The theme for this year month of consecration prayer and fasting is "Answered Prayer" focusing on the verse found in Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
The purpose of fasting (prayer and fasting) is to calibrate (or recalibrate) our hearts and minds to the will and word of God, to increase sensitivity to discernment of the promptings and leading of the Holy Spirit. It increases joy, sharpens spiritual focus, renews zeal and tears down strongholds.
To calibrate something by definition means to standardize by determinining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors (webster's dictionary). It also means to adjust precisely for a particular function. Finally it means to measure precisely; especially to measure against a standard. In this definition we find terms such as standard, adjustment, correction, measurement and precision.
By way of definition we understand the intention is to further align ourselves to God's standard of the Word through the power of His spirit. The Spirit must dominate and have pre-eminence in our attitudes, thoughts, disposition and desires. The new birth does not eradicate or eliminate the sinful nature it will always be present with us until either death or the rapture. By nature the flesh (carnal or natural man) is not and cannot be aligned with God's will (Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.)
Therefore in this life the only way to conquer the flesh is through submission to the Spirit. The only scriptural method to bring the flesh into alignment is through submission to the will of God. The only biblical examples outlined are prayer and fasting. When the disciples asked Jesus why they could not cast out the demon that had possessed a young man Jesus said to them that it was because of their unbelief and that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed that they would be able to speak to a mountain and command it to move. He further states "...and nothing shall be impossible unto you...". However to achieve this kind of faith the requirements must be met and the LORD lets us know exactly what they are "...prayer and fasting." (see Matt. 17:15-21; Mk 9:17-29).
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
(Mar 9:17-29)
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