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Fasting: Getting Serious with God
As Life Church launches its annual 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, Pastor Mirek Hufton delivers a compelling case for why fasting is one of the most powerful, and most neglected, tools in the Christian life. Drawing from Joel 2:12, Pastor Hufton defines fasting as deliberately abstaining from food for spiritual purposes, a act of humility that weakens the flesh so the spirit can rise. Using Matthew 17 as his anchor, he explains that when the disciples failed to cast out a demon, Jesus pointed to unbelief as the barrier, and fasting as the breakthrough. Fasting, he argues, doesn't change God; it changes us, raising the ceiling on our faith. The unforgettable illustration comes from Uganda, where Pastor Robert Kayanja's ministry faced devastating false accusations. Rather than collapse, the entire congregation fasted and prayed for a year, and emerged completely vindicated and more fruitful than ever. The bottom line: Fasting breaks through barriers that confession and prayer alone cannot penetrate. It's not a religious ritual, it's a weapon.
Related Sermons
Small Group Guide
Small Group Discussion Guide
"Fasting: Getting Serious with God"
Pastor Mirek Hufton
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Mirek opened the church's annual 21 days of prayer and fasting by making a compelling case for fasting as one of the most powerful and underused tools in the Christian life. He taught that fasting is not merely skipping meals but is a deliberate act of humbling the flesh so that the spirit can rise to a higher level of faith, sensitivity to God, and spiritual breakthrough. He challenged the congregation to enter the new year not content with where they are, but hungry — spiritually speaking — for everything God has for them in 2025.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
Joel 2:12
"Now, therefore, says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."
3. ICE BREAKER
What is one thing you have given up for a period of time — whether food, social media, a habit, or anything else — and what did you notice about yourself during that time?
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Pastor Mirek described fasting as "abstaining from food for spiritual purposes" and connected it directly to the act of denying yourself from Matthew 16:24. Why do you think self-denial is so difficult in today's culture, and how does that difficulty make fasting more meaningful rather than less?
2. He used the story of Ahab in 1 Kings 21 to show that even the most morally corrupt person, when they genuinely humble themselves before God, can move the heart of God. What does that story say to you personally about God's responsiveness to humility? Does it surprise you, or does it make you uncomfortable?
3. Pastor Mirek taught that fasting raises the ceiling on your faith — that unbelief acts as a barrier, and fasting pushes your spirit through it. In Matthew 17:19-21, the disciples could not cast out the demon, and Jesus pointed to unbelief as the reason. Have you ever sensed a ceiling in your prayer life or faith? What did that feel like, and what did you do about it?
4. He drew a clear connection between the condition of the flesh and the volume of the spirit, saying that when the body is weakened through fasting, the spirit becomes more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. How does Romans 8:10 — "if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness" — inform the way you think about the ongoing tension between flesh and spirit in your daily life?
5. Pastor Mirek shared stories from his own life where God directed him to do the very thing he did not want to do, and he connected that kind of difficult guidance to seasons of fasting and prayer. Has God ever asked you to do something you genuinely did not want to do? How did you recognize His voice, and how did you respond?
6. He closed by pointing toward what he called a "fasted life" — not just occasional extended fasts, but a daily posture of moderation, surrender, and openness to God. What would it look like practically in your week to move toward that kind of lifestyle, even in small ways?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
Before the end of this week, choose one specific and intentional act of fasting — whether it is skipping one meal and replacing that time with prayer, abstaining from social media for a full day, or committing to a partial fast on one particular day. Before beginning, write down one specific area of your life where you are asking God to raise the ceiling, and bring that written request with you to the next small group meeting to share what you experienced.
6. PRAYER POINTS
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Pray that each person in the group will approach the 21 days of prayer and fasting with genuine humility rather than religious routine, and that God will use this season to reveal areas of the heart that need cleansing and growth.
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Pray for heightened sensitivity to the Holy Spirit across the entire congregation, that barriers of unbelief will be broken down and that faith will rise to meet what God has prepared for the year ahead.
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Pray for those in the group who are facing situations that seem immovable — whether in health, family, finances, or calling — that this season of fasting and prayer will mark a genuine turning point and breakthrough in Jesus' name.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Romans 8:10
"If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness."
Daily Devotional
Your Spirit Is Alive — Let It Lead
Romans 8:10 — "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."
I want you to catch something powerful in this verse. It doesn't say your spirit is *living* — it says your spirit *is* life. That's Zoe life — the very life of God living inside you right now. Here's the tension though: your body doesn't automatically cooperate with what your spirit carries. Your flesh wants to run the show. It wants comfort, convenience, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. And honestly? It's loud. But here's what I've learned — the flesh isn't the boss of you unless you let it be. God has already positioned you in Christ. Positionally, that old nature is dead. The question is whether we're enforcing what God says is already true. This week, I want you to start seeing yourself the way God sees you — spirit first, flesh second. That shift changes everything.
Lord, thank You that Your life lives inside me right now. Help me to stop letting my flesh make decisions that belong to my spirit. I choose today to walk in who You say I am.
The Big Stick — Why Fasting Changes Everything
1 Corinthians 9:27 — "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
Paul wasn't playing games here. He knew that the body, left unchecked, will sabotage everything God is trying to do in your life. And the most powerful tool I know to bring the flesh under authority? Fasting. I like to call it Whack-a-Flesh. Because the moment you put food down and say, "Not today," something shifts. Your flesh throws a tantrum — and that's exactly when you find out who's in charge. Fasting isn't punishment. It's not a diet. It's a declaration. You're telling your body, your appetite, your cravings — you don't run this house anymore. I've fasted 21 days, 40 days. I've met men in Africa who fasted 70 days on nothing. Every time, the same result: the spirit rises and the flesh quiets down. This is a tool God gave us. It's time we picked it up.
Father, I want my spirit to lead and my flesh to follow — not the other way around. Give me the courage to fast and the faith to believe it's going to make a real difference in my life.
Breaking Through the Ceiling
Matthew 17:20–21 — "Because of your unbelief... this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
The disciples had tried everything. They prayed, they commanded, they believed — or thought they did. And the devil didn't budge. Jesus cut straight to it: unbelief. Not laziness, not wrong words — unbelief. And then He said something that still stops me in my tracks: *this kind* doesn't come out except by prayer and fasting. There are levels of breakthrough that prayer alone won't reach. There are ceilings on your faith that fasting is specifically designed to break. I've seen it in my own life — fighting that cancer attack, pushing through barriers in ministry. When I couldn't get past something, fasting was the thing that finally punched through. It's not about willpower. It's about positioning your spirit to receive what God already has for you. If you've been hitting a wall, I want you to consider — maybe it's time to fast your way through it.
Jesus, I don't want a ceiling on my faith. Show me what's holding me back and give me the hunger to fast and pray my way through every barrier in Jesus' name.
Positioning Yourself to Receive
James 5:15 — "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."
I've noticed something over years of ministry — there's often a positioning issue before a breakthrough issue. James quietly slips it in right there: *if he's committed sins, they'll be forgiven.* That tells me something had to be worked through first. I've sat with people on their way out of this world who should have been staying, and when I pressed in — gently, carefully — there was something undealt with. Pride. Hidden sin. An unresolved bitterness. And the Lord would say, *there's something here*. This isn't condemnation — God never heals through shame. But fasting creates space for honesty. When you stop feeding the body, the soul gets quiet enough to hear what God's been trying to say. That's where positioning happens. That's where alignment happens. And that's where breakthrough starts. Don't skip the inner work. It matters more than you know.
Lord, I want to be fully aligned with You — nothing hidden, nothing blocking what You want to do in my life. Search my heart today and show me anything I need to deal with. I trust You.
Living a Fasted Life — Not Just a Fasting Season
Romans 8:10 — "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."
I'll never forget what Brother Hagin said — that God spoke to him and said rather than extending long fasts occasionally, He'd rather we live a *fasted life*. That landed on me hard. Because it's easy to fast for 21 days in January and then spend the rest of the year making up for it. That's not what this is about. A fasted life means ongoing self-governance. It means you're consistently asking — does this habit, this appetite, this attitude line up with the Spirit inside me? It's not legalism. It's lordship. And I'll be honest with you — I'm challenging myself in 2025 to be more consistent and persistent in this. Not because God loves me more when I fast, but because I love *Him* more when my flesh isn't drowning out His voice. I want more of Him. Less of me. More of Him. That's the goal.
Father, I don't want the 21-day fast to be the highlight and then drift back to where I was. Help me build a life where You are first — every day, in every appetite, in every choice. More of You, Lord.