GROWING UP IN ZIMBABWE

Reward grew up in Zimbabwe, the eleventh of thirteen children. He is from the Ndebele tribe, an offshoot of the Zulu nation in South Africa. His childhood consisted of hand me downs in clothes and toys, but also belief systems and philosophies. His father was a farmer and a no-nonsense disciplinarian. Due to his authoritarian culture, Reward’s upbringing did not allow for understanding and questions, but rather blind obedience and duty. Fasting was a part of his culture whether you were religious or not. The practice was hardwired in his mother socially and she instilled this discipline in her children. Before she became a Christian, her purpose for this discipline was to help maintain connection to the spirit realm and keep her family healthy. 

As a young man, Reward began his American journey with a two-year stint at a Bible seminary in Dallas. The strict rules were something Reward thrived under. However, after graduation, he no longer had communal accountability or strict guidelines to follow. As a result, his faith imploded for a few years as he embraced the party scene. Although he didn’t drink, smoke, or take drugs…he attended those events with a girl he was dating until he became drained from the pointlessness of it all. When he hit rock bottom he was working construction for his uncle during the summer. One day, the song, In the Presence of Jehovah, came on his playlist. It reminded him of the peace and joy that he had previously found in the presence of God. Reward broke down in tears. After that, Reward reached out to a woman who had been praying for him. She introduced him to the pastor of a church who was of Nigerian descent. The pastor encouraged Reward to consecrate himself with a three day fast. The fast helped him to get back in a right relationship with the Lord.

POWER OF FASTING                                        

Many people in the Bible fasted: Moses fasted for forty days and nights twice; Elijah fasted for forty days and nights; the entire city of Nineveh fasted in repentance after Jonah’s preaching, and Jesus fasted for forty days 
and nights in the wilderness. Unfortunately, today many believers have lost touch with the power of fasting. Throughout history this practice has been central to Jewish life in times of crisis. Reward says it is time to return to this discipline. 

In 2019, the Lord called Reward to a twenty-one-day extended fast (usually he fasts for no more than 10 days at a time). Since he had fasted many times before he knew he could do it. He says, “It was an automatic, muscle-memory-induced yes even though I struggled with the inconvenience of it.” At the time, he was traveling a lot preaching and speaking, but God was with him and gave him strength. He thought the Lord was wanting to expand his speaking ministry, but he felt a gentle rebuke and redirection from the Holy Spirit. The Lord brought to his attention James 4:3 which says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” This experience sent Reward on a six-month journey of studying the art of fasting. One of the things he discovered as he researched this topic is how fasting pulls at the heart strings of God. 

In the Bible, Ahab’s sins angered the Lord. Elijah was sent to tell him that his entire bloodline would be annihilated. Ahab laid prostrate before the Lord and fasted. His fast was accepted and the Lord decided not to 

bring calamity on his family because Ahab humbled himself. “Fasting when used with prayer is unstoppable, but even the most ill-intentioned act of fasting from the most unworthy source garners the attention of heaven,” shares Reward. 

THE WHOLE BODY

“Fasting engages the soul, serves the spirit, and benefits the body all for the purpose of sanctification of the whole man in the process of our maturity and growth in conformity to the character of Christ,” reveals Reward. Even Paul references this in Thessalonians 5:23 when he says, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.    
The three-part makeup of the human being includes: (1) The spirit – God is spirit, and you are made in His image, therefore you are also spirit. All intimacy and communion (prayer) with God happens through the faculty of the spirit. (2) The soul – The center of our self-consciousness (heart, mind, will, emotions, conscience, and volition). Fasting humbles the soul and allows your spirit to connect with God and His Spirit. It helps to remove distractions that might hinder communion with God. He says, “Fasting negates the paralyzing power of our brains overriding what our spirits know to be true.” (3) The body – “Our bodies house our spirits and souls and give us agency in the natural realm,” says Reward.                                   

HOW TO FAST

Whenever the Bible mentions fasting, it is usually referring to not eating and only drinking water. Reward says, “Modified fasts can offer options for solidifying the practice of fasting, but they are not the model of fasting we find in Scripture and are not the fasting we see coupled with prayer.” As Reward points out, “Water fasts beyond a few days should ideally be undertaken with medical supervision to monitor for potential complications and ensure safety.”

When you fast, he suggests keeping the following things in mind:

•    Attitude – Begin your prayer time with Thanksgiving. Thank God for big and small things in your life. 

•    Consecration –Take time to pray and listen to what God is telling you. Fasting is more than abstinence from food, it is a time of setting apart. When you fast, your body is in observance of the Sabbath. 
Be careful not to fill your days with various forms of entertainment (movies, etc.) to distract you from the discomfort of the process…that is a diet, not a fast. “Fasting prepares us for worship, prayer, and drawing near to the presence of God,” reveals Reward. 

•    Contentment – Fasting quiets the soul so you can gain clarity. Reward shares, “When the Price of Peace inhabits the throne of your heart, you become a carrier and a creature of peace.” 

BENEFITS OF FASTING

When you abstain from food completely in a fast there are bodily benefits and regenerative processes that happen. For example, when you fast your body doesn’t get sugar from food, so your insulin level decreases. Fasting can have positive effects on brain health including the growth of new brain cells. With extended fasts, stem cell activity is stimulated and might have positive effects on immune system function. 

** Reward was the TV host of CBN’s Christian music show, One Cubed (English version) in 2008. He says, “That show reached so many people with such great testimonies, so this (being on the 700 Club) is definitely a beautiful full circle moment.” 

To find out more about Reward Sibanda and purchase book How to Fast click the LINK! 

CREDITS

Author, How to Fast, (Waterbrook Publishing, 2025); Teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in California; Senior director of national church engagement and ministry partnerships for one of the largest Christian humanitarian organizations in the world, World Vision; Married to Pam; One son, Silo

Delfina lives with her 3 children in Guatemala. Her husband works as a farm laborer when he can find work.  Their son, Derik, said there never seemed to be enough food for them to eat saying, “My classmates told me that they ate cereal and eggs. I wanted that but we couldn’t afford it.”  

Delfina tries to help out with the family income during harvest season, explaining, "Here women do not earn much. Depending on the job we earn about 5 dollars a day.”

When they don’t work, the whole family suffers.  Delfina says, "Some days they asked me, ‘is there even an egg or bread?’ I couldn't give them anything because I didn't have it.” Derik shares, “I want to eat chicken and try other foods.”   

Then Operation Blessing visited Delfina and invited her to take part in a chicken project. After her training we gave her a shed, feed and 195 chickens to start a poultry and egg business.  

A delighted Delfina shares, “My kids are happy. My daughter loves scrambled eggs and now I can give them to her. I'm so happy.”  

Derik gratefully says, “Thank you with all my heart for helping us because now we will have a better life.”  

“I don't know what's happening,” Felipe Piazza said as he thought back on the fateful night his wife, Dina, lost consciousness. “It's like the color in her eyes went out. My brain was bombarded with, what if she dies? I love my wife very much. What am I going to do if she’s gone?”

June 2nd, 2021 – Felipe and Dina were attending an evening service at Restoring Hope Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. This was only their second visit to the church, and while they were enjoying the worship music Dina began to feel ill. She then collapsed in Felipe’s arms.

“All of a sudden she just like, went sideways and that was it,” Felipe said. “The color in her skin went out, the color of her lips went out, like, everything went out. She wasn't reacting at all. I'm scared. I don't know CPR.”

But members of the church did. Nurses in the crowd rushed to Dina as Pastor Amanda Crabb was informed of the situation.  

“I didn't have time to think,” Pastor Amanda said. “I jump off the stage, I got on the microphone and began to declare to the worshipers, ‘Go to the front lines, begin to war in the spirit. Let's pray in faith, no doubt in this moment, we're going to declare the life of Jesus Christ in this room.' And so the prayers were praying, the nurses were administering, I was declaring the prophetic word of the Lord, and it was in that moment that you saw the full activation of what The Body of Christ is supposed to be.”

“When I saw how they reacted, that gave me a lot of peace,” Felipe said. “I don't have to do anything else. Let me call 911. Pastor Amanda started declaring life over Dina. The whole church is worshiping, praying, they never stopped. We were just visiting. They didn't know who we were at all and they still fought for her life.”

Emergency Medical Services arrived within six minutes of Filipe’s call. Paramedic Alex Smith attended to Dina.

“She didn't have a heartbeat and she wasn't breathing,” Alex said. “I just remember a lot of people being there and they were praying, but there was also this deep silence.”

Alex moved Dina’s lifeless body to the waiting ambulance outside. At this point, she’d been without a pulse for ten minutes. After several failed attempts to shock her heart back into rhythm, Alex gave it one more try. Miraculously, this time it worked. He updated Filipe and the congregation before taking her to the hospital – Dina was alive, but now in a coma.

“She's not moving,” Felipe recalled. “If you knew my wife, she's very energetic, but at that moment she’s just lying there. It was pretty rough. She means the world to me.”

It was found that Dina had a blockage in her heart that caused a cardiac arrest. A stent was inserted to open the clogged artery and she was stabilized, but the doctors said that even if Dina came out of her coma there was still the threat of long-term complications such as brain damage. They told Felipe to prepare for the worst. In the meantime, Pastor Amanda and other members of the church came to visit the Piazza’s in the hospital. For three days they fasted and prayed for Dina’s healing, then something happened.

“One of the nurses, she stopped me and she's like, ‘She woke up.’” Felipe said. “I'm like, ‘What do you mean she woke up?’ They're like, ‘She woke up. She's totally awake, she’s totally conscious.’ The doctors didn't have a clue what was happening. All the tests that they were running on her were coming back, you know, like good. I mean, this was a miracle.”

“They kept on telling me, you died, you died,” Dina said while remembering her experience waking up from the coma. “I was like, ‘God, I am so thankful.’ I was overwhelmed with joy, but at the same time I felt like, ‘Why? You picked me up from the dead?’ I was dead for so long, I could have been brain dead. A lot of doctors to this day say that they cannot believe what happened.”

Within a week she was given a clean bill of health and released from the hospital to reunite with Filipe and their son, Christian. She’s had no lingering complications since. Those who witnessed her survival give all the credit to God.

“Knowing the diagnosis she had, this was very unique,” Alex said. “Seven days later she walked out of the hospital like nothing was ever wrong – this was a miracle.”

“People prayed, we worshiped, we declared God as the center point of this whole night,” Pastor Amanda said. “It was The Body coming together, functioning according to where we had been commissioned and granted in our level of ability. By faith we saw a miracle that day.”

The Piazza’s have since officially joined Restoring Hope Church. They now boldly speak about how God can use The Church Body to do amazing things, even in the lives of complete strangers.

“I'm super grateful to God for still having my wife,” Felipe said with tears in his eyes. “It's very emotional because it's like you see The God of Love. I’m super grateful for what He did, but I’m also super grateful for the church. Not knowing who we were, and they still showed us that love. They took care of us like if we were part of them, as if we’d went to that Church for forever.”

“I am so thankful,” Dina said. “I am so grateful for Restoring Hope Church. They have become my family. I just glorify God. I just have to glorify God for what He did with me. That He healed me. Not only saved my life, but He completely healed me. It is important that we understand that the power of prayer, the worship, the faith, the unity of The Body together, praying for something, for a miracle, even if you do not know the person, is something that can change anything.”
 

After being incarcerated, social media star Boonk Gang’s cellmate shares the Gospel and the love of Christ to him. For the first time, John experiences the love of God and his life is transformed.