The Daniel Fast: Days 4-7

Since the chapters are fairly short, I've decided to combine the past few ones. So bare with me if I begin to ramble..

Our amazing God is always faithful, am I right? Well, I know we all have our struggles. Things that knock us down every single day and some how we are able to get back up, no matter how hard the push is. We are able to do so, because the Lord is right there to catch us. He never gives us anything that is too much to bare. He brings us through every hardship. He is our rock and our redeemer!
We are in a world that we are in a continuous war with. There are constant distractions but we need to focus our eyes upon God and never lose sight.

Throughout this fast I pray that my spirit, soul and body are all tested and made new in Christ. If He is faithful and good to us, then we need to do the same for Him!
He gave us the weapon of Truth, in that we can look at if we ever have a fear, doubt or circumstance for failure. When we come to face with those lies, all we have to do is turn to the Word, find the promise and declare the Truth. What a blessing that is! His Word is almighty and His Word has power over everything. Believe it.

God says that power, victory and freedom are all available to us but most of us are living by the ways of this world and falling into those standards instead of realizing the amazing powers and promises Christ gained for us.
Why would we not just put our full trust in God? If we all just have faith in Him, we can achieve anything! The truth of God's Word MUST become a reality for us! Not only physically, but in our hearts as well.


Resource: The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory

The Daniel Fast: Day 3

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

Often, we ask Jesus for things that may not be in His plan. We ask for things and sometimes He gives us something else. Which may be frustrating at times, but He only wants what's best for us. And that's why we have to have faith in Him and we also have to start asking for the right things. Having faith in Jesus will give us exactly what we need.

In Mark 10: 46-52 is the story of the blind man, Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus knew and trust Jesus as the Healer. He had never met or talked to Him before, but he had heard about Him and had complete faith in who He was. When Jesus asked Bartimaeus what He wanted, everyone was confused because he was blind and it was should of been obvious what he wanted but he was also a beggar and could of asked for money or food. So, Jesus tested his faith and instead, Bartimaeus used his faith in Jesus' ability to heal Him and asked for His sight.
Bartimaeus faith gave him his sight.

When voices in our heads are trying to speak to us, telling us to be quiet. Telling us to not talk to God. Trying to keep us away from Him, that's when we have to call out to the Lord so that He may hear us. He will meet our needs. All we have to do is have faith.

Never doubt the Lords power, step out in faith. He will provide. He is our healer and He is calling out for us just like we do for Him.
We need to drowned out all the other voices and listen close and hard for Jesus so that we may receive what the Lord wants us to have.


Resource: The Daniel Fast: Susan Gregory

The Daniel Fast: Day 2

Sanctified by Truth

Us humans are so dependent on the things of this world that a lot of the time, we don't even realize how blessed we are to even live another day. To be breathing. To have a healthy life.
We become so consumed with materialistic items and distracted by things we idolize.


In John 17:16 it says, " They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world."
God has equipped us to do powerful things on this earth but we get so side tracked that we forget what our actual purpose in and of this world is. We are His chosen people. He has sanctified us by His truth, by His word.
The most important thing about a fast is the fact that we are being consecrated. We are being made full, to fulfill a calling, and to be set apart for a holy purpose.
In Exodus 6:7, He called all of the Jews to separate themselves from others in the world and to focus their lives on Him.

We can be sanctified. We can be made holy, we can become pure by the truth that is in the Word of the Lord.
If we separate ourselves from this world,  we can fully accomplish what the Lord has planned for us to do.

Submit yourself to the Lord and walk in His ways.



Resource: The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory 

The Daniel Fast

I've decided to start a 21 day fast with one of my good friends. Today is the first day of "The Daniel Fast" by Susan Gregory
In Daniel 10:2-3 it states that Daniel fasted for 21 days. Eating no meats, bread or wine. He did this so that it may bring him closer to the Lord.

"Sometimes we are so hungry that the only way we can get fed is to fast."

At this point in my life, I need to get refreshed in my relationship with Christ. I need to feed my soul, strengthen my spirit and renew my body.
Starting this fast and having someone to keep me accountable along the way will be an incredible experience and I cannot wait to see the outcome.
It's only been a day and I can already feel difference. God is so powerful.

Day 1: Firstfruits Offering.
Lord, today I give you the first of me. I put you first in my life.
We are commanded in scripture to put God first. Exodus 20:5 states, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God" and Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

God has unmeasurable love for us. He wants to show us and the only way we can fully see it, is if we put Him first in our lives. By putting Him first, we give him the chance to work in us, to really show us how powerful He is.
Staying close to God will allow us to see the greatness that He has planned for us. He desires to have a loving relationship with each and every one of us. That is such a blessing!

We all need to open our hearts to Him and let him work in our lives!
God's arms are always open. We need to fall into them because trust me, He will catch us and carry us to the highest of high.


Reference: The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory  

Forgiven.

My heart is crazy beating in my chest as I begin to write this post.
It has been almost a year.. and let me tell you why-

I fell away.
I fell hard.

The first step is to admit. Admit that you were wrong. That you went against all the good in your life and that is exactly what I did.
I broke my own heart. I let myself down but more than anything, I let my God down. I lost faith. I lost hope. I lost belief.

This has been the hardest struggle of my life. I got to a point where I didn't even feel worthy to pray. I felt as if I wasn't good enough.
How sickening.
My Father always believes in me. Always trusts in me. Always gives me His all.
But I don't do the same for him and I haven't for the past year of my life.

What a waste of a year..

This is a feeling that I never wish to feel again.
Getting back on my feet and back on my walk with Christ hasn't been easy.
It has taken an immense amount of prayer..

I feel shameful. I feel weak and most of all I feel absolutely and completely embarrassed.

My God is good. My God won't ever leave me and my God will give me strength.
I have prayed for forgiveness almost every day for the past two months.


Let me just tell ya'll how empowering it feels to know how merciful and gracious the Lord is. He has forgiven me.
Praise Him. For he is the almighty.

He has picked me back up and I have finally given Him my heart back.
He has covered my sin and my shame.
My life is at peace once again.


"Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms. The riches of Your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to Your embrace.. Light of the world forever reign!"

Unending Faith.

I'm not gonna lie, I often lose faith.
I let the negatives in my life get me down. I let them not only effect my current mood, but I let them put a damper on the days ahead of me.
As many of you know, I'm usually a happy person. I have a contagious smile which doesn't leave my face but sometimes, it is not the easiest to keep on.

I have days where I have an intense struggle on staying on the positive side of things. Life gets me down quite often and most of the time, I am strong enough to push through it. At other times, I can't help but get discouraged and just want to give up.
I'm the type of person that wants that "instant gratification" I want things to have an immediate result and when I don't see it, I loose sight of the good.
Even when I don't want my sight to be blurred, I can't help it.
Once I get this low, it's not easy for me to get back up and on track with a positive and open-minded out look on things.

This all gets to me so intensely that I even lose touch with God. I forget about His loving grace and mercy for me. I forget that no matter my circumstance, He is there for me to lean on.
His grace covers me.

In situations similar to mine, I just urge all of you to just stop for a few minutes. I don't care what you are doing. Just stop and pray. Even if you don't have words, just acknowledge that He is there! He is closest to those who are weak, He knows your struggles and He will never leave your side.

Keep the faith and "never stop praying!"
                                  1 thessalonians 5:17

Try this:
When you feel like you are at your breaking point, when you think everything and everyone is failing you.. write down encouraging verses and saying onto cards.
It puts your mind into positive thinking.
Trust me, it works!

Compassion

I have been around an immense amount of heart break lately and it has been people who I am very close with.
When they hurt, I hurt. When they cry, I cry. When they struggle, I struggle.
I know how it feels to have a broken heart. It's like you are forced to start all over and are pushed down to 0.

So many times, I am at a loss for words when a friend of mine is brokenhearted, I never know when to say what but all I have to do is look back and think about everything I needed when I was in the same place.

Most of the time, I wanted to be alone. I didn't want to interact with people and have to put on a face showing that I was "okay".. because I wasn't.
But not once did I ever stop putting all of my weight on God.
I let Him carry me every day.
And let me tell ya'll, He not once let me down. He held on to me tighter and tighter every day until He knew I could do it on my own again.

The only thing I can do is be there for the brokenhearted, give them what they need and insure them that God will NEVER give them more than they can handle.
Our God is good and gracious..  and it is soo good to know that we have each other and such a compassionate God that is there with us every step of the way.

To add to this blog, this morning in church there was a sermon delivered by John Ray about suffering.
I think it would be a good thing to go along with this blog post today so here are,

Three things to always remember:
1. Suffering is almost always for transformation.
2. God is closest to us when we are suffering, He is compassionate.
3. By following God, we can never be at peace with the world; faith sets us free from the fear of life.