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.