Fasting

The Daniel Fast

2 Comments / Lifestyles, Prayer / By

Many churches are participating in the Daniel Fast during the Lenten season. I know many have heard of the fast but how many of you have actually tried it? In the book of Daniel there are at least two instances where Daniel fasted, the first was Daniel 1:8-14 where he and three friends fasted for ten days to see who would be healthier them or those who had the Babylonian diet. The second was Daniel 10:2-3 where he fasted for 21 days in mourning. By these examples it seems as though the length of time is not what is important as much as the prayer, dedication and diet.

If you are fasting be it the Daniel fast or any other. Please remember to pay attention to your body. Many sources state to confirm with your Dr. before beginning a lengthy fast. If you are on the Daniel Fast or have given anything up for Lent, please feel free to come by here and let us know how you are doing or if you need prayer support. We want to know how you are doing. I can’t join you in fasting this year but my prayers are with you. Also remember your focus should be on God not on the fast itself, don’t let it become a roadblock.

Here is the information on The Daniel Fast that I have found. I will try to post some recipes later.

Be Blessed,

RiverAngel42

The Daniel Fast
The Daniel Fast restricts normal food intake by eliminating many foods commonly eaten to satisfy our appetites. During the Daniel Fast you will experience a sense of hunger and a sense of sacrifice.

Types of foods included in the Daniel Fast:

  • Vegetables, preferably fresh or frozen vegetables. Vegetables such as potatoes, beans and soybeans will help provide substance.
  • Pure Fruit Juices or fruit (no sweetened drinks or sweetened fruit): apple juice, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice.
  • It is advisable to take vitamin, mineral and possibly protein supplements during the fast. You may also include various nuts to serve as a protein supplement.

Foods NOT included in this Daniel Fast:

  • Sugar and sugar products (desserts, soft drinks, etc.)
  • Drinks including caffeine (coffee, tea, etc.)
  • Meats, fish, poultry, dairy products, eggs

Foods to Avoid in Daniel Fast recipes:

  • caffeine, carbonated soft drinks, milk, cheese, meat, white rice, fried food, refined sugar, sugar substitutes, food containing preservatives or additives, white flour and food made by it, butter, margarine and high fat products

Side Effects:

  • You may experience moderate to severe headaches for the first days as your body rids itself of caffeine, salt, sugar and various impurities.

Important exceptions:

Anyone with a medical condition related to eating or under the treatment of a physician must consult their doctor. Children, especially small children, will have special needs that must be considered. Under these conditions, find some sacrifice in the area of food that can be made without endangering health.

Also, if you have extreme difficulty with the fast, such as impairment of your ability to work at your job, you will have to make adjustments. This is not a failure of will but is wisdom. Seek the Lord and discuss it with other Christians involved in the fast to find alternatives.

Daniel’s Food for My Temple

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Whole Grains:
Barley, Brown Rice, Oats

Beans/Legumes:
Red beans, black beans, dried beans, long beans, french beans, pinto beans, split peas, black eyed peas, Lentils.

Vegetables:
Asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, beets, bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, chili peppers, cucumbers, corn, cactus, eggplant, ginger root, garlic, kale, lettuce, leeks, mustard greens, collard greens, mushrooms, onions, okra, potatoes, pickles, parsley, rutabagas, radishes, spinach, sprouts, scallions, sweet potatoes, squashes, turnips, tomatoes, water chestnuts, yams, zucchini.

Fruits:
Apricots, apples, black berries, blue berries, boysenberries, bananas, cherries, cranberries, cantaloupe, dragon fruit, figs, grapes, grapefruit, guava, honeydew melons, kiwi, lime, lemons, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapples, papayas, plums, prunes, raspberries, raisins, strawberries, tangerines, tangelos, watermelon.

Nuts and Seeds

Liquids:
Drink 8 glasses of water daily, Distilled water, spring water, 100% natural fruit or vegetable juice. You may also drink protein drinks.

“Doing the Word”
James 1:22
5 Simple Ways of “Doing the Word” through Fasting and Prayer
Journal Your Journey
Concentrate on personal prayer time
Study and devote time to seeking God’s Word
Listen as you Pray
Develop a Hunger for the Things of God

Make Room For Your Angels – Christian Thought from Matthew 4:1-11

6 Comments / RiverAngel42, Thoughts / By

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Matthew 4

The Temptation of Jesus

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.“

5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.6“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

7Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.“

8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.“

11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

While reading the passage above I thought about some of the things I have faced and some of the struggles my loved ones have endured.  Although I have read this passage several times this time it spoke to me a little different and I wanted to share with you.

The Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted.  Jesus fasts for forty days and nights and the devil comes to pay him a visit.  He speaks to Jesus when he is tired and hungry and at a weakened state offering Him several ways out of His desert.  He asked Jesus to use the gifts and promises that God had already given Him against God’s will, or better yet not in God’s time.

I’m sure that this was probably more difficult than it reads. Think about it, many of us are tired and hungry we feel like we have been in our deserts waiting for God to come show us out and He hasn’t come yet.  In the beginning of that time it’s easy to wait. We are all prayed up and faithful thinking a change is gonna come and it doesn’t.  So we begin to become weak tired and hungry, then it happens satan comes and starts to whisper to us.  “God gave you the ability to make something out of nothing, you’re hungry use that gift and get out there and get what you need, so what if it’s not in God’s will or His timing? God has put you in dangerous situations before and got you out of them, so jump off this cliff, put yourself in harms way. God will surely come to your rescue, He already told you that He would, so go ahead turn away from Him after all He led you here and left you here in the desert hungry and alone, I’m your way out now.”

However while many of us can relate to being in the desert, while many of us can relate to being tempted. What many of us need to do is focus on Jesus’ behavior.  While He went to the cliff, and He heard the devils words. He always referred back to what God had told him.  Hungry He trusted, Tired he Trusted. He told the devil that He would not test God. Finally the devil showed his true face and said “i’ll give you this if you bow down”. Meaning turn away from God and submit to me, it’s like him saying to you, go back to the way you were before you knew of God’s love, start doing things that God has delivered you from, take the wrong path instead of the right and I will give you what you need to get out of this desert (of course that means turning away from all the Blessings God has in store for you).

That is when enough got to be enough and Jesus did something that many of us need to do, instead of further entertaining these conversations and trying to make someone see that God has a plan for His life and that He trusted His Father, He told Satan, “Get Away From Me”. What stood out to me when I read the scripture this morning wasn’t that God allowed Jesus to be tempted, it wasn’t that the devil came when He was at his weakest point, it wasn’t even that the devil tired to get Jesus to serve him.  What stood out was Jesus ordering the devil to get away from Him and that he did just that. However, once HE commanded the devil to flee the “Angles came to attend to Him”.

In conclusion, maybe that is where some of us are?  God is always there with us watching and waiting, wanting us to make the right choices.  However sometimes even by entertaining the conversation with the devil and telling him why you will do right is giving him too much time and attention. Those conversations with the devil, although you are stating your loyalty to the Lord, might not be anything more than mere distractions. After all we don’t have to prove anything to the devil. We know what the devil wants and no amount of telling him that you aren’t going to do it is going to change his mind, so he just needs to flee. Perhaps staying prayerful and fasting is good but maybe we need to stop entertaining the devil, look that devil right in the face and tell him to “Go Away”!  That way we have done what we need to do in order for our “Angels to come attend to us”

Be Blessed,

River Angel 42