I remember several years ago when two of my very closest friends were making some major wrong turns in their spiritual walk.  Both were my assistants for my home group for youth and it was breaking my heart.  I made a decision to fast until both were back on track or until 40 days came.  I felt a sense of urgency in my heart and saw it as an opportunity to wage spiritual warfare. I had prayed and didn't see any rays of hope and felt like desperate times called for desperate measures.

Within in the first week, one of my friends repented and stopped compromising.  My other friend however was pushing me to my limits.  My friend had a powerful testimony of how God rescued him from a gang lifestyle but had went back to drinking and other crazy stuff.  I hated how the enemy was like a lion shredding him to pieces.  But finally, after about 3 weeks intense prayer, he got back on track in seeking the Lord.

I know that God can answer our prayer yes, no, or wait and the same is true when we fast and pray.  There is nothing we could ever do to force God's hand behind his back and make him do what we want.  Ultimately our heart should desire to be led by Spirit in our prayers so that we are praying for things that our in alignment with the heart of God.

However, sometimes there is war in the spiritual realms that we probably could never understand.    And when we withhold from our physical bodies foods and we intensify our prayer focus and time with the Lord and His Word, we become more alert to this cosmic battle between good and evil.

A great example of this in the Bible is found in Daniel chapter 10.  In verses 2 and 3 Daniel says,  “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.” Daniel 10:2-3   Fasting is a great way to humble ourselves before the Lord when we are broken and "mourning."   Daniel went without choice foods, meat and wine for three weeks.  At the end of the three weeks an angel appears to him and says that he had been sent from the first day he had started to pray but that a 21 day battle in the heavenly realms between a top demon (demonic prince of Persia) and Michael (on of the chief princes).

Sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures.  Perhaps some of us need to fast for our children, businesses, unsaved friends and family, our neighborhoods, ministries, and more.  What often happens in the process is ultimately God deals with us first.  In the process he points out areas that we need to work on and often he moves and works in unexpected ways in our areas of need.  But I would challenge you to begin to pray and prepare your heart for what God would have you do.  If he leads you to do an extended fast it is always wise to read resources on fasting to get prepare you spiritually as well as physically.  While I don't agree with everything Jentezen Franklin says, he has been a great mobilizer in leading people in fasting and has some great words of encouragement that I would recommend to everyone.  You can watch some short 2 minute video clips and get some frequently asked questions answered at http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/fasting/ .

While my two friends have had some ups and downs over the last decade, I was real encouraged to hear about one of them who is currently living in Texas and has a family and helps serve in the children's ministry in his local church.  Sometimes the seeds planted take a while to grow to their full potential.  Don't get discouraged and keep planting seeds and raise the intensity up a few notches in your prayer life by adding a fast.  Greater breakthroughs can happen when you mix prayer and fasting.