Debt. Unpaid bills. Not enough money to give or save. If you’re struggling with financial problems, you may feel overwhelmed. Maybe you’ve prayed for God’s help, but haven’t yet experienced solutions.
Adding fasting to your prayers can bring about breakthroughs in even the toughest situations. As you fast, God can change your perspective to more clearly reveal His plan for your finances.
Here are some ways you can fast for a financial breakthrough in your life:
* Consider the different types of fasts. Think about which type of fast you would like to undertake, such as: giving up one or two meals a day (and praying during those times), giving up meat, giving up all desserts and snacks, consuming only juice, or abstaining from something other than food (such as television). Then think about how long you’d like to fast. Make sure you check with your doctor before fasting for any sustained length of time so you don’t endanger your health.
* Make sure your requests are in line with God’s will. Ask only for money that God wants you to have. Understand that sometimes it’s a greater blessing to receive wisdom that you can apply to your financial decisions than to suddenly receive a large sum of money. Know that a transformed attitude about money will glorify God more than just winning the lottery. Be open to God’s best for you without trying to manipulate Him.
* Reflect on biblical principles while you fast. Study the Scriptures to understand what God has promised about how He will provide for His children.
* Believe that God will answer you. Know that God looks for faith among people who ask Him to move in their lives. Realize that if you have even just a little bit of faith, God can use it accomplish a huge task.
* Fast and pray with other believers. Ask others to pray with you. Know that there is more power in the prayers of two or more believers who agree about their prayers than simply in one believer praying alone.
* Continue fasting and praying until you receive an answer. Realize that your answer may take time to come. Trust in God’s timing and ask Him to help you be patient as you wait. Be persistent, knowing that God is pleased when you stay in regular communication with Him.
* Ask God to remove barriers of sin in your life. Use your fasting time to reexamine your relationship with God. Ask God to reveal any hidden sin in your life that is obstructing your relationship with Him. Then when He does, confess it and ask for His forgiveness so He will begin in hear and answer your prayers.
* Ask God to use your fasting to increase your faith. As you fast, ask God to grow a bigger faith in you that you can apply to all situations in your life (money-related, or not).
* Learn biblical stewardship as you fast. As you control your physical appetite while fasting, ask God to give you discipline to help you control other aspects of your life, as well. Pray specifically for wisdom as it relates to your money problems. Ask God to help you understand why you’re in financial trouble and what, if any, unhealthy habits you need to overcome.
* Keep a journal during your fast. As you fast about your money problems, write down what you’re learning about money management. Refer to your journal later to help you make needed changes in how you handle your finances.
* Acknowledge that all your money comes from God. Take the time to thank God for what He has provided for you or enabled you to earn.
* Distinguish between needs and desires. Ask God to teach you the difference between what you need and what you want. Ask God to clarify whether your lack of money is due to poor financial management or His call to a vocation that doesn’t pay well. Pray for the strength you need to avoid greed and embrace contentment.
* Prioritize your expenditures. During your fast, ask God to guide you as you rank your budget expenses from highest to lowest. Use your rankings as a guide for deciding how to spend in the future.
* Fast and pray for the strength to avoid temptation. Be aware that Satan will try to tempt you financially in many different ways, such as by drawing you into materialism or distracting you so you direct your resources away from where God wants you to invest them. Ask God to give you the strength you need to always follow where He leads as you manage your money.
Adapted from Fasting for Financial Breakthrough, copyright 2002 by Elmer Towns. Published by Regal Books from Gospel Light, Ventura, Ca., 1-800-4-GOSPEL, www.regalbooks.com.
Elmer Towns is dean of the School of Religion at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he teaches the 2,000-member Pastor’s Sunday School class at Thomas Road Baptist Church. He is the Gold Medallion Award-winning author whose books include Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough and The Son. Elmer and his wife, Ruth, live in Virginia.
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I praise You, Oh Mighty King, I bless Your Holy Name. Thank You for providing all my needs, according to Your riches in Glory. You never fail me, even in these difficult times, when finances are low and worry invades my mind. Help me to be at PEACE, Father, confident in Your blessed assurance that You will supply all my needs, out of your rich abundance.
Psalm 35:27 27 Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause. And let them say continually,“Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
Ecclesiastes 5:19 As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor – this is the gift of God.
We pray that greed of money would not entrap us but we will hunger and thirst after You. Click To Tweet
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Praying for relief from debts and financial burdens
Lord, I’ve made financial mistakes. My debts are out of control. But Lord, I know you can open a way where there seems to be no way.
I pray for a financial breakthrough in my life right now! Grow my finances and bestow on me wisdom to manage Your blessings righteously. Open my eyes today to job opportunities and profitable business ventures.
May I be good stewards of all that You provide. Help me to not depend on money but only on You, Jehovah Jireh, my Provider. Don’t allow money to destroy my relationships through tension and disagreements.
Proverbs 3:9-10 Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty,And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Psalm 118:25 Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
Praying for financial wisdom
I pray that the greed of money would not entrap my heart but I will only hunger and thirst after You and Your righteousness. May I shrewdly use what You have provided for me.
Help me to remember that as I am blessed, I should bless others as well. Remind me to lend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate. In Jesus’ mighty name, I declare my financial breakthrough is here!! Amen.
Psalm 1:3 He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
Open my eyes today to job opportunities and profitable business ventures, Lord, Bless me today! Click To Tweet
I’m a young Christian, from South Trinidad, seeking the wisdom of the Word and God’s blessings on my life. A journey, that’s just begun, but living to the Glory of God.
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