Daniel Fast Day 21

Daniel Fast Day 21 is coming to an end. This has been a very beneficial time for me. Going without a normal diet was a struggle at times, but has been very beneficial. Most days my breakfast consisted of a Berry Smoothie, (1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of mixed berries, and 1 frozen banana, mixed in a ninja). The original recipe consisted of just water but I changed it to oj because the water made the smoothie taste weak. Here is what I learned: There are way too many chemicals in our food. The normal calorie intake is way too much. I don't miss meat, dairy, bread, or sugar. Spiritually: God is as close to me as I want to be to Him. (too many times things can crowd out God.) God will answer prayer when we get serious enough to pray and believe that He will answer. Be bold enough to pray big prayers. Fasting has transformed the way I pray. Each week there will be a fast day. Each time I sensed that God was going to do something, the enemy attacked. Spiritual warfare is a much needed and very rarely talked about today. I am almost finished with reading the Bible through in 90 days,and each day I saw some new things. I will continue to blog but it may not be as consistent as I was during this fast. Not sure what I may blog about, it may be random rant, it maybe on an area where I am reading, check back often you might be surprised.

Daniel Fast Day 20

Wow, is all I can say. At the beginning of this fast I thought that a 21 day Daniel fast was going to be tough. Here I am nearing the end, and things have gone well. Except this evening. I think I just will go into hiding on sunday eve, put a sign on the bedroom door, with a threat of life or limb if someone bothers me before tuesday at 9 A.M. Seems that the past two monday's have brought unexpected things, and i really did not like them. Suffice to say I kept to the fast. Things are looking good and tomorrow will be the final official day for this, but I will keep aspects from the fast in my daily life. As this evening draws to a close I am thankful for the trials as they remind me of the good days. Late tomorrow I will post what I have learned from this time.

Daniel Fast Day 19

Caught up on my blog today. I got a little behind but I don't have to be verbose to be effective. Today was interesting day as we started off by loosing an hour of sleep. Made it to church on time, and it being spring break not sure who would show up for Sunday School and Church, plus it was day light savings day. I knew the majority of my sunday school class was gone, so I knew I would have two boys, and ended up having three, (one was a new guest.) The majority of our worship team was out so we had to use come video's for worship. That went well, and no one complained, at least not about the video's. Right before worship stared we looked up and there were new people coming in the door, btw it pouring down rain, and all the sidewalks and back parking lot had water standing. I then remembered my prayer yesterday: Lord enlarge your church. It happened, and the service went well. We took someone out for lunch after the service and had a good lunch, (well it was again interesting to find something to eat without meat, and dairy mixed in.) I am amazed at how God is answering prayer. It seems that each week I am seeing things happen and the only answer is that God has heard the prayers and answered. I am compiling some lessons that I have learned that i will post to the blog on the last day of the fast. But I feel I need to share this one today, and that is the spiritual discipline of prayer and fasting,(fasting in any fashion). This should be included in a class for any one feeling a call to ministry. This discipline has really helped me this year, and it is one that will become an integral part of my life from now on.

Daniel Fast Day 18

Saturday, the I try to use as a sabbath was spent on the road conducting inspections. Day went well, saw some parts of north east texas, and saw some buffalo on my travels. Got to spend some time in mobile office just me and God, and I spent time praying, mainly asking God to enlarge the congregation I am privileged to pastor. I am not against marketing and outreach events but seems to me that when we trust in those things instead of God, they are not as effective. (again I am not against those things I just believe they are tools.) My prayer today was just to ask God to do something, and prayed for a specific goal for the church. On one of my stops where I was required to do an interior inspection as well as exterior I met a man who was confined to a wheel chair. He smiled as I explained the nature of the inspection. His daughter showed me the house, i quickly finished the inspection. As I was about to leave I looked down and there was this man's bible on the coffee table. I do not remember his name but his bible had Rev. embossed on the front of it. I asked him if that was him, and unable to talk to he shook his head yes. I told him I was a pastor also, and his eyes lit up and smile came to his face. I talked with the family for a few minutes, and hopefully my visit blessed them. This visit reminded me that we never know what our words or actions will do for someone. Hopefully a blessing.

Daniel Fast Day 17

One of the challenging parts of this fast has been going into restaurants to eat lunch or dinner. Today I was going around the east texas country side with my son, inspecting homes for my part time job. (it's actually less than part time, time wise, but the money is good!) We stopped to have lunch and there was no salad or vegetarian foods on the menu. I settled for a salad with no dressing and water. He had a taco plate and said it was delicious. Got to spend time with my son as we talked about life and the future, i think some things are starting to make sense to him. Arrived home entered reports and then headed to bed. Stuck to the fast even though everyone else was eating pizza and brownies.

Daniel Fast Day 16

Was able to use the majority of this day as a sabbath. This is hard to do sometimes due to all that goes on between the church responsibility, and the side work that I do. I am looking forward to being able to quit at least one of the side jobs here soon. Staying on the fast has been a challenge today, but with God's help I was able to stay with this. On the last day of the fast I am planning on writing down many of the lessons that I learned through this fast, and what I have determined to continue to do after the fast.

Daniel Fast Day 15

Day 15 of the Daniel Fast. The fast has almost become a natural way of eating. I feel good, no unusual hunger, and no headaches. Hard to believe that it has been 15 days,and I have had no bread, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, dairy, eggs,or meat. I am not vegetarian, but this fast has been an incredible way of looking at what I have been putting into my body. I have embarked on trying different ways of fixing food, and eating lots of raw vegetables and fruit. I have changed from drinking lots of tea, and frequent soda, (or pop if your in the south), to drinking 1 cup of coffee a day, fruit, vegetable juice and water with lemon slices. I have been making baked potato chips from potato's or sweet potato's for snacks. This evening one of the boys was grilling hamburgers and it did not smell good, as I was cooking my veggie burger. This evening I passed up a cake that was brought to church, it looked good, and smelled good, but resolved to stay with this fast. This evening we saw at church new faces, not very common for a mid week but they were at the activities. Our children's area is growing and we will need to do some revamping to meet the needs of these children. I am not taking any credit but through this fast I am seeing answers to prayer, seeing God move in the life of the church and recognizing I must be on my guard. I see God at work and look forward to sunday with anticipation of what is next.

Daniel Fast Day 14

This is the 14th day and things are progressing. I am certain that yesterday's troubles were an attack from the devil, who wants to derail the good things that are beginning to happen. God was helping yesterday and I am seeing a fresh perspective that in spiritual warfare one must stay vigilant. As I am working on some teaching on this matter I have gained new insights in this arena. God is great, He is my rock, my fortress and deliverer.

Daniel Fast Day 13

Day 13 of the Daniel Fast was not a great day. I stuck to the fast, but there were spiritual things going on that made this day very rough. But I was able to stick to the fast and trust God.

Daniel Fast Day 12

Day 12 of the fast and its going good. God's blessing is on the church and the good spirit was obvious today. There is definitely a spirit of anticipation among the people more than one person has expressed a sense of something good is about to happen. There is not really much more to say or it would be just rambling. God is good!

Daniel Fast Day 10

The sast is going well. The family had pizza from CiCi's this evening and it came with a whole pizza box of cinnamon rolls. I momentarily thought about having one, but decided that I would not. The spiritual lesson I am learning from this is God wants us to be in control of our bodies, and what we put into them. I have been a little negligent on that part, but part of stewardship is not about money but also about the bodies God has given to me. If I can control what I eat, then I need to control what I do, buy, etc... Of course I also need to yield control of my life over to God, and I know that I cannot call all the decisions and moves all by myself.

Daniel Fast Day 11

Half way point today. I have been learning more about relying on God, and seeing some good things happening. Looking forward to the services at the church tomorrow, even teaching the youth sunday school class. The youth in that class are high energy but they are a blessing. Not sure I could have said that 3 1/2 years ago when I started this blog, shows what I have come through, with God's help. A trend is not always a destiny. We finish up the series on the spiritual disciplines and then next week I will begin a new series on the power of Christ that takes up to Easter. Spent the day using the day as a sabbath, looked over sermon for tomorrow, and made the weekly trip to the grocery store. (i dread that more and more). This fast has made me read labels more and more, trying to be careful in the area of food additives, but also in the area of sugar. I have struggled with hypoglycemia since high school, and eating sugar and the abstaining from it, and then introducing it back can cause problems. So unless it is naturally in the food, I try not to eat it.(its the refined and corn syrup that is added to products that can knock my blood sugar levels out of kilter.) This fast has helped me to see that changes are going to be made at the end of the fast in my everyday food intake.

Daniel Fast Day 9

I like to eat. I am not sure if its out of habit, nervous, or obsession. However, during these past few days, I wondered how this fasting thing is going. I can see God answering prayer and moving. This evening as the family was getting dinner ready and I was catching up on some work I could smell hamburgers cooking and they smelled good. Someone asked what I was going to have, and I said, a salad, and veggie burger. One of the kids cooked it for me, as I was on the computer putting in my reports from today's work. I really could have went for that beef burger, but felt I needed to say no, not at this time, and I will have one in a few weeks, a real hamburger, from Jucy's. It may be me but today as one of my son's was traveling with me, we stopped to have lunch at Wendy's, and it seems my sense of taste has become more sensitive. He had a hamburger, and I had a salad. (BTW it's hard to order a salad at Wendy's with no meat!) I don't eat only salad, but today it was just easier to have a salad. I am still looking forward to what God is about to do.

Daniel Fast Day 8

Day 8 of the Daniel Fast and things are going good. As I look back over the posts that I made three years ago, and only I know the exact specifics of those pasts, I see that God was preparing me for where I am today. Someone once said that we have bad times so we can enjoy the good times. These past few months have been good times, as spiritually God is in the process of doing something. I am praying about taking a step of faith believing and trusting God. I hope to share that at the end of the fast. I am also going to compile a list of the foods and recipes that I have used during this fast.

Daniel Fast Day 7

This is day 7 of the Daniel Fast. So far, I have not had to eat any meat, any bread, pasta, sugar,fried, processed or food that contains a bunch of food additives. I wonder how much junk I have been putting into my body. I actually feel better than I thought I would this far into the fast. My family thought I would not make it this long, but they have begun to show some interest. I discovered that a sliced potato or sweet potato, tossed with a little olive oil and Paula Dean's House seasoning make great chips after they have been baked. I substitute cinnamon on the sweet potato slices instead of the house seasoning, and it tastes great, and just 31 calories. Now compare that to the way I used to eat a sweet potato with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and topped with mini marshmallow's! It looked great, tasted great and probably contained a whole day's worth of calories. God is showing me that through this that more can be done with less. This fast has strengthened my faith in God, and reminds me that I need to trust him more. When hunger hits, I am reminded to trust God. I am trusting that God is going to do something significant in the life of the church that I am privileged to pastor. I don't know exactly what He is going to do, but I have faith that He will accomplish something great.

Daniel Fast Day 6

Attempted to use this day as a day of rest. Spoke with a good friend who is hopefully by now out of the hospital, and had a good conversation with him today. Part of the problem with the Daniel fast is trying to find creative ways to get different tastes and eat a variety of foods. There was no Italian dressing in the house, so I made some from scratch using EVOO, garlic, lemon juice, and some Italian seasonings. It was pretty good. I am still finding unique ways to cook nutritious and tasty food. This evening I made a black bean Vegen chili. It was good especially with rice cakes and a little peanut butter, (i made the peanut butter too, so no sugar or High Fructose corn syrup as all brands have sugar added). Last year I was given a Ninja for christmas and it comes in handy to make smoothies, peanut butter, and any thing that needs blended. Finished up the book of Jeremiah this evening and it was a tough read, but as I read it I realized God was merciful and gives way more grace than anyone deserves.

Daniel Fast Day 5

Today was all that I was expecting at church. Service was good at church, with new faces back and the Holy Spirit was present. Testimonies of God's goodness were expressed and testimony of a family being brought back together highlighted the service. I decided a while back to step back and let God work, and he is working. All area's of the church seem to be increasing, and it can only point to the fact God is at work. My closing challenge to the church this morning was to reclaim the sabbath for them and their families. Our prayer time was extremely special this evening and everyone is excited. I reclaimed my nap because Daytona was rained out! However, I am planning on watching it tomorrow! The Daniel fast is progressing. Here it is day 5 and i don't seem to be missing meat, dairy, or sugar. Today I ate only salad, juices, and had baked corn chips with some mango salsa, (it tastes great), and at breakfast was 1 cup of coffee. Not sure if I have lost any weight but that's not the reason for doing the fast. Looking forward to the days ahead.

Daniel Fast Day 4

Today was a good day, as I was up early made my 1 cup of coffee, and had a Berry/Banana and OJ smoothie. The taste was very smooth and I couldn't tell the usual yogurt was missing. Ever since beginning the fast, I have had a minor headache but it has finally subsided. I figured it up and discovered my caloric intake has significantly been lowered, and my energy level has increased. The stewardship of the body is an area where I need to be better at, and I am hoping this experience gives me the ambition to keep at it. I worked my part time job today, I inspect houses for a company out of Buffalo, NY, and I had the opportunity to have my oldest son be my driver. We traveled some back roads of East Texas, and it was a beautiful day.Experienced some unique things. The van got bumped from behind by a bull at one stop, and then there were two other events I cannot go into the details, but it was interesting. I will say our world is messed up. I have been spending time in prayer during the drive, and doing some meditating and feel God really stretching me. I believe we are on the verge of something happening. Tomorrow, I will speaking about Sabbath rest, and must say, that this is going to be a tough one, partially as it is one that I struggle with the most. I don't like to say it but, it has been a long time since I have had a true "sabbath", and I am going to work on that. I will post a sunday recap tomorrow, as I anticipate sunday.

Daniel Fast Day #3

Last night after writing the blog and checking in on facebook, I finished planning the messages for Lent, looked over Holy Week Activities. As we did last year, we will be celebrating the Passover on Maundy Thursday,this was a great spiritual time last year, and with new faces at church we are going to do this again. This time allowed me to reflect on what Christ did on the cross, and His resurrection. Spent the day hanging with the kids, since two have graduated and are home alot now, we get to spend time together. I showed Alec how to take apart a laptop and put it back together. We had to replace a plastic housing on an Acer computer that I bought to sell, but he wants to keep it, so we will keep it for a while and then sell it and upgrade. The Daniel fast is going good. The hard thing is staying away from sweets, but I found that the desire for that is becoming less. God is showing me that in this area of obedience, there are greater things than satisfying physical desires.

Daniel Fast Day 2

Isaiah 58:6-10 NIV 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. These verses were a part of my reading today, and it is no coincidence that they speak to the subject of fasting. Previous to this were verses that spoke to subject of wrong fasting. In this fast it is my goal not to bring attention to myself but to seek God and see Him do something. I will continue with the fast because I believe God is going to do something. I really want to see him do something great. The church I pastor needs to see God do something great, and our community needs to see God do something great. My prayer during this fast will continue to be: Lord do something! In this second day of the Daniel fast I have had a irritating headache that has at times I thought was going to become a migrane. I have had problems with those in the past but I believe these are because I have reduced the sugar intake as well as caffeine, I was taking in too much of both, and I knew I needed to do something as I had spoke about the stewardship of the body this past sunday. On the positive side I woke up this morning with no alarm clock had no desire to take a nap today, and felt like I had more energy.

Daniel Fast Day 1

Daniel 10:2-3 (NIV) 2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. Today is the beginning of Lent, and for the past few years I have been trying to give something up for Lent. This year I have been focusing on the spiritual disciplines in my preaching/teaching and in my personal devotional life. I have set some incredible goals for this year. I am currently on track to read the bible through in 90 days. It's been a struggle but I am on track thanks to Youversion. Last year a colleague in ministry brought my attention to the Daniel Fast. I followed his progress and this year with the Holy Spirit's leading I committed to go on a Daniel Fast. Simply put this is the same way that Daniel ate. There is no meat, meat products, dairy, sweets, or bread products. I will be eating fruits, vegtable's, juices and water. I am not going through this fast for health reasons, but I understand there are some benefits. I am going through this to draw closer to God and spend time reading and praying. I will be pulling away from technology for extended periods of time, and spending time with God. This morning as I contemplated this fast, and wanting to see specific things happen in the church I pastor, I told God that I wanted to see Him do something in the life of this church. He has begun to answer this prayer already. Along with prayer and fasting I am going to do some writing on a project that has been on my heart a long time. (More on that later). Today's intake of food consisted of: Breakfast: Coffee, no cream no surgar (I know its probably not on a strict Daniel fast plan, but I only had 1 cup, versus 4-6 each day) Lunch: Apple, Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots and V-8 juice. Dinner: Mediterannian Black Bean Salad, (green peppers, onion, black bean, tomato, tossed with olive oil, garlic, and lime juice, on a bed of lettuce. Snack: Popcorn, no butter, and v8 juice. It's not been too hard today but I expect some struggles. I am however looking forward to the fast and what God has in store. Keep checking this blog for daily evening updates. I may post recipe's if I find something extremely good. Each day I will post a thought about I sense God has said to me that day. Nate

Lent 2012

I do not regularly post to my blog,(its been two years), but have decided this year for Lent, I am going to use this space and time to chart what I am doing this year for lent. This year I am giving up sugar and sweeteners. I am also going to only log into and post 1 time a day on Facebook, and the hardest thing for me is that today I began the Daniel Fast. I am going to blog each day about the Fast, posting in the evening and progress what God is teaching me. I hope to look back at the end of this fast and see what God has done.