In Matthew 17, we have there the miraculous cure of a child who was epileptic and vexed with a devil. Prior to this account, we read of Jesus taking three of His disciples to a mountain to pray, and on this mountain He was transfigured before their very eyes. However, on their return from the mount of transfiguration, a man rushed to Him with an element of importunity, urgency and insistent solicitation for Him to heal his son whom he brought to the nine disciples but failed to heal him.
Jesus decided to use the occasion to introduce one of the potent keys and instruct them on how to successfully operate this powerful key to accessing the Kingdom of heaven, or if you will, the supernatural. Jesus reprimanded the disciples who failed to heal the boy and then proceeded to cast the demon out of the boy. The disciples were troubled for not being able to cast the devil out of the boy because they remember Jesus giving them power and authority in Matthew 10:1 over devils, demons, evil spirits, unclean spirits, satanic forces and all manner of diseases. So they asked: “why could we not cast it out?” (Matthew 17:19).
Jesus answered by telling them that they failed to cast the devil out because of their lack of faith, lack of prayer and lack of fasting. My teaching the past weeks brings me to fasting. In Matthew 17:21, He said: “this kind does no go out except by prayer and fasting.” Notice that Jesus said “this kind” to indicate that there are certain situations you face in life that prayer alone is not enough to change it until you add to your prayer, fasting.
This reminds me of the scenario in Daniel 10 where the following words are recorded: “do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before God, your words (prayers) were heard; and I have come because of your words (prayers). But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days…” (Daniel 10:12-13; emphasis added). We learn from the above that the moment Daniel prayed, the answer was released, but a demonic force blocked the answer to his prayer until he intensified his prayer with twenty-one days of fasting. This explains and underscores why I am pointing out to you that prayer alone is not enough to change certain situations you face in life until you add to your prayer, fasting.
That’s why Jesus told them that the kind of problem they encountered do not change except with prayer and fasting. Notice that when Jesus was helping the boy, He rebuked the devil behind the sickness. This shows that the boy’s sickness was not medical but spiritual. This supports the notion that most of the problems we face which seem not to change but keep lingering are not physical but spiritual. Demonic activities are real but the combination of prayer and fasting is powerful enough to stop the devil in his tracks.
The angel assigned to Daniel felt empowered to topple the prince of the kingdom of Persia who withstood him for three weeks because Daniel was praying and fasting. This shows that fasting empowers the angel assigned to you to expedite and accelerate your miracle breakthroughs to you. If you have been praying and believing God about some things for a long time and are facing some difficulties in your life that prayer alone seems not to change it? Add fasting to it! Fasting brings breakthroughs in difficult circumstances. In Daniel’s case, he got his breakthrough because he added fasting to his prayer. In Joel 1:12-14, God Himself says “if your land is withering, if nothing seems to be working and if everything seem to be going wrong, ‘consecrate a fast…’”
Fasting tells God the answer to your prayer is more important to you than the pleasure of eating. Add to your prayers fasting and you will gain access to the supernatural.

Copyright © 2010  Pastor Sadick Arthur
2/1/2009