We begin each New Year at Free Chapel with a 21-day corporate fast. Everyone participates in some measure. Some may fast one day, others three days, some a week, some even the full 21 days. As a body, when we all fast together over that 21-day period, God is honored, and He rewards that sacrifice corporately and individually.
But some people are never satisfied. I’ve had people testify that only three days into a fast for a loved one suffering with cancer, the cancer was completely cured! Another lady’s son was dying from a 107-degree fever associated with his leukemia. The very first day of the fast, the boy’s fever broke and he didn’t suffer a trace of brain damage!
They both received miraculous rewards from God for their sacrifices. But that just was not enough. Both of them continued fasting for the 21 days. In fact, one of them went past the 21 days and continued for a full 40 days. Not only did her son’s cancer go into remission, but the financial hindrances she had battled in her life also were supernaturally broken.
Why weren’t these people satisfied to fast just until they saw the breakthrough they needed in their lives? Fasting is not just a physical discipline; it can be a spiritual feast. Once you “taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Ps. 34:8), your hunger for more of His presence eclipses the limitation of your understanding. God knows more about what you need than you do. All the fasts in the Bible—whether one day or 40 days—brought reward. But there is something very significant about the number 40 throughout Scripture, especially as it applies to fasting.
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The Significance of 40
Throughout the Bible, the number 40 represents cleansing and purifying. The flood in Noah’s time took 40 days to cleanse the earth of wickedness. Moses’ life could be divided up into three different seasons of 40: he spent 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert and 40 years delivering and bringing the people of God to the Promised Land. He also fasted for 40 days on two occasions: the first time while receiving the Law of God in the form of the Ten Commandments, and the second time interceding for the sin of the people.
Flies represent demons in the Word, as do other animals. If you could see into the spirit world, many demons resemble animals. For example, the Bible said that when the seed of God’s Word is sown, the birds of the air come to eat it up (Matt. 13:4, 19). When Jesus said, “They will take up serpents,” (Mark 16:18), He was referring to demonic powers. The Bible talks about treading on snakes and scorpions (Luke 10:19). David, in foretelling Jesus’ experience on the cross, said, “Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me,” (Ps. 22:12). Those spirits came at Him, goring Him like bulls.
These demon spirits attach themselves to our lives as generational curses, bondages, strongholds of the mind, lust, perversion and addictions of every kind.
The problem with most churches is that we just swat at the flies for a few days when they are right up in our faces. They go away for a while, but they keep coming back. It’s time to clean house! It’s time for a Scriptural season of cleansing. Devils will start—you guessed it—dropping like flies, not only those in your life and your generation, but also the future generation of demons that would be passed down to your children.
Solomon wrote, “Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor,” (Eccles. 10:1). Flies would get into the special anointing oil. They’d get stuck in it, die and spoil the fragrance. Flies hinder the anointing in your life. Your worship gets polluted by flies of lust and perversion. We are supposed to walk in that pure anointing that pierces hearts, breaks yokes, delivers from bondages and heals the sick. It’s time to get rid of the “flies” in your business, your marriage, your mind, your house. They cannot stand the power of the Holy Ghost and the intimacy of the presence of Jesus that comes from 40 days of bombarding heaven.
To learn more about the spiritual impact fasting has on your life, click here!
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