LEARNINGS TO SHARE…

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Each January our church sets aside 3 weeks to seek the Lord through the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting.  We call it the “Daniel Fast”!  In the Bible in the  Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 10, verse 3 it says this…

“I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips;

and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”- NIV

We call this 3 weeks the daniel fast but dont necessarily observe the daniel fast in particular.  in other words there is a specific fast that you can do called the daniel fast.  Because we live under grace and not law we dont have to observe the daniel fast specifically.  at our church we just devote the three weeks to a time of fasting and prayer and give our church freedom to fast however they sense Holy Spirit leading them.

so, for the next 21 days choose a type of fasting for your spiritual vitality.  During this time choose to surrender something that would be a sacrifice for you.  i believe food to be the most compelling thing to sacrifice b/c we all like to eat.  so, choose to fast from a type of food, a meal or set a day aside for fasting completely, partially or otherwise.  a complete fast is liquids only.  Some people would consider a complete fast water only.  a partial fast would be liquids of your choice, including juices, milk, protein drinks, or cutting a certain type of food out of your diet, like, caffeine, sugar, dairy, or otherwise.

Another fast consideration would be to sacrifice something related to time, like replacing sleep with bible study and prayer, or fasting from TV, internet, social media, video games, or some other time related item.

either way the idea is to sacrifice something that you like that will require you to use discipline in order to focus your heart and mind on spiritual things.  The idea is to replace that thing you would normally do with focused time of prayer, bible reading, journaling, meditation, and connecting to God.

If you have never fasted before, I suggest you start off simple, but as the Lord leads.  If you have fasted before then you might want to consider taking it up a notch for greater discipline.  I cannot explain it but there is something spiritual about it.  the times that i have fasted for extended periods of time have always granted me greater clarity in decision making and closer intimate relationship with my Savior.

i am looking forward to hearing from you and hearing how God is working in your life through this focused time of prayer and fasting.  God will do great things!!

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” –
Jer 33:3 -NIV

This entry was posted on January 10, 2011 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Daniel Fast 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.