“Day 21: Your Final Day
Jesus said to His followers, “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). Today is the final day of your fast. You have heard His Word, and you have obeyed. You are like that wise man with his house upon a rock! Don’t give in today. Press in and hear what the Spirit of the Lord would say to you.
Over twenty years ago when the Lord first called me to preach, He showed me some things that were for a time and season yet to come. I could not walk into all of His promises at once, but I knew He would lead me in His will as I was willing to sanctify myself and follow Him. Recently, the Lord has stirred my spirit with a sense that now is the time. It is as if He is saying, “You’ve prayed about it. You’ve dreamed about it. You’ve asked Me for it. You’ve longed for it. It’s been prophesied over you. Prepare yourself.”
“I traveled back to North Carolina, where I was born and raised. My grandfather still has a home in Middlesex, North Carolina. It is a beautiful mansionlike homestead set on acres of rolling, lush farmland with horses, cattle, even his own private airstrip for his plane. Twenty-eight children were raised in that house over the years, and all of them serve the Lord.
During that special visit back to my roots, my heritage, I spent time each day walking that airstrip and the fields in prayer and communion with God. I felt the Holy Spirit’s leading to visit the place down the road where He first called me to preach. I had not been back there in twenty-two years. I went down to that wonderful old Church of God sanctuary and sat down in the very spot of my calling. I can remember like it was yesterday. I was on a three-day fast, and I was crying out, “Oh, God, can You use me? Why are You calling me to preach? I can’t do it. I don’t know how to preach. I’m afraid. I’m not worthy. I’m not good enough.” “I was giving Him all the excuses and all the fear. I didn’t realize that during that three-day fast I was cutting off the flesh with a sharp knife.
Finally, on the third day, I heard His voice in my spirit say, “I’ve called you to preach. Go and do what I’ve called you to do.” I said, “Lord, if this is truly Your will, then let my mother confirm it when I get home, even though it’s past midnight. Let her be up, and let her confirm it.” I was young, and it never hurts to ask for clarity! I walked out of that tiny sanctuary weeping, got into my car, and drove barely a quarter mile home. When I walked back to Mom’s bedroom, she was on her knees praying. As soon as I saw her, she whirled around, pointed her finger, and started speaking with stammering lips: “Jentezen, God has called you to preach. Go and do what He has called you to do.”
“What if you set yourself to diligently seek the Lord, sanctifying yourself with a fast and journey back to the spot where it all began—where He saved you, set you free, filled you with His Spirit, and called you out? I actually physically traveled to that spot, but if you cannot do that, you can go back mentally. You can recall the ancient landmark, that same simplicity, innocence, and dedication with which you first responded to His voice.
• Just as Joshua called the children of promise to sanctify themselves—I believe that, likewise, your “tomorrow” is just around the corner. God is going to do wonders in your life, leading you places you have never been before.
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Fasting will bring you into destiny. Fasting will bring you into alignment with God’s plan for your life. Now is the time to fast, to seek God diligently, to sanctify yourself, to discern God’s priorities, and to walk in His promises. Go for it!”
“On your twenty-first day of fasting, remember:
• Find someone and share your experience with that person.
• Replenish yourself with liquids, and prepare to ease back into solid food on the twenty-second day.
• Be thankful and rejoice.
• Write your feelings in your prayer journal.
• Anticipation increases regarding what the Lord is doing in your life.
Praise God!
(Write your thoughts in a separate journal.)
• On this final day, ask the Lord to reveal to you if there is any unforgiveness, bitterness, or other hindrances that you have yet to lay fully before your Lord.
• Prepare for blessing, harvest, and an anointing like you have never experienced before.
• Get ready because the rest of this year will not be like any other before it!
Prayer Focus Day 21: Spirit of Prayer for the Holy Spirit to Fall”
“Why is this the prayer focus on the last day of your fast? Because by now you are so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that you realize nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else will do in a world gone mad. This world needs the touch of God. It needs the sweeping movement of the Holy Spirit convicting men of sin and drawing them to the cross. But you have to hunger for it. You have to thirst for it. There’s a difference between wanting a drink and being thirsty. When you’re thirsty, everything in you says, “I’ve got to have it.” And when you get thirsty, He’ll pour out His Spirit. So, focus your prayers today on a spirit of prayer to be released in churches and homes across this land, prayer that God will pour out His Holy Spirit and revive us again!
(Write your thoughts in a separate journal.)
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
—ROMANS 5:1–4”
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