Except By Prayer

Matthew 17:21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. 

In the case of casting out of an epileptic demon, the disciple of the Lord faced a stiff opposition and were not able to cast out the demon. The Lord rebuked them of having too little faith, and the response He gave was  "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." 

In the work of the Lord, being in the spiritual battle field, I have faced many situations like this. The Lord was sovereign to allow me to go through such an experience which has always been a training session. The recent one was in the propagation in Jaipur. We have been offering prayers of various degrees and had propagated in this pink city. However, we could not see a solid breakthrough as yet. Albeit, many had been baptised but what we looked for, are local families who would take the stand for His testimony. Preaching the gospel, bringing people to salvation, even baptising them and setting up home meetings were done, but the local new believers who are stable spiritually and even otherwise is the lack, who could be the pillar of the church.

Two weeks ago, when I was there, a brother suggested that we fast and pray continuously for six hours, discerning the need of the situation. On that day we were supposed to go for a home meeting, but the Lord reminded me to cancel and stay back instead for a thorough prayer. I went out for personal time of Bible reading and prayer, and then with the saints corporately fast and prayed; the flow of the Spirit was so strong that I enjoyed it so much. Time was never a factor at all. Burdens were released one after the other; intercessions were made on  behalf of the ones already contacted, and binding and losing prayer was done corporately with a strong spirit. The flow of the Lord was so sweet yet so strong. And the result was imminent from that time on.

The next day, as we had home meeting with a seeker, who is a brother who loves the Lord and have been serving by faith, obeying the Lord's call, step by step, the flow of the Spirit was so strong. The Lord just flowed into us as life and flowed among us as life too. The fellowship went on from 3 PM in the afternoon till 9:45 PM in the night, approximately in proportion to the prayer time we had the day before. The fellowship was full of life's testimony, and full of truth on God's eternal purpose concerning Christ and the church; the standing, foundation, ground, fellowship, oneness, practices etc.. I just felt like the Lord had answered our prayer for the testimony in Jaipur. 

Moreover, he invited us for various group meetings, and even on the Lord's day he gave us the full freedom to minister the word as the Lord led. In all the meetings, the Spirit's move and anointing was very strong both from the ministering and the minstered ends. 

Besides, the Lord also led us to another family who loves the Lord so much. To this family too, the Lord gave us the Rhema word; they enjoyed the fellowship so much so that the fellowship went on and on. We ministered mostly from the ministry of the word the Lord has blessed His recovery with, to the extend that a sister willing volunteered to be a distributor of the ministry books in the city. 

All these ensued from God as the source of life and life-supply. Our sole responsibility was to be open vessels, cooperating with Him for His flow by much prayer and even by fasting. The Lord wants to move but His enemy has been opposing His move and that barrier need to be dealt with by us. Such move does not occur ordinarily, except by prayer and fasting.

With this experience, the Lord showed me something that would change my way of service to Him, especially in my locality where for long a definite breakthrough is yet to be witnessed. 

Lord, ever burden me for this kind of prayer and fasting, and grant me the grace to exercise so.