “when you fast and pray”. Jesus doesn't say if you fast, he doesn't say maybe you'll fast, he isn't asking do you want to fast. “When you fast and pray”. We see many other times in the scripture, in the book of Esther, when Esther calls the people to go on a three day fast to petition the king for food.

We see Daniel choosing not to eat choice foods and just eat fruits and vegetables as he was living in a foreign land in exile. We see many instances of fasting and prayer in the Book of Ezra, and the people fasted and prayed in Nehemiah. So fasting and prayer is a culture, a part of the cultural lifestyle, and the discipline of a believer.

It's so important that we fast and pray.  I believe there's so much we could say about fasting and prayer but I want to highlight that fasting is really powerful because it breeds intimacy in our relationship with the Lord. Fasting is not a discipline to manipulate the hand of God or to try and get more from God, but it brings us closer to the heart of God. It allows us to better discern and to better hear and to develop a true and deeper and pure hunger for God.

This is why fasting and prayer is so important. When we choose to not eat, when we choose to lay down the plate, to turn away the plate, we're choosing to fill our hearts, our minds, our souls with the word of God. Pray and meditate on the scriptures and seek the Lord. The fasting really intensifies our prayer life. It brings a deeper hunger to us for the word of God. I don't know about you, but when I haven't eaten for two days, if you ever experienced that, there's just a deeper level of hunger.

The scripture says men cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, that scripture really begins to be lived for me in that moment because I'm not eating anything and I am fully able to say, wow, Lord, more than the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you. It's amazing when we fast because we begin to see how much we really need God, because more than we need food we need God. The most practical reminder of that is when we choose to not eat and to instead seek the Lord more fully and more deeply.

Again, I want to highlight that point, fasting isn't so much about manipulating God for a favor. Sometimes people may fast and pray to try and get certain answers, to get a financial breakthrough, to get, X, Y and Z from God. Fasting is a huge part of breakthrough and there's a reason why those testimonies are what they are, but the fasting isn't actually what produced the result. It's the nearness that you drew to the heart of the father.

There have been seasons in my life where the Lord will lead me to fast and pray to come near and I’ve seen financial breakthroughs, I’ve seen emotional breakthroughs, I've seen spiritual breakthroughs, I've seen God break off chains of my life as I fasted and prayed.

Again, the power wasn't so much in the fasting, it was in the intimacy. So fasting and prayer can be really powerful for the business owner for the same reason that it's powerful for every other believer.  It draws us near to the heart of God. It draws near to hearing the voice of God. It allows us to hear more clearly and allows us to get that confirmation and confidence in the way that we're going as led by the Lord.

As a business owner you don't want to get to a place in your business endeavors where you're operating in your own strength.

Truly it's God that is the CEO of our businesses. Truly, we are stewards of those businesses.

Businesses only succeed or fail by the grace of God. So what’s going to be so important for you as a business owner is to begin to have a culture in your life of fasting and prayer even for your business. Really getting that direction from the Lord about how to move forward in what he's given you. I would encourage you all to begin to implement that because I truly believe in your fasting, your God will give you revelation and direction.

That's not to dismiss the importance of really practical strategy, of investing in a business coach, or investing in a brand strategist or investing in SEO strategy. I invest in all of those things. All of those things are important, but before we invest in any of those things, we have to seek the heart of God, because what is the point of building a business that is successful by all standards of the world, but we are not receiving the vision from heaven for it?

If we're believers and everything is sacred unto God we want to hear God's voice even in that endeavor.

So fasting and prayer as a business owner is going to be really important for you because it's going to enable you. It's going to empower you to hear God more clearly about the direction that he has for you. Another powerful reality about partnering with someone who operates in the prophetic or a prophet of God is that they're also going to be able to release words to you about the future of your business, the moving forward, and what you should be focusing on.

What's really powerful about working with a spiritual advisor or someone offering the prophetic is they're going to be able to discern from the Lord about where you need to focus on in your business. That’s what I want to do as a spiritual advisor to business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives. To help them really get clarity about where their focus should be as the Lord is leading them.

I'm going to just get clarity and confirmation from heaven about all of that. As a business owner, an entrepreneur, or a creative you have to learn to fast and pray habitually for the ministry that God has given you.

Learn to make that a habit in your life.  I believe as you learn to consistently make that a habit, you'll begin to hear more clearly from God about what he's calling you to do. You'll see more favor from the Lord.

Again, not because you’re manipulating God in your fasting, but because you’re drawing near to his purpose, his plan and his heart. You’re going to see more of his favor and his blessing because he’s drawing near to you as you draw near to him. 

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