Fasting for Breakthrough and Deliverance

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

IN THE BIBLE sadness and depression are related to a spirit of heaviness. Manifestations of this spirit include despondency, despair, discouragement, and hopelessness. There are multitudes of people who suffer from bouts of depression. Many of them are being medicated. Going in and out of depression is a sign of double-mindedness. This also includes withdrawal and isolation. Depression is at an all-time high. There are many people being treated for manic depression (bipolar). This can even drive people to hopelessness and suicide. Depression can cause a person to desire to escape, which can lead to sleepiness and abusing alcohol and drugs.

Fasting will cause the joy and the presence of the Lord to return to your life (Mark 2:20). The presence of the bridegroom causes joy. Weddings are filled with joy and celebration. When a believer loses joy and the presence of the Lord, he or she needs to fast. Fasting causes the joy and presence of the Lord to return. No believer can live a victorious life without the presence of the Bridegroom. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8:10).

I have studied the subject of fasting, and I have also studied the belly (gut). Since fasting is connected with the belly, gut, and the stomach, there must be something about fasting that affects our gut in a positive way.

In Scripture the belly can be consumed with grief, and can be a symbol of defeat and shame. We know the belly can be affected by stress, anxiety, and worry. I have also learned that we often lay hands on a person’s stomach when doing deliverance. Spirits of fear and lust often reside in this area as well.

The connection between the digestive system and the central nervous system, consisting of the brain and the spinal cord, is well known. Here’s what Harvard Medical School said about the gut-brain connection:

Have you ever had a “gut-wrenching” experience? Do certain situations make you “feel nauseous”? Have you ever felt “butterflies” in your stomach? We use these expressions for a reason. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation —all of these feelings (and others) can trigger symptoms in the gut.

The brain has a direct effect on the stomach. For example, the very thought of eating can release the stomach’s juices before food gets there. This connection goes both ways. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. Therefore, a person’s stomach or intestinal distress can be the cause or the product of anxiety, stress, or depression. That’s because the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system are intimately connected—so intimately that they should be viewed as one system.¹

“Have you ever had that familiar feeling of ‘butterflies’ in the stomach?” Scientific American asks. “Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our ‘second brain.’”

I believe fasting helps our gut, and in turn helps our emotions and brain. Fasting will help you think clearer and help you overcome depression, sadness, grief, confusion, stress, worry, and anxiety.

Are you loosed in your emotions? The emotions are a part of the soul along with the will and the mind. There are many people bound and blocked in their emotions. Spirits of hurt, rejection, anger, broken heart, grief, sadness, hatred, bitterness, and rage can occupy the emotions, causing emotional pain.

Your emotions were created by God to express joy and sorrow. Both should be natural responses to different situations. The enemy, however, comes in to cause extremes in the emotional realm and even blockage whereby a person is unable to express the proper emotions. Emotional pain and bondage can come as a result of traumatic experiences of the past, including rape, incest, abuse, death of a loved one, war, tragedies, rejection, abandonment, accidents, etc.

You can be free from unchecked, unpredictable, and fluctuating emotions. Ask the Lord to bring you balance and self-control in this area. Let’s pray.

I rebuke and cast out any spirit that would attempt to oppress me in the name of Jesus.

Jesus, You went about doing good and healing all those oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38).

I strip all power from spirits that would oppress me (Eccles. 4:1).

I rebuke and cast out all spirits of poverty that would oppress me (Eccles. 5:8).

I rebuke all spirits of madness and confusion that would attempt to oppress my mind in the name of Jesus (Eccles. 7:7).

O Lord, undertake for me against all my oppressors (Isa. 38:14).

Lord, You are my refuge from the oppressor (Ps. 9:9).

Deliver me from the wicked that would oppress me and from my deadly enemies that would surround me (Ps. 17:9).

Deliver me from oppressors that seek after my soul (Ps. 54:3).

Break in pieces the oppressor (Ps. 72:4).

I rebuke and cast out all spirits of affliction, sorrow, and anything attempting to bring me low in the name of Jesus (Ps. 107:39).

Leave me not to my oppressors (Ps. 119:121).

Let not the proud oppress me (Ps. 119:122).

Deliver me from the oppression of men (Ps. 119:134).

I rule over my oppressors (Ps. 14:2).

Let the oppressors be consumed out of the land (Isa. 16:4).

I rebuke the voice of the oppressor in the name of Jesus (Ps. 55:3).

I am established in righteousness, and I am far from oppression (Isa. 54:14).

Punish those who attempt to oppress me (Jer. 30:20).

The enemy will not take my inheritance through oppression (Ezek. 46:18).

Execute judgment against my oppressors (Ps. 146:7).

My life is good and my days are good because I keep my tongue from evil.

I hate evil, I do good, and I seek after peace.

I commit my life to peace and prosperity.

I will live in peace, I will walk in peace, and I will seek peace.

Jesus is my peace.

Jesus is my Jehovah Shalom, my prosperity and my peace.

I will walk in peace all the days of my life.

I will see good, I will love life, and I will have many good days.

I am blessed and prosperous, because I am a peaceable person.