We have decided to do the Daniel Fast… I think it may be against the rules to tell you that as fasting is supposed to be done in secret, so please don’t tell anyone else okay and then maybe it will be okay. I hope or maybe I shouldn’t bother…. hmmm?
Anyway this means finding out what you are allowed so I have searched, googled, pinned, twittered, binged, bloggeled and …
Apparently I can buy lots of recipe books, DVD’s, DVD’s with books, books with journals, journals with stickers, flip, I can probably get a secret tshirt to wear. In fact the more I’ve looked the more I get the sense that this whole idea is kind of missing out on the point that I thought was the point.
I thought it was a fast, in our case, to start the year dedicated to God, to come before Him as a whole person – body, mind and spirit and seek Him in all that we are. I thought it was about a cleansing and commitment. I thought it was about seeking out the heart of my loving God and drawing closer to Him. But now I think I may have it wrong.
It seems to be about who does it right, what you should do, what you should not eat, what you should not do, the correct fitness routine, all of the rules and regulations that make me feel like people are kind of trying to trick God.
You cannot have a smoothie unless you have a smoothie with a glass of water because then it is a meal substitute and okay.
You cannot have herbal tea unless you are having herbal tea for therapeutic reasons
You cannot have nutella… dang! You don’t say!! That’s it, I’m over it already! ha ha ha
I am now through searching through what I can and cannot have. I don’t believe God will see my heart impure and ignore my desire for Him because I drank a fruit tea. I don’t think God will turn His face away from me because I ate something not approved by the approved recipe book, available at $9.95 from all good bookshops. I think God wants our hearts, not OUR rules. I don’t think Daniel had processed foods to decline in the first place because as far as my history goes they didn’t have E numbers and chemicals back then. It’s like saying and Daniel did not drive around in a car! I want to do this properly but I don’t want to spend my time so obsessing about whether I am breaking a rule that it is drawing me away from my focus on God. I don’t want to be so preoccupied with reading the lists of foods I can and can’t have that I’m not reading the life giving Word. I don’t want to be so bothered about what other people say is right that I am not finding out what God wants.
For me I’ll check my heart and my motives, I will not try to trick God by finding a rule that I can bend by some law that someone has made up. The scripture is there for the 21 day fast in Daniel 10 but more importantly my heart is here to come before my God and to consecrate myself to Him.
Right, now to eat up all that left over chocolate before tomorrow….. what I’m not allowed to?
The Hutsons 