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More Daniel Fast Craziness

Like many churches, The Mission is doing a three week fast to start 2010.  Fasting is a regular part of biblical Christianity.  The sticky part starts when you ask what qualifies as a real fast.

I asked Randy Bohlender of ihop fame how most folks there in Kansas City fast.  His response really irritated me.

Seriously, we have a pretty firm ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ rule about fasting among our staff because it leads to a wrong spirit.  Some do a daniel fast – just fruits and veggies.  Others fast on water.  Some skip lunch.  There are a number who fast on juice only.   We do it differently based on what we feel we have the grace for.

The more rules about fasting, the more people you will have who live in condemnation for not living up to someone elses’ rules.

After thinking about his response for the better part of a month I finally realized that I was looking for the check list of what I had to go without in order for it to really qualify as a fast.

If that has been your perception, allow me to tip some sacred cows.  I promise this won’t go too long.  But it will be worth the read.

There are three biblical fasts, total (no food or water), normal (no food lots of water) and partial (abstaining from some foods).  Many people rename the partial fast the Daniel fast.  In the book of Daniel, we see that he abstained from certain foods on two occasions.  The first was for health reasons.  The second was to hear God.

These days, people do not delineate between the two.  In the first he asked for only vegetables to eat and water to drink.  Daniel did not want to be defiled by what the king was serving and chose this other diet as an alternative.

But when he wanted to hear God, he said,

I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

Completely different matter! But these days, people say in order to get the effects of the second fast you have to do what Daniel did in the first.  But that is unbiblical.  There are troves of websites dedicated to what you can and cannot eat while on a Daniel Fast and it is all nonsense.

The reason Randy’s reply irritated me is because I wanted to know what folks agreed was a legitimate effort in fasting.  The Daniel Fast websites are more than happy to answer that question for you.  But if we are fasting to humble ourselves before the Lord, that level of self righteousness will not produce the desired fruit.

The vegan can go years on a Daniel Fast.  Does that make them super close to God?  I say it makes them thin and slightly discolored.  Nothing more nothing less.

The key to fasting?  Jentzen Franklin says that if it does not mean anything to you, then it won’t mean anything to God.  If it means something to you, it will mean something to God.  That’s it.  It is a matter of the heart.  I am going without in an effort to magnify Jesus in my life.  What that means for me will be different than what that means for you.

This year I am not going to freak out about white or brown rice or go super crazy examining ingredients.  I have chosen to put aside most of my diet in an effort to understand where God is taking me and to break free some of the efforts of the enemy in my life. These three weeks are about me hearing and following my Savior Jesus.

I am not looking for anyone else to validate my efforts.  I hope you won’t either.