Breaking Through to Higher Places: Nine Keys to Successful Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough.
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Breaking Through to Higher Places: Nine Keys to Successful Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough.
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781524656607 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 12/22/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 110 |
| File size: | 265 KB |
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Breaking Through To Higher Places
Nine Keys to Successful Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough
By Diane Nethaway
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2017 Diane NethawayAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5246-5661-4
CHAPTER 1
Higher Places
Matthew 4:1-2 Then 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. (NLT)
When Jesus was lead into the wilderness, He encountered temptations: three of those temptations which we are aware of dealt with provision, power and protection and came at the end of the 40 days. When we encounter these same things, it's usually with great frustration, anger and sometimes depression. If Jesus was tempted in the same ways we are, and He was able to conquer these temptations, how should this impact us? Your first thought might be, "Well, Jesus was God. He could do anything, and I am not Him." I have good news for you. Jesus tells us in John 14:12," I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." (NLT) This tells me that I can come out of the wilderness not only victorious, but there are endless possibilities of using those victories in ways that will be greater than the works of Jesus. Can you imagine what that would look like? I can't begin to understand what that would look like, but if God's word says it will happen, then I believe it. Just read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to see the things that Jesus did and ask yourself, "Am I doing these things today? What more could I or should I be doing?"
To understand and appreciate the victories, we must first understand the temptations. A temptation is defined as an enticement to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain. (Merriam- Webster) God promises us in I Corinthians 10:13 that for every temptation there is a way out that is available and this will help us endure it. Jesus' way of enduring was to know the word of God and to speak it back to the Devil. (See Matthew 4) He was able to speak it back every time the enemy tried to use it against Him. The only way for us to quote scripture back in times of temptation is to know it!
The first temptation Jesus encountered is found in Matthew 4:3 During that time the devil came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread." (NLT) Satan came after Him in the area of Provision. In our own personal lives each Breaking Through to Higher Places day, we are seeking ways to fulfill our own needs. We seek what we can feel, smell, hear, taste and see. But Jesus teaches us that those alone will not fill the void inside of us. God's word tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good, and if we seek Him first, all the things we truly need will be added to our lives. (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)
Jesus was hungry. He wasn't a little hungry. He was 40 days hungry. The Greek word peinao means famished. To be famished is to be extremely hungry. He had a need, and the Devil knew it. But Jesus tells him in Matthew 4:4, "No! The Scriptures say, 'People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (NLT)
Jesus was referring to Deuteronomy 8:2-7, 10 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. 5 Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. 6 "So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God isbringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills ... 10 When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. (NLT)
The wilderness is a time for humbling, the proving of our character and to test our faith and endurance in obeying what He tells us to do. When we enter our own wilderness experience while fasting, our hunger reminds us that we can eat all the food in the world, but it will never fill the real hunger which is for the Lord. We discover who He is, and how great His love is for us when we spend time reading, praying, and waiting for Him to respond back. Jesus knew the Word and was able to quote it in times of trouble when the enemy came at Him in His physical weakness, and He was able to remain strong. When the enemy uses provision as a temptation in your life, knowing the word of God will also make you strong.
Just recently our landlords informed us they are going to sell the house we are living in. My heart sank when I heard that because every two to three years this has been happening to us. Prior to this information, Greg and I had read a book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love. The book impacted us so much that we decided the next time we moved, we would downsize so that we were not living paycheck to paycheck to pay our rent, but we could use the extra money to help our family and other people in need.
Two weeks after we got that notice, Greg got a call from a friend who wanted him to go look at a house he saw in the paper that was for rent. Greg couldn't believe what he saw and called me and said, "You've got to see this house. It's amazing and you are going to fall in love with it. The only problem is its $100 more than what we are paying now." I remembered our declaration but decided I wanted to see it anyway.
A few hours later I was standing in front of the most beautifully landscaped piece of land that I had ever seen. The house sat on two acres. There was an area behind the house that could have easily been a baseball field and behind that was a place to build bonfires. They had been using this for their youth group on several occasions. Directly behind that was a horse corral that the son was using for paintball games. The inside was beautiful too but I could care less what it looked like on the inside. I was looking at the land and seeing everything I had been praying for, for the last 20 years. The front yard had a pond with running water that was heaven to my ears. The kitchen had a patio surrounded by tons of greenery and was a great place to get up in the mornings and have my devotions. My mouth was salivating. The pool was enclosed and the master bedroom opened up to it as well as a beautiful Jacuzzi. I was dying inside and everything in my flesh was saying, "Take it! This is what you have been praying for." I didn't have peace though because of our declaration to downsize. The people renting the house wanted us to take the house so badly but Greg and I told them we would have to pray about it first.
The upcoming weekend was our 6 Biannual 24 Hour Prayer Focus. We told them we would let them know at the end of it. Our intention was not to tell anyone, but sometime during the Prayer Focus we would have some good friends pray for us and see what God would speak to them for us. We didn't get that opportunity because there were lines for prayer and our friends had to leave before we could get in there.
It was an hour and a half before the service started and we still didn't have an answer so we sought out one of the prayer intercessors that was still there. We asked him to pray for us and see what the Lord would impress on him. After a few minutes he tells Greg, "Do whatever the woman tells you to do." I was saying, "No! No! Don't lay that on me." I was feeling so weak and didn't want to get the blame for the sin I wanted to commit. I wanted Greg to. If he made the decision, I didn't have to reap what I had sown but we would reap what he had sown. Eve wasn't going to get the blame this time: Adam would. (See Genesis 3) How silly of me because in all rationality, we would have both reaped what he had done.
Greg decided to run home and change clothes. I went to my office crying out to God for an answer that would be specific and that I would have peace. Meanwhile the man who prayed for us was up at the altar praying, then came back and says to me, "It's a test!" My heart sank. "No! Really? That means I can't have the house, doesn't it?" He just stood there and said again, "It's a test." I took a breath and said, "Okay. I can release this then." As soon as I said that a peace came over me, and I knew we were making the right decision. I called Greg and told him it was a test, and then he too felt that peace. We let the house go trusting and believing that God would lead us to the right home at the right time.
I can't imagine the misery we would have felt later if we had been in a hurry to get what we wanted. Knowing God's word and that He would supply all our needs and understanding how the enemy was using the temptation of provision, kept us from making a very big mistake.
The second temptation Jesus encountered was the need for Protection.Matthew 4:5-6 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, 'He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.'" (NLT) I think there are times that we have the attitude that everything will work out and that God will protect us when we make bad choices, so we get careless and jump into things we should have never been involved with. We know what's right and wrong, but in order to satisfy our own desires, we cast our cares to the wind. The Word clearly tells us we will reap what we sow. Although God forgives us when we ask, the consequences still have to be dealt with and learned from. We need to understand that our sin does not just affect us, but it affects everyone around us and those who are in our sphere of influence. We need to stop being in a hurry and trust that God's timing is perfect, and He will do what He says. Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. (NLT) God is our shield of protection and if we walk out in front of that shield, we walk right into the schemes and lies of the enemy. When we believe the lie, we empower the lie.
Jesus again quotes scripture back, Matthew 4:7 Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, 'You must not test the Lord your God.'" (NLT) Here He was referring to Deuteronomy 6:16 You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah. (NLT) We find the story of Massah in Exodus 17:1-7. After seeing all the miracles that God had done for them, they arrived at a place where they were out of water. Instead of being faithful and trusting God to provide, they started grumbling and saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" How many times have we asked that same question when things didn't happen as fast as we wanted them to or the way we wanted them to? They were not only questioning God's presence but His choice of leadership.
In our quest to fulfill our desires, we often forget about what God has already done in the past. We start grumbling and complaining and often questioning if God really cares for us. We make bad choices and then when consequences happen, we get mad at God because He doesn't bail us out. We start growing angry at those whom God has put in leadership. We start blaming the church. I have seen this happen over and over. When someone in leadership or a member of the body has offended someone in the church, they leave the church. They forget the church body as a whole has walked with them through life, death, weddings, graduations, fun times and bad times. They leave mad at leadership and the offender without even trying to work it out. They leave mad at a person or persons, and think they are only leaving them, not recognizing they are leaving their whole church family. One thing makes them mad and all of a sudden they forget all the good things their church family has walked through with them in the past. It's so sad! We also get mad at our closest friends, and many times we blame our childhood. The truth is we don't blame the true source of our problem: ourselves. God in His mercy will sometimes give us a lot of grace over these situations and eventually gives us what we want, but then we forget all about it and move on to more times of grumbling.
The third temptation dealt with Power.Matthew 4:8-9 8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you will kneel down and worship me." (NLT)
The definition of power is possession of control, authority, or influence over someone or something. (Merriam-Webster) The Devil was temping Jesus to forgo the suffering and the cross by giving Him the rulership of the nations now. Why should He have to wait for what is already rightfully His? His plan was to draw Jesus away from the plan of redemption by enticing Him to grab the kingdom the Father had promised to give Him. Instead of enduring the long, bitter, and painful road to the cross, He could rule the world now. The devil was trying to entice Him to skip ahead of the plan.
Life works the same way: we don't get a promotion to the next level until we learn the basics. It's important to keep the goal before us. We need to press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (See Philippians 3:14)
God wants us to have clear revelations of His plans for us. He has great plans to prosper us and not to hurt us. He wants to give us a hope and a future, and when we pray, He will hear us. He says if we look to Him wholeheartedly, we will find Him. He goes on to tell us that He will release us from our captivity whether it comes in the form of temptations, addiction or complacency. (See Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Life is like going through school. You have preschool, kindergarten, elementary, high school and college. No one goes from preschool to college. The goal is college, but to get there we have to learn the lessons taught in the former levels of schooling, and we have to take the tests to pass. If we go to college before we have learned the fundamentals, we would likely fail every class, never be prepared for the tests or just get by, and although we are at college there will be no clear vision of what to do next. We can't skip ahead of the plan.
We often think that we shouldn't have pain in the journey. But it's the comfort that comes after the pain that helps us see that it was all worth it. It made us wiser and stronger. Jesus needed to go through the wilderness. He needed to overcome the temptations He faced in order for His ministry to be effective. Because He went through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are tempted and show us how to overcome our temptations. We see later in the passage that Jesus walks by two brothers and says "Follow me," and they both drop what they are doing, no questions asked, and follow Him. They saw something in Him. I would like to say it was a strength they in themselves didn't have, and it drew them into His ministry. When we go through our own wildernesses not giving up but facing them and growing from them, and as we overcome and gain strength, people will want to follow us into our ministries too.
Jesus responded to Satan with Matthew 4:10 "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'" Jesus was referring to Deuteronomy 6:13 You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. When you take an oath, you must use only his name. (NLT) Satan tempted Jesus with what seemed like the easy way and wanted Him to prostrate Himself and revere him and him only. When the Israelites were moving into the Promised Land, the Lord warned them not to worship the idols or gods of their neighbors. He knew if they started allowing these things into their lives, they would forget Him, and it would destroy their lives. He told them that the Lord their God who lived among them was a jealous God. We are told both in Deuteronomy and the Gospels that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and our strength: not part. The enemy still comes at us today with temptations of idol worship in the form of material possessions, addictions, and self-gratification. Whatever we spend time worshipping, we give power to. When we fast and pray, we too will come to a place where we either trust God to provide for us, or we continue to do things the old way: satisfying the desire of our flesh with temporary fixes.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Breaking Through To Higher Places by Diane Nethaway. Copyright © 2017 Diane Nethaway. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,My Story, ix,
Chapter One,
Higher Places, 1,
Questions to Ponder, 19,
Chapter Two,
What Is Fasting?, 23,
Questions to Ponder, 28,
Chapter Three,
The First Key, 31,
Questions to Ponder, 36,
Chapter Four,
The Second Key, 39,
Questions to Ponder, 43,
Chapter Five,
The Third Key, 47,
Questions to Ponder, 53,
Chapter Six,
The Fourth Key, 55,
Questions to Ponder, 62,
Chapter Seven,
The Fifth Key, 65,
Questions to Ponder, 69,
Chapter Eight,
The Sixth Key, 71,
Questions to Ponder, 76,
Chapter Nine,
The Seventh Key, 79,
Questions to Ponder, 83,
Chapter Ten,
The Eighth Key, 85,
Questions to Ponder, 89,
Chapter Eleven,
The Ninth Key, 91,
Questions to Ponder, 94,
Chapter Twelve,
Conclusion, 95,