Here is my heart cry: please, keep your Daniel Fast about your faith and NOT about the food!
As you look around the Internet and on Amazon for books and information about the Daniel Fast, you will find that most of them focus on the food! People are turning the Daniel Fast into a “Christian seasonal diet” and finding all kinds of ways to continue to feed the flesh while staying within the fasting restrictions.
The huge problem with that is when you focus your attention on the food and how to make meals so pleasurable, you miss out on the amazing gifts God wants to give you! Instead of making this powerful experience a time to strengthen your faith and draw nearer to God, you spend your time, energy, and money on finding ways to make meals that give your flesh what it wants.
In Hebrews 5, Paul teaches about this very kind of behavior among believers:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:12-14
Paul’s teaching about spiritual maturity! And as long as we stay immature, we stay weak and of little faith. We stay like baby Christians. Maturity can only be gained through experience. And the Daniel Fast engages you in powerful experiences with the Lord fostering your growth.
The Bible defines fasting as, “restricting food for a spiritual purpose.” Please read those words carefully and let them soak into your consciousness. Let the Spirit call you to this power spiritual discipline so God can reveal to you truths, insights, and blessings. And don’t sabotage yourself by making the Daniel Fast about the food rather than about faith!
The Daniel Fast is a partial fast, where some foods are eaten and others are restricted. So we do need to give some attention to what we eat. But keep your meals simple. Don’t spend so much time preparing what some call, “delicious and satisfying Daniel Fast meals.” Delicious to what? Satisfying to what? The flesh! And then you miss out on what the Spirit of God has for you.
Instead, focus on God and feed on His Word. Jesus teaches us, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
As you prepare for your Daniel Fast, you have a choice to make. Will your fast be about food? Or will it be about faith? My sincere hope is that you will choose faith. Imagine that you’re at that Y in the road. You have a decision before you. A choice. Will you travel the way of the flesh and focus too much of your energy during the fast on food? Or will you choose the way of the Lord? Will you choose the way of faith?
Remember, the choice you make will take you to a destination. Your loving Father has so much for you when you choose to walk in the Spirit. Don’t miss out! His surprises, revelations, and lessons are too good!
Know that your Father loves you so very deeply and has so much He wants to give you. Open your heart to Him during your fast. He will feed your better and with more satisfaction than any food can ever do.
Susan Gregory has been teaching about the Daniel Fast since 2007 and guided hundreds of thousands of individuals into their successful fasting experience. Her books are the bestsellers about the Daniel Fast and are available at local and online bookstores, including Amazon.