The Daniel Fast and Captain Haddock
For some Easter is over and done with, for me, it is a recurring event. I can't get enough of it.
Like a thunderous crescendo it sets my heart pumping faster with excitement. The Hosannas as Jesus rides on a donkey, to the anguish in the garden of Gethsemane; the desertion and loneliness of the cross, the deepest darkest hell and finally Jesus bursting forth in triumph over death on the 3rd day - Life changing!
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth …
“6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Refrain!!!
On the 20th of February I started the Daniel fast. Hungry for more than food, I yearned to be quiet, to shut out the bustle of life and spend focused time with God.
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
Originating from the book of Daniel chapter 1, the Daniel fast serves to cleanse the body, nourish the soul and feed the Spirit. For 21 days I purposed to eat only fruits and vegetables and drink water - anything with a face was out of bounds. There were a few complications considering that members of my household were not with the program and I was the cook. I hoped that I’d added enough salt and that I didn’t get too happy with the spices. I stayed away from sweeteners; - sugar, honey and almost all things “nice”. At the end of the day it wasn’t so much about food or the lack there of, I had issues to pray over.
Week one, my body didn’t appreciate the deprivation but on the other hand I was more alert to intonations in casual conversations and convicted to pray for other people. Weeks two and three were great!I begun to see answers to prayer regarding my children - that was exciting!
Each morning I prayed that God would help me to perform with excellence and to please my boss. On the contrary I have never messed up a job like I did this one. No matter how hard I tried, I got it wrong every time. It seemed out of my control – the harder I tried the more I messed up. It was a downward spiral from the start. After 5 months of sitting at home my brains seemed to be on official vacation, I begun to doubt my ability to handle the rigors of work in America.
One morning, I came in determined to do my best, I was early as usual, I thought I would use the time to go through my notes and get set for the day when my boss came in and immediately asked me to scan a document for her. I jumped up, walked enthusiastically to her desk, smiled and said I would have it scanned and emailed to her account immediately. I placed the document in the machine and only half of it came out. I wished I could vanish into thin air. The document was torn in half, the other bit was stuck in the scanner. It gets even more interesting because I had to tell her or consider sneaking out of the office never to be seen or heard of again. That meant changing my address, phone number and moving out of town, there was little chance of that happening.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me in disbelief, making every effort to contain herself, she mentioned in a low voice that the document was her husband’s birth certificate. I wished I could double vanish! That way there would be no traces. I apologized profusely. The machine works excellently, never had problems with it before but on this good day…
I kept muttering under my breath “Oh my God, what do I do? How did this happen? Oh my goodness!” It became a mantra for me that morning and many mornings after that because something or the other went wrong in a very silly way. Weren’t things supposed to go perfectly, like they did for Daniel? God gave him and his buddies, knowledge, understanding and favor with the King. Daniel was promoted, I on the other hand was seeing stars just like Captain Haddock (those things are real I tell you).
Time after time I had my foot stuck in my mouth, even I was shocked. I would log off my computer at 10pm, drag my feet out of the office and realize life was still going on, mine seemed to end every day.
The next day I would get up determined to do better and the next evening I would drag my feet home again. One evening Mich left his room to say,
“Mummy, I think you should pay me”
“Yes Mich and for what?” I asked
“I didn’t do anything bad yesterday and today”
I held him and said “Mich, you don’t get paid for that, now go on to bed” I could have responded better especially seeing that God was working some really beautiful things into his heart. But I was dealing with my own “bigger” issues.
There have been answers to many of my prayers and many are still being worked out. God is not predictable, if He was, we would walk off and never need Him. The times I have desperately prayed for him to help me at work and still things go wrong, I’m thinking, maybe He is trying to bring something to my attention, so I hold on and wait for it to unfold. But now I choose to give thanks. Just give thanks, no matter what, it makes the situation better.
CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST IS COMING AGAIN!
Like a thunderous crescendo it sets my heart pumping faster with excitement. The Hosannas as Jesus rides on a donkey, to the anguish in the garden of Gethsemane; the desertion and loneliness of the cross, the deepest darkest hell and finally Jesus bursting forth in triumph over death on the 3rd day - Life changing!
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth …
“6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Refrain!!!
On the 20th of February I started the Daniel fast. Hungry for more than food, I yearned to be quiet, to shut out the bustle of life and spend focused time with God.
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
Originating from the book of Daniel chapter 1, the Daniel fast serves to cleanse the body, nourish the soul and feed the Spirit. For 21 days I purposed to eat only fruits and vegetables and drink water - anything with a face was out of bounds. There were a few complications considering that members of my household were not with the program and I was the cook. I hoped that I’d added enough salt and that I didn’t get too happy with the spices. I stayed away from sweeteners; - sugar, honey and almost all things “nice”. At the end of the day it wasn’t so much about food or the lack there of, I had issues to pray over.
Week one, my body didn’t appreciate the deprivation but on the other hand I was more alert to intonations in casual conversations and convicted to pray for other people. Weeks two and three were great!I begun to see answers to prayer regarding my children - that was exciting!
Each morning I prayed that God would help me to perform with excellence and to please my boss. On the contrary I have never messed up a job like I did this one. No matter how hard I tried, I got it wrong every time. It seemed out of my control – the harder I tried the more I messed up. It was a downward spiral from the start. After 5 months of sitting at home my brains seemed to be on official vacation, I begun to doubt my ability to handle the rigors of work in America.
One morning, I came in determined to do my best, I was early as usual, I thought I would use the time to go through my notes and get set for the day when my boss came in and immediately asked me to scan a document for her. I jumped up, walked enthusiastically to her desk, smiled and said I would have it scanned and emailed to her account immediately. I placed the document in the machine and only half of it came out. I wished I could vanish into thin air. The document was torn in half, the other bit was stuck in the scanner. It gets even more interesting because I had to tell her or consider sneaking out of the office never to be seen or heard of again. That meant changing my address, phone number and moving out of town, there was little chance of that happening.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me in disbelief, making every effort to contain herself, she mentioned in a low voice that the document was her husband’s birth certificate. I wished I could double vanish! That way there would be no traces. I apologized profusely. The machine works excellently, never had problems with it before but on this good day…
I kept muttering under my breath “Oh my God, what do I do? How did this happen? Oh my goodness!” It became a mantra for me that morning and many mornings after that because something or the other went wrong in a very silly way. Weren’t things supposed to go perfectly, like they did for Daniel? God gave him and his buddies, knowledge, understanding and favor with the King. Daniel was promoted, I on the other hand was seeing stars just like Captain Haddock (those things are real I tell you).
The next day I would get up determined to do better and the next evening I would drag my feet home again. One evening Mich left his room to say,
“Mummy, I think you should pay me”
“Yes Mich and for what?” I asked
“I didn’t do anything bad yesterday and today”
I held him and said “Mich, you don’t get paid for that, now go on to bed” I could have responded better especially seeing that God was working some really beautiful things into his heart. But I was dealing with my own “bigger” issues.
There have been answers to many of my prayers and many are still being worked out. God is not predictable, if He was, we would walk off and never need Him. The times I have desperately prayed for him to help me at work and still things go wrong, I’m thinking, maybe He is trying to bring something to my attention, so I hold on and wait for it to unfold. But now I choose to give thanks. Just give thanks, no matter what, it makes the situation better.
CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST IS COMING AGAIN!
Comments
Post a Comment
Hey! Thanks for dropping by :-)