The Daniel Fast

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.

Daniel 10.2-3 NIV There are times when even the most devout of believers may feel distant from God. In almost all cases this is because of things going on in the believer's life, and they are lucky if someone points out to them the barriers that have appeared. I was lucky this week, someone made an innocuous remark that left me in no doubt that I had been convicted of the sin of faithlessness. For weeks I have cast around fruitlessly, grumbling and blaming God. What I haven't done is pray more. Why not? Because I am a foolish human who forgets God's grace faster than the Israelites did in the desert. Anyway, I decided that it was time to take action, and the form of action taken was suggested by Ben Patterson in his book Deepening Your Conversation with God. He pointed out a time when he had fasted for forty days along with some of his congregation. He said that the act of fasting focussed his mind in important ways. That was what I wanted. So I chose to fast. To make sure I was doing it properly I decided to do a little research. See how people fast in the manner of Daniel in the Twenty-First Century. I'm not sure if I should be amused of horrified, but within minutes of looking through web pages on the subject I found advertisements for the Daniel Fast Cookbook, nutritional information and a reminder to check the labels on processed food to make sure there are only Daniel Fast friendly ingredients. This all sounds a little too muck like letter of the law vs spirit of the law to me. If I'm wrong no doubt I'll get struck by lightning.