Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough: A Guide to Nine Biblical Fasts (21 page)

Step 2: Fast as a Spiritual Commitment

The Daniel Fast consists of more than just a diet adjustment or the withholding of food. Those who have a weight problem or other physical problems will not be successful with solely a physical solution. The Daniel Fast involves a spiritual commitment to God. “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself” (Dan. 1:8). Although he bargained with his overseer, the whole process began with a spiritual commitment to God. The Daniel Fast requires a spiritual equation, not just a physical solution.

Step 3: Reflect Inner Desire by Outer Discipline

Many people have an inner desire for better health, but they can’t discipline
themselves to avoid junk food, finger food, or other “party food.” If you want a strong physical body, you must make a wholehearted commitment to discipline your body. You must say no to improper food and yes to healthy food. Out of Daniel’s deep spiritual commitment he said to his overseer, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink” (Dan. 1:12).

The physical health you seek from God may be more than an answer to prayer. Your physical health may be linked to any of the following factors.

a. Your food choices
. When you enter the Daniel Fast, you not only modify your diet, but you also begin praying for God’s wisdom to make appropriate choices of food in your diet, adding some and deleting others. After you have prayed for wisdom, begin learning about proper diet by reading books, listening to audio tapes and talking to knowledgeable people.

b. The level of your spiritual commitment as reflected in constant prayer during the fast
. It is not enough to do without food; you must pray during your Daniel Fast that God would give you the strength of your commitment to stay on the fast.

In case of illness, you must also pray for God to touch your physical body with healing; that the disease will be flushed out of your body; and that by eating the proper food you will be able to build up your body.

c. Your time commitment
. Be sure to fulfill your fast to the conclusion of your commitment. If you make a 10-day commitment to God, be sure that you do not stop on the ninth day. As an illustration, suppose you have a sinus infection, and that the doctor prescribes penicillin. You begin taking your medicine, and in a few days you start to feel better. It’s tempting to quit taking your medicine at that point; but the doctor said to continue taking penicillin after you feel well because the entire prescription is needed to completely kill the infection. You don’t quit taking medicine when you feel better, but when the infection is eliminated.

The same can be said of a physical diet. Suppose you’ve made a 10-day commitment to the Daniel Fast, and after 7 or 8 days of a vegetable diet you begin to feel better. You think,
Just one hamburger won’t hurt
. But there is a deeper issue here: You made a spiritual commitment to God for 10 days; therefore don’t violate your fast. In all things, “We are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:9). As you do your part by sticking to your fast commitment, God will do His part in giving strength and health to your body and soul.

d. Your testimony commitment
. Your Daniel Fast is a statement of faith
to God that you want Him to heal your body. It is also a statement of faith to yourself and to other people. A Daniel Fast is a faith statement for a specific purpose. Jesus said, “If you have faith...you will say to this mountain [your physical problem], ‘Move from here to there’” (Matt. 17:20). Maintaining your fast is a testimony to yourself and to others that you believe God can move mountains.

Faith is foundational to the Daniel Fast. Do not minimize the role of faith in healing your body. There is a strong tie between mental and physical health. Those who have strong self-esteem and who feel good about themselves help their bodies make better use of food, leading to better physical health. The Bible recognizes this tie between mental and physical health in such statements as, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance” (Prov. 15:13). James tells us that “the prayer of faith will save the sick” (Jas. 5:15). And God tells us to visit the sick to encourage their faith and spiritual growth. Therefore, make a dual commitment in your Daniel Fast for physical strength to keep the fast to the end of your commitment, and for faith and emotional strength for your spirit.

Step 4: Pray to Perceive Sin’s Role in Poor Health

When my children were growing up, my wife would ask, “Why are they sick?” when they got a cold or some other illness. I answered in jest, but with long-range theological implications, “Sin—sin makes them sick.” She would laugh and say, “No I don’t mean that.” Of course she didn’t. She wanted to know the immediate cause so she could apply an immediate remedy. But theologically, sickness comes into the world because of Adam and Eve’s sin against God. If our first parents had not sinned, neither they nor we would have the physical problems of sickness, pain and death.

The issue of sin and healing is addressed by James in his Epistle. Although there is not always a direct cause-effect relationship between sin and sickness, there probably is a correlation. You are not likely suffering immediate sickness because you sinned, but the opposite will probably be true: continued godly living will usually produce continual physical health. Of course this is one basic reason for the Daniel Fast. Notice what James says:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let
him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (5:13-16).

Notice the implications revealed in this passage:

• Sin is sometimes related to the cause of sickness.

• Lack of health/healing may be the result of spiritual rebellion, i.e., adultery, lying, blasphemy, unforgiveness, bitterness or similar sins.

• Lack of health/healing may be the consequence of the sin of wrong intake, such as alcohol, drugs, cigarettes or other destructive substances. It could be a poor diet, consisting of fatty, poisonous or unhealthy foods.

• Repentance is linked to health in James’s prescription that believers should call for the elders to deal with their sins so that they can be forgiven and healed from the cause of their sicknesses.

• A church’s elders have a role in healing both spiritual and physical health. They not only have faith to pray, but they also deal with public sins in the church. Sickness rooted in sin can be evidenced by public spiritual rebellion such as adultery, lying, blasphemy or other sins that might bring about both poor health and damage to the entire Body’s reputation.

• Sick people must desire to be well. Hence, their total personalities—knowing, feeling and will—become involved in their healings. They are exercising faith by calling for the elders, and asking for healing.

• The “anointing of oil” has at least three interpretations: (1) it could be medicinal for healing; (2) it could be symbolic of the Holy Spirit (not real oil), signifying the filling of the sick person by the Holy Spirit, which qualifies that person for healing; (3) it could be real oil (like real water in baptism), which is only the outer symbol of God’s Holy Spirit that heals within.

• Prayer alone may not heal a person; in the passage from James we see that faith is also a factor.

• Not all sicknesses are included in James’s statement. In verse 15, the word “sick” is derived from the Greek word
kamno
, which suggests “to be weary, weak, incapacitated or have a general sickness.” James could have used the word
astheneo
(as he did in verse 14), which implies “diseased,
impotent or a pathology.” Or he could have used the word
sunecho
, translated “diseased by illness, tormented.” This verse does not refer to severe pathologies such as blindness, palsy or a disease that has attacked a limb/organ.

• Attitude is important for healing. James said, “Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms” (v. 13). Apparently James links sickness to mental orientation. Those who have positive attitudes toward their lives, toward their bodies and toward God have strong foundations for getting well.

Step 5: Fast as a Statement of Faith to Others

Most people define faith in the words of Scripture, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Faith may also be defined as “affirming what God said in His Word.” Daniel was making a statement of faith when he asked for only vegetables to eat and water to drink, then dared to ask the overseer to compare the appearance of the four sons of Israel with the young men who ate the royal food (see Dan. 1:13). Daniel’s statement of faith, therefore, was not just a private act. Faith is acting on God’s Word. When you modify your diet for a biblical goal to accomplish the will of God, you are acting on faith, and expressing your willingness for it to be a public act.

Jesus recognized that some fasts should be private: “When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance...that they may appear to men to be fasting” (Matt. 6:16). There are times when you do not tell anyone you are fasting. Occasionally I have been invited to a meal with others while I was fasting. They were situations I didn’t plan and couldn’t cancel. For example, recently the pastoral staff at my church was called at 11:30 A.M. for a luncheon that day. I didn’t make a big deal of my fast, but said nothing. When the waitress asked for my order, I simply said, “I just want coffee.” Because I didn’t call attention to my fast, no one else treated it with significance. My fast continued privately to God.

There are times when fasting makes a statement of faith to other Christians and to the world. “The official told Daniel, ‘I am afraid of my lord the king,...Why should he see you looking worse?’” (Dan. 1:10,
NIV
). When you modify your diet over a long period of time, others will notice. It is important that you have the right attitude during the Daniel Fast and that you don’t become hyperspiritual or reclusive.

There are several ways to appropriately involve others in the Daniel Fast:

a. More than one can agree to fast together, providing support and unity.

b. You can announce to others the purpose of the fast.

c. In the case of sin, you can relate it to those it involves.

d. You can involve church leaders, as directed in James 5:14.

Through the years, I have not immediately agreed to fast when people have asked me to fast with them. I first talk with them to determine their level of commitment. I’m afraid that some people want me to join in their fast because they trust in my “ability” to get things from God rather than in their own ability. I want to put the ball in their court. After they fast I want to ask them what has happened. How did they pray? What did God do? When I sense their commitment to healing, then I may join in the fast.

Step 6: Learn the Effects of the Foods You Eat

During the Daniel Fast, you should study proper nutrition and diet. Daniel understood what he had to eat to be healthy. “So the guard took away their portion of delicacies and wine...and gave them vegetables” (1:16).

Proper diet will generally cause a person to live longer. People who have healthy bodies are usually able to fight off bacteria or germs and overcome the threat of disease. Yet some very healthy people will be infected with germs or diseases in spite of their good diets. Learn what to expect from good nutrition from qualified nutritional experts.

Step 7: Yield All Results to God

When Daniel fasted, he submitted himself to the consequences of his convictions. “As you see fit, so deal with your servants” (1:13). The following is a little quiz:

a. Did Daniel say, “I won’t eat it, so you will have to punish/kill me”?

b. Did Daniel say, “If my diet doesn’t make me better, I’ll eat the king’s food”?

c. Did Daniel say, “My diet will make me better; then you’ll decide to leave us on it”?

Actually, none of the above. Daniel’s conviction was based on his faith and trust in God. So he submitted himself to God and trusted Him for the consequences.

Step 8: Deal with the Possibility of the Fast’s Failure

You may enter the Daniel Fast—either for yourself or for someone else’s healing—and the person doesn’t get better. Despite prayer, the illness seems to increase. What should be your reaction?

First, don’t terminate your fast, or cut it short. A fever frequently gets worse before it is broken, and health returns. Keep your commitment to God.

Second, realize that some diseases are so advanced that healing is not possible.

Third, recall that all healing is subject to the will of God. He may have in mind a purpose in this illness that you cannot see. Remember that God controls all of our lives; no one dies prematurely. When God does heal, it is temporary, because “it is appointed for men to die” (Heb. 9:27). God controls the hands of the clock that determines the death of all people. Some healthy people die by accident, yet other diseased people live on for years.

The Daniel Fast may fail for several reasons:

a. The disease has endangered other vital physical organs/functions and the body can’t function without them.

b. You are too late to fast and pray for healing. Perhaps you should have fasted earlier, but you didn’t obey God. As a result, your disobedience allowed the disease to progress to the place where it is terminal, just as the doctor tells a patient, “You should have seen me before your cancer advanced to this stage...it’s too late.” We must always be readily available and obedient to enter the Daniel Fast when God directs us.

c. Your fasting and prayer were not wholehearted. God is not moved by shallow repentance or prayers that do not come from the bottom of your heart. Repentance is also necessary. When we pray with sin in our hearts, God cannot answer
(see Isa. 59:1). Unknown sin in our lives proves that we have not spent time in the presence of God so He can show us our sin. As a result, our prayers do not get through.