Day 15: Strength in the Spirit

Written By Jane Denney

Fasting reveals our weakness. However, fasting also reveals the strength of the Spirit within. By denying your flesh and focusing that hunger toward God, you are strengthening your relationship with the Holy Spirit. When the flesh is crucified, the Spirit speaks louder.

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Galatians 5:16-17 (NIV)

In “Fasting: The Key to Releasing God’s Power in Your Life,” author and teacher Derek Prince puts together three main points of fasting in the Christian life:

  1. The power of the Christian life is the Holy Spirit

  2. The flesh, our carnal nature, opposes the Holy Spirit

  3. Fasting is God’s appointed way to bring the carnal nature into subjection

Through self-denial, we recognize what controls us. We are able to see more clearly how little taste we have for sacrifice. 

Author Adele Ahlberg Calhoun of “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook” says it this way: “Our small denials of the self show us just how little taste we actually have for sacrifice or time with God. This truth is not meant to discourage us. It’s simply the first step in realizing that we have to lay down our life in order to find it again in God.”

In this state of denying our flesh, the spirit within us is strengthened; thus, we grow in greater intimacy with Him. 

Prayer

Lord, strengthen me to rely more on your Spirit and Word. Show me areas of my flesh that I need to crucify and surrender to you. I repent for trying to be the author of my life and not allowing you to do deep work within me. I give you my life. I trust you. I love you. Amen!

Join us for a 6-week online book study of Derek Prince’s “Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting” starting July 8, 2025. We will meet each week on Zoom from 5:00-6:30pm CT. The online book study will conclude on August 12, 2025.

We want to hear your fasting testimony! Email info@triumphofhope.com to share your story.

Previous Fasting Devotionals

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Day 15: Strength in the Spirit
Day 15: Strength in the Spirit

Fasting reveals our weakness. However, fasting also reveals the strength of the Spirit within. By denying your flesh and focusing that hunger toward God, you are strengthening your relationship with the Holy Spirit. When the flesh is crucified, the Spirit speaks louder.

Day 14: Fasting for Protection
Day 14: Fasting for Protection

 The Bible is full of testimonies of God’s protection on people and nations as a result of their humbling themselves through fasting. There is Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah, Jehosaphat, Paul, and many others—all used by God as conduits of divine protection because they trusted Him and fasted.

Day 13: Fasting to Regain the Edge
Day 13: Fasting to Regain the Edge

Nothing puts a sharp edge on prayer like fasting. In The Fasting Edge, Jentezen Franklin explains, “It happens to all of us. We keep going and going and before we realize it, we just don’t seem to be as effective at anything as we used to be…Has your passion for the Lord waned?…Have you grown weary of the same old routine at work?…More to the point, have you simply grown dull?

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Jane Denney
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Day 14: Fasting for Protection