This is a write up of the message from the December 2020 fasting and prayer weekend led by Pastor Praveen and held at our church. We had four sessions, Friday morning (posted here) and evening and Saturday morning and evening. During our fasting and prayer sessions, it is usual for the Holy Spirit to speak to us through Pastor Praveen. Sometimes, he shares insights into the scripture that the Holy Spirit provides to him through revelation. 

Introductory Remarks — Heavenly Language

God has given us heavenly languages. Don’t miss out. Praying in a heavenly language is not unproductive. It is productive, so don’t hold it back. Open your mouth and God will give you the words to say. We don’t create the words. But if you open your mouth, He will fill it with heavenly words that will come out like fire. 

Pastor Praveen said the Lord would provide another level of anointing this weekend for whoever was coming with a clean heart and a holy fear. He said that as we were worshiping or hearing the scripture, it would come upon us. God is always stretching out His hand to help His children – to bless, deliver, heal, and anoint them. That is His heart’s desire. He is standing at the right hand of the Lord 24/7 and interceding for us. He is living in us and wants to pray through us. We have to give Him this chance to pray for us, because we in ourselves do not have the ability to love or pray for our enemy. 

Not only can we not love our enemy, we also cannot love our neighbors or forgive without the Holy Spirit. If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we are only flesh. But once we are in Christ, we are a new creation. We do not want to think about the present or turn back to our past, because our calling is for God’s future plan and purpose. God is preparing a bright future for you and your children. 

Pastor Praveen’s Message – Listen to the Word and Obey

Purify Yourselves by Obeying the Truth

John 6:63 says, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are all spirit and [life].” (paraphrase)*. Furthermore, in John 15:3**, Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” 

Without cleansing and sanctification, we cannot please our God. Pastor Praveen posed the question, “As children of God, how can we receive cleansing from the Lord?” Not by listening or hearing only – there is a process. If you want to walk with the Lord in Spirit, you need cleansing each day. Then we can speak to God and he will speak back. Our forefathers fasted, wore sackcloth, sat on the ground and cried out. They confessed, repented, and surrendered before the Lord for cleansing and deliverance for their families and their nation. With cleansing and sanctification, God will hear our prayer. He will deliver us and honor us. 

Pastor Praveen described two instances recorded in the bible of the wrong kind of fasting and prayer. In the first, Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, declared a time of fasting and prayer. Her purpose was to bring false testimony against Naboth so that he would be killed. Then Ahab could take possession of Naboth’s vineyard. Therefore, God sent Elijah to tell Ahab about the judgement that would come upon him and his family (1 Kings 21). 

In the second instance, David, a man after God’s own heart, took someone else’s wife in adultery and murdered her husband. When the woman conceived and had a child, the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to say the child would die. David fasted and prayed for the child for seven days. Nevertheless, the child died. For correct fasting and prayer, there are conditions. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are all spirit and [life].” (John 6:63; paraphrase)*. We cannot use fasting and prayer in support of our misdeeds. That would be a very dangerous game. 

We saw from John 15:3 that there is cleansing through the word of God. In addition, 1 Peter 1:22 says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” There is revelation in what Peter said. It is not enough just to hear the word. But if you obey the word, the purification process will automatically start. 

You must obey the Spirit of truth. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6a). He also said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the truth.” (John 16:13; paraphrase). There are some who are not receiving healing, deliverance, and blessing. They are good listeners and good readers, but they are not obeying the truth. That is the only reason they are not receiving anything from the hands of God. If you believe and obey, the word will cleanse you from head to toe. Then you will automatically produce extraordinary fruit in your life.

Sometimes when Pastor Praveen preaches internationally, even before he prays for healing, the people receive it. God heals and delivers them and fills them with the Spirit because they not only listen to the word, but they believe and obey. They are obeying the truth. Who is the truth? Jesus – the one who is holding the key of David. When you are purified by obeying the truth, your mind becomes the mind of Jesus. Your eyes become the eyes of Jesus. Your voice becomes the voice of Jesus. Your compassion, kindness, everything becomes that of Jesus. Then, we become able to pray for our enemies and forgive one another. 

According to 1 Peter 1:22, when you obey the truth you will have sincere love for one another. This is the next step in the process. What kind of sincere love? The love of Jesus – the one who died for us on the cross. What do we need to do? Love one another deeply from the heart. But the process starts with obeying the truth. Then you will become clothed with His light. The enemy cannot not see you or touch you when you are clothed with His power. You will be walking with the light of the world. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” But in Matthew 5:14 He said, “You are the light of the world.” This is true because we are His children. 

What happens if you disobey? You know what happened in the Garden. In the first watch of the night, the Lord appeared in the Garden, “Adam, where are you?” Adam answered, “I heard you in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. I lost my light. That is why I am hiding. I’m not worthy to stand before you, Lord. You clothed me with your glory. I lost your glory because I was disobedient.” (Genesis 3:8-10; paraphrase). Because they disobeyed the truth, they lost everything. 

This morning, if God were to call our names like he called Adam’s, what would we do? Many families are losing their spiritual life. If we lose our spiritual life, we will lose our family because our God is a mighty protector. If He will not protect our families, we will lose everything. We don’t have the knowledge and wisdom to protect our families by ourselves. Many families have become naked – they have no peace, joy, or hope. No unity. Why? Because they disobeyed the truth. 

Consider Exodus 34:1: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.’” Pastor Praveen asked whether anyone had broken God’s word in their lives. Has anyone broken His love? Maybe by disobedience? Although this was not the main point of Pastor Praveen’s message, God told Pastor Praveen to ask. Notice that the Lord chiseled out the first two stone tables and wrote on them. But Moses broke those. Then God told him, “You chisel them out. That’s your responsibility, because you broke them.” (Exodus 34:1; paraphrase). He loved us first. But if you have lost His love in your life, God is asking you to go close to Him this morning and He will inscribe something new in your life. He is a gracious and long-suffering God. 

Come to God as a Living Sacrifice

After God told Moses to chisel out the tablets, He said, “Be ready in the morning, and then come up on the mountain. But I don’t want to see anyone with you. No one should come with you – not even animals.” (Exodus 34:2-3; paraphrase). That is the way the children of God worship Him – early in the morning, as our forefathers did. Don’t bring anything with you while you are in the presence of God. Remove everything, forgive everything. Make your heart and mind clean. Give your heart like an offering, a living sacrifice. Then He will speak to you. 

Moses fasted for 40 days on the mountain. He was speaking to God and God was speaking to him. Each day, Moses was receiving purification for another level of ministry. He needed this because the Israelites were a stiff necked people. It would be very hard to take them to the Promised Land. They wanted to fight against Moses and God. God knew this and so he was helping Moses to prepare. God is a mighty helper. 

Moses went up the mountain by himself, a living sacrifice. He was listening every day. He underwent a transformation. His thoughts, mind, and attitudes were changing daily – a great process. He wasn’t even aware of what was happening to him in the presence of the Lord. He received this transformation because he had obeyed what he heard from the Lord. He went alone, early in the morning up on Mount Sinai with a holy fear. 

This is how we need to come to the Lord – with a holy fear, a holy mind, and a holy heart. Then we will shine. The shine will come upon you and your family. You will be clothed with His light. Even your relatives and friends will not recognize you. Maybe they will not be able to look at your face because of the shining light. 

Remember, Moses chiseled out two tablets. What he broke, he chiseled. Then God began to write – by the finger of God, by the fire of God, by the Spirit of God. God gave Pastor Praveen a revelation about the ten commandments. The first four are about how we relate to God. That is the first tablet. The second tablet is about our relationships with other humans. If the first four commandments are not in our hearts, how can we obey the commandments related to man? When the first four are in our hearts, it will be easy to follow the remaining six related to people. 

And so, a great process unfolded on Mount Sinai during Moses’ time of fasting and prayer. When he descended the mountain, he was not aware that his face was radiant. He was brighter than bright. The radiation was coming from his face and his body because the Light of the World was in him. When he went up the mountain, he was alone. When he came down, he was not alone. He was with God – clothed with the Light. 

The Israelites saw Moses and ran, even his own brother, Aaron. “What happened Moses?” they asked (Exodus 34:29-35; paraphrase). If we obey God’s word, He will transform us also. It will not happen if we only listen or read the word – even 20 chapters a day. One chapter or one scripture would be better – if you also obey. When He transforms you, no one will be able to touch you or your children. Demons will scream because you will not be alone. You will be clothed with His light and power. 

God loves everybody. We are all children of God. Rich or poor, unschooled or educated, whatever nationality – it doesn’t matter. God loves you. He has no favoritism. Pastor Praveen said that during this fasting and prayer weekend, God wants to clothe us with His light. Whoever is standing against us or seeking to distract us will flee from us because of the great transformation that will happen. God will bring us out of the enemy’s plan. Chains will be broken. God will clothe us with His light and power. The enemy will flee from us, and from our church and community. 

Concluding Remarks

Seek God with an Innocent Heart

Nehemiah fasted and prayed to the Lord with an innocent heart. His heart was perfect before the Lord. After praying, he oversaw the building of the wall around Jerusalem. We also can build our family, community, church, and cities if we fast and pray and cry to the Lord with an innocent heart – a sincere perfect heart.

We must read the bible every day. It doesn’t matter how many chapters. What matters is, “What did you learn.” Pastor Praveen has been reading Matthew chapter 2. He has spent three hours on this so far and is not finished.  

Smart People Seek God

What does it mean to be “smart?” People who are smart, or wise, seek the Lord. The word of God is the wisdom of God. If the word of God is in you, you are wise. Remember, the wise men saw an extraordinary star – and followed it (Matthew 2:1-11). The foolish people did not recognize that it was an extraordinary star. But the wise men found baby Jesus. If our Jesus is a superstar, who are we? We are stars in Jesus – the children of the superstar. 

**The text of John 6:63 is “spirit and life,” but Pastor Praveen said “spirit and truth” in his sermon. The concept of life and truth are closely connected and associated with both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit (see John 1:1-14, John 6:63, John 14:6, and John 16:13).

**All scripture references are from the NIV unless otherwise indicated.