The Daniel Fast for the 2011 New Year

It’s hard to know how many men, women and teens around the world start the New Year with an extended period of prayer and fasting. Estimates range from hundreds of thousands to millions. One thing we know for sure is that the trend is gaining. Very likely, more people than ever will begin 2011 with a New Year fast.  It seems that the preferred method of fasting is the Daniel Fast, which is a partial fast where some foods are consumed and others are restricted.

There is no “official” date to start the 21-day New Year fast, but from what I’ve been able to gather from my research and from the hundreds of email messages I receive each week, most people will begin the 2011 New Year Fast on Sunday, January 9th and complete the fast on Sunday, January 30th.

In years gone by, the common start date for the New Year fast is the first Sunday in January. However, since that’s on January 3rd in 2011, and so close to the New Year when many families will be traveling, many leaders have decided to start the New Year fast on the following Sunday, January 9th.

Jentezen Franklin, the pastor at Free Chapel churches in Gainesville, GA and Irvine, CA has been a prominent promoter of the New Year fast. He teaches about prayer and fasting in the churches he pastors and on his television broadcasts. Many of those joining Jentezen Franklin in this corporate fast will use the Daniel Fast as their method of fasting.

A corporate fast is when as few as three and as many as thousands of Christians join together for a period of prayer and fasting. Many church leaders call their congregations to a period of corporate prayer and fasting. Likewise, many leaders of Christian causes will ask those called to provoking change in the world through intercession to join in a corporate fast. During this time, those fasting will pray for God’s will to be accomplished in the matter for which they are praying.

But you don’t need to fast with other people. Many individuals choose to start the New Year with a period of prayer and fasting for personal needs or to pray for the needs of those who God has placed in their care. Many husbands and wives choose to start the New Year with prayer and fasting and if they have children who are old enough to be introduced to the spiritual discipline of prayer and fasting, it might be a family practice.

Personally, I think it’s wise to start the New Year with prayer and fasting. The purpose of fasting is to draw closer to God, to pray that His will be done, and to study the Word and the ways of the Lord. In these shaky times you and I can either be controlled by circumstances and the tough times – or we can partner with the Lord and through our prayer release His will into our lives and our situations.

If you want learn more about the Daniel Fast, receive a copy of the Daniel Fast Guidelines or find helpful resources that will assist you toward a successful fast, visit www.Daniel-Fast.com and join with hundreds of thousands of men, women and teens around the world as they focus their lives on God for a powerful period of prayer and fasting.

Daniel Fast Instructions

The Daniel Fast is growing in popularity around the world. Just today I received messages from brothers and sisters in Christ from South Africa, Singapore, France, United Kingdom, Canada, and the USA!

The Daniel Fast is a totally plant-based way of eating. It’s based on the fasting practices of the prophet’s fasting experiences as recorded in Daniel 1 and Daniel 10, along with typical Jewish fasting principles. So the fast is centered on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds and good quality oils (i.e. olive and canola).  You can also use herbs and seasonings.

The only beverage on the fast is water, but you can use juice and unsweetened soy milk (also rice, almonds, etc) on cereal or in recipes.

To learn more about the food lists, go to http://Daniel-Fast.com and request a copy of the Daniel Fast Guidelines and they will be emailed to you immediately.

Most people do the Daniel Fast for 21 days, however it is not a required length. Many fast for as few as seven days or for as many as 50.

There are no restrictions as to the amount of food you can eat on the Daniel Fast or when you can eat. However, we do want to keep in mind that this is a fast. So I encourage people to eat no more than three moderate meals and two small snacks.

For more information about the Daniel Fast, visit http://Daniel-Fast.com and review this blog. You can also find the Daniel Fast book and Cookbooks as the website.

Be blessed on your fast!

Jentzen Franklin Fast

We are coming up to the first day of the New Year Fastthat Jentzen Franklin promotes. Pastor Franklin has motivated tens of thousands of people to start the 2011 New Year with prayer and fasting. Many who will join in this 21-day fast, which begins Sunday, January 9th, will use the Daniel Fast as their method  of fasting.

You can get a copy of the Daniel Fast Guidelines by going to www.Daniel-Fast.comand adding your mailing list so they can be immediatly downloaded to you.

I’m glad that you reached this site if this is the first time you’ve been here. We have a whole community of men and women who practice the Daniel Fast at least once during the year. Many of us use the Daniel Fast several times throughout the year as we seek God and want to intensify our time with Him.

Jentezen Franklin (this is his spelling, although most people leave out the second “e”) has been a wonderful gift to the Body of Christ by teaching about spiritual fasting and then moving people into the New Year Fast and the Daniel Fast each year. I am so thankful for his devotion to God and His Word.

Please take some time to look around on this blog and learn more about the Daniel Fast.

Also, if you want a free copy of The Daniel Fast Guidelines in brochure form that you can download on your computer, just fill out the little form at the site below and the document will be emailed to you immediately.

www.Daniel-Fast.com

Also, but sure to check back to this blog periodically as I will add more content, information, tools and inspirational material over the coming weeks.

Be blessed!

The 2009 New Year Daniel Fast

Oh my, if there has ever been a good time to start the New Year with prayer and fasting, this is it! Many television preachers and evangelists are calling for a New Year fast including Jentezen Franklin and Henry Fernandez. Some will start with a 21-day fast, while others will engage in a 40-day fast.

The Daniel Fast is not tied to any specific date or to a period of time. Unlike Lent, which is a 40-day period of fasting before Easter, the Daniel Fast is a “type of fast.” With that said, more and more church bodies and individuals have started a tradition of starting the New Year with a period of prayer and fasting. And since the fast is usually for an extended period of time, most Christians use the Daniel Fast as their method of fasting.

Typically, believers who start the New Year with prayer and fasting decide on a 21-day fast commencing on the first Sunday in January. For 2009, that will be Sunday, January 4th. Pastor Jentezen Franklin has been the strongest promoter of the New Year Fast and will again teach on the benefits of prayer and fasting on his television program.

You can also learn a lot about fasting on this blog or by reading The Daniel Fast for the Body, Soul and Spirit.

I hope you spend some time on this blog as it’s entire purpose is to help men, women and young people in their journey toward a successful fasting experience.  After you’ve looked around the blog and you don’t find the answer to a question you might have, feel free to post it here! I try to respond within 24 hours!

Be blessed and I hope the very best for you as you seed the Lord through prayer and fasting.

TheCall California – September 23 – November 2

Brothers and sisters in Christ! TheCall has established a 40-day fast for The Call for California. I just received word from the headquarters about the official dates for this fast. It begins on Tuesday, September 23rd and ends on Sunday, November 2nd.

Many faithful men and women from California are joining in this powerful expression sanctioned by TheCall. However, thousands of believers throughout the world are supporting this effort by also joining in the 40-day Fast for California.

Some people are using a normal fast (water only), but most of those joining in the Call for California will use the Daniel Fast, which is a partial fast (abstaining from specific foods).

This is an exciting time for following of Christ! Praise God that we have access to the most powerful God. And in these times of economic turmoil, presidential elections, and weather disasters – we can keep our eyes on the Redeemer instead of the circumstances of the world.

Please, let us know if you are among those called to The Call for California. Let us support you in prayer!

Fast for California

Glory to God! More and more men and women are finding the power of prayer and fasting! One very important corporate fast is the Fast for California! You can read more about The Call California by clicking on the link.

If you are from California, I hope you are engaging in this powerful time when men and women dedicate and consecrate themselves to the Lord and seek His wisdom, power and intervention into this natural world so His kingdom can come to earth as it is in heaven.

If you are not from California, you can help in two ways: 1) forward this message to all your Christian friends who do live in the Golden State . . . get the word about the corporate fast . . . and hopefully promote this powerful work of God. 2) Join the fast! Yes, even if you do not live there, you can Fast for California by joining other men and women with your prayer and spiritual discipline.

California brothers and sisters: Please check and let us know you are fasting . . . and those reading this blog can join you in prayer.

Be blessed one and all as you Fast for California

The Call California – 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting

Lou Engle just announced that there will be a new gathering of the faithful in California on November 1st. Preceeding this gathering, he is asking for believers to support this event with 40 days of prayer and fasting. Many will use the Daniel Fast.

Here is information for The Call website:

TheCall California – November 1, 2008

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego

TheCall California Part 1:

They came like waves crashing onto the shores of California. Leaving behind a legacy of glory and apostolic influence, great manifestations of the power and love of God broke in on past generations of hungry saints. Waves of God’s great presence cascaded upon her shores in 1906, 1919, 1947, 1948, 1967, 1971, 1980, and 1994. These waves are California’s revivals. In the midst of unspeakable decadence, corporate greed, cultural trend setting, and global pornographic exportation, there lies deposited deeply below California’s crusty surface gold-there’s oil in her hills. Something continually draws God to the scene. Could it be that God is drawn to her pain? Maybe God sees her shores as hosting planet’s lost prophets with misplaced passions or maybe he is drawn to the cry of her wandering masses. Whatever be the case, He comes, and when he does, the entire world is changed. The tongues of fire that erupted at Azusa have lit up the world. The revivals sown in Hollywood loosed great evangelists like Bill Bright and Billy Graham. The Jesus Movement gave us Calvary love songs that have kissed the youth of the globe. The new wine of worship and healing came from California’s vineyards. These ancient songs awaken us from our nightmare and remind us something that was and can be again. Hollywood, the “woman at the well”, could become the great evangelist again in these last days.

In 1946, Franklin Hall launched a fasting and prayer movement out of San Diego with a book called Atomic Power With God Through Fasting and Prayer. Thousands were stirred to enter into extended consecration fasts. Shortly after, the great healing revival broke out in 1947, followed by the campus revivals, and the Hollywood revivals in 1948. In the very same year, across the globe in the heart of the middle-east, by God’s divine mandate Israel was again called a nation. Could there be that there was a connection between what God was doing in California and the orchestrating of His divine purposes in the creation of the nation of Israel? Is it possible that the outpouring of God presence and the igniting of prayer in California were in reality connected with God’s heart to birth an entire nation? I believe it was global Joel 2 moment in which the scripture promises that after the fast, God would restore the land and pour out his spirit on all flesh. I hear TheCall again; “Gather the people, call a fast, and afterwards I will pour out my spirit.”

Now 50 years later, California sits within a fog of Jezebel confusion. Recently the Supreme Court of California disregarded the votes of the people and legalized homosexual marriage. The entire world listened attentively as the mayor of San Francisco boasted, “As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. Its inevitable, this door is wide open. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. This is the future, and its now.” The world is looking to California for moral leadership while California finds herself caught in the snare of idolatry and self-worship. Recently I received an urgent call on behalf of hundreds of pastors admitting that California wouldn’t be saved simply political petitioning and confessed the reality of an ongoing spiritual battle within the state and the need to mobilize for mass fasting and prayer. They asked us to bring TheCall to San Diego, not knowing that we received several powerful directives from the Lord a year ago that TheCall was going to go to the stadium in San Diego.

This bill mentioned is a reflection of how far down the line we have come in removing the very moral foundations that preserve society. The moral levies in America are breaking and once marriage is redefined, it will be a matter of time before the entire structure of morality collapses within our nation. In one sense, this bill mirrors our own inward moral concessions as a church to the prevailing culture, and it is the fruit of a compromising silence that has failed to confront the rising spiritual and political contenders. But it is not too late! This is not a time for hiding in caves. This is a time to resist mightily the spirit of peaceful coexistence and apathetic resignation in the face of this prevailing darkness. We are coming to a Mount Carmel moment, which I believe could be the church’s finest hour where she challenges her own compromise and then gains authority through prayer and action which is her true vocation. Then our light will break forth like the dawn and truth will no longer be trampled under the feet of renegade kings and judges. The church is not at the mercy of political decrees of destruction. Jesus is the Lord of history! Though these decrees stand today, they will not stand forever. God is the one who reverses the edicts of man, using the church as an agent of righteous revolution to displace kings and overthrow their decrees through the weapons of fasting and prayer.

Therefore, we are summoning believers from all across the state of California and the nation to gather for a Joel 2 moment. When there is no remedy, when there is no natural hope, God still has a holy prescription. Blow the trumpet in Zion, gather the people, and call a fast. Let the believers of this great state gather and cry out to God believing that California could become the flash point of real change in America not the open door to societal collapse. Let us return to the fasting praying womb in San Diego and seek the face of God on November 1^st, 2008 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA. 

The Call DC – Live on God.tv – August 16 10 to 10

TheCall DC – LIVE on GOD TV!

August 16 from 10am to 10pm [ET]

Don’t miss this year’s biggest TheCall event as crowds of Christians gather at the National Mall in Washington DC on August 16.

 

Tune in for this exclusive LIVE broadcast as countless Americans repent of their sins and cry out to God to impact their nation. This promises to be a life changing solemn assembly that will see prayer warriors from all over the United States join in a massive day of united prayer and fasting to seek God’s face for their cities and nation.

 

If you can make it, register now. But if you can’t, then tune in to GOD TV, set up a big screen at your home or local church and invite everyone to join together. Whatever you do, don’t miss this extraordinary event!

 

“Eight years ago, God by His Spirit moved the church in America to pray. It made a difference in our national life. In this present year of political campaigning, the Church needs to be on its knees. I want to encourage you to be there as you are able. TheCall to the Mall, let’s pray for our land and God will answer us.” — Jack Hayford

 

“TheCall DC is going to be a true national solemn assembly. Bring your family, bring your sons and your daughters, your wife, your husband, your dogs, your cats, whatever you need to bring with you to be there! I’ll see you there!” — Rick Joyner

 

“Come to Washington DC, to the National Mall. August 16th. And hear TheCall DC for your life, your family, your state, and our nation. We will humble ourselves and pray and fast and seek the face of The Lord. God bless you and I’ll see you in Washington DC.” — Luis Palau

 

“I believe August 16th will be a significant day in the history of our nation. As hundreds of thousands gather to The Mall in Washington DC for prayer and fasting believing that God can turn our nation back to him.” — Mike Bickle

 

Visit God.tv online for the latest programming times and information on how you can watch GOD TV.

The Call in Washington, DC – A Call to Fast and Pray

There is a powerful move about to take place in the United State’s national capital of Washington, DC known as The Call. On August 16, 2008, under the leadership of Lou Engle, tens of thousands of men, women and youth will gather on the Capital Mall grounds to enter into collective prayer and fasting. You can read more about this move by clicking on this link: The Call

The following text is from The Call website:

TheCall is a divinely initiated, multi-racial, multi-generational, and cross-denominational gathering to corporate prayer and fasting. We believe that our nation is in desperate need of the mercy of God and a great Spiritual Awakening. TheCall is committed to mobilizing people from all across America to gather together to petition God for His undeserved mercy for our nation in 12-hour solemn assemblies. Just as in the days of Joel, we believe that now is the time to blow the trumpet across our land, to fast, to pray, and return to the Lord with all our hearts.

In the midst of an “entertainment” driven society, TheCall does not seek to entertain, but to encounter God. Unlike other mass gatherings which attract people through the rhythms of loud music, the glamour of flashing lights, or through the appeal of charismatic personalities, TheCall is a gathering centered around the affections of a loving God. There will be no advertised bands and no promoted speakers, as our purpose is not to promote any man or ministry.

TheCall is a FAST not a festival. TheCall is a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY not a conference. Whereas conferences focus primarily on training and discipleship, the 12 hours of TheCall are spent primarily before the Lord in the place of prayer and worship. We believe the hour is late and the times are urgent. Our nation is in desperate need of revival and it will be only through the corporate body of Christ uniting in the place of prayer that we will find any hope in this hour. We believe we can see our nation changed as the Lord pours out His Spirit and brings refreshing to the broken, destitute, and the weary across our land.

I encourage you to look at The Call site to learn more about this assembly. Consider joining the gathering, or supporting it with your own prayer and fasting.

I will post more abou this event in the coming weeks.

Lent and the Daniel Fast

 Lent 2008 – February 6th – March 22nd

The season of Lent is the period in the Church Year between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It originated in the very early days of the Church as a time of preparation for new converts. They would receive instructions about their faith, the church and Jesus Christ before being baptized and receiving their first Holy Communion which took place at a Mass on Easter Eve. This is still practiced in most liturgical churches throughout the world. Easter, or Resurrection Sunday,  is the most significant day in the Church Year as it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. This includes the Lutherans, Episcopalians, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Methodists, and other Protestant denominations.

Forty Days of Lent

Lent is a forty-day period; however these days are not consecutive. The reason is that Sundays are not included in the count since they commemorate the resurrection of Christ. These 40 days remember Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness when He was tempted by Satan.

Today other members of churches who recognize the liturgical year practice Lent, along with those coming into full communion. It is a time for reflection, repentance and drawing closer to the Lord. During Lent, one makes sacrifices to observe the 40-day fast Jesus experienced in the wilderness. The most common food that is “given up for Lent” is meat, making the Daniel Fast a common way of eating during the 40 days of Lent.

Churches Join the 2008 Fasting Movement

It seems many churches are getting on board with the 2008 Fasting Movement. Championed by Pastor Jentezen Franklin from Free Chapel Church in Gainseville, GA, the January 21-day fast is gaining momentum. Most of those joining the fast us the Daniel Fast as their chosen eating plan.

Many churches start their Fast on a Sunday so they can “sanctify the fast” together at their worship services. In this way, members are entering a “corporate fast” as a church body. Specific purposes for the Fast are identified which encourages all members to come together in unified prayer. This year, tens of thousands of Christian men and women will start the fast on January 6th and break the fast on Sunday morning, January 27th.

Many churches report powerful works of the Holy Spirit for their congregation as a body. Plus, individual members experience healed relationships, spiritual growth, physical healings, financial breakthroughs, and other blessings.

While even estimating the number of Christians who will enter the 2008 Fasting Movement is difficult, it is very likely that tens of thousands will start the New Year with the Daniel Fast, either as an individual devotion or a corporate fast with their church.

Please let us know if your church is fasting this year. We would love to report back to the larger Body of Christ as to the way God is moving in your congregation as you focus on Him through prayer and fasting.

Please leave a comment below with any questions you might have.