Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Day one of my Daniel fast is in the books. Twenty more to go.
What I ate yesterday:

  • One cup of brown rice

  • One cup of black beans

  • Two 8 inch flour tortillas

  • An ounce of raw almonds

  • A 10 ounce bottle of pomegranate/cranberry juice


And I enjoyed every bit of it!

Daniel probably did not. So much. Enjoy his food, that is.

In his chapter 10 blog, Daniel mentioned that he was in mourning. He was praying. Daniel did not say that he had prayed a specific prayer, but we know that he did. God also knew, as did Michael and the Prince of Persia.

How do we and these other characters know that Daniel was praying? Because God sent the angel Michael with the answer to the prayer, and he was delayed 21 days because the demonic prince did not want the message delivered. I added the commentary as to the motive of the Prince of Persia, because it seems to me to fit the story.

To me, The Daniel 10 fast is about mourning and prayer, perhaps because of a burden that God has placed on your heart about a family member, ministry, political situation… you fill in the blank. It is also a serious partial fast, involving spiritual warfare behind the scenes.

I can envision a situation where a teenage son has immersed himself in self-destructive activities, and the parents' counsil has been cast aside. In a case like this, the father or mother might say, “I am in mourning. I am not going to waste much thought or energy with food or leisure, I am going to try to grab hold of God (pray) on behalf of my son! And I will continue until there is some kind of breakthrough, no matter how long it takes!” For Daniel, it took 21 days.

Daniel’s burden was for his people, who were in captivity. This might equate to a political situation in which you see that your elected leaders are taking the wrong course and are leading us down a path that is wrong. Have you ever had such a burden? Hmmm?

In my last post, I mentioned some of my prayer concerns, and would encourage you to share any of your burdens or prayer needs with me for the remaining 20 days. I have added another: There is one Alabama legislator, who happens to be a friend of mine, who is hell-bent to expand gambling in the state (I do not usually use the term "hell-bent." It seems appropriate here). I am standing against it in the power of the Spirit of the Holy God with mourning and prayer.

In other words,
THE DANIEL 10 FAST IS NOT ABOUT YOU.

The daniel 1 fast is.
More later.

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