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What a Daniel Fast is Not

It is day 4 of Awaken, our 21 day time of prayer and fasting at The Mission.  Some people are doing a straight water fast and others are doing a combination water / Daniel fast.  The Daniel fast comes from the beginning of the book of Daniel chapters 1 and 10.  If you actually go to those Scriptures there is very little said.  I don’t think that is by accident.

There really is no such thing as  a Daniel fast.  That term is not used anywhere in Scripture and is not even referred to in the Bible.  But as I have done research on the internet you would think someone found a lost chapter of Daniel and has all the rules.  No this, yes that, no that, yes this.  I saw one concerned Christian say he was worried that he might eat the wrong thing and He might not please God.  That put me over the edge.

I have one goal with this post, to prevent and eliminate religious legalism at The Mission.

First, the fast is not for God, it is for us.

Second, you need to decide how and what to fast.  Most often, the Daniel fast is not eating meat or meat byproducts (dairy products, eggs, honey, etc), sugars, caffeine.  Some people say you should also not eat anything made with white flour.  Some others say you should not eat anything processed.  Some say you should only eat raw vegetables.  The problem with this goes back to the point that this is not in the Bible.  If I eat an organic food that tastes just like the real food what have I accomplished?

The Daniel fast is a period of avoiding dietary pleasures.  Americans eat a lot of meat.  To not eat meat for a few weeks is a sacrifice for most people.  If that is not a sacrifice for you then you need to pick something else.

Case in point:  Some people are vegetarians.  A period of Daniel fasting would be super easy for them, they live it.  Does that mean a vegetarian is some super spiritual person?  Of course not.  They need to pick something else.

I am a meat and potatos guy.  I do not eat almost any vegetables.  Many fruits and almost all vegetables taste utterly disgusting to me.  When my wife makes broccoli or green beans, I don’t even wash the glassware they were cooked in!  If I had to go vegetarian for three weeks I would almost be doing a water fast.

So what did I decide to do?  I am not having coffee.  That itself is a huge sacrifice for me.  I am also not having sugar, meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or pasta.  But I am not going to freak out over it.  I might have minestrone soup and if it happens to have a few pieces of pasta in it I won’t feel that I failed.  It ain’t a bowl of spagetti!  I am going to try soy milk as disgusting as that sounds.  It might have a little sweetner in it.  I drink milk every day so going soy is a huge deal for me.

I started the fast with four days of water fasting.  I will do more of that later. But in the rest of the days I am going to deny myself the pleasure of eating.  And that may look different for me than it does for you.

But my goal is not to get all proud that I accomplished something.  The goal is to deny the desires of the flesh so I can hear God better and see breakthroughs in the lives of the people at The Mission.

So deny yourself but be free!