Overseer Ed Chizeya - Fasting | Day 4 - 10 Days of Prayer & Fasting 2026 | FIFMI Sharjah

• What is Fasting and Why Fast? (3:56-6:00): The sermon delves into the core topic of fasting, posing the questions "What is fasting?" and "Why should we fast?"
• The 10 Days of Prayer as a Covenant (6:01-11:17): The "10 days of prayer" are presented not as a casual practice but as a covenant (7:07) established between God and His servant Ezekiel for the FIFMI family. This period is for seeking the Lord to be prepared for the new year, as each year is different (8:01). Preparation is key, much like a pregnant woman prepares for childbirth, anticipating what is to come (8:34).
• The Importance of Personal Change (10:18-11:49): The speaker emphasizes that for external circumstances to change, individuals must first change themselves and evolve into the image of Christ to experience new dimensions with God. He challenges the audience to consider their spiritual growth.
• Three Important Things During Fasting and Prayer (12:17-20:03):
1. Introspection (12:29): This involves looking within, taking accountability for shortcomings, dealing with hindrances to deeper experiences with God, and letting go of grievances against others. It's a season of cleansing.
2. The Word of God (14:12): During these 10 days, believers should "read the Bible like crazy" (14:26), even if they don't fully understand it, as the spirit is nourished. He uses an analogy of eating physical food without knowing its nutritional components, stating that the body processes it regardless, and similarly, the Word transforms you. He humorously contrasts eating everyday food with indulging in luxurious foods in Dubai, implying that spiritual diet also shows results (15:00-19:58).
3. Prayer Itself (20:04): Fasting is not just about abstaining from food but also from distractions (20:39-22:58), such as social media, Netflix, or malls. It's about disconnecting from pleasures to see and hear from God. He stresses that true prayer is deeply engaging, where the inner person takes over (23:18-24:02).
• Fasting as Saying "Only God Matters" (25:13-27:45): Fasting is defined as telling God that "only you matter now and nothing or no one else matters" (25:15). It's a reordering of priorities, placing God at the top.
• Biblical Reasons for Fasting: Burden (30:02-42:24):
• Nehemiah's Example (30:10-35:08): Nehemiah fasted and prayed because he had a burden (35:15) for his brethren and his country, despite being in a good position himself. This illustrates overcoming selfishness in prayer.
• Habakkuk and Malachi (36:45-40:02): These prophets had a burden for God's Word over their nation because they saw a discrepancy between God's promises and the reality on the ground. This burden drove them to seek the Lord.
• Praying for God's Burden (40:03-42:24): The speaker encourages believers to pray for God to give them His burden, which is a sense of responsibility for what is not going well in the church, family, or community. This burden prevents resting until God answers.
• Personal and Corporate Burden (42:30-49:03): The sermon touches on "black tax" (42:30), where individuals carry financial burdens for their families, urging them to take this burden to God. It extends to a burden for the church, questioning if it's still experiencing God's manifest presence as described in its history (44:26-48:38). He warns against becoming a "mechanical" denomination and desires a church where God's glory is readily manifest (49:09-49:33).
• Experiencing God's Power (49:34-55:10): The Overseer shares personal anecdotes of experiencing God's tangible presence, including a drunken man getting instantly delivered and speaking in tongues (49:34-50:52), and his own encounter with witches in a village where he was physically pinned but broke free by shouting the name of Jesus (51:00-55:10).
• Burden for Servants of God (55:11-57:53): He concludes by urging a burden for the church's leaders, like Father and Mother Ezekiel, who carry the weight of 175 nations, emphasizing that a lack of burden hinders prayer. He references 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 to illustrate the hardships faced by ministers like Paul.