SUNDAY GOSPEL: The Miraculous Power of Fasting & Prayer!

Pastor Robb:

Hey everyone, and good morning to you. Happy Sunday morning to you. You know, Sunday we always gather for church and fellowship with other believers, and it’s a real joy to be with you this morning. For those of you that are YouTubers and have subscribed to my channel, I want to thank you so much. God is so good—He’s increased our channel over the last couple of years.

We began this once COVID started, and praise be to God, we’ve been able to continue. So, I’m very, very grateful to all of you that have subscribed to my channel. I pray that you would share this channel with others. Please subscribe and make a comment; I love to read the comments once I broadcast these messages. So, thank you so much. God is so good, isn’t He? He’s so wonderful, and He’s greatly to be praised. Amen.

He’s greatly to be praised. Well, it’s a beautiful fall Sunday morning here in Maryland in the United States of America, and I am so grateful for what the Lord has done. Praise be to God. The Lord has released the hostages from Gaza—praise be to God. God is so good. I mean, you know, He’s mighty, and He’s worthy to be praised. “So shall we be saved from our enemies.” The scripture says we will be saved from our enemies.

And I want to talk to you today about a very important subject. After we pray, I will share the subject—the title of today’s message. It’s a very powerful message and a message that needs to be heard. God has been dealing with me about this in so many different ways through my reading of Scripture and in prayer. He’s just been dealing with me. So, praise be to God, and again, thank you for joining us.

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we give You honor and we give You glory. Thank You, Father, for the ability and the power to share this YouTube channel today with many who are able to watch. And thank You, Lord, for blessing each subscriber to my channel and even new people that are watching today, that have happenstanced upon this channel—Lord, bless them mightily. Open up the ears and the eyes of their spiritual heart.

Open up their intellect and their understanding. May their mind be renewed by the Spirit of the Living God and washed in the Word of God by the washing of the water of the Word. Lord, cleanse them and sanctify them, renew them and cause them to rise up in Your power. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Hallelujah.

Well, the title of today’s message is: The Miraculous Power of Fasting and Prayer. The Miraculous Power of Fasting and Prayer. As I begin this message today, I’m going to share some notes with you that I’ve written, and then we will get into the Scripture. Okay? I want to focus on the Book of Esther today. You know, Esther was a mighty woman of God.

Many of us know the story of Queen Esther—how she became the wife of King Ahasuerus after his wife, Vashti, was exiled from the kingdom in Persia. God is so mighty that He placed Esther—who was a Jew—now, King Ahasuerus did not know this at the time, but Esther was a Jew, and she did not reveal it for some time. And the way this all worked out is just absolutely amazing.

You know, fasting and prayer will cause miracles to happen in your life. It’ll cause strongholds to be broken. It’ll cause circumstances that have never changed in your life for many, many years to all of a sudden miraculously change. God is mighty. He’s powerful. He’s alive. His Word is alive. His Word is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Amen.

And the Scripture tells us to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Praise be to God. So in the Book of Esther, being a Jew from Israel, she stops the plan of Haman from destroying the Jewish race. Haman came up with this evil and destructive plan to wipe out all of Israel completely.

How did Haman come to power under King Ahasuerus? I think I’m saying that right. That’s a hard word to say, and I didn’t look up how it’s pronounced in Hebrew, so if I’m pronouncing it wrong, please forgive me. According to the biblical Book of Esther, Haman was promoted to a high position within the Persian court by King Ahasuerus. The book does not explain his origin or how he initially came into the service of the empire.

However, traditional interpretations and commentaries offer several theories regarding his rise to power. Was he a foreign captive? One theory suggests that Haman or his parents might have been brought to Persia as captives or hostages, just like the Jews had been. This was not an uncommon practice in the ancient Near East, and being of a foreign origin was not necessarily a barrier to advancement in the royal court.

Was it a fast-track career advantage path for him? Certain Jewish traditions describe Haman as having less than an illustrious past—now listen to this—including spending time as a barber, someone that cut hair. Can you imagine that? Haman was a barber. Wow. Where this comes from, I’m not sure, but some of the commentaries have said this. This would suggest a rapid and unexpected rise through the ranks, potentially at the king’s whim.

Haman’s background as described in the Book of Esther provides context for his deep-seated animosity towards the Jewish people. Now, where did Haman come from? He is identified as Haman the Agagite, a title that links him to King Agag, the king of the Amalekites, who was one of Israel’s greatest enemies. The Amalekites were ancient, bitter enemies of the Israelites.

This hereditary animosity fueled Haman’s personal grievance against the Jewish official Mordecai, which eventually escalated into a plot to annihilate all Jews in the Persian Empire. I mean, this was a man who was being used by Satan to kill and wipe out the Jewish people—just like Hitler was. Really no different. This was an evil, evil man.

But praise be to God, because of fasting and prayer—and obedience on Esther’s part to fast and pray without food or water for three days—this totally caused the plan of Haman to backfire. Haman actually built a hangman’s gallows in front of his house to hang Mordecai on, all because he would not bow. Mordecai, being a Jew, was not willing to do that.

Centuries before Haman’s story, the Israelite King Saul failed to completely destroy the Amalekites and their king, Agag, despite being commanded to do so by the prophet Samuel. The act of incomplete obedience is often cited as the historical recurrence of the feud that culminates in the Book of Esther. Mordecai refused to bow to Haman because he was a Jew.

This truly caused Haman’s plan to kill every Israelite to come to pass—but we see that Israel’s Keeper had a greater plan in mind. And He always does. You know what? God always has a plan A and a plan B. I mean, He takes every plan of the enemy that is meant for evil against you and turns it around to be a blessing to God’s people. It’s absolutely amazing. Three days of fasting and prayer turned this plan against Haman.

Wow, that’s fascinating. Haman was an ungodly man, but God had a purpose in allowing him to be promoted. Praise be to God. Unbelievable. Let’s look at Exodus 17:14–16. Exodus 17:14–16. And I’m reading out of the New King James Version. Let me get a sip of my coffee here real quickly.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.’ And Moses built an altar and called its name, ‘The Lord is my Banner.’” Wow. Wow. Wow. I think that name is Jehovah Nissi—one of the names of the Lord. “For he said, ‘Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’”

So that’s really quite amazing when you think about it. Haman was an extremely proud and insecure man. He could only consider himself a success if everyone else thought he was a success. Now listen to that, folks—listen to what I’m saying. He could only consider himself a success if everyone else thought that he was successful. He really cared about what man thought about him.

Now, a truly godly, God-fearing man or woman that is called to ministry doesn’t care what anybody else says about them. Think about what I’m saying, folks. Should you really care what anybody else thinks about you? No. And the Lord needs to harden you to those types of experiences so that you will not bow to man. You won’t bow even to the point of death. Okay.

Esther’s three-day fast broke the bonds of Haman’s wicked plan. Haman himself died by hanging on the gallows meant for Mordecai and the annihilation of the Jewish people. All right, let’s go and read in Esther chapter 3. Esther chapter 3. You’ve got the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, then Esther—Esther chapter 3—and I’m going to start reading with verse one.

Now, this might turn into a two-part message. I’m not sure how far I’ll get with this, because there are a lot of things about the miraculous power of fasting and prayer that I would like to share with you. Like I said when we started, the Lord has really been dealing with my heart about this. “After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the other princes who were with him.

And all the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.” Now Mordecai was Esther’s caretaker. He raised her rather than her parents. I’m not sure the reason for that, but some of you might know. “The king’s servants who were within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, ‘Why do you transgress the king’s command?’”

“Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath.” He got really mad, and he thought, “I’ll show this man. I’m going to wipe him and his entire race out.”

“But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai.” The Jewish people. “Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai. In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot) before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.”

Now, that is where the word Purim comes—the Feast of Purim that the Jews celebrate to this day. And it means to cast lots. Remember how they would cast lots to decide a matter? Well, this happened in that day as well. “Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, ‘There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws.

Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.’ So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, ‘The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.’”

Man, King Ahasuerus did not know what he was about to do. He was completely deceived by this evil and wicked man, Haman. And just like many—and again, I don’t want to get into government or anything like that right now, but I’m going to say this—the left are totally deceived by the enemy. Not every one of them, but many of them are deceived. And I’m telling you, we need to pray for our government leaders that are on the left and believe God to deliver them.

And I believe that the miraculous power of fasting and prayer can do that. It can bring forth revival. I mean, the things that are written in Scripture, it can stop an enemy like it did with King Jehoshaphat of Judah. Man, I’m telling you, fasting and prayer can change circumstances. Things that you’ve believed God for many, many years can miraculously and instantaneously change because of your obedience to go deeper with God.

So I’m asking you all, right now, to think—I’m going to share with my church that I want to call a solemn fast like it says in Joel chapter 3—and sanctify everybody to a fast. Now, you can choose what type of fast you want to do. There’s a Daniel fast. You can fast social media. You can fast electronics. But go before the Lord with an open heart and ask the Lord, “What do You want me to do?”

Now, I am a person that’s still dealing with diabetes. So fasting can sometimes be difficult. I have to set my insulin pump back and lower my insulin intake. But I have been able to do that. So God is good. He will lead and guide you if you open up your heart and are willing to be obedient to the Lord. Amen.

“Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews.” This was an evil plan. And today, because of the fact that Esther chose to obey God and called for a fast, and asked all the Jews to fast for three days and three nights without water or food—and she was obedient—God saved the whole nation of Israel.

Man, I’m telling you, that’s potent and powerful, folks. What do you need God to change in your life? What do you need Him to change? Checking my time here. “To annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day—on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar—and to plunder their possessions.” Man, I’m telling you.

“A copy of the document was issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day.” And the couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command. “And the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel.” So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

Now we know how this story continues to work, because as Esther fasted and prayed, God gave her wisdom. And we all know the story—how she decided… one second… how Esther decided to go before the king without being asked to go in. Now, this was a criminal offense. And when she did this, she said, “I’m going to go before the king.”

The Lord gave her this: “I’m going to go before the king, before his royal assembly, into his court while he’s sitting on the throne. And if I perish, I perish.” How many of us are willing to go the distance with God? How many of us are willing to lay down our lives in sacrificial obedience to the King of Glory? How many of us are willing to be obedient to the point of death?

Think about it. Let God search your heart right now. Many of you that are watching this broadcast right now, the Lord is convicting you. Now, He does not condemn you—He convicts you. Holy Spirit brings forth conviction that you can hear from the Lord and turn your heart in obedience to Father God. Amen. Praise be to God. Thank You, Jesus.

And we know that that plan was obstructed because when she went before the king, he held out the royal scepter before her, and he said, “Whatever you desire, I will give it unto you—unto the half of my kingdom.” Can you imagine? He really loved Esther. He loved her. And you know, there’s a beautiful movie that was done—One Night with the King. If you all want to look that up, you can find it and watch it. It is a phenomenal movie. Amen.

Some of you are believing God for a husband or a wife. Have you fasted and prayed about it? Have you really sought the Lord? Fasting can bring forth a miracle provision of a spouse for you. It truly can. All right, let’s read Isaiah chapter 58—Isaiah 58. And I’m going to start with verse one. I’m going to go through this quickly because it’s a long chapter.

“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a shofar; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” This is what a prophet is called to do—to lift up his or her voice like a trumpet and declare to the people of God their evil plans and bring them forth into the light of God’s judgment. Prophets have a prophetic eye, and they see things that other people do not see.

It’s truly amazing when you think about it. And yes, there are prophets in the church today. That word or that ministry topic is very prevalent in the body of Christ now. And I’m happy about that. The only thing that I’m going to ask you to do is be very careful and make sure that these people who are calling themselves prophets are true prophets from the Lord.

It’s not all about pointing to their fame or how wonderful they are. No, a prophet is a humble man or woman of God that deflects the glory—not onto them—but points it to the Lord. That’s what a real man or woman, prophet or prophetess of the Lord, does. Does not proclaim anything for self. You know, I had the wonderful privilege of knowing a powerful prophetess of the Lord, Sister Bobbie Jean Mer—who’s now with the Lord.

You know, she came to my church years and years ago, and I had never been in a service where the Spirit of God was so strong that you could not even stand up. People were just glued to the floor because the power of God was there in great manifestation. And Sister Bobbie Jean would minister to every person in that room—I’m talking about two, three hundred people, possibly.

And I got videotapes of that service. And I would listen to those tapes—cassette tapes—in my car every day because I just was hungering for this deeper walk. I had a desire to understand the glory of God. And the Lord began to show me visions and things. And that was before I had any type of prophetic anointing on my life. And I was just astounded and amazed.

Well, I remember I was picking up my wife from work one day—she worked at a hospital down in Baltimore City—and I was sitting on the Baltimore Harbor waiting for her to come out from work. And I was listening to that tape, and the tape broke. And I was so sad, because back in those days you couldn’t just look up online, “Hey, can I get in touch with so and so? Who is this person?” There was no social media—no platforms like that back in those days.

And I asked the Lord; I said, “Lord, I would love to be able to meet this powerful woman of God one day.” And you know what? Years later—I think it was in 2014 maybe—that I was up at Zion Fellowship International at our pastor’s convention. And after service one night, I was sitting in my room, and I came across her on my phone, and I was like, “Oh my gosh.”

So I found out the name of her ministry, and I called her ministry and asked if she would be willing to come to my church. Well, lo and behold, God is so good. We were meeting—we started our church—and we started in our house. And we had a really huge living room at this place that we were renting at that time, and we could fit 40, 50 people in there. It was amazing.

Well, she did not realize it was a house church. And we brought her to the house. She was a little taken back when she realized it was a house church. So I set her back in my office, and that’s where she would spend time with the Lord before she came out to minister. Well, I’m telling you folks—what a powerful couple of days that she spent with us. She came back and visited us a couple of more times.

And I’m telling you—you’re talking about power. This woman went behind the communist lines of the Soviet Union. She was chased by KGB through the woods. And one time she was telling a story that she was down in Nicaragua, and there was great revolt and bloodshed. And the Lord spoke to her and said, “We all need to spend eight hours fasting and prayer.”

And they did that—they spent eight hours fasting and prayer one day at wherever they were meeting. And you know what? The bloodbath—the blood coup—ceased. The killing stopped. There was terrible bloodshed, and fasting and prayer did that. I’m telling you folks—I’m talking about the miraculous power of fasting and prayer.

All right—Isaiah 58: “Show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?

‘Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’” In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast that I have chosen—a day for a man to afflict his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?” “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness”—listen to that—“to loose, cut asunder the bands of wickedness.” It is the anointing of God, Isaiah says, that breaks the yoke of bondage. Amen.

“To undo the heavy burdens.” What are you burdened about? Are you burdened about a sick loved one? Are you burdened about lack of money—being able to make your payments and pay your bills—and you’re worried about where your next food supply will come from for your children? “To undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.” Wow.

“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh?” Listen to what He says—the Lord is speaking through Isaiah: “Then your light shall break forth like the morning”—woo! Hallelujah. “Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you.

The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” The angels of the Lord will encamp about you, and no evil thing will come near your presence. Amen. “With long life I will satisfy you, and I will show you My salvation”—Psalm 91. “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer.” You know what? I talk to the Lord all the time. And you know what? He talks to me.

I ask Him a question, and He talks to me. Now, does He answer every question that I have? No. But I’ll ask Him—if I don’t hear from Him anything specific—I will say, “Lord, speak to me through Scripture.” And you know what? Maybe not that day, maybe not that hour, maybe not that week, but soon after I’ll see something in Scripture, and it will come alive to me. And I know that that was the answer from the Lord. Isn’t that great?

“Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” Ain’t that great? The Lord is with you. You know, you carry Jesus. The Ark of the Covenant is inside your body right now. Ever since the day you were born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit, you carry the glory of God on the inside of you. Your vessel is the bearer of the glory of God.

Isn’t that phenomenal, man? It gets me so excited. “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness…” Fasting will change you. It’ll change your nature. It’ll change your soulish nature, because only God knows what is in your soul. We’re a spirit, we have a soul, we live in a body—we’re a three-part being just like God is: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen.

“If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness will be like the noonday.” Woo! Hallelujah. “The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought.” That means when you don’t have anything, the Lord will make provision for you. I’ve seen it happen many times in my own life.

We had times we couldn’t pay our house payment—you know, our church funds were low, and we were just barely getting along—and all of a sudden the Lord would provide a miracle. “The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places;

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him—not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.”

Well, what words are we supposed to speak? How about this one: how about speaking the Word of God? You know, sometimes when I’m feeling really, really down or I get a bad report from the doctor, it bothers me. I’m human. Who wouldn’t be bothered by a bad report from the doctor? But there are times when the Lord reminds me to open up the Word of God and start speaking Scripture so I can hear.

The next thing I’m doing, I’m claiming those Scriptures and those promises for myself. And the next thing I know, I’m happy. Amen. Y’all understand what I’m talking about, don’t you? “Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken this. Woo! Hallelujah, man. I’m telling you. I am telling you. Hallelujah.

Let’s go to Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14. And we are going to look at verse 18. “And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”

Listen to this, folks: “However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” “And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying,

‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’” We must enter the kingdom through much tribulation. So that’s nothing new, folks. You’re going through multiple tribulations right now. We’ve all been through it, have we not? We’ve all been through it. What can change that? The miraculous power of fasting and prayer.

“So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. Now when they had preached the Word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.

Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.” Isn’t that amazing? I’m telling you—fasting and prayer will bring forth the miraculous signs and wonders of Almighty God. Do you believe that, man?

Let’s look at Daniel chapter 9. Good old Daniel, right? You’ve got Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Daniel chapter 9. Let’s start at verse one. Let me get a sip of my coffee once again. We all need our coffee, don’t we? [Laughter] My wife makes delicious coffee. Thank You, Lord. I’ll tell you a little joke.

You know why men are supposed to make coffee? Because it tells us in Scripture: “He brews.” He brews the coffee, right? Uh-huh. “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus”—now, this is the next generation after Ahasuerus—“of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet,

that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” Now, I believe that Daniel repented for the backslidings of his people. And we know that the king—the very last king who was reigning at the time—Jeremiah told him to go ahead and pay taxes to Nebuchadnezzar.

And when he resisted, Nebuchadnezzar came in and completely destroyed Jerusalem, and the temple. Wasn’t worth it. Your disobedience to the Lord will cost you something precious. But they were so far gone, like many kings in Israel had become disobedient. And I believe that Daniel was fasting and repenting for the ignorance of the former kings that led the Jewish people into captivity for seventy years.

It was horrible. Again, verse three: “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity.

We have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets.’” Big problem right now. Right there—big problem. God sent His anointed prophets to the Jews. And He even sent His Son, the greatest Prophet of all—Yeshua HaMashiach—who was the King of Glory, to His people, and they murdered Him and hung Him on a tree.

Unbelievable. It’s just unbelievable. “You spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those near and those afar off in all the countries to which You have driven them,

because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. O Lord, to us belongs shame of face—to our kings, our princes, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us.” And you can look at that in Deuteronomy chapter 28—the blessings and the curses that come on those that obey the Law and those who disobey the Law. Deuteronomy 28.

“And He has confirmed His words which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God,

that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary which is desolate.

O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.’”

Remember how the Lord told His people that He would put His name in Jerusalem forever? “I will set My name there forever.” Well, disobedience can remove the name of the Lord from you and His protection. If you’ve got terrible sin in your life right now, I’m asking you to turn to the Lord in repentance and fasting and prayer like Daniel did—with sackcloth and ashes. He repented before the Lord with fasting and with prayer.

And God showed him great mercy. And it was not long after that, the children of Israel were allowed to go back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah rebuilt the wall, and then the temple was built. What a story. I’m telling you folks—what a story. And Jerusalem, this city, is there until this day. And the people of Israel are still alive because of Esther’s obedience.

Three days—three little days—of fasting and prayer. I know what you’re thinking to yourself—some of you thinking, “Oh my gosh, I can’t do that. How am I going to go without food?” Now, there again, there are different types of fastings. Let the Lord speak to you. Ask the Lord, “Lord, what do You want me to do? Holy Spirit, reveal what You want me to do, because I love You.

I love You, Lord. Have Your way with me. Have Your way with me, Lord. Have Your way with me.” Well, I’ve got some other Scriptures. I’m going to have to make this a part two. We’ll do part two next week because we’ve got more Scripture to cover, and I’m already at an hour, and I don’t want to go much longer. Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we lift our hands and our hearts to You. Father, I ask You to speak to Your people right now. Redeem Your people. Wash them in the blood of Jesus Christ. Speak to them, I ask right now, about fasting and prayer—Lord, that they will be obedient to what You want them to do. I ask You to speak. Speak to Your people, Lord. Thank You, Father.

Now, I don’t believe that the Lord wants you to make a habit out of fasting and prayer as a religious, you know, “I’m righteous with God because I fast and I pray.” No, it’s not about that. If that’s your idea, that is not good in the eyes of the Lord. But let the Lord speak to you—what does He want you to do? If you’re watching this broadcast today and you don’t yet know the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the words that I’ve been speaking have been nudging at your heart or your soul—give your life to Jesus Christ. He died for you. He sacrificed His life on that cross—was beaten to a pulp. He was the Son of God. And they rejected Him and had Him killed and murdered. But the Lord loves you. He loves you so much.

He died because He loved you. He loves you with an eternal and everlasting love. Pray this prayer with me: “Jesus, I am a sinner. I have broken Your laws. I have used Your name in vain. I’ve done many terrible and wrong things. But now I turn to You. Take my life. Use me for Your kingdom. Jesus, come into my heart.

I want to follow You. I want to know You. And I want to be obedient to You. You know every circumstance in my life. I give my life to You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” If you prayed that prayer and you meant it, please email me. You can email me at [email protected]— all one word before the “@”—[email protected].

And when I get that email, I will answer you as quickly as I possibly can. May God bless you and keep you. And to all the church, let God speak to you about fasting and prayer. Those that you know that know the Lord—let Him speak to you. Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His everlasting and eternal peace—His shalom. Shalom aleichem. Let God’s peace make all things well in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen. I love you all very much, and I will see you all next week. Amen. God bless you. Bye for now.