Bible Study with Jairus – Numbers 23

Bible Study with Jairus – Numbers 23
Numbers 23 tells the story of Balak hiring Balaam to curse the Israelites. Although this story may be familiar to Christians, when we were having our Bible study, the Holy Spirit opened our eyes to receive new revelation. We realized that our prayers should be causing us to humble ourselves before God. In other words: we pray to change our mindset and attitude, not to change God's will.
God wants to bless us, but a wrong perspective, lies we believe, and strongholds built by the enemy are barriers that prevent us from receiving God's blessings. We must die to our flesh through fasting and prayer so that the enemy cannot continue to control and hinder us through our flesh. Through fasting and prayer, we can also cast out evil spirits, as well as experience and accept God's blessings in Christ.
Let’s look at Numbers 23 to understand this better. In Numbers 23:13 (ESV), Balak says, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” A lady asked, “Why did Balak change locations to curse the Israelites?” It appears that sending a curse from Balak’s original location was unsuccessful. Does changing the location make it successful? This is a bit incomprehensible. I replied, “I need to give you an example of fasting and prayer.”
I learned a lot about fasting and prayer when I sought healing for my wife’s medical condition and the blessing of one day having a child. One thing fasting is not is a "hunger strike." We should not approach fasting with the mentality that I will fast and argue for something and if God does not grant my request, I will no longer eat. This is not prayer and fasting. This is a hunger strike, a protest. True fasting and prayer is temporarily sacrificing one of man’s biggest physical needs through a time of abstaining, in order that our flesh will be weakened and challenged to submit to our spirit. Eventually, the noise of our flesh will diminish. When our flesh is in this weakened state, our spiritual man can rise from its suppressed place. We can then rely on the strength of our spirit and God’s Spirit within us. This is what the Lord Jesus said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (ESV, 2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul also said that, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (ESV, 2 Corinthians 12:9).
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