The Daniel Fast Daily Devotional for Lent

MY GIFT TO YOU!

Announcing the release of The Daniel Fast Daily Devotional for Lent which is a Kindle book and available through Amazon for FREE through February 17th.

ASH WEDNESDAY – Today is Ash Wednesday. Lent will start at sunset tonight (February 13th) and continue until the celebration of Resurrection Sunday (March 31).

Lent is a powerful time of prayer and fasting when millions of believers focus on Jesus and His life and ministry. It’s a time of personal reflection and examination. It’s a time of growth and drawing closer to the Lord.

Lent is a season for denominations that follow the Church Calendar (Liturgical Calendar), including Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and some Reformed Churches. Lent is also observed by a growing number of individuals who want to enter into an extended period of prayer and fasting.

During the Lenten Season, there are 40 days of fasting. These fasting days commemorate the 40 days following Jesus’s baptism that He spent fasting in the desert before starting His public ministry. The fast is “paused” on Sundays as believers celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and acknowledge that He is alive today!

Lent 2009 and the Daniel Fast

I am writing this post on Ash Wednesday, 2009. Today marks the first day of Lent for millions of Christians throughout the world. Lent is a period of fasting for 40 days prior to Easter, with most fasting six days and week and then eating moderately on Sunday. The big feast is on Easter as we celebrate the most important day of the entire year – Resurrection Sunday!

Many will “give up” a type of food during Lent, such as chocolate or coffee. However, a growing number of followers of Jesus Christ are using the Daniel Fast for their Lenten discipline of prayer and fasting.

If you are using the Daniel Fast as your method of fasting during this time of consecration, I do encourage you to sign up for the Daniel Fast Mailing List by going to www.Daniel-Fast.com so you can receive periodic free information that will help you be successful in your fast. Also, when you do sign up you will receive an invitation for the free Daniel Fast Notes, which are daily email devotions that receive very positive reviews from readers.

Also, since so many people do the Daniel Fast for 21 days (see Daniel 10) you will find the 21-day reference throughout this site. However, the Daniel Fast is not restricted to only 21 days. So a 40-day Daniel Fast is totally appropriate.

God bless you on your Lenten Fast. My prayer is that you will draw closer to the Lord and receive even more of the love, grace and direction He has for you.

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.