Why do we fast?

So we can feast. Fasting in a Biblical sense is abstaining from something, typically food, to help create an added awareness of our weakness and our need for God’s strength inside our souls. By not paying as much attention to one thing we are able to pay more attention to something else. In fasting, we surrender ourselves to God, showing Him that a relationship with Him is a priority in our lives. Dedicating ourselves to prayer and fasting brings us to a new level of spiritual dependance and renews our perspective, commitment and resolve.

As a church we will prepare ourselves for all God has for us in 2019 by doing a Daniel Fast and praying together for ten days, from February 1 to February 10.

What is a Daniel Fast?

A Daniel Fast is based on stories in the Bible starting with Daniel 1, where Daniel, a young man from Judah who has been taken captive to serve in the king’s palace, refuses delicacies offered by the king. He had an excellent spirit within him and purposed in his heart he would not defile himself with unclean food that was against Old Testament law. He asked his supervisor to let him eat vegetables and water for 10 days, and at the end of that time he is found to be in better appearance and shape than those who ate the delicacies. God gave Daniel great favor in knowledge and skill, and the gift of understanding vision and dreams. In Daniel 10, he also spends 21 days fasting and praying, to humble himself before God and receive understanding.

 

We will take part in the Daniel Fast as a church to renew and refocus our spiritual commitment to God through prayer and dependance on Him.

During this fast, we will remove meat, sweets, and bread from our diets and consume water, juice, fruits, vegetables, and lentils (Daniel 1: 5-21and Daniel 10: 2,3). The Daniel Fast is similar to a vegan diet in that it excludes the consumption of animal products and also excludes processed foods, additives, preservatives, flavorings, sweeteners, alcohol, and products made with white flours. Each day during the Daniel fast we will come together with Fresh Life Church on Facebook and Instagram Live to pray.

If you need additional guidance on what to eat during a Daniel Fast, download this PDF for guidelines.

Scripture References