Fasting Is Seeding The Clouds For Future Generations | Jentezen Franklin
Sunday, January 11
Pastor Jentezen reveals how your prayers, fasting, and worship today are seeding the clouds for a massive spiritual breakthrough tomorrow. Using the story of Elijah, this message explains how to move past a dry season by making bold declarations over your family and future.
Scriptures
I Kings 18:41-46; Zechariah 4:10; Zechariah 14:17
Key Points
- Check again. Even if nothing seems to be happening, it doesn’t mean something isn’t going on behind the scenes. Keep checking again and again until you see the miracle.
- God’s Word is your daily bread. If you only read three chapters of the Bible a day, you will read 92% of the Bible in a year. God is sending you letters every day through His Word; read them! Seed your heart with the Word of God and then open your mouth and make prophetic declarations concerning your year. If you sow seeds into the clouds, the cloud will grow!
- Make a prophetic declaration. When you make a prophetic declaration from God, other people will accuse you of being crazy. But if you can do it on your own, it’s not a dream God can get involved in.
- Get a vision. Don’t let your age stop you from dreaming. What you’re doing while you’re praying and fasting will go to the third and fourth generations after you.
- You are a living epistle. Your testimony is someone else’s prophecy. You are where you are because someone else seeded the cloud for you. The more you worship, the more God’s rain will fall upon you, your children, and your children’s children.
- Seedbeds are being sown. Every move you make, and every risk you take, is setting the stage for someone in your family to take the same steps of faith you are taking. No matter how small it seems to be, little is much in the hands of God. People tend to think about here and now, but God thinks about nations and generations ahead.
Introduction
Today we’ll explore the message, “Fasting Is Seeding the Clouds for Future Generations” by Jentezen Franklin. The message encouraged us to see fasting, prayer, worship, and prophetic declarations not as temporary sacrifices, but as spiritual seeds placed into the heavens—seeds that release breakthrough rain not only for today, but for generations yet unborn. Drawing from Elijah’s posture on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18:41–46, we are reminded that even when the sky looks empty, persistent prayer and faith-filled obedience can produce a cloud the size of a man’s hand that carries the promise of abundance. What clouds might God be inviting you to seed right now, even before you see the rain?
- What stood out to me from Sunday’s message?
Bold Prayer and Persistent Faith (Elijah on the Mountain)
Zechariah 4:10 NIV “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
On Mount Carmel, Elijah didn’t offer a casual prayer—he bowed low, face between his knees, in a posture of deep humility and intense spiritual “birthing.” Pastor Jentezen Franklin highlights this as the blueprint for breakthrough: total surrender combined with persistent faith. Even though Elijah heard “the sound of abundance of rain” in the spirit, the sky stayed dry. He sent his servant to scan the horizon seven times—six returns of “nothing,” yet he refused to quit. This persistence is what we call “seeding the clouds.” Too often we stop after a few attempts, interpreting silence as denial. But Elijah’s repeated sending shows desperation, not doubt.
Persistent prayer proves we’re not merely interested—we’re invested.
When the servant finally reported a cloud “the size of a man’s hand,” Elijah didn’t hesitate. He acted in faith, warning Ahab to flee before the deluge. That tiny cloud was the first visible evidence of a shifted atmosphere. As Zechariah 4:10 reminds us, we must never despise the day of small beginnings. What looks insignificant in the natural is often the seed of something massive in the spiritual.
Fasting intensifies this process like adding a physical “exclamation point” to our cries. It doesn’t earn God’s favor—Jesus already secured that—but it quiets the flesh, sharpens our focus, and communicates sacrificial sincerity to Heaven. Fasting declares, “I want the Giver more than the gift.” By denying the body, we amplify the spirit’s sensitivity to hear the sound of rain before the first drop falls. Even when your sky appears empty, your bold, repeated prayers are accumulating in the heavens. Like Elijah, stay in the posture of prayer until the small beginning becomes a flood of provision, breakthrough, and answered prayer.
- Elijah sent his servant back seven times before seeing anything. What is a "dry horizon" you are currently facing, and how can you shift from looking for a downpour to looking for a "small cloud"?
- How has fasting (or a season of sacrifice) changed the way you approach God in prayer?
- Why do you think God often starts with something small (like a hand-sized cloud) rather than an immediate storm?
Prophetic Declaration & Speaking Faith
1 Kings 18:41-44 NIV “Then Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.’ … The seventh time the servant reported, ‘A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ So Elijah said, ‘Go and tell Ahab, “Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.”
Elijah knew that once he saw the cloud, though only the size of a man’s hand, his prayers had been answered. He approached prayer with humility and faith, confident God would act. As we pray, we come with strong belief and anticipation that He will answer according to His promises. Scripture says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24 NIV). We are to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16 NIV), knowing He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).
Elijah declared, “I hear the sound of abundance of rain.” This prophetic declaration showed the depth of his faith in the Lord. Pastor Franklin’s “seeding the clouds” analogy encourages us to fast, pray faithfully, and read Scripture daily, trusting God keeps His promises. The prayers of the faithful do not fall on deaf ears.
- How does Elijah’s confidence in the small cloud encourage you to believe God has already answered even before the full breakthrough?
- Which verse (Mark 11:24, Hebrews 4:16, or Ephesians 3:20) speaks most to an area where you need greater faith in prayer right now?
- Share one person or concern you feel called to “seed the clouds” for this week—what will you declare in faith over them?
Generational Impact & Seeding for the Future
Fasting and prayer do more than bring personal breakthrough—they build bridges to future generations. Isaiah 58 promises that heartfelt fasting makes us “Repairer of Broken Walls” and “Restorer of Streets,” mending generational gaps and restoring faith for our children and beyond. Psalm 145:4 shows how one generation passes God’s mighty works to the next, creating an enduring legacy of faith.
Pastor Jentezen Franklin shared two powerful examples. Joshua Haldeman, grandfather of Elon Musk, lost his farm in the Great Depression but pursued his passion for aviation. He rebuilt a plane with his family and flew a daring 30,000-mile trip. Those seeds of boldness and exploration later influenced Musk’s vision for SpaceX and Mars—showing how one person’s faithful pursuit can rain down impact on future generations.
Closer to home, Pastor’s grandmother Letty raised 18 children and turned the outhouse into her prayer closet, writing prayers and Scriptures on the walls for protection and spiritual growth. Though she died young at 39, her hidden intercession shielded the family line. Pastor Franklin never met her, yet he reaps the fruit of those seeds today.
Every step toward God—through fasting, prayer, worship, and bold declarations—plants seeds in spiritual clouds. What seems small now grows and pours rain on your children, grandchildren, and even people you’ll never meet. Your faithfulness today builds a bridge future generations will cross.
- How have the prayers or faith choices of past generations impacted your life today?
- How can fasting and prayer help you “repair broken walls” in your family—breaking cycles or restoring faith?
- Share a Scripture you could declare prophetically over your family this year to seed clouds for the next generation.
Conclusion
The heart of this message is clear: we sow today for the rain tomorrow. Through fasting, prayer, worship, and bold declarations, we are planting seeds that God will cause to grow—personally, corporately, and generationally. Elijah did not stop praying when he saw nothing; he persisted until heaven responded. When the rain finally came, the hand of the Lord empowered him to outrun the chariot (1 Kings 18:46), reminding us that God accelerates those who trust Him. Yet Scripture also warns us in Zechariah 14:17 that where worship is withheld, rain does not fall. What goes up determines what comes down.
Call to Action:
As we look toward 2026, choose one Scripture to carry as a prophetic declaration over your life and family. Speak it daily. Write it down. Worship through the waiting. Commit to persistent prayer and fasting, trusting that every seed you sow is building a bridge of blessing for future generations.
Prayer
Father, we come before You with faith, believing that as we sow in prayer, fasting, and worship, You are releasing the rain of heaven. Teach us to persist even when we see only small beginnings. Let our obedience today become abundance for generations to come. We declare that dryness is breaking and Your promises are alive. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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