Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: I will turn to you and get back in that position of repentance again. This is not an invitation; this is a command from the throne of eternity. God does not suggest fasting; He commands it because He knows what it unlocks. He knows what breaks when a man lays down his bread and picks up his cross.

Now, is it a commandment in scripture? No, we don't see that. But we also don't see that it's a suggestion unless you think this is a suggestion when Jesus said, "When you pray, when you give, and when you fast."

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the second and final part of this brave, bold message from Pastor Shane titled, What The Devil Fears Most: Prevailing Prayer.

Theologian A.W. Tozer once said, "Prayer is indeed more than simply asking for things. It is a deeper encounter with God that aligns our hearts with His will and draws on His strength for life's challenges." Listen now as Pastor Shane brings hope through the truth of God's living word. Free yourself from Satan's grip today here on Regaining Lost Ground.

You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: It will cost them their life. Jesus is gone. We're going to die. But there's nothing they can do. What are you going to do against an angel who rolls back a stone? He appears as light and they are just completely taken back. You can't fight against that. What army can defeat an angel? Nobody. God sent one angel to defeat an entire Assyrian army of 185,000. God sent His death angel and wiped them out. This is a spiritual battle.

He's going to kill himself. He probably had a sword out, but Paul said, "Hey, hold on. Don't kill yourself. We are all here." And so the jailer ran, got a light, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved?"

They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your whole household." Over the years, I've heard people say that Paul didn't really give a full gospel message here because he didn't talk about repentance. I want to talk about that for a minute because it was obvious that repentance had already occurred.

The man was broken and humble. He said, "I need this true and living God. I need God. What must I do to be saved?" Repentance had occurred, and they said, "Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." That word "believe" means to trust and commit oneself completely to, 100% committal. "I believe in this Jesus you've been talking about." And that's how a person is saved.

That's actually the most important question of your life. I don't know where you're at this morning. I can't keep track of everybody. We have a whole new group of people every single Sunday coming in and out and listening on radio and watching online. You have to think about that. This is the most important question of your life ever: what must I do to be saved? Tell me a question that's even close to that.

You need to deal with that depending on where your heart is at this morning. I don't know, but God knows. I do know this: if you don't like what I'm talking about, it's because you need to hear what I'm talking about. What must I do to be saved? Romans says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. That is key because He is the Savior. He paid the price for sin. God raised Him from the dead.

What other leader has been raised from the dead? For Buddha, the tomb is still there. Hare Krishna, even Muhammad. There is no empty tomb other than with Jesus Christ. If you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes in Jesus, therefore it leads to righteousness, right standing before God. And with my mouth I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that leads to salvation.

You have to believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and that you need Jesus. That's the point of it. This isn't some myth or some fairy tale. There was a cross. There was a death on a cross that happened because of sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You believe in that sacrifice and you believe in the blood.

Just like that song we sing, whoever puts the blood on the doorpost is saved and the death angel passed over. When the death angel saw the blood—that is such a powerful verse—"I will pass over the house with the blood on it." That's why they celebrate the Passover. You have to put the blood on it. Nothing else can save you or set you free.

Acts continues: then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in the house. The jailer runs to them, washes them, and gets the chains off. It looks like he took them back to his house briefly. That's a little risky, but that's what it looks like he did. They shared the gospel with the jailer and he washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Paul probably said, "We are being persecuted because we preach Jesus. I was a persecutor of Jesus." Paul actually killed Christians. He thought he was doing God a favor. He just hated the message of the cross until Jesus woke him up. Jesus will knock you off your high horse.

He's riding along to Damascus and he falls down. There is a blinding light. He says, "Lord, Lord, what must I do?" He said, "Saul, Saul, actually, why are you persecuting me?" "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute." And he became a follower that day.

He probably shares that story, and this is the only name that saves. Paul pulled in some Old Testament imagery: the shedding of blood, bulls and goats and rams, and how God made a covenant with Abraham. Can you imagine the knowledge of a former Pharisee? He shares this with them and then the whole family believes. It's not that when one person believes a whole family is going to believe automatically, but often when the father believes, the percentage is high.

It is a really high percentage. It is a 90% chance the family will fall in and become believers. When the woman does it, it's there but it's much lower. Fathers, you should lead the way in worship. You should lead the way in devotion to the Lord and repentance. Even if your wife is spiritually fit, catch up. Catch up and follow and lead. That's what you're called to do.

That's actually your primary calling. You might say you're the breadwinner. That's great, but you need to be the bread-follower first. Out of that relationship comes everything else. Let them see you at the altar. Let them see you initiating prayer. Let them see you turning off the Dodgers and putting on worship. Let them see the father seeking hard after God. That's how the family falls into order. Put that into order first.

The jailer began to feed them and he rejoiced. The literal translation in your Bible says he was filled with joy. I want to throw this out there: if you think you're a Christian—and maybe you are and maybe it's a hard season—but if there are not seasons of joy, you might want to check your commitment to Christ.

That is a byproduct of being filled with the Spirit. When you're filled, there's love and joy and peace and contentment and gentleness and kindness. It's not all the time. I have those opposing feelings sometimes, days without joy and love. I'm kind of upset and ticked off. It's not that you always live in euphoria and walking on clouds. That's not true either.

As you prevail in prayer and as you seek the Lord, those things, those fruits of the Spirit, are byproducts of that relationship with the Lord. That leads to the second most important question, especially for believers: are you filled with the Spirit of God? And are you prevailing in prayer?

Did you know they go together? Prayer is the heartbeat of the Christian. When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live. E.M. Bounds said that. When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live. That's why prayer is the hardest thing for many of us.

I've said this before: if I said, "Next Sunday, I'm not preaching, we're just having a prayer and worship service," we'd have half attendance. Can I just be honest? I've tried that before. Why is that? It is the motivation. I could say, "Guess who's a friend of mine? Shohei Ohtani. He's going to be here next Sunday signing." You'd be sleeping out front. Wouldn't they, George?

What's the difference? Motivation. What's motivating the heartbeat of the Christian? I know prayer stuff is tough for me. Anything in the Christian walk worth doing and doing well, the spiritual warfare and the weapons of our warfare, are going to be difficult to do. That's why they're hard. Just like the physical realm, everything that's important is hard to do.

The big talk right now is insulin resistance and weight loss. The best thing is to stop eating after 4:00. Have you ever tried that? Just stop eating after 4:00. That's hard. Snacking's not hard. All the things that are so important to do are very difficult. So the most important question you can ask this morning as a believer: are you filled mightily with the Spirit of God? Are you prevailing in prayer?

What the devil fears most is prevailing prayer. Prayer that lays hold of God. Prayer that says, "Lord, I'm not letting go until You answer it." Of course you have to go to work and do things, but I'm going to focus on prayer. I'm going to focus on my prodigals. I'm going to focus on these things and God, I'm just going to press in like never before. I'm not going to give up until You tell me this is over.

The old saints used to call it prevailing in prayer, laboring in prayer, or travailing in prayer. "I lay hold of God and God answers" because they knew they'd spent time with the Father. We've got to get back to that position of prayer in our lives, especially prevailing prayer. Some strongholds have been cemented in your heart for years. There are some things that may not break until a dedicated season of prayer and fasting joins the battle.

It's an interesting topic because we don't want to hear about fasting anymore. But it's a lost spiritual discipline. The early church had it all and talked about it a lot. The early church fathers practiced it: Augustine, Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Irenaeus, and Ignatius. Then you go into the Reformers: Wycliffe, John Huss, and William Tyndale. Martin Luther fasted for the German translation of the Bible.

Then you get in the First Awakening with Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards. Edwards' famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," came when he was on a three-day fast. Revival broke out because men and women decided to put in a season of prayer and fasting. The Second Great Awakening started with prayer and fasting. The prayer meeting in New York that grew to thousands of people started when they said, "Let's not eat lunch at 12:00. Let's meet and pray."

If you truly want breakthrough, you're going to have to tell King Stomach to get off the throne for a season. The Bible says their god has become their belly. I know it's a difficult topic for many, but as you know me, I don't shy away from what we need to hear because that's where breakthrough comes. When we talk about what we don't want to hear, that's when breakthrough comes.

When you come in with smooth words that tickle the ear but don't challenge the heart, you rarely see change. A full man does not cry out to God. We must stop eating at the table of defeat. The early church called it the discipline of the empty table. The first battlefield to conquer is self.

I'm whetting your appetite for part two of this on prevailing prayer, where we'll talk more about prayer and fasting. The reason is the stomach is the gate to the soul. Satan tried to get Jesus to break His fast with food, not fame. He didn't go to Him and say, "Bow to me and you'll be over all the cities of the world." What did he come to Him with first? "Take these stones and turn them into bread." He hit a heart spot.

I'm going to read something from the handout. The title is "The Weapon You Have Never Drawn" by Order Without Name. I will tell you this upfront: it stirred the hornet's nest a little bit. Not everybody likes what I'm about to tell you. It hurts before it helps, and it's true. It's absolutely true.

"There is a weapon you carry that has never been drawn. It sits rusted inside of you, buried beneath comfort, beneath habit, beneath every lie your body has told your spirit. And the enemy knows it is there. He has always known. That is why he fills your hands. That is why he fills your mouth. That is why every hour of your waking life, something is being placed between your teeth."

"Food, distraction, noise, pleasure; anything to keep you fed, anything to keep you full because a full man does not cry out to God. A full man does not fall to his knees. A full man has no need to reach for heaven because his belly has become his throne and his comfort has become his altar. And so the enemy does not attack you with famine, he attacks you with feast."

"You have been eating at the table of your own defeat and you have called it rest. You have walked through the wreckage of your lack of discipline and called it peace. But heaven sees a man asleep in his armor. Heaven sees a sword still sheathed while the war rages outside the walls."

"And now the voice of the Almighty God cuts through the silence like the edge of a blade pulled from the fire. Now therefore, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. And it says turn to me with all your heart, the Lord says, and I will turn to you and get back in that position of repentance again."

"This is not an invitation; this is a command from the throne of eternity. God does not suggest fasting, He commands it because He knows what it unlocks. He knows what breaks when a man lays down his bread and picks up his cross."

Now, is it a commandment in scripture? No, we don't see that. But we also don't see that it's a suggestion unless you think this is a suggestion when Jesus said, "When you pray, when you give, and when you fast." Jesus assumed. He didn't say "if," He said "when" you do these things. It's not just a suggestion; it's an invitation to go deep with your Savior.

Jesus could have got up one morning and said, "Okay, alright, time to start my ministry." Is that what happened? No, He was baptized by John. The Father spoke and said, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." The Spirit of God descended upon Him as a dove, and He was led by the Spirit.

There's a spiritual power and authority that took place when He submitted to the will of the Father. I will submit to you that the same thing can happen to believers when they humble themselves and submit and make prayer and fasting part of their discipline.

Well, how often? What type? That's between you and the Lord. Praise God. I've got suggestions. You can download the books that I wrote or grab some on your way out for free on fasting. But the Bible talks about the Hebrew word for fasting, which is to shut the mouth. I hurt feelings when I say this, but I'm just being true to scripture.

If God has you on a Daniel fast, go for it. But it's not a fast if you want to drink a whole bunch of juice, a juice feast. That's great and God blesses it, don't get me wrong. But fasting is shutting the mouth. Don't take anything. Do 12 hours, 16, or 24; do whatever God leads you to do. But it's so rewarding if you don't do it because of legalism but just wisdom.

Most of us will be okay without a little bit of food. Do you know what fat is? Fat is stored energy. The body says, "Okay, I'm putting this on because we're going to use it later." And we don't use it later. That's how we were designed.

When you fast, your body says, "Where am I going to get my energy? Oh, I know. I'm going to break down the fat," called ketone bodies. Just fast. That's how we were designed. I don't think fasting hurts us as much as feasting. Many of your diseases could be really curtailed through fasting.

Something also happens during fasting called autophagy. It's a Latin word for self-consuming or eating self. It begins to break down tumors, dead proteins, and things your body doesn't need anymore. You're so well-designed. You're designed by a Creator. It goes after those things for fuel. Not your heart, not your liver, not your kidney. That's starvation, and that kicks in a long time later.

You were designed to do the very thing that God has called us to do. There's power in that and spiritual benefits. Use wisdom. Know what you're doing. But don't run from it. Some of you might need to, like nursing moms or those who don't have a lot of extra resources or have kidney issues. You have to use wisdom.

There's nothing wrong with dedicating a season to prayer and fasting. You'll find out just how strong the stronghold is when you start going a few hours. I'll challenge many of you tomorrow morning: wake up and just have water instead of coffee and you'll see just how strong the stronghold is. "I've got to have my Christian crack. I've got to have my Christian crack." That's a stronghold.

Let's be honest. Nobody wants to talk about it and they get mad at me when I do. But that's what a stronghold is. It's got a strong hold. "I have to have it." I've been convicted. If I have to have something before Jesus, maybe I need a season of prayer and fasting because I've got to break that stronghold.

Guest (Male): Hello, this is Pastor Shane Idleman. I want to tell you about a new booklet I just released titled, The Dark Night Of The Soul. This book came from a very challenging season in my own personal life. Dark seasons reveal what we actually believe, not just what we say we believe.

The phrase "The Dark Night Of The Soul" captures a moment we all dread. It's the moment when the floor drops out from underneath us and we realize that we are not in control, and we come face to face with something we cannot fix. Time and time again, God demonstrates that what appears to be the end of something is actually only the beginning.

So again, I want to encourage you to take time today and download my new booklet, The Dark Night Of The Soul, for free right now at westsidechristianfellowship.org. Again, download it for free at westsidechristianfellowship.org. It is on Amazon, but we're encouraging people to go to our church website where they can actually download the booklet for free, the PDF, and share it with friends and family at westsidechristianfellowship.org.

Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily: times change, truth does not.