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FASTING SERIES
CORPORATE FAST
We are going to talk about corporate
fasting. We will take an illustration from the book of Jonah. Jonah was a
prophet and he had an important message to give the Gentiles. The bible tells
us that he was called by God to go to the Gentiles but he disobeyed God and
went in the opposite direction. Now he is eaten by a big fish and in the fish
he repented and he says, “God I will now obey You. I will do what You ask me
to. I will go to
Jonah 1: 1 and 2 Now the word of the
Lord came to Jonah the son of Amitai, saying, “Arise, go to
Jonah ran away from God. We read the story
how God brought him to repentance and sent him back. Jonah 3:1-3 The word of
the Lord came to Jonah the second time. God speaks again when we are ready
to listen. He speaks to us the second time, the third time, if our heart is
right. This time he was willing to obey the Lord. God gave him the fresh word, “Arise,
go to
Verse 4 And Jonah began to enter the
city on the first day’s walk. It takes
3 days to walk from one end of the city to the other end. Then he cried out
and said, “Yet forty days, and
Verse 5 So the people of
And not only had they proclaim a fast from
the greatest to the least it says in verse 6 Then word came to the king of
Nineveh, and he arose from the throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself
with sackcloth and sat in ashes. The king humbled himself in fasting and
praying. Verse 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout
Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor
beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them ear or drink water. It
was a complete fast, a total fast. They neither eat nor drink. And look at it
very carefully everyone fasted the king, his nobles and all the people in
Not only did they fast they put on
sackcloth in verse 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. The
whole land was filled with people wearing sackcloth and fasted. If you had gone
for a tour to that city at that time, you would see some of those cows wearing
sackcloth. As you walk in the street you may see some stray cats, the stray
cats will also be wearing sackcloth. Every one of them fasted from the greatest
to the least, a total fast. They were desperate before God.
Verse 9 Who can tell if God will turn
and relent and turn away from His fierce anger, sot that we may not perish? They
were hoping that their fast would avert judgment upon their lives that God has
proclaimed. Verse 10 Then God saw their works that they turned from their
evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring
upon them, and He did not do it. A corporate fast moves God. In one day,
God could completely eliminate the judgment that is coming onto them. Why,
because they fasted together. There is power when we fast alone. There is power
when we fast together. Corporate fasting taps on a powerful force. Just as a
believer’s anointing is one and the anointing upon is another, the corporate
anointing is the most powerful anointing there is. In the same way there is
personal fasting, then there is corporate fasting where the whole body of
Christ came together and fasted. It unleashed powerful forces in the whole
world. It unleashed the mercies of God upon our lives where before we were not
in the position to receive those blessings and mercies. If God could do this
for the people of
There is something about human beings
coming together in unity that can unleash a powerful force if they would come
in agreement together. In fact, when He looked down and saw the men building
the
Lets look at the book of
Genesis and have the exact statement that God made. Gen. 11:1 Now the whole
earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed
from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar
It is an irrevocable law that
if God get human beings to unite together in an objective they could achieve
that which they individually cannot do. In the natural, it is working because
it is law that is set by God. To send one man to the moon they need to bring
into harmony the knowledge of many men and women working together. Hundreds and
thousands of people are involved in sending one man to the moon. That is in the
natural.
Now there is a law in the
natural and the law in the spiritual. When we could get people united together
in one heart and one mind it will begin to release a spiritual force that is
reserved only for the corporate body that the singular body cannot receive.
That a single member of the body of Christ alone by themselves cannot receive.
It takes the coming together of the body of Christ to bring forth this powerful
blessing that God has in store. In
Psalms 133, it tells us that it is good for brethren to dwell together in
unity. The bible say for them the Lord commands a blessing. See there is a
certain presence that you reach. A certain level of anointing and power is
reached when you are united together. When are all alone individually we can
bring petition, intercession to God. We can pray our needs onto God. We can
pray petitions and supplications before God. We are asking from God. We are seeking
the blessings from God. This is a scriptural thing to do. Ask and it shall be
given onto to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto
you. All of us have to seek, all of us have to knock and all of us have to ask
from God individually. But the bible tells us that if God could find a group of
people who will be one together. They did not ask a blessing He says in Psalms
133 I will command the blessing. God Himself will look down, command a special
blessing upon their lives that they could not reach and receive if they had
worked alone. And that is the place where God is bringing the body of Christ
together. There is power when we come together in one unity.
In fact, all the preparation
in the five-fold in Ephesians chapter 4 is for this. You thought that we have
seen great ministries today and there are. God will continue to raise up great
ministries. But the purpose of all these ministries that God has prepared is to
release the greatest ever anointing and power that He has reserved for the
church when the church come together in one. Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave
some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers. Now all of us know how powerful the anointing upon can be. When
one stands in the fullness of the anointing upon there is a certain power that
God has gifted onto individuals. Verse 12, for the equipping of the saints
for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Don’t
read chapter 4:11 and leave out verse 13, till we all come to the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to be a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Today people are taken up
by individual ministries. God will continue to raise up ministries. God has
raised evangelists, prophets, apostles, pastors and teachers and He continues
to raise them. There are some who say there are no more super-stars. No, there
will always be people who stand head and shoulder above the others. But let us
not forget the larger purpose of all these ministries that God has raised up,
both great and small – it is not to promote the individuals per se but that
these individuals should build up and perfect the body of Christ.
The body of Christ always
needs leadership but what should be said is that there is a special power that
our Father in heaven right now is waiting to release upon the church. There is
a special blessing that the whole history of the church from beginning to the
end has not seen. We have seen pockets of it. We have seen a little bit here
and there of what God can do when the unity of the body of Christ come
together. And we have seen some examples in the book of Acts how when they all
came together the emphasis is one accord, in one accord, in unity, in one mind.
When they were in one accord God could release upon them what He had prophesied
by Joel, by all the other prophets that they had prophesied of the day coming
of the day of Pentecost of the day coming when the Spirit of God will be
released. Old Testament prophets and kings, some of them under the anointing of
God has said that there is as time coming when the anointing of God will not be
just on the kings, priests and the prophets but it will pour out upon all
flesh.
None lived to see that day but
God has to prepare His people to receive the powerful blessing the God has
reserved for the day of Pentecost. They were striving together with one another
when Jesus was going to the cross. For 40 days, Jesus spent time with them.
Jesus taught them a lot of things. Some of them were broken because they have
been through difficulties. Peter had denied Jesus. He was a broken man by that
time. And all of them knew that they had failed Jesus. All of them knew that
they have failed God in some way. All of them were scattered and ran away from
Jesus. But now every one of them was coming together. Every one of them was
coming together in their failures, in their needs. None of them now say, “I am
greater than you.” None of them say, “I am more important than you.” None of
them say, “I want to be at the right hand when You come into Your kingdom. I
want to have that position.” None of them was selfish any more. None of them
was thinking of themselves or their ministry any more. All of them were broken.
Finally, God could bring them
into that one bond and accord and they waited in that unity together. They
moved in one accord. When something wanted to be done like the replacement of
Judas Iscariot they all moved in one accord and chose Matthias. Nobody
grumbled; everybody was with that love and unity. And when that happened in the
early church, God could pour down upon them such power that He has reserved in
heaven. That is the early church. Today right at the end of history God has
prophesied, God has spoken of a time coming when He is going to pour out His
Spirit upon His church. We are going to see everyone healed who comes to the
meeting. We are going to see the glory of God manifests greater than in the
book of Acts. God prophesied but before this come the Spirit of God is going to
break His people down, break the pride down, break the selfishness down and
cause the people to be in one accord. And at the point when they are in one
accord God says now they are ready. All the flood gates that are reserved for
these last days He will stretch forth His feet and lift it up and it will pour
forth upon us in such a measure that the world have never seen before. And all
the glory that pour forth will exceed what one apostle can do, one prophet can
do, what one evangelist can do. It will exceed what an individual ministry can
do. It’s going to be so powerful.
Look at Eph. 4:11-13 is to
prepare the church for the equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith.
Why are we in the ministry? What was the purpose for Paul to be in the
ministry? What is the purpose for being in the ministry? It is that we are like
laborers, like John the Baptist, preparing and bringing the church to the
position, and giving information, giving truth and pushing them a little bit,
picking them up on the way, and some of them give them a little scolding, but
bringing the church altogether to that unity. Why does God want to bring the
church to the unity? Because there is a
special grace and blessing and anointing that has never been seen on this
planet earth that He has reserved only for the church in these last days. We
are waiting for God but God is waiting for us. He is waiting for all these
ministries to do their part to bring the church together. Sad to say sometimes
in the ministry through this 20th century church history you see
that sometimes ministry fight against one another. They forget that the purpose
of all the five-fold is to bring the church to unity. So if a five-fold fail to
being the church to unity they have failed in their calling and purpose. The
very fact of the existence of the five-fold is to bring them to this unity.
When they are in this unity together, man can be perfected to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of God and to demonstrate the perfection of the
bride of Christ. God is going to release the power that is reserved for these
last days.
In Jesus’ prayer you will have
an idea of all these things in Jn. 17: 20 I do not pray for these alone, but
also for those who will believe in Me through their word that they all may be
one. If at the tower
of Babel God
How come Jesus connects the
world knowing Him and us being one? Because when we are one there is going to
be an anointing that comes upon the church that the world could tangibly see
the manifestation of God’s power. Now the oneness that He speaks about in verse
20 and 21 is this. He says in verse 21 that they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You. Do
you know that Jesus is praying and saying that the way that you and I are one
with each other must be the same oneness that Jesus have with the Father. When
you think about that and you compare the churches oneness today you would say
compared to Him we are all in disunity.
The oneness that we are to
have with one another must be such that it is like the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit moving together. And this is the amazing thing when you study
the Trinity. Everything that the Father wants to do the Son has a part and the
Holy Spirit has a part. Everything that the Son does He depends on the Father
He depends on the Spirit. Everything that the Spirit does He always go in line with
the will of the Father and what Jesus wants to do. Never one time from Genesis
to Revelation you find the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in
disagreement. They have been in agreement for ancient of ages. For eternity,
They have never moved apart from each other. They have always work separately
but in unity. They are separate Persons of the Godhead and They work their
special work. The Holy Spirit has come to reveal Christ to us. Christ came to
fulfill the will of the Father. There is not one time when one of Them work
separately. Every time you see the work of God at first it seems as if only one
of Them involved. You study carefully and you see cross-references you find
that all three of Them are together. Do you know that not one thing is done by
God without all three - the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit - getting involved?
You cannot find one incident. Even Jesus going to the cross for us He was sent
by the Father. And He gave Himself to the Holy Spirit to fulfill that task. He
cried on the cross Thy will be done and not Mine. There is not one time when
They work separately. They are in such harmony together. And Jesus said, “I
pray that the church, all who believe in Me and all who believe in My Name will
be one with each other as I, Father, am one with You and You with Me.”
Compare to His oneness I think
we have a long way to go before achieving perfect unity. Now you know why the
power of God could not demonstrate the way that God wants. In the realm, that
God wants His church to come into because the oneness that we much have with
each other must be equal in quality and in essence. So the question is how can
we be one? What must we do to be one? Lets look at some considerations in the
book of Acts chapter 1 and 2. How shall we all come together? What will help us
to be one together?
Acts 1:13-14 And when they
had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying. Peter,
James, John and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the
son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all
continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary
the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Notice here it says with one
accord in prayer. Do you know there is only one place the church can be one
together in prayer? When we are all praying and crying out to our same Father
the church here was one in prayer. We must gather together to pray together.
You could say to one another, “I pray in my house and you pray in your house.”
But it says that they were one in prayer in the same place. It’s very important
for the church to gather in one place to pray together. For us that may take
scheduling our time, that may take separating and consecrating our time, that
may take re-adjusting our activities. But the church must come together in one
accord in prayer. Praying and working by yourself alone will never perfect you.
There is a special blessing
that God reserves when the church comes with one accord in one place. See in
Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, there were all with one
accord in one place. We need to gather together in one accord in one heart
in praying together. Are we prepared to put aside our priorities? Are we prepared to put aside lives and our
plans and our own schedules to come into one place and pray together? We must
come together in that one accord and one prayer together. It starts in prayer. It doesn’t start at the
fellowship table over the food. Sometimes right at the local cafeteria we start
discussing something and we end up with disunity. Sometimes you thought that it
should start at the fellowship feast. But at the fellowship feast, sometimes
conversation takes an unwanted direction. When somebody brings something that
hurt the other, there you have it eating at the same table but eyeing each
other. We all must get into the prayer room together. How can you and I quarrel
when or Father is standing watching over us? As we all pray together onto the
Lord in one accord, our Father will be watching.
Do you know that when husbands
and wives have disagreement that they could come to the Father together and
pray themselves into unity? They could disagree over something but if they
could both enter into the closet with God and pray, their unity can be
restored. When you enter into the prayer, don’t scold each other with the
prayer. The husband would come and say, “O God what a wife you have given me. O
Lord you know she is this way and you know what she had done etc.” And the wife
say, “O dear Lord this guy is a lion who roars at me all the time.” There they
are scolding each other in prayer. We are not talking about that kind of
prayer.
But when we come before God,
there must be a humbling of oneself. See certain types of coming together and
praying together do not work because people are not willing to humble
themselves. The husband should come and say, “I am sorry Father I have sinned.”
Then the wife comes and says, “I am sorry Father I have sinned.” And then they
both look at each other. Both have sinned so we are all in the same boat. And
all of us must come together on the ground of humility and that takes fasting.
When we fast together in a corporate fast, there must be a corporate humbling
of ourselves before God. It is where we all humbly ourselves and say God we all
need Your mercy, not just my neighbor but me, all of us need Your mercy, all of
us come by Your mercy. I find no better way than for people to come in fasting
and prayer. Fasting has to do with humbling it goes together in one.
Some of the most difficult
people were spared God’s judgment because they fasted. King Ahab is one
striking example. When he took over Naboth’s vineyard illegally and
treacherously, Elijah came to him in I Kg. 21 and told him that God’s judgment
is coming on him because of this thing that he had done and God is displeased.
The bible tells us that king Ahab fasted and prayed. And when he fasted and
prayed most of us would have prayed, “O God don’t answer him. Give it to him
since he is such a wicked king.” But do you know what God did? God said, “I
have seen how he humbled himself.”
I don’t care how you think
about yourself or what your situation is. We all need to seek God in fasting
individually and we need a corporate fast to come before God into His throne.
We need a corporate fast. If you want revival to sweep this land and if we are
not faithful to do what God tells us to do we may not have the revival. God
looks for the people to pay the price to bring the answer to all the prophecies
of the past. We have a part in obeying God. There are many people all over in
every nation and they prophesy about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the coming revival. They have been talking about for the past 20, 30, 40
years. Let us not just talk about it -
let us bring it. And that last revival has something to do with the unity of
the church together. It’s going to be a price that we all have to pay. We have
to take the time to come together for corporate fast and prayer.
Every one of us can say we are
busy but let us remember the hundred and twenty disciples of them who found the
time to come together. It is not mentioned here but I believe they were fasting
at that time. I believe they remain fasted in unity seeking God with all their
hearts. There were 120 of them. Do you know there were more of them whom Jesus
told to wait? Look at I Cor. 15:5 He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the
greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. There were
five hundred over people who had seen Jesus after His resurrection. Why do you
think Jesus appeared to the five hundred over disciples? It is because He tells
the five hundred over disciples to wait for Him in Jerusalem Jerusalem
We have to get together in
prayer in one place. And we have to gather together in Acts chapter one with
one purpose of heart. Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication. What was their objective in coming together to
pray? They had one objective. Their objective is to come before God and pray
for what Jesus promised. Jesus told them in Lk. 24:49 Tarry in the city of Jerusalem
In Acts 2:2 Suddenly there
came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled he whole
house where they were sitting. They were waiting with one accord for that
which was prophesied by Joel. This sort of thing will not happen individually.
There were apostles in their midst. It doesn’t mean that if you are an apostle
or evangelist you can separate yourself from the body of Christ. We are part of
the body of Christ. To be waiting on God in one accord.
Do you know why in East Malaysia the native Christians there have such
wonderful manifestations of the Holy Spirit? Every morning the church gets up
early and pray together. They would ring the village bell and the people would
gather together to pray. And deep in the jungles, they would gather for hours
in homes to pray together. No wonder God gave them special signs and wonders.
It takes that kind of unity and one accord to bring that special power and
blessing of God. We must have an objective. What is our objective today? We all
receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit better. We can pray better, we can pray
more in tongues. Our objective is to pray for the perfection of the body of
Christ. Our objective is to pray for the revival that has been prophesied of
the glory that is reserved for these last days. The only time the church gets
into disunity is when they forget about their vision and their objective and
start looking at one another. But when we keep our eyes on the field and the
harvest and on the Lord there is no time to get into disunity - we will fall
into ranks and march like a mighty army.
Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord
for rain. In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds;
He will give them showers of rain. Grass in the field for everyone. It says
in the time of the latter rain ask. Ask corporately; come together in fasting,
in prayer before God. Seek Him with all our hearts, minds and souls. Praying in
one accord. Acts 4:24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to
God with one accord and said; “Lord You are God, who made heaven and earth and
the sea, and all that is in them. They were in one accord, one unity
together. And that kind of unity they have is expressed in Acts 2:44 Now all
who believed were together, and had all things in common. In other words,
they did not count one above the other. They all were in common unity.
Now Acts 4:32 this is the unity that they have. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. I know whose heart that was. All of them have the same heart the Father’s heart, a heart of love. They were with one heart and one soul. Their minds agree together. They submit one onto another. We all know that our souls are our individual personality. But they moved as one personality. They moved as one soul together. That was the kind of unity they have. And God is calling the church back to this level of unity. God is calling us to forgiveness. God is calling us to come in the blood. Lay aside your grievances. Pull out every root of bitterness in your life and come to His throne by His blood. Forget about those past hurts and bad times that you have had with each other in the whole body of Christ at large but come together because the time is urgent. The hour is late and we want to see and be a part of that revival. The enemy is unleashing right now extra forces. Remember the bible tells us the devil knows his time is coming up and he is working like he had never done before. We would have to come together in one heart in one soul and in a sense, one physically because it says none of them say of the thing he possess is his own they had all things in common. Now with that kind of unity look at verse 33 With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. God is calling the church today to seek Him in fasting and in prayer.
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