Prayer and Fasting: The Key to Breakthrough Living 

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Matthew 17:14–21 (NKJV) 

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.  So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”

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Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 

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Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 

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So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

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Some breakthroughs only happen when God’s people combine prayer with fasting. 

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Jesus’ Diagnosis: Faithless and Perverse 

Faithless – Not Connected Enough to God 

Perverse – Too Connected to the World

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God’s Answer to Our Disconnection: Prayer & Fasting

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Prayer Connects Me to God 

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1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV) – pray without ceasing 

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Fasting Disconnects Me from the World

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Fasting is voluntarily abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose. 

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Fasting Is… 

Abstaining from food, for a Set Time, for a Spiritual Purpose 

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Jesus Assumes We’ll Fast

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Matthew 6:16–18 (ESV)  “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

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Jesus Fasted 

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Matthew 4:1-4 (ESV)  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 

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The Early Church Fasted 

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Acts 13:2-3 (ESV)  2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 

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Types of Biblical Fasts

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1. Absolute / Complete Fast 

2. Normal Fast 

3. Partial Fast

4. Non-Food Abstinence 

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Why Fasting Is Important – What It Does in Us 

1. Fasting Exposes What’s Controlling You 

2. Fasting Humbles Us and Draws Us Back

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Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)  “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster

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3. Fasting Increases Sensitivity to God 

4. Fasting Positions Us for Breakthrough 

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*I believe God is inviting us into a week of: 

Reset 

Reconnection 

Realignment 

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