“Question: “What is a Daniel fast?”
Answer: The concept of a Daniel fast comes from Daniel 1:8-14, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, ‘I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.’
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.’ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.”
The background of the Daniel fast is that Daniel and his three friends had been deported to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians conquered Judah (2 Kings 24:13-14). Daniel and his three friends were put into the Babylonian court servant “training program.” Part of the program was learning Babylonian customs, beliefs, laws, and practices. The eating habits of the Babylonians were not in complete agreement with the Mosaic Law. As a result, Daniel asked if he and his three friends could be excused from eating the meat (which was likely sacrificed to Babylonian false gods and idols).
So, a Daniel fast is eating only fruits and vegetables for a certain amount of time and abstaining from meat products. Some people use a Daniel fast as a dieting method. Some people use a Daniel fast instead of fasting from food entirely. The Bible nowhere commands believers to observe a Daniel fast. As a result, it is a matter of Christian freedom whether to observe a Daniel fast. Please also see our article on Christian fasting.
For more information on the Daniel fast, and for Daniel fast recipes, we recommend http://daniel-fast.com/ and http://www.ultimatedanielfast.com/.
Recommended Resource: A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer by Piper, Platt, & Chan“
The above segment is from “Got Questions?.org” (or use the app.) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND checking it out!
So those of you who know me were probably thinking what I was, “That sounds awful, terrible, sounds like torture, you’ll be starving all of the time, no meat? ‘What do you mean you don’t eat no meat,’ etc, etc.” Some of those thoughts are 100% accurate and so I wanted to take you through a day of me on the Daniel Fast, my thoughts and reactions, and then say overall how I felt after the fast (those of us on my team who participated did 12-13 days.)
Wake up: “Hey it’s time to eat… oh wait, oatmeal, ugh I’ve never been a fan of oatmeal but here we go. Add a little banana, and honey, and bam, breakfast at 6am… oh and gotta make that black coffee… yuck, but I need that caffeine though… Let’s do quiet time while I eat.”
7:30am – “Why am I hungry already?”
8:30am – “I want a cappuccino muffin, that’s all I want in life right now.”
10am – “Ministry has started… what time is ‘lunch’ again?”
12pm ish- “Lunch… peanuts and rice cakes with honey or avocado… I feel like I’m eating a bird’s meal.”
2pm – “I can’t wait to eat a snack when I get home… those rice cakes and honey and peanuts man, they’re calling my name with a nice cup of tea… no sugar or milk of course!”
5pm – “So mini snack before dinner, right? Who else wants a rice cake with honey?”
6pm ish – “Dinner is once again rice and veggies, oh we have beans and avocado today = BONUS! Also, I miss meat. When are we done this fast again?”
8pm “One last rice cake and cup of tea before bed, and a handful of peanuts, yum.”
Sleeps and repeat cycle!
In all reality though, the Daniel Fast was very much enjoyable (once you take out that human desire for filling yourself up with food.) I loved having a specific prayer point for each day and being able to have those special times of prayer with the Lord. It also gave our team a chance to really grow closer by doing it together!
I have also been learning a lot that when our body “feels hungry,” it is not always for food. It can be what is called a “spiritual hunger,” where your body is longing for GOD, for communion/intimacy with Him NOT hungry for food! Reflecting back on my life, I believe now that there were many times where I felt hungry and automatically reached for food instead of spending time with Abba! That mindset has stood out to me SO much; I first read about the “spiritual hunger,” in the book, River Dwellers, by Dr. Rob Reimer. It was a fantastic book; 10/10, would highly recommend (thanks Amanda for suggesting it for me to read!)
I thought it would be a good idea to list out what I prayed for each day; if anyone is encouraged by this blog and want to try it for themselves, here are some prayer points for you to consider!
Day 1: praying for intimacy – dependence/sustinance ONLY from You(God)!
Day 2: prayers for continued inner healing with people pleasing
Day 3: prayers for future/post Race plans
Day 4: same as day 3, actually pray for it today (sometimes I got distracted by life and didn’t actually pray)
Day 5: praying to JUST BE in His presence
Day 6: praying for my emotions to be in check – minimize anger, jealousy, and irritability (these feelings were happening A TON in Swazi, it was hard)
Day 7: praying for Andrew’s salvation Allie’s brother (Allie is on my squad and I worked A LOT with her in Swazi and she is like another little sis to me!)
Day 8: didn’t have a specific prayer point, so I just randomly prayed throughout the day
Day 9: team vulnerability (prayed for this and then I got REAL vulnerable with my team that day, God is funny sometimes!)
Day 10: personal things for my parents
Day 11: for no negativity; for a feeling of peace
Day 12: pray for those who are hard to pray for (inspired by the book, The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom – y’all SERIOUSLY need to read that book!)
I was planning to go longer, but it didn’t pan out quite right. (We ran out of Daniel Fast approved food and didn’t want to shop for one day since we were going on vacation to Cape Town, we also didn’t want to do the fast on vacation.) Because I am already inticipating some challenges returning back home, I am already planning ahead for the next time I do the Daniel Fast. I am going to really try to abide 100% by it; not make the few exceptions we made as a team this time around (I had eggs one morning and our team did black coffee/had teas black as well.)
