Walls Must Fall: Intro: Consecration and Dedication: The Path to Spiritual Breakthroughs

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought was possible. Enlarge her territory. Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment. Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

0:49 This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Hello, welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm so glad to be back. Today, we're going to start kind of a short mini series, and it's titled The Walls Must Fall, and it's a 12-day Jericho fast of consecration and dedication. And, you know, there was a time, there was just a couple of days ago, the Lord began to tell me, Connie, I need you to fast. I need you to fast. And he said again, I need you to fast. I need you to fast. And then I'm listening because, you know, we hear everything that we want to hear from God because you just finished a series when God wants to talk.

1:31 Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman Podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like your best, I was like, well, what type of fast do you want me to go on? And he said right away, I want a Jericho six fast. And I said, what dates do you want? Enlarge your territory. And then he said, I want it to be a fast of consecration and dedication. And so it wasn't really a concerning about what to eat. I had a lot of times we want to know if it's going to be a fast or type of fast. This isn't just a podcast. But the Lord just began to share with me a consecration and dedication. So for this episode, I'm going to allow you, you get to decide for the next 12 days what type of fast that you can dedicate yourself.

2:21 And consecrate yourself unto the Lord. So I'm going to start off with a nice long introduction, give you some options, and then kind of go into maybe a day one devotional. And then we'll pick it up again for day two. And this is an opportunity for you to begin to seek God for direction. He's given me specific dates, and I don't want to make this a cult-like thing. I want you to begin to say, okay, Lord, am I supposed to fast? If so, what type of fast? How long a fast do I need to go on? The Bible doesn't say if we fast. The Bible assumes that we're going to fast. It says when you fast, you know, so that's found in Matthew 6.

3:06 So you go to Matthew 6, but also read the story in Joshua 6 regarding the Jericho fast. I never thought of a Jericho fast, you know. the Lord said, I want you to do a Jericho pass. What happened in Jericho? Joshua 6, they had specific instructions to march around the Jericho law. They had to do it in silence. They had to bring the Ark of the Covenant before them. They had the horn. They couldn't talk. So there was some specific instructions in those scriptures that God gave the Israelites through Joshua. And at the end of their obedience, their walls fell down and they were able to go in and conquer the land of Jericho.

3:54 And I'm just wondering, what is in your life that must fall down? What has been holding you up? What has been keeping you from the presence of God? What are those distractions? What is it? What walls must fall down? So this is not going to be is specific. It's going to be very generic because I don't want to put you in, you know, I want you to find out what God is talking to you about. But I'm going to give you a lot of information like I always do and lead you on a nice journey through the Diary of a Black Woman devotional. But then you must seek God for what is he telling you. So this first introduction is going to give you a little introduction about consecration, dedication, and take you on a journey of what consecration looks like, what is it, and dedication.

4:46 And then you decide what that looks like for you. So let's get going. So Here we go. There are moments when God doesn't explain everything. He just says, march. He doesn't give you the full outcome, just the command, be silent, walk, obey. And when he whispers those instructions, something in your spirit knows this is not just a fast. This is a prophetic act of war. Like I said before, God says, I need you to fast. I need you to fast. And it was a low whisper. And I was like, wow, he wants me to fast. Usually those type of whispers, when we don't want to do it, we can kind of push it aside.

5:26 So I wonder how many things that have you pushed aside when you're thinking that, no, that can't be the Lord. I like to eat. How many times have we taken time out to just ask the Lord, Lord, what is it that you have me to do? What is it you have me to do? And then he gives you some instructions, which may require you to go into your Bible and study some more. So that was that moment when he says, I need you to fast. That was that moment when he told the Israelites, I want you just to march. I don't need you to say anything. I just want you to march. So for the next 12 days, you are going to be called into a spiritual strategy that defies logic but aligns perfectly with heaven.

6:08 God isn't asking you to fight with your fists. He's calling you to fast with your focus, to let go of noise, to release distractions, to circle the walls in your life that need to fall, and to do it with consecration and dedication. This 12-day Jericho fast is not about checking a bot or impressing others with your sacrifice. It's about aligning yourself with God's timing, God's voice, and God's power. In the story of Jericho, the people were not told to knock down the wall. They were told to walk, wait, and worship with obedience. In Joshua 3.5, it reads, Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

6:55 I mentioned that the Lord said it's a 12-day fast. He gave me the dates, and I said one, two, three, I counted the days. That's 12 days. So here in Joshua 3, 5, it says, Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Hebrews 11, 30 reads, it says, By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. So we see here that some supernatural things happen when we obey God. We can ask questions with a heart to obey. Before the victory came the consecration. Before the shout came the silence.

7:35 Before the fall came faith. So for the next 12 days, they will challenge your appetite, your routine, your comfort, even your expectations, but they will also position you for divine release. Walls of fear, doubt, trauma, addiction, debt, delay, or spiritual stagnation must fall, not because you're strong, but because you're obedient. You were not called to this fast by accident. You were chosen to walk this Jericho path because something in your life is getting ready to shift. Spirit. So if it's going to be a spiritual move, then we have to do a spiritual thing.

8:22 And fasting is a spiritual act, but it requires our flesh to get in line so that we can hear what God is doing. So fasting is not about starving the body? Because that's what I remember asking that. How long do you need me to fast? He said, I want consecration and dedication. I'm like, what does that mean? And so we're going to go through that. What does that mean? Fasting is not about starving the body. It's about feeding the spirit. It's not about what you're giving up, but to whom you're giving yourself to. We're giving ourselves to God. Consecration, as we get into it, means setting yourself apart for a holy use.

9:04 This Jericho fast is different. It's not just about seeking a breakthrough. It's about becoming someone who can carry the breakthrough when it comes. How many breakthroughs have we had in our lives? And it's been short-lived. God says this shift is going to be a breakthrough. It's going to be a breakthrough that you can sustain. How about that? And how do you sustain a breakthrough if it's spiritual? You need to be able to sustain the spiritual side, making the spirit man very, very strong. So for the next 12 days, you're invited into a sacred journey of alignment, obedience, silence, prayer, and worship. This is not a performance. This is a prophetic act. Inspired by Joshua 6, this 12-day fast mirrors the strategy given to Israel before the walls of Jericho fell for six days.

9:54 So remember for six days, they were to march in silence, circling the city once per day without a word. But on the seventh day, they circled it seven times, then lifted up a shout and the walls fell flat. But before the march, God gave Joshua a command that set the tone for that fast. Consecrate the people and tell them to prepare. That's in Joshua 3, 5. He said, get them ready. Get them ready because I'm about to do what? A new thing. Remember, we're not going to bulldoze this wall down. We're going to actually get your faith built up so that you can see God work in your life.

10:39 Remember a time we always stir some things up and then we call it God. God said, no, I need you to move out the way. I need you to work your faith. And let me do my supernatural. Thing in your life. So what is this fast about? It's a time for consecration. It's a time to purify your heart, mind, and body. It's a time for dedication, committing yourself fully to God's will. It's a time of prophetic obedience, following spiritual instructions even when it doesn't make natural sense. And it's a time for faith and focus, believing for the fall of walls that only God can bring down. Isn't that powerful?

11:22 That we have to just get so... Think about the Israelites circling the Jericho, waiting, waiting, and waiting. And when they said, I want you to shout, you know, they shouted with all their might because they... Think about the visual. They saw this wall. They said, God said, shout. And then when they shouted and blew the trumpets, guess what? The walls came down. What do you think that did for their faith? What this fast is not, It's not a diet. It's not a religious ritual. It's not a public display. It's not a wish list for material blessing. This fast is about obedience and transformation. Just like the Israelites didn't fight Jericho with weapons.

12:05 So you don't fight this battle with flesh. You fight with faith. And every day you will take one step closer to the breakthrough. So how do you use this devotional? How do we walk this thing out? We're going to just have a theme. We're going to have scripture, devotional reflection, prayer focus, and always a daily decree. And then a prayer prompt where you can decide, like, what is it that I'm doing? Why am I doing it? Something to think about, something to meditate on. And just to make it simple, you can customize your fasting type based on your health, your spiritual condition, your spiritual leader, or any prior commitment. So don't get stuck.

12:47 On what you have to eat. I want you to get stuck on consecration and dedication and then watch God lead you into what he have for you to do that day. So there's different ways we know how to fast. We can do a full fast, full fast, water or clear liquids only, partial fast, one meal per day, sunset, eat it at sunset, a Daniel fast with just fruits, vegetables, and whole grain, a soul fast, eliminating distractions like social media, entertainment, or toxic conversation. Whatever fast you choose, commit to it fully and reverently. This is not about legalism. It's about intentional intimacy with God.

13:30 And so when you're doing this fast, remember, you don't go make an announcement. It's between you and God, right? Whatever you decide to do. And then when we pray afterwards. God would give you the strength to do what he'd ask you to do. And each day, you know, you ask him, like, what is this type of fast? What type of fast am I doing today? And what should I focus on? So I want you to make it an individual focus. Because as I'm doing this, I wake up and I'm like, oh, what's today's focus? Because each of us has our own individual needs that God wants to. To do in our own lives. And I was going to list what he told me to do, but I think it's better if you concentrate and dedicate according to what your needs.

14:16 And later on, maybe in the year, I will probably put another devotion together with what God had me to do. The first thing you have to do is you have to prepare your heart. Ask God to reveal what wall he wants to tear down in your life. Each of us have a different wall. What is that wall he wants to tear down in your life. Ask God what He wants from you during this time. What do you want me to release? What do you need me to obey? Because many times in the last series, we talked about when God wants to talk. And I really want to know how that went for you. Did you have a good conversation with God? Did you move some things or did you not listen?

14:57 And maybe you need to go back there and get started from that point that God asked you to do something and maybe you didn't do it. Another one, as you prepare your heart, don't rush. It's not about speed. It's about submission. Remember, we get 24 hours in a day. A lot of us sleep maybe for eight hours. You have the remainder of that time to kind of hang out with God, develop a relationship with Him, and see what He wants. It's all about submission and giving away, letting go of some things that's holding you back from a relationship with God. First of all, let's understand what God's of dedication and consecration is. Consecration is a call to set yourself apart. Once again, we read in Joshua 3, 5, it says, consecrate yourself for tomorrow.

15:43 The Lord will do amazing things among you. So as you consecrate yourself, have an expectation that God will do amazing things. Consecrate in the Hebrew means to set apart, to sanctify, to prepare or make holy. Before the Israelites could experience a miracle, such as the Jordan River crossing or the fall of Jericho, God required consecration, a spiritual cleansing and preparation. God is holy and he wants us holy. So he'll say, I need you to consecrate, consecrate yourself. Let's focus only on me during this time. God's expectation is that you enter his presence clean, focused, and submitted.

16:27 Consecration during a fast involves releasing distractions such as TV, social media, and food indulgence, repenting of sins, and spiritually positioning yourself to hear from God. So consecration is setting yourself apart to hear from God. And many times, it's just sometimes TV can be a distraction. Sometimes social media can be a distraction and food and diligence can be a distraction, right? And when Lord gave me a date to start, I was like, wow, that's good because I usually watch the bike racing shows up until this, like it's ended on Sunday. And I was like, wow, I'm glad you gave me that date.

17:09 So he let me finish what I like to do. But then he said, I'm calling you closer. What is that? Excuse me. What is dedication? Dedication is a lifestyle of loyalty and intentional worship. And you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6, 5. Romans 12.1 tells us that we should present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. So we see here dedication is about full allegiance, heart, mind, body, and spirit. In Joshua 6, the Israelites walk in obedient dedication. They march without speaking, following divine strategies, and honor God's instruction completely, even when it didn't make logical sense. So think about it.

17:58 You are a military army and the Lord tells you to don't say a word. Don't pull out any weapons. Just want you to walk around Jericho once a day for six days. On the seventh day, walk around seven times. And on the seventh time, I want you to blow the trumpet and I want you to yell as loud as you can. That did not make logical sense for a military army to do that, but they did it. So when we think about fasting, it means obeying God's prompting during the fast. So whatever fast you decide to do, He's going to still be talking to you about it. So dedication isn't about what you're giving up. It's about who you're offering yourself to.

18:42 So we're talking about consecration, setting apart, right? Setting ourselves apart. The dedication is giving ourselves to God. And that's why God said, I want you to think about consecration, dedication. Because if you do one without the other, we can get kind of, you get it twisted, I think. I'm consecrating. And then you turn up. That's my time of consecration. It's over. I'm going to go watch a little TV or I'm going to do something else. But God says consecration and dedication. Giving that time up to worship Him. Setting yourself apart, but also giving grace. That set apart time to him. So number three, God requires purity before power. We see in 1 Peter 1.16, be holy because I am holy.

19:27 God wants us to be more like him. And 2 Timothy 2.21 says, for man therefore purge himself, he should be a vessel unto honor, sanctify, and meet for the master's use. Consecration is the purging. Dedication is a continual offering. God does not pour out power on polluted altars. He desires clean hands and a pure heart. Repentance, renewal of mind, and spiritual alignment makes you a vessel that God can feel used and position you for a breakthrough. Your wall of Jericho falls when you align with heaven.

20:07 We see here again in Hebrews 11.30, it says, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell. After the army had marched around them for seven days, they fell. The fast that God is calling you to is not for performance, it's for positioning. Walls of doubt, discouragement, debt, fear, and spiritual warfare fall when you when your obedience is married to worship and faith. We see here that the focus is not about the wall, right? It's not about the wall. It's about the heart of consecration and dedication. And when we take, not about even what you eat, it's about your heart towards God.

20:49 And when you focus your heart towards God, then he can do that and make it obedience. So we're fasting, we're praying, we worship, we're doing whatever he wants us to do. And that's when we have our breakthrough, right? That's when we're aligning our hearts with God. And he's asking us to do it for 12 days. Can you do it for 12 days? Not thinking in advance, doing it one day at a time. So today I want to just give you a day one on how to consecrate yourself. It's still that theme verse. The theme verse, it says, set apart for the supernatural. I don't know about you, but I do want to see God do something supernatural in my life.

21:33 Supernatural is God putting his super on my natural or his super on your natural. But we need to have an expectation that he would do that. And once again, Joshua 3, 5 says, Consecrate yourself for tomorrow. The Lord will do amazing things among you. So have an expectation. Because this is what Joshua told the Israelites. And that's probably what they were meditating on as they were marching around the wall. God's going to do something amazing. Watch it. He's going to do something amazing. And they're looking like, what is he getting ready to do? He's going to do something amazing. He's already fed us manna. He's provided us clothing. He gave us silver and gold.

22:14 There's not one feeble among us. He's already done some amazing things already. I wonder what God is up to. Before the Israelites could even march around Jericho, God required them to be consecrated. Strategy, not shouting, not strength, just a heart that was set apart. God wanted them to be focused. We know the Israelite story. If you get a chance, you can read it through Genesis. They were easily distracted. They were easily to complain when things got uncomfortable. But he said, I don't want all that noise. I want you to be focused. Consecrate it and dedicate it to me. Can you do that? Like, you know, people always say, you got one job. Can you just do this one thing?

22:57 I want to do something amazing among you, but I need you to do this one thing. Can we do this one thing? Can we consecrate and dedicate ourselves to God for the next 12 days? To consecrate yourself means to make yourself wholly available to God, mind, body, and spirit. It's a posture of surrender that says. God, remove anything in me that's not like you. Clean me up, burn away distractions, and align me with your will. Let's repeat that. God, remove anything in me that's not like you. Clean me up, burn away distractions, and align me with your will.

23:39 This is not a one-time act. It's a preparation for transformation. You're not fasting just to get something from God. You're fasting to become someone God can use to feel and to fight for. Before Jericho fell, Israel had to remember to whom they belong. The first day of the fast is your moment to do the same. God doesn't require perfection, but he does require access. If we get so busy, we don't realize that when we got our face buried into our phones, buried into TV, buried into whatever that's taken us, whatever. It should be a video, whatever it is that we don't take time out to look up and say, hey, Lord, what's going on? You want to talk?

24:23 Or maybe we're ignoring his voice because we want to watch this video. We want to talk on the phone, whatever that is. God doesn't require perfection. He just wants access. Isn't that something? And God is such a gentleman that he's not going to knock the phone out your hand. He's not going to cause a disruption on your screen. He's going to want you to want him. So if you want walls to fall, consecration is a starting point. It invites God into your space, your appetite, your thoughts, and your future. And when you consecrate yourself, you're saying, Lord, you can have it all. So lift your hands up.

25:05 And say, Lord, you can have it all. Let's pray. Father, come before you to be set apart for your purpose. Remove anything from my life, my habits, thoughts, relationships, or distractions that are not aligned with your will. Purify my heart, cleanse my motives, and prepare me for the breakthrough you've already declared. This fast is yours. I am yours. Have your way in me. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's do this decree. I decree that I am set apart for God's use. I break agreement with every distraction, every impurity, and every unholy pattern in my life.

25:45 I am a vessel of honor, consecrated and made ready for the Lord's work. 2 Timothy 2.21 says, He cleanses himself. He will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful to the Master. I like this part, but he wants us to be the initiator of the cleansing, right? How powerful is that? Then he said that he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified for the useful use of the master. So he wants us to be the initiator. You know, so he wants, he can say, hey, look at my daughter, look at my son. Hey, they're cleaning themselves up. They're getting ready for me. Now I can do some amazing things in their life. They're making space for me.

26:30 Right? They're making space for me. So today's fasting focus, whatever you decide to do, is you want to start with intentional surrender. God is intentional, and so we should be intentional. Choose one thing to lay down, and I kept it simple. It could be sugar, caffeine, social media, entertainment, or any unnecessary conversation. And focus not just on food, but on the posture of your heart. And then ask yourself these questions. What is God asking you to lay down during this fact? And where in your life do you feel the need. For cleansing, rededication, or spiritual alignment.

27:10 Remember, every time when God asks you to do something, you pretty much know that you maybe got too far out. Just like if you go for a walk and it's hot and sweaty, no one needs to tell you you have to take a shower before you go to bed, right? Or before you go to your next part. Taking a shower and freshen up is pretty much part of a routine. At least it should be, right? And so now he's asking us to get close to him. And if God is holy and he's telling us to get ready because he wants to do something amazing in our lives, I mean, he wants to get close to us, right? So he's asking us to get ready, cleanse ourselves, rededicate.

27:51 Clean out our heart, rededication. Lord, if there's any sin in me, cleanse me from that unrighteousness. And then get in spiritual alignment. And just like anything else, if we don't stay physically fit, right, if we don't watch what we eat, if we don't pay attention to our Bible study, if we allow the world to get in the way, we can slip into kind of complacency in our relationship with God. But here for this topic, complacency, I'm sorry, consecration and dedication, He wants us to be aware that maybe we need to get a little bit closer. And so God is calling us closer to Him during this 12-day series.

28:32 And so if you really enjoyed that episode, make sure you subscribe. Like, and share, and leave a note on what type of fast that you have decided to partake in. Would it be a full, a partial, water, a Daniel fast? I'd love to hear about it. But until next time, I'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14. Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

29:14 So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray. You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found, so we pursue. You said you will restore us from captivity, so we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small. Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Music.