The Daniel Fast



Introduction

Be blessed, dear child of the Most High God! You are about to enter into an exciting, life-changing spiritual adventure. Fasting is a powerful spiritual discipline designed by our Creator to draw us closer to Him, and the Daniel Fast is an experience for your whole person: body, soul, and spirit.

As I write these words, I am more convinced than ever that God has anointed the Daniel Fast to strengthen and empower His children for this period in the church’s history. At a time when world systems are shaking, obesity and disease are at an all-time high, and the power of darkness seems stronger each day, I have seen miracles happen when people turn their hearts to God and consecrate themselves for a period of prayer and fasting.

The Bible instructs us to measure the quality of things by their fruit. Clearly, the Daniel Fast bears much good fruit as it changes lives toward goodness, faith, and health. I receive thousands of e-mails and messages a year from people whose lives have been forever altered during their Daniel Fast. And that’s why I am so excited about the renewal of this biblical discipline that I believe is powered by the Holy Spirit and sanctioned by God.

Throughout Scripture, we find numerous men and women entering into times of fasting: Job, Jonah, Esther, Isaiah, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, John the Baptist, Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. Fasting is interwoven throughout the Bible as a normal and acceptable practice in our faith. It’s not a rule born out of church doctrine or tradition. Rather, as many men and women are discovering today, fasting is a tool created by the Father to help bring His children into closer communication and relationship with Him.

Keep in mind, fasting is about food. It’s about restricting all or some foods for a spiritual purpose. While the origins of fasting are not definite, we do know that God ordered specific times when His people were not to eat certain foods. When God initiated the Passover - or the Feast of Unleavened Bread - as recounted in Exodus 12, He was very specific about the foods that should and should not be eaten. When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 34), he ate no food and drank no water for forty days.

So just what is the Daniel Fast? In the first chapter of the book of Daniel, we learn of the young prophet’s tensions over the differences between the Babylonian customs and his Jewish ways, and it had to do with food. Daniel refused to defile the body that he had set apart for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The food offered to him - meat and wine that had been dedicated to the Babylonian false gods - wouldn’t do. So Daniel and his companions entered a partial fast (restricting food for a spiritual purpose) so they could remain true to their God.

The Daniel Fast: Feed Your Soul, Strengthen Your Spirit, and Renew Your Body by Susan Gregory

Copyright © 2010 by Susan Gregory. All rights reserved.