Can you believe it’s 22nd of January already? Where is the year flying to? To be honest, I don’t really think the year is moving that quickly. I started the year fasting for 21 days and trust me, it seemed like forever.
I shared with my friends and followers on Facebook and Instagram yesterday how I went on the Daniel fast from the 7th Day of the fast. In case you don’t know what the Daniel fast is, I will tell you. It is when you fast on only fruit, vegetable and water for the duration of your fast. So you skip breakfast and lunch and then you break with fruits and vegetables every day. I did that for 14 days. For the first seven, I ate proper food.
Now I have to tell you I had no idea how I was going to survive 14 days eating only fruit and vegetable. In fact, my original plan was to try this Daniel fast during the last three days of the fast but the Holy Spirit didn’t want that. So I had to have faith that He would give me the strength to do it and He did!
If you want to try the Daniel fast but you’re not sure you will be able to handle it, I will share some tips that helped me.
What’s Your Motive?
The truth is there were days that I felt like fainting. I can’t remember there being a day that I didn’t feel like giving up and eating proper food. So what kept me going, you may wonder. It was the fact that I desired more of God. I wanted to have a new supernatural experience of God. I wanted to taste something new. Like David said in Psalm 42, my soul panted and was thirsty for more of God just like the deer pants for water.
If you are just doing the Daniel fast simply because you want to prove a point, you may give in quickly before time or worse, the entire experience will be wasted because you had the wrong motive.
Rely On The Holy Spirit.
Ah, the Holy Spirit was more or less my best friend throughout the fast. “Help me.” “Holy Spirit, I need strength.” “Please see me through.” Those were regular things I told the Holy Spirit, every day.
I prayed for strength. When my physical body felt week, I asked the Holy Spirit to strengthen me. I can’t explain it but I felt a strength from within that more or less carried me through. Praying and asking for the help of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference.
Go Deep In The Word.
Fasting is a time to bury your head in the Word and gain new revelation from God. Before we started our 21-Day fast, my Pastor recommended the book Fasting by Jentezen Franklin for us to read. That book really opened my eyes to the importance and the role of fasting in every Child of God’s life.
I also stumbled on a devotional by the author on YouVersion. It’s called Return to Me and it’s essentially a 21 Day fasting devotional. I know it wasn’t a coincidence that I found that devotional. How refreshing it was to read! So the book, the devotional, my Bible of course were the materials I buried my head in over 21 days.
You have no idea how the word of God came alive to me during this period. I received insight and revelation. Let me give you an example. Matthew 6:33 is a very popular Scripture and many of us can recite it like a nursery rhyme;
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
How many of us really understand the depth of that Scripture? God showed me that seeking Him first includes following His will, obeying His voice, carrying out the mandate to spread the Gospel, being mindful to contribute to the growth of the Kingdom and to live righteously – a Christlike life. We can’t just say we are His children, we must live, ingest, and breath the things of God!
Ok, back to the main point; ensure you read your Bible every day. Go deeper. Study. Meditate. YouVersion is such a great app. Use it.
Conserve Your Energy.
Since you’re not consuming food, you shouldn’t do vigorous activities when you’re on the Daniel fast. I intentionally didn’t take on new work during the 21 Day period. I only had one client that I had to execute a project for. There were,however, some oversabi periods where I walked long distances just because I wanted to save money and overstretched myself. Don’t mind me; it’s my double dose Ijebu blood at work. One day I walked a very long distance that I literally collapsed on the chair when I got to church!
Take things easy when you go on a Daniel fast. Avoid anything that will drain your energy, even tedious people and conversations.
Don’t Be Hard On Yourself.
I set the goal during the fast to wake up before 6 am to pray and then study. While I did this successfully on some days, there were days that I was just too weak to pray. Some days I didn’t even pray for up to an hour. I started feeling bad about it but the Fasting book and the Lead Pastor in my church also helped. She said that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we can’t pray as we want. She emphasized that God sees the sacrifice that we are making and He will answer even the silent prayers of our heart just as much as He will answer the ones we say when we are pacing back and forth in our room.
So don’t feel down when you can’t pray like you want to. One thing I will say is, make sure you worship and listen to messages that dig deep into the Word (Jentezen Franklin has some great sermons on Fasting on YouTube which really enlightened me). It will refresh your spirit and stir up within you a supernatural strength to pray. I actually created a special worship playlist which really helped me.
Bask In The Presence Of God.
The most important thing you can do is to enjoy the presence of God as you fast and seek His face. Don’t pray and be in a hurry to leave. Tarry and listen out for His voice.
There were times I’ll pray and all I will see is this piercing white light. It was so vivid. One time I had to open my eyes because it felt like someone put a fluorescent light right in front of my eyes. Of course, everywhere was dark when I eventually opened my eyes! But that light, it was so warm, so beautiful, so assuring. I felt a new oneness with God and with the Holy Spirit. He filled me afresh with His glory.
You can enjoy it too; just wait on Him and remain thirsty for more.
I hope these tips help you. Beyond the 21 Days, I have made it a goal to live a fasted life so I am going to fast a lot this year and I totally looking forward to it. I am eager to experience the supernatural in my life and to use the mighty power of God to do exploits for Him!
If you have any questions, or fasting tips you’ll like to share, please leave a comment! Let’s help each other to grow in the things of the Lord this year 🙂
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