Daniel Fast: Day 3 - Sacrifice of Praise

As you begin today,

stop.

Take a deep breath.

Feel that?

That was breath in your lungs.

Breath that your dear Father put there.

Think of that.

Deep,

Beautiful,

Life-giving, 

Breath.

from the One who designed you.

Knows you.

Is delighted with you.

Breath.

Thank Him today for it.

Praise Him for who He is 

and that He is the giver of life,

the lover of your soul.

If you are in a difficult place in life,

and you are finding it hard to praise Him,

its okay,

He knows right where you are.

Reach out and praise Him

in spite of your circumstance,

He will meet you there.

So let us therefore offer a Sacrifice of Praise

to God in every season, 

in all circumstances.  

He is always worthy of our praise.  

"Let everything that has breath

praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!"

Psalm 150:6

In Christ alone,

dawn

Daniel Fast Day 2: Devotional - Idols

Isaac, the promised son.
Abraham, the Father of many nations.
Through Isaac.

God made a promise to Abraham,
and when God promises,
you know it will happen.

Well God made this promise.
Abraham KNEW it would be fulfilled through Isaac,
and Isaac was born to him in old age.
There is something significant about that.
If you are older than 45 you understand that.
Things become richer, deeper, more meaningful about middle age
and they just deepen the older you get.

This child born to him in his old age,
he loved.
REALLY DEEPLY LOVED.
The problem with really deeply loving someone
or something is that it can potentially become an idol
in your life.
And we are to set nothing,
NOTHING,
N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
above God in our lives.
So if that happens,
when that happens,
because we are fallen after all,
God will ask us to do hard,
HARD,
H.A.R.D.
things to help rid our hearts of idols.
He needs to be the One.
The First One in our hearts,
and everything else in our lives
fall in suit under the One who
paid it all.

We see in Scripture,
Abraham was willing to do the really hard thing.
God was there tho,
and present,
really, deeply present,
providing.
Because that is what God does.
He provides.

He provided for Abraham,
and He provides for us,
but sometimes we have to give it up
and lay it down
to watch the provision of God
in our lives.

Sweet freedom comes as we Trust,
lay it down,
and be determined to have
NO other god's before our One True God.

I love you so ~~

In Christ alone,
dawn

Daniel Fast Day 1: Devotional - Confession

Welcome to Day 1 of the Daniel Fast Devotion.

Each day I will post a short devotional.

Thank you for devoting your time

to letting Jesus shine in your life.

Blessings ~~ 

Confession.

It is not a dirty word, I promise.

It is necessary for the Christian.

In order for our lives to be a clear reflection of the Father,

we MUST keep our hearts right with Him.

Even though we are saved,

we still deal with a sin nature and an enemy of our souls

who wants to keep us in disobedience and sin if he can.

It is very important for our walk with the Father,

that we are confessing our sin to Him

because as Paul tells us in 1 John 1:9,

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin

and purify us from ALL unrighteousness,

but we must confess.

So on this first day,

I want to encourage you to confess to the Father 

anything that is hindering you from being close to Him.

Any rotten attitude, wrong motive, bad behavior;

you know, sin.

Sin separates;

it never brings you closer to the Father.

But heart-felt confession and repentance draws you back

to the Father. 

He is not disappointed in you.

He loves you so!!!

So as we start on this journey today,

let me encourage you to:

Write down specific sins in your life that need to be confessed to God. 

Spend time in prayer, acknowledging your need for His forgiveness. 

Then, tear up your list as a physical sign of the spiritual reality 

that you’re no longer bound by those sins!

 Be sure to thank God for purifying you from all unrighteousness 

(1 John 1:9).

 

You are beautiful and loved.

Rest in the understanding that God loves you so

and this act of confession and repentance to draw

closer to Him, He will honor in your life.

In Christ Alone,

dawn

Daniel Fast: Let's Talk Food

We are one week out from starting

the 2016 Daniel Fast.

So it is time to start preparing.

It is the key for a successful Fast.

It takes time and focus to stay on track.

So what does that look like?

Well, I am currently building my menu for the week.

I do menu's and shop a week at a time. 

My menu's are a guide.  

That is the food I have for the week, because I have shopped

off of that menu.

For Example:

Day 1:  

Breakfast:  Blueberry Smoothie Pinterest Board

Snack (Optional):  Piece of fruit

Lunch:  Taco Salad - Book Page 110
Tortilla Chips made from Ezekiel Corn Tortilla's
Salsa - Book Page 96

Snack:  Hummus and Veggies

Supper:  Roasted Veggies
(Fingerling potatoes, Onions, Peppers, Broccoli, Zucchini)
Over Brown Rice with Orange Sauce (Kristen's Web Site)

I fill out my whole menu for the week,
and then build the grocery list off of that.

I will be prepping food wise
starting Friday and Saturday,
meaning making Date Honey,
Cinnamon Roasted Almonds,
cutting veggies and making frozen smoothie packs.
I haven't made frozen smoothie packs before,
but I think it will help me tremendously
on busy mornings.

So that is where I am at right now.
Building my menu and making my grocery list.
I will head to Mama Jeans (our local Health Food Store)
and the grocery store later this week, probably Thursday or Friday,
to get my shopping done for the first week.

"Fasting is both upward and inward.  

It's upward in the sense that your focus is on the Lord and His Word.  

It's inward because you are bringing your needs before the Lord in prayer, 

while simultaneously denying yourself certain foods as a sacrifice of worship to Him."  

The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast, page 18

Kristen Feola

I love this quote from Kristen, out of her book.
Fasting is upward and inward.

I am so thankful you are going on this journey.

In Christ alone,
dawn

Preparing your heart for the Daniel Fast

Note:  Starting January 3rd, I will be leading a group through the Daniel Fast.
If you are interested in doing this with us, please get ahold of me.

As I prepare my heart for the fast,

this verse comes to mind.

The word steadfast especially.

The word in the Hebrew means to be firm.

I want to firmly plant my heart in the Word

and let song and melody flow from within

during this fast.  

One thing that I do is make a prayer list for

during the fast.  

There are always specific things that God has me

focus on during the fast.

Usually it is very specific.  

I write these in a journal

and spend time in the Word and journaling

about these things.  

It is great to go back and see how God

answers in the months that follow.

It also helps just to have a place to land my thoughts.

So this is a very good time to start praying

and seeking God for what He would have

you be praying specific for during the fast.

You may already know exactly what that is,

but let me encourage you to be in prayer

over them.  God may bring some other

things to mind that you have not thought of yet.

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

Colossians 3:2

And let God guide you.

He is your ever present help. 

Fasting is to draw our hearts closer to God.

So while the food prep is important,

we must be careful that it is not all we are doing.

It is very important to be taking more time

in prayer and study.

So be preparing your heart and your schedule for extra

time with the LORD from January 3rd-January 23rd.

Put it on your calendar, and keep those appointments with

the Father.

We all get so very busy, but the time you are setting aside

to draw closer to Him to start 2016 is time that will make

an eternal significance in your life and in the lives of others in your life.

I can't wait to take this journey with you.

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of helping to

guide and help you.

Many Blessings to you!

I will be back with some thoughts on grocery lists

and food prep.   

In Christ alone ~~ dawn