I’ve done the Daniel Fast for a couple of years now, but this is my first time writing about it. I felt it was important to share with you the things I learned from the Daniel Fast this year in hopes of encouraging anyone who is considering the Daniel Fast and also as a reminder to myself of the things I learned during this time. Here are five takeaways that I’d like to share about what I learned from the Daniel Fast.
I have time, I just wasn’t using it to my advantage.
In December of 2021, I made up my mind that I didn’t want to wait until January 1st to change my habits. Thanks to a book I read, Atomic Habits by James Clear, I was eager to start implementing the strategies I had learned.
I started a kickboxing class, determined that if I started early I would already be in the swing of things when the New Year rolled around.
Kickboxing was great for a couple of weeks, but then covid spiked…again (*insert eyeroll*) and I no longer felt comfortable going to class anymore. I told myself I would have to start doing at home workouts until I could get back to the gym and that I wanted to workout at least 4 days at week.
The only thing that was wrong with this plan was that I was NOT a morning person! With my work schedule, my only choices on the days I worked was to either work out early in the morning before work or after work.
A lie I had been telling myself was that I didn’t have time/energy to be able to do either! I would be too tired to wake up and get my exercise done before work and after work I would be too tired from working a 10-hr shift.
My mantra this year has been “Who do I need to be in order to accomplish my goals?” I had to decide whether I wanted to stay the same or challenge myself to change and become a better version of myself.
I chose the latter.
I started waking up early to exercise and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be as long as I went to bed on time and prepared for my workout the night before.
A couple of days into my fast I started reflecting on the changes I had made when it came to working out and started to think of how I could start making more time to spend in God’s word.
How could I make time to incorporate this in my day to day life? Wake up even earlier than I was already doing or spend time with God after work?
My flesh immediately screamed “no way!” to the former, but when I thought pragmatically about the latter option, I knew I wouldn’t be in the right state of mind to focus on what I was learning.
God deserved the first of me, not the me I was after a long, mentally demanding day of work.
He didn’t deserve the me that would struggle to pry my eyes open to search the pages of His sacred Word and give attention and meaningful thought to what I was taking in.
I knew that fasting without meditating on the word of God was just a diet.
I wanted this time to count for something. I wanted to experience all God had for me during this fast.
That is why I ultimately made the decision to sacrifice my comfort and time and chose to wake up early so I could experience God in a way like never before.
An abundant life is on the other side of distractions.
Social media is a tool, not a crutch for your insecurities.
*You* have to do the work!
If you rely on likes, comments, followers, subscribers, etc. to make you feel good about yourself, your self esteem will suffer if your post doesn’t do as well as you expected.
Fasting from social media is something I felt called to do again this year because I felt I needed a break from it for my mental health.
It’s so easy to fall into the comparison trap or playing “keep up” when trying to grow your following, especially with the ever-changing algorithm that has you jumping through hoops to stay relevant.
Taking a break from social media during my fast helped me to see that my mental health/overall health is more important that what’s going on in social media land.
I needed to get back to reality and learn how to love and nurture myself without being propped up by people on social media I hardly even knew.
Trust me! It will all be there when you come back.
Only this time when you come back you’ll come back with more discipline and more to share with others that will help you serve them, not yourself.
The spirit behind my actions is what matters.
Legalism is a spirit that I’ve recognized I have battled with off and on. Fasting has helped me tremendously to break free from it.
My church has always done the Daniel Fast each year and if you are familiar with the restrictions, you know that there is a long list of foods/ingredients to avoid; sugar, caffeine, meat, and dairy to name a few.
I feel I’m a natural born rule keeper. I like to know there is an answer for everything and I like order and knowing exactly what I need to do and how to do it. Just tell me the rules so I can follow them.
One day I found myself reading Matthew 12:1-14. In this passage, the Pharisees (who were very strict law keepers) were accusing the disciples of Jesus of breaking the law by harvesting on the Sabbath.
Jesus then reminded the Pharisees of other times in history that men of God “broke” the law of the Sabbath explaining to them that the men were innocent because the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around.
Jesus said *He* is the Lord of the Sabbath. He created the Sabbath so He makes the rules, not the other way around.
The Sabbath was put in place FOR man, not to work against man. It was to give the man rest and freedom to do so without guilt.
In verse 12, Jesus perfectly summarizes His whole point in saying “…Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
We have to look at the spirit in which the law was given.
The “why” behind the law is just as important, if not more, as the law itself. Laws are put into place to protect us from negative consequences.
What the disciples did by harvesting was not done with any intent to cause harm to anyone. There is no negative consequence that would have come from them enjoying a basic necessity of life…food. They simply were hungry, so they ate!
Now in my fast this year and the past year, I was very strict on myself as far as what I could consume, but this year I found myself torn between being pharisaical or living free from legalism.
I came to this crossroads when I found myself reading the ingredients in a couple of food items I was planning on consuming that day.
A protein shake I was going to drink had 1g of added sugar and then a jar of peanut butter has <1g added of sugar. I really thought to myself “should I feel guilty for eating this?” “Will this void my fast?”
Was 1g of added sugar going to be my downfall in getting all I could out of the fast?
Then, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the passage that a read a few weeks prior about the Sabbath.
God was not going to love me any less because I consumed a food with 1g of added sugar on the Daniel Fast.
Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?
What really mattered was my heart, my sacrifice to God and the spirit behind why I was doing the fast in the first place.
See, when legalism is at play, we don’t realize just how foolish we sound trying to dot every “i” and cross every “t” for the sake of rule keeping and doing things perfectly.
Legalism blinds us to the spirit behind God’s law and imposes guilt upon those who utilize their freedom in Christ.
There is nothing wrong with the sugar that was in the items I consumed. I had to look at the bigger picture and ask myself what the purpose was of trying to restrict these things.
Trust and believe I don’t fiend for a protein shake and peanut butter when I’m not fasting, so those food items aren’t really a danger to me when it comes to overindulgence.
Fasting is about removing the indulgences in your life to re center your focus on spiritual matters.
1g of added sugar was not going to change my heart for God. It wasn’t the end all be all to a healthy relationship with God.
You could follow the Daniel Fast perfectly and still have an unrepentant heart.
Your heart is what He is after.
Jesus died for the very fact that we are terrible rule keepers.
Keep that in mind when you find legalism trying to creep into your life.
There will always be temptation, but I have the power to flee from it.
It never fails. Whenever I’m on my fast I find myself surrounded my all kinds of delicious goodies that I have to turn down.
Case in point. There was a wedding shower for someone at work and there was some sugar cookies calling my name!
Now Lord knows sugar cookies are one of my top favorite cookies *licks lips*. These cookies were definitely pleasing to the eye. So beautifully decorated and designed. How could I pass those up?!
I imagine that’s how Eve felt when she looked at the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
I knew that I had to say “no” to my desire for a greater purpose. That’s what you have to do when faced with temptation.
The purpose of the fast was to deny my fleshly desires and exchange them for spiritual ones by feeding off of the word of God.
Even Jesus was tested after He fasted for 40 days.
The Holy Spirit lead Him into the wilderness after He was baptized and He was tempted in all the areas that we get tempted in, yet He passed the test with flying colors.
How? By relying on the power of God and recalling the word of God that was written on His heart.
Maybe sometimes it not a sugar cookie, but a lustful thought or image that pops into your mind causing you to want to please your flesh.
Or maybe its the desire to control or manipulate other people into getting what you want.
Whatever your temptation may be, God will help you overcome all of them.
1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us this.
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when your are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it”
We all have the power to overcome temptation if we are in Christ.
He is our example of how to fight temptation.
We must be armed with the word of God BEFORE we are tempted so that we can use the word as our weapon.
I learned how my flesh reacts to opposition
When I first thought of waking up early during the fast to read the word of God, my flesh immediately shot down the idea.
Nuh uh!! That’s doing wayyy too much!
I’m already waking up early to work out, now you want me to wake up even earlier to read?!
It was then that I realized this was my flesh crying out.
I knew it was my flesh because our flesh only seeks what is pleasurable.
It doesn’t think about the reward that obedience or discipline brings about, only of the pain of the sacrifice.
Your flesh will always try to convince you that it’s not worth it or too much trouble to change, but don’t listen to it!
The Bible says we must beat our bodies into submission (1 Corinthians 9:27) so that we will not be disqualified for the prize in the race we are running.
We must always be the master of our flesh. We cannot let our own flesh block us from receiving the eternal rewards God has for us.
As expected, the Daniel Fast has been transformational for me in many ways. I have learned more about God, myself, and my potential. It has allowed me to step into a better version of myself and I am so grateful that my obedience has lead me to these realizations.
There is real power in fasting! Don’t be discouraged by the sacrifices you will make. Your flesh will hate you, but your spirit will thank you.
Have you ever done a spiritual fast before? What did you learn from it?