Fasting

Every city has its power grid, a vast, unseen network humming with energy. We live our lives bathed in its light, rarely thinking about the immense force flowing just beyond our walls. We plug in our devices, expecting instant power, instant connection. But what happens when a neighborhood goes dark? Not just a flicker, but a deep, prolonged outage. Suddenly, the familiar world vanishes. We stumble for candles, we feel a sudden vulnerability, and we are forced to confront our total dependence on a source we took for granted. The silence is jarring. The darkness is absolute. In that moment, the only thing that matters is reconnecting to the source.

Our spiritual lives can experience the same kind of outage. We can go through the motions, plugged into the routines of faith, yet feel a growing distance, a dimming of the light. We find ourselves in a spiritual blackout, unable to hear, unable to feel, unable to break through. It was from this place of desperate need for reconnection that Jentezen Franklin wrote Fasting. As a pastor leading a large congregation, he witnessed countless people, including himself, feeling spiritually stuck, going through the motions but lacking true power. He saw fasting as the intentional act of unplugging from the noise of the world to plug directly into the power source of God, creating a direct line for divine communication and breakthrough.

Module 1: The Breaker Anointing — For Unbreakable Problems

We all face problems that feel like they have deep, complex root systems. Think of a generational pattern of financial struggle in your family. Or a personal habit you just can’t kick. Franklin argues that ordinary spiritual effort, like simple prayer, is sometimes not enough for these issues. It's like trying to pull a giant weed with one hand. You need more leverage.

This is where the core idea of the book comes in. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that activates a "breaker anointing," a divine empowerment to shatter persistent obstacles. The author draws this concept from the prophet Micah, who describes a power that "breaks open the way." This is about total demolition of the thing holding you back. Some spiritual strongholds, like spirits of poverty, addiction, or deep-seated fear, are described as "stubborn." They are resilient. They dig in their heels and refuse to move. The book gives the example of Jesus's disciples, who couldn't heal a boy with a demon. Jesus told them, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." This implies a hierarchy of spiritual problems. Some require a higher level of spiritual force.

Building on that idea, the book presents a critical insight. Effective fasting is always coupled with focused, Word-based prayer. Fasting is the act of clearing the channel. It quiets the noise of your physical appetites so you can hear God more clearly and pray with more precision. The author shares his personal practice of praying specific scriptures over a situation. This aligns your prayers with God's will. It turns prayer from a desperate plea into a confident declaration of a victory that's already been won. Daniel is the model here. He fasted and prayed based on his knowledge of God's promises in the scriptures, leading to a major spiritual breakthrough.

Now, let's turn to the mindset. It’s not enough to just go through the motions. You must adopt a confrontational stance against spiritual "giants," using God-given weapons. The story of David and Goliath is used as a powerful analogy. David rejected King Saul’s conventional armor, which represents human logic and strength. Instead, he chose a slingshot, an unconventional weapon God directed him to use. Fasting is one of those unconventional weapons. It feels counterintuitive. In a moment of weakness, you choose to become physically weaker. But in doing so, you declare your total dependence on God's strength, which is the ultimate power.

So what happens next? This process isn't always a quick fix. Persistent hope and a refusal to give up are essential for ultimate breakthrough. The book acknowledges that "hope deferred makes the heart sick." When you've been fighting something for a long time, it's easy to get discouraged. Fasting is an act of sustained spiritual pressure. The author uses a military analogy from the Old Testament. The house of David grew "stronger and stronger," while the house of Saul grew "weaker and weaker" over a long war. Your persistence in prayer and fasting systematically weakens the spiritual opposition until it breaks.