by Patrick Graham Holloran
Let’s explore this title because your words can prevent you from seeing the supernatural and walking in it.
Isaiah 58:6-9 reveals truths about fasting;
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here am I.’”
Pat Holloran
This is the fast I believe the Lord is calling the Body of Christ to today: the fast from words of death, of criticism, and of gossip. I know this is to be more than a fast from food. The fasting from food – have you ever done it? You decide to fast for seven days because you want to get revelation. Here we go…
Day one arrives and by lunchtime we start to smell food… and it smells good. We declare, “I am fasting for revelation. Now thank You, Lord, and help me.” By day three, you start to say to yourself, “When I’m done I’m going to have a healthy meal of bread and steaks.” Then by day seven you are praying, “Lord, please release me, release me; I promise I will just try again later! Just give me something, for I am hungry!” I don’t think that is the fast He is calling us to. I believe it is a fasting from words: words of destruction and words that can have curses on them.
The example that I am using at this point can be found in Joshua 6. It is the story of Jericho. The Commander of the Host, who is Jesus Christ, appears to Joshua and starts to give him commands about marching around the city and the protocol of heaven that is to be done by the people.
We all know that the people were not allowed to speak during that seven days, but have you ever researched who told the people not to speak? Many teachers say, even from pulpits, that the Lord told Joshua to tell the people not to speak. And yet, it was not the Lord at all. We read in Joshua 6:10, “Joshua commanded the people; you shall not shout or make your voice heard; neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout, and then you shall shout.” In the Hebrew it means he told them they could not even sigh, because he knew what kind of people He was leading. He had over forty years of watching them love Moses one day and wanting to kill him the next. He saw for over forty years how they complained to Moses and even what his sister Miriam said. So he told them they could not even make a sound with their mouth
I have seen in the supernatural realm, where black smoke literally comes out of the mouth of a person, covers their head, and goes down, finally resting at their feet. The more criticalness there is—the more black smoke comes out of them and covers them. When it starts to go away, it starts at the feet and works its way up to the thought life, but by then they have probably spent the day mumbling and complaining so much, and saying critical things, that any evidence of the “joy of the Lord” is gone. It’s the same with gossip, which defiles you and the others around so much, that any opportunity for Holy Ghost anointing in you to manifest and be seen by others is nil. That is because Holy Ghost will not invade your free will and make you be silent. So now you have some idea of why we must guard the words that come from our mouths.
But I have also seen where people speak a word of joy or love, real passion, and compassion, and gold flakes and diamond chips come out and cover people with gold dust.
This is what we should always be doing, not gossiping or complaining.
Joshua knew what kind of people he was leading, and I firmly believe the Hebrew people were also aware of the supernatural realm because of the their many experiences with God in Egypt. Remember, the Eastern culture is much different than our Greco-Roman thinking, which has a foundation from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle of separating the natural and supernatural worlds. As you look into the Word of God in the Old Testament, the only time you see the Hebrew people not seeing the supernatural was when they became involved in a lifestyle of the world (such as Egypt and Rome). As we look at Isaiah, Samuel, Elisha, and other senior prophets, we see how they could look and walk in the supernatural all the time. It is all about their upbringing and knowing that to walk with God is to walk in a spiritual realm at all times.
So Joshua told the Hebrew people they could not talk for seven days, but they still had a thought life. Their thought life was active in the brain, but because they were forbidden to enunciate their words, they could not defile the plan of the Lord. No black smoke, no grey smoke, no evil. Six days they could not speak , only think.
The seventh day it says that they woke up earlier in the morning, before the sun came up, and started walking with their whole attitude changed from having words of destruction to freedom from their negative effects and its fruit. Then the trumpet blew and Joshua gave the command to shout. As you study the written Word, you will discover that God put His sound to their sound and the ground opened up and the walls of Jericho went under the ground and it closed over it all. That is why they ran unopposed to the middle of the city; because there were no outer city walls left standing.
I would also like to point out another spiritual principle that can be learned from the history of Jericho. When you are free from the defiling smoke of negative communication, the gift of discernment that is given to us by Holy Ghost will strengthen and mature. This is perhaps the greatest incentive that we must have. If we change our vocabulary immediately to that of life, we will succeed at all that our Heavenly Father has for us to accomplish.
This fast that God is directing us to is to speak life and not death; to speak the Word and continually see the supernatural instead of just speaking idle words. The number one detriment to our success in our destinies is not a lack of faith; it is a lack of life-giving words. The lack of life- giving words can deter your faith and make unbelief or disbelief, which are curses, come into your life.
The remedy for faith is so easy. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When you start your day, don’t initiate it by first reading emails or listening to the news. Place a time of establishing the Lord in all that you want to do that day. And ask Holy Ghost to lead you in all truth and help you to always stand in the supernatural.
Stop using words that hinder your vision of the supernatural. What would happen if you really became part of an army of seers? The curses in the land would no longer be tolerated, but demolished and abolished. Even the spiritual enemies on our territories would run as they would discover that we have discovered the strategies of heaven for walking in the blessings and not the curses. Let’s live out the fast that gives us eternal eyes and tongues that speak life—not death. Guard your words. Keep your mouth shut unless you have life from the Lord Jesus Christ to speak into and over others.
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