**Without holiness, no one will find God**

This practice of praying and fasting is for those who are born again, who don't walk in sin and live a life of holiness.

Unless you're going to pray and fast in order to find God, to seek the Lord's face, to repent of your sins.

Why did Jesus, being perfect, without sin, go into the desert and fast for forty days?

Jesus had no sin to confess. He didn't need repentance. He didn't need to fast because He was spiritually empty.

Scripture says that after being baptized in the Jordan, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. And He was led by the Spirit into the desert. *"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him"* (Matthew 3:16). *"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil"* (Matthew 4:1).

There a phase of deep consecration begins.

Jesus fasted for forty days. *"And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred"* (Matthew 4:2). And after leaving the desert, He began His ministry in the power of the Spirit: *"And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee"* (Luke 4:14).

Look at the phases of Jesus' life:

First: the Jordan. Jesus is baptized.

Then: the Holy Spirit descends upon Him. Jesus is full of the Spirit.

Then: the desert. Jesus fasts and faces temptation.

Then: the ministry. Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus is our model for the Christian life. If we want to imitate Him, we need to learn from His spiritual discipline: prayer, fasting, obedience, the Word, and consecration. *"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps"* (1 Peter 2:21).

So I ask:

Is it possible to pray without fasting? Yes.

Should we pray continually? Yes. *"Pray without ceasing"* (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Does fasting replace prayer? No.

But prayer and fasting walk together as practices of consecration before God.

We shouldn't think of fasting as a formula to force God to give us power. Power comes from God. The Holy Spirit is received by God's grace, not purchased through our fasting. *"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts"* (Zechariah 4:6).

But fasting helps us deny the flesh, discipline our desires, seek God with greater intensity, and bring our spirit into submission to God's will.

That's why we need to be careful about a life where we only want to receive, receive, and receive, but never want to deny ourselves. *"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me"* (Luke 9:23).

There are people who want the power, but don't want the desert.

They want the anointing, but don't want the discipline.

They want spiritual authority, but don't want to give up what feeds the flesh.

They want spiritual results without a life of consecration.

And here I'm not saying that eating meat is sin. No! Everything God created to be received with gratitude is good. *"For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving"* (1 Timothy 4:4).

The problem isn't the food.

The problem is when food dominates you.

When a person can't deny themselves even for a period of time.

When the desires of the flesh govern spiritual life. *"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other"* (Galatians 5:17).

That's why we need to learn from Jesus.

Jesus showed that a life full of the Spirit is also a life of discipline, prayer, fasting, obedience, and total dependence on the Father.

We don't seek fasting to replace the Holy Spirit. We seek God through fasting.

And when God calls us into the desert, it doesn't mean He has abandoned us.

Sometimes the desert is exactly the place where God prepares a person for what comes next.

Before public manifestation, there is secret preparation.

Before power is manifested in ministry, there is a life surrendered before God.

Jesus came out of the desert and began to manifest the power of the Spirit.

And we too need to ask:

Are we only full of knowledge about God, or are we living a life truly consecrated to God? *"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power"* (1 Corinthians 4:20).

*Remember that the Word of God is a statute.*