Day 5 Daniel's Fast Devotional

Day 5

When you’re fasting, praying and seeking the Lord, your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit will be heightened in a way you may not have ever experienced before. Suddenly your convictions become stronger, your worship is a little deeper and your ears to hear are opened. Fasting is not only a way to get God’s attention but during this time you will undoubtedly hear from God in a more tangible way than ever before.

As you prepare this Sunday morning for church service, I challenge you to spend less time preparing your outward appearance and more time preparing your heart to hear from the Lord. Yield yourself to Him this morning; God is waiting to have an encounter with you. He is waiting to release something supernatural into your life, something so great that your life will forever be changed. This might look different for different people, but ultimately God knows each of our hearts, desires and needs. He will provide what He sees fit for YOU according to His will.

Let’s come into service the Sunday morning expecting more than a good worship set and message. Let’s prepare ourselves for something greater than the norm, let’s place an expectation on the Lord that He will not be able to overlook! It is my desire to see God move not only in my life and our church, but in our city, our families, and our communities. Let’s press in on this morning.  

Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. Psalm 95: 1-3

Daniels Fast Devotional Day 4

Day 4

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4:1-4

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Let’s be honest, Jesus could have turned every stone into bread right at that moment. However, Jesus understood the difference between what He could do and what He should do. Many of us go day by day thinking just because we can do something; it means we should do it. That’s not always necessarily true. Is EATING a sin? Of course not! However, when you are fasting you must recognize you’re seeking after something more than just a full belly, you’re seeking a renewed spirit.

On the latter half of this piece of scripture, Jesus combats Satan with one of the most powerful weapons and triumphs over him. What weapon was that? The Word of God. It is important that as you are fasting you stay connected, reading the Word daily, meditating on it and fixing your attention on it throughout the day. Not only is it important in your spiritual development to partake in the Word of God, it will also be one of your greatest weapons in fighting the enemy when he comes to tempt you.

Over the duration of the fast remind yourself daily that ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ This will be one of your most powerful weapons in fighting the temptation you will face throughout fasting.

 

Day 3 Daniels Fast

Day 3

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 29:11- 14

The passage in the book of Jeremiah is possibly one of the most encouraging pieces of scripture in the bible. The truth is, we are all seeking to find purpose in life. “Who am I?” “What am I called to do?” “Why was I born?” We all have questions that run through our mind on a daily basis regarding our purpose in life, but how often do we truly seek out the answers to those questions? As you continue fasting, one thing is for certain; your sacrifice and commitment to the Lord will get His attention. This is your time to truly pursue the purpose for your life. Go before the Lord in prayer, seeking His will for your life.

I challenge you to begin a prayer journal, write down those things that you desire to hear from the Lord about. Pray for each of them diligently, and as the Lord begins to reveal the answers to you, keep a record of them. Fasting makes you sensitive to the Lord and during this time you will begin to hear both direction and correction from Him in a way you may not have heard in the past. This is your opportunity! Seek the Lord, He is there, waiting to be found!

Day 2 Daniels Fast

Day 2

By this point in the fast, you’ve probably been experiencing headaches that are a product of toxins leaving your body, or “withdrawal” pains from not having your daily caffeine intake. Your stomach may be grumbling and your hunger pains are making you wonder “Is this really worth it?” or “Is this really necessary?” Rest assured, this is just your flesh throwing a little fit as it faces some unwanted (and probably uncommon) discipline. As these feelings intensify before they cease, I would challenge you to ask yourself this question; how bad do I want it?

The bible clearly states in Matthew 6:33

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”

As you continue on over the next few weeks, remind yourself as you sacrifice and put God first in your life, seeking His presence and His purpose, He will then add all other things unto you. This fast will last you 21 days during the first month of 2013, however, your commitment and sacrifice to the Lord will not be quickly forgotten. God will honor your faithfulness throughout the year simply because you chose to follow His word and seek His kingdom FIRST.

Look at it like this, we’ve all been there before! You wake up late, you scramble to get ready, and you’re late to work with no time to get a coffee. What happens next? If you’re like many, your day has now begun a downward spiral… We all know that how we BEGIN will play a large role on how we finish off. Although you may be able to recover and salvage the rest of your day, it won’t be the same. Likewise, before you is a choice, to hit the snooze button on the calling God has placed on your life, and scramble to catch up later in the year, OR, rise and shine, seeking God FIRST and allowing these 21 days to lay the foundation of the remainder of your year.

The choice is yours! Do not allow temporary discomfort to change the course of your year!

Daniels Fast Devotion Day 1

Day 1

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6

Each of us has a deep desire to draw closer to God; there is a longing within all of us for something more, something greater, and something deeper. If you didn’t have that desire, you wouldn’t have decided to embark on a 21 day fast such as this one. The truth is, most of us will go all year, hungry and thirsty for something more, wanting and longing to be filled yet we will never be satisfied. The problem with most of us is we look to the wrong things to quench these desires and we don’t realize what and who should really fill us. Some of us turn to relationships, others turn to shopping, eating, sports or working out. Although these things aren’t “bad”, they will only fill our time, but never fill the deepest desires of our spirit.

As you start this fast, keep this scripture in mind, remind yourself multiple times a day: BLESSED are those who HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness, for they SHALL be filled. It is God’s desire to fill your every void. As you begin to turn away from food, don’t allow yourself to turn to bickering, murmuring and complaining about how “hungry” you are, but realize there is a deeper hunger in your soul that WILL BE FILLED through PRAYER and FASTING.

Forgiveness

We read in Luke 23:34 that Jesus did the following: "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." Often times we read over this part of scripture and sometimes just think it was Jesus being nice but its much deeper than that.

A few chapters earlier when teaching his disciples to pray we read the famed "Lord's Prayer". IN this prayer Jesus laid down a serious and powerful principle when he declared "and forgive US our trespasses as we FORGIVE  those who have trespassed against us." This is powerful because the same way we forgive is the measure used to judge us if we are worthy to be forgiven...Jesus told a parable of a man who was forgiven by his master for an enormous debt he owed. He was shown grace and yet when he left his masters house he saw a man who owed him a few dollars and sent him to jail for not paying. The master heard if this and grew angry with the man and punished him for his actions. 

The point Jesus was making was if we are forgiven for all our sins then w should forgive others and not hold onto bitterness and harbor un-forgiveness. how is it we expect God to forgive us for all types of sin, sexual immorality, drug addictions, foul language and so much more and even worse stuff but yet have trouble forgiven someone who broke our heart. How is it you can be forgiven but yet can't forgive? you may see that hurt as a big thing but yet what God forgave you of was a big deal. God forgave you for everything but yet you cant forgive someone for something? 

In order to be forgiven we must forgive. SO is why Jesus hanging on the cross covered in bruises and blood took on the sins of the world. He took every ounce of sin you would ever commit and he took on the full wrath of God. He then FORGAVE the men who killed him in order for the sins of your's he carried on your part and on your behalf to be forgiven....

Don't hold tightly to un-forgiveness  its a lock that will keep heavens gates closed when we can't forgive.

Stay blessed.

No room...

Christmas is almost done and all the gifts are most likely unwrapped. Left over food litters many kitchens and wrapping paper fills bags outside our homes. Many things happened today on this holiday but oddly enough there is one thing that most likely didn't happen that should have happened and that was honoring Jesus on his birthday.

Yes I know, we have no proof when he was born exactly but yet we as a world have chosen today and the question is did you really make room for him or honor him? Was there any attention given to him? Most would probably say no...and yet this is nothing new for Jesus.

^{Luke 2:7} And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (Emphasis added)

I find it ironic that the same issue he had on the day OF his birth he still has today and that is there is no room for him. It was HIS day and yet many didn't even think of Him in depth or spend time with the King. Christmas has turned into this commercial holiday where the world says happy holidays instead of CHRISTmas so they wouldn't offend anyone...Nativity scenes are taken down as to not offend anyone and any real semblance of what Christmas is supposed to be about is being removed all around us and we as "Christians" frown upon it but don't ever do much more than that.

Over 2000 years later Jesus has the same issue he had then and that is there is no room for him. Kids all across the nation went to bed waiting for a fat man in a red and white suit riding on a sleigh driven by rein deer that is powered by Christmas "Spirit" rather than have any real knowledge of how over 2000 years ago the earth awaited a Savior King who would bring a real gift. His gift was not hidden under a tree but would hang on the tree. Was there room this Christmas for Jesus? Was it remotely about him in any capacity or was it just a day of great cheer and joy? 

I've made a conscientious decision that there will be room for Jesus not just on Christmas but all the days of my life...Make room for Him and he will change your world around and you will never be the same when you really find yourself in the arms of the Savior.