The Daniel Fast

The Daniel Fast

January, 2016

“At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 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.”

 Daniel 10 2-3 NIV

Since the 11th of January, my church and I have been participating in the Daniel Fast. This fast is not only spiritual but also cleansing.

If we look at the scripture above we can see that Daniel said, “I ate no choice foods; no meat or wine touched my lips”. The term ‘choice’ foods describes the quality and in our day and age, as food is such a big part of our society and a part of our culture, you may think ‘why should we give up food as an offering to God?’ and ‘can I really have the self control to do so?’.

In the next 2 post’s I’ll be giving my thoughts, feelings, achievements and failures to give you a view of what effect it can have on your life spiritually and mentally.

So firstly let’s talk about the nutritional elements of the fast.

The foods you should include are:

• All fruits.
• All vegetables.
• All whole grains.
• All pulses.
• All quality oils .
• Water.
• Tofu, soy products, vinegar, seasonings, salt, herbs and spices.

Foods to avoid are:

• All meat and animal products, including fish.
• All dairy products.
• All sweetners, including sugar, honey.
• All leavened bread, anything with yeast, honey.
• All baked goods.
• All deep fried food.
• All fats, lards and margarine.
• All beverages including herbal tea, coffee, tea, fizzy drinks, energy drinks and alcohol.

This gives you a picture of what you’re giving up. It’s quite a vast amount but this fast has come about at the right time. At Christmas I had over indulged and felt that there was a need for cleansing, as well as having allergies to certain foods I felt that I wasn’t going down a healthy path. Our body is our temple and God has entrusted it to us to look after while we’re here on earth so let’s honour him by honouring our bodies!

The first thing I struggled with was giving up sugar.. I don’t know about anyone else but I realised that I am quite dependant on sugar. So that being said I didn’t think I’d even be able to do it, but with some encouragement from my church family they made me realise that the strength wouldn’t be coming from me, it would be coming from God. He has the power not me and as soon as I realised that, the power of God began to work. His power is there for all of his children as the scripture says…

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It’s that simple, so for those thinking it’s impossible, believe and place your trust in God. You don’t have to be strong. It’s not about your strength.
Giving up certain foods as an offering to God can be a good way to mark the point of a new beginning, for me it was the end of a great year and the beginning to an even better one, this year I want to see the power of God moving like never before, and if we start as we mean to go on, great things will happen. All we have to do is place our trust, faith and strength in Jesus and we can’t go wrong.

Stick around for the next post where I’ll get into the nitty gritty of food routines, prayer, quiet time and what I feel is happening to me spiritually and physically.

Stay blessed!

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