Daniel Fast

Every year for the past 3 or 4 years (I think) our church does a church wide "Daniel Fast". To read more on that, click HERE. That's my pastor's blog. He pretty much explains it and links other articles, so I'm not going to do all that here.

The point is for 21 days, those participating in this fast, will give up something. Sweets, television, meat, one meal, all meals, etc. for the purpose of setting aside time to read the Bible, pray, and seek God. What we give up is between us and God. But there is something really neat about knowing that so many of our friends are giving something up too and are praying for each other in the process.

Up until our church started doing this, all I knew of fasting was giving up food. And that it was forced. Several mission trips I went on thru a certain home school organization had 'mandatory' fasting. And I HATED it. It totally turned me off to fasting. Lesson #1- unless fasting comes from your heart, it's just skipping a meal. So when our pastor (Mike) brought this up to the church thru a sermon series, I rolled my eyes. Willing myself to listen, I paid attention and had all my misconceptions blown.

I thought fasting was about food, but it's not. It's about giving something up to spend time with God. To show Him He is a priority (like He should be everyday). The first year I gave up Internet after 6 pm (and it was AMAZING ow much time that freed up!) and from that fast, we decided to host a sweet, sweet girl named Oksana. The next year I gave up breakfast and lunch. With small kids, I still have to prepare all the meals anyway, and other than being hungry, it didn't give me any extra time to focus on God.

So this year, I am back to no Internet after 6pm. Last night was the first night and it nearly drove me nuts. I thought of about 5 things I wanted to do or look at on line and hadn't done before six. My goals for this 21 days are to (finish) reading 'Crazy Love ', and to start and finish 'Radical' and 'Forgotten God'. I'm halfway thru 'Crazy Love' and it's mind bending. I highly recommend it. I keep having to reread chapters to try and absorb it all.

One of the things about fasting is that it's a private thing. In other words, don't brag or boast about it or make a big deal about it. So other than this blog, I won't way anything else.

 This post has 2 purposes. One is to let you know I won't be on here after 6pm (so if I don't respond to your FB post, please don't be offended) and the second is to encourage you to do something similar. It's a great time to refocus and pray. And if I have nothing else, maybe I have at least been able to recommend a few good books and do some myth bashing regarding typical fasting.