Breaking Through to Higher Places

Back in March of 2002, a local pastor asked me to teach a class on the Fruit of the Spirit at a prayer conference planned for May. I was thrilled, because I love teaching and encouraging women to grow in their walk with the Lord. I love going to a scripture passage and totally taking it apart and find some deeper truth I haven’t seen before. I thought this subject would be just perfect since there were so many different avenues you could take with it. I had only spoken in front of a group of women twice before, and I loved every minute of it, so I was jumping out of my skin to do this until… About a week or two later the pastor called me and told me she had changed my topic, and I would be teaching on fasting. I said, “Okay,” but had this gigantic gulp in my throat and sheer panic was setting in. I had not practiced fasting consistently. How in the world was I going to be able to teach something that I myself hadn’t done? How could I do this without feeling like the biggest hypocrite? I was about to pick up the phone and call her back, but the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “If you do this, I will teach you what you need to know.” I wish I could say I immediately said, “Yes, Lord,” but I can’t. I had to chew on it for a couple of days before I was ready to trust and commit to His provision and promise. I kept battling with my own selfish desires to get up and teach. I had dreams of speaking to different women’s groups. This was my chance. Who could know when another opportunity was going to come my way? And this might just be a door opening for more speaking or teaching engagements in the future. But then, I had to deal with the fact that I couldn’t successfully teach on something that I had not been doing in my own spiritual journey. I had to deal with my integrity issue and how guilty I would feel acting like I knew something I didn’t. Sure, I did fast a couple of times, but usually it was a church thing, and I wasn’t fully committed. And there was that one time…sigh. Through my days of praying and trying to talk myself out of this, the Lord reminded me that the pastor who asked me to teach had called all the teachers, helpers, and speakers to a month-long fast. Every day we would pray for a specific teacher or speaker and follow the particular fast set for the day. I was still thinking, “How in the world is the Lord going to work this out?” but I decided to trust Him. I’ve always loved a good challenge. And besides what could it hurt? The very first day of the fast and the eight days following it, God was true to His word and gave me one spiritual key to successful fasting for spiritual breakthrough for each day. It was amazing! I did not expect Him to move so fast, and what would take place in my own journey with Him would change my life forever.