Dependence on God
However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 17:21 (NKJV)
The kind of power that is released from your faith only comes from disciplines that make you dependent on God. I’m talking about prayer and fasting. These are surrendering disciplines. They reveal how dependent you are on Christ. You must come to a firm and fixed understanding that overcoming the difficulties in life doesn’t just happen because you are close to Jesus or because you love Him.
The overcoming is only going to happen when you depend on Him to give you power to make changes in your life. In order for you to embrace wholeness, you are going to need Him to release power.
Don't confuse closeness with dependence. Dependence on God is where the transfer of spiritual power comes from. Closeness can give us reminders of God’s power, but dependence gives us access to it. Closeness to God gives us proximity, and allows us to see the examples and to learn the disciplines, but only dependence on God gives access to the release of spiritual power. Only dependence on God releases His strength in our human weakness. Only dependence on God keeps us from becoming conceited. Only dependence on God keeps us living convicted that His grace is sufficient.
Don't become excessively comfortable because you wake up close to God or because you love to read about His character or because you enjoy talking about His goodness and His grace. Don't become comfortable just because you have some trinkets and treasures that point to His bounty in your life.
All of that is great. But when realities are trying to toss you into peril and throw you into danger and force pain upon your life, then you need dependence on God that makes you run to where the real power is.
The portals that God has opened up for you to access that power are prayer and fasting, in which you have surrendered to the might and majesty of God.
It's through prayer and fasting that you can suppress your strength and your drives and your passions and your intentions, making them obedient to God’s will. That’s where the power is.
