Fasting for Breakthrough: Guard Your Dream

by Marilynn Chadwick

We’re wrapping up our series on “Fasting.” I hope you’ve experienced a breakthrough in some area where you've felt stuck. The Bible encourages us to pray and fast when we encounter stubborn resistance. Could it be that some battles are harder than others because the enemy knows the stakes are so high?

My epiphany came one day in a parking lot, of all places. I was heading home after a quick run for coffee with my husband. From a distance, we saw what appeared to be an aggressive bird battle under some nearby cedar trees. As we got closer, we saw the target of this assault was a very large hawk. His noisy attackers were about half a dozen black crows. The angry birds darted in and out, fiercely attacking the hawk.

I have heard that hawks can slice the eyes of their opponents with one swipe from their razor-sharp talons. I, for one, would never mess with a hawk. So what motivated a bunch of pesky crows to be so reckless in their assault? Looking closer, I realized the hawk had some kind of rodent in his clutches. The hawk’s "hands were tied," so to speak, and he couldn’t defend himself. The black birds knew it and so they were daring and relentless.

Not to be outwitted, the hawk suddenly swooped up and sought refuge in the dense and prickly branches of a nearby cedar where he was finally able to enjoy his lunch, uninterrupted.

So what’s the point? Those blackbirds didn’t attack the hawk just to ruin his day. That hawk had something the crows wanted. A nice meal in the form of a freshly caught animal. Predators come after their victims because they want what they have.

Perhaps you feel as if you've been fighting unseen enemies that come at you from all sides like a pack of crows. The battle has been fierce. My question for you is simply this: What do you have that the enemy wants?

Perhaps he wants to steal your dream. Even a dream that seems ordinary can have far reaching kingdom impact. The enemy doesn’t know your future, but he sniffs out your destiny just like those crows sniffed out the hawk’s catch.

I think back to our long years of infertility and the fierce fight to have a child. I couldn’t have known at the time that I was waging a battle, not just for our firstborn daughter, but also for our next baby, a son. Then another son. Now ten grandchildren. Our daughter once remarked, “Mama, you didn’t know when you were going through infertility that you were fighting for all these people to be born.” The fight was fierce because the enemy wanted what I had. The promise of children. And grandchildren who would glorify God. And generations beyond those.

But friends, I had something else the enemy wanted. And so do you. He wanted to steal my testimony. He wanted to make it impossible for me to tell the miraculous story of God’s healing which enabled me to have those babies and grandbabies. He wanted to rob me of the chance to encourage others who are waiting for answers to their own prayers.

Quite simply, the devil wants to steal the story God is weaving through your dream. Or through this trial you're enduring so bravely. He wants to steal your testimony. Ultimately, he wants to steal God's glory.

Fasting for Breakthrough: Are You Dangerous to the Devil?

by Marilynn Chadwick

"Fasting is a little scary," remarked a friend who had decided to fast for the first time. She's right. Whether it's food, a favorite treat, social media or shopping, giving up something we depend upon can leave us feeling empty. Thirsty.

Maybe that's why fasting is so powerful. I'm forced to switch my lifeline from food (or whatever) to God himself. I find myself hungrier for his Word and more receptive to his voice. Even Jesus chose to fast before his duel in the desert with the devil. He had just been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, God spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

What an amazing spiritual mountaintop experience! But notice what happened next: “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry” (Matthew 4:1,2 NLT). It was the Holy Spirit himself who led Jesus into the desert. A place of vulnerability and isolation. On top of that, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights. Not exactly the breakfast of champions. Why would he physically weaken himself in preparation for the fight of his life?

“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread’" (Matthew 4:3, 4 NIV). The devil's first of three temptations hit Jesus right in the gut, so to speak. He tempts him to turn stones into bread. What could be wrong with that? Jesus could simply try out his divine power. Turning stones into bread wouldn't cost him any money or cause a scandal. And hunger after forty days with no food seems like a legitimate need.

But Jesus, weak in body yet mighty Spirit, knew the fight with the devil was not over. His counterattack came straight from the Bible, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'." With each successive temptation, Jesus fired back at the devil with Scripture until the evil one finally slinked away in defeat.

For forty days, Jesus had prepared for this time of testing by fasting, praying, pouring over God's Word. He was armed and ready. Power to contend with the devil didn't come from his human strength or logic, but from the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

I wonder if we hunger for the true bread of the Spirit? We nourish our bodies with food. We keep our cars fueled up. We recharge our smart phones and laptops. But are we humble enough to admit that we can't win our spiritual battles without God's Word? Jesus showed us how. We don't live by the "bread" of this world alone, but by every Word from the mouth of God. That's how we stay armed and dangerous to the devil.

Fasting for Breakthrough: Breakthrough in Broken Places

Fasting can be a powerful weapon in our prayer arsenal. Though I still have much to learn, I have noticed how fasting adds strength and precision to my prayers. The combination of fasting and prayer is like a one-two punch that has resulted in several spiritual breakthroughs in long-standing problems.

But the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard about fasting came in a most unlikely place. The lesson is one I have never forgotten. Some time ago, David and I were invited to teach a group of men and women church leaders in Burundi on the subject of prayer.

Burundi is a tiny nation in central Africa, often referred to as Rwanda’s twin. Its people suffered a lengthy civil war lasting over a decade. It was sparked by revenge killings and then a frenzy of killings resembling the horrific genocide in Rwanda. Burundi’s civil war was hidden from the eyes of the world—and lasted much longer. With a GDP per capita of $237, Burundi remains maybe the poorest country in Africa and, by some accounts, in the entire world. Amazingly, the believers in Burundi had remained faithful through it all. They were resilient. Even joyful.

But Burundi was not the place I expected to learn my most memorable lessons on the power of fasting. David and I spent the afternoon sharing biblical insights on prayer and allowed time at the end for questions. One man raised his hand and stood up and asked, “Why did you not talk about fasting?” I looked around at their faces. I knew food was scarce—how could we talk about fasting when we weren’t sure they had enough to eat?

But I underestimated the spiritual fervor of those men and women, all survivors of the genocide. They shared story after story of how God had intervened in miraculous ways—dramatic stories of provision and deliverance from evil attacks during the war, often through prayer and fasting.

I left that encounter humbled and realized what a powerful tool fasting can be for believers in broken places—or for any believer when we face our own broken places. And I felt convicted that it’s time to stop losing wars we should be winning. For our homes, families, and communities. We can learn a lesson from believers in Burundi. Maybe we, too, can discover the power of prayer and fasting for breakthrough in our most broken places.