Daniel Fast

Meat Mania!

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:43:06 -0500

This week as we entered the grocery store to buy our veggies and hummus, we were greeted with this lovely sign. MEAT MANIA!! We literally stopped and stared at it, looked at each other and knew we had to take a pic!

We’ve been going to bed each night with visions of turkey legs dancing in our heads. Today we got a coupon in the mail for a free steak at Outback Steakhouse! We drooled over the pictures and our eyes were filled with excitement as we counted just how many days were left on the fast. (10 if you are wondering...)

We are more than halfway through our Daniel Fast and have put together our donations for the clothing drive, helped out a few families in need and we are buying our pantry items this weekend to donate to the food drive. I know that I have felt God speak the truth in love to me through friends about my heart and attitude during this fast.

But as much as we’ve tried to make this fast not about the food....the food is what keeps popping back up to haunt us around every corner, at every meal, at every opportunity. This morning in particular we were feeling tired, drained, emotionally sensitive and had no idea why.

You know what thought came in to my mind? “I need some meat!!!” And even though my lack of protein could be contributing to my fatigue, why wasn’t my first thought to pray about it? To ask God for strength and renewed energy?

It’s because I’m used to food holding the answer to my problems. Tired? Coffee! Angry? Chocolate! Stressed? Ice Cream! Happy? Steak!

I’m hoping that in ten days I’ll be a little closer to being the kind of person that replaces those food answers with God ones instead. Tired? Worship! Angry? the Word! Stressed? Prayer! Happy? Praise!

I know it sounds idealistic but I hope that you understand that our goal in this fast isn’t to see how well we can hold up under extreme conditions. It isn’t a test of our physical bodies but of our hearts. If we don’t come out of this fast having blessed as many people as we could, then it will have been worthless. If I don’t come out of this fast changed inside then it will all have been for nothing.

Are you changing?? Are you taking action and blessing others? Is your heart seeking new answers to your everyday problems?? If not, then please go to God in prayer and ask Him to change you from the inside out! Take some time to have conversations with people who love you and are mature in Christ...ask them what they have seen in you that needs improvement. Find someone who will speak the truth in love to you about your attitude and actions. Don’t waste this opportunity, only 10 days left.

Ester

Day 5

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 10:23:34 -0500

When we first moved into our house we noticed that when we boiled water for some pasta it took FOREVER to get going. We continued to do it this way until we noticed that the gas stove had a “powerburner” option on the one of the burners. This burner was twice as big, and twice as hot. We were boiling water in no time!

I say all this cause I have a point - a watched pot never boils. No really I do have a point actually I have two :)

First, this teaches us that if we continue to do the same things we are going to get the same results. If we continue to do that same things over and over in our walk with Jesus we will not move forward in the calling that Jesus has for us. We have to change! We cannot be content with the status quo in our lives. God has something better and greater for us if we are willing to make the change.

Secondly, this shows us that more fire gets us to the state that God needs us to be at. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives! Fire is the mark of the Church. I feel that sometimes we are just content with us being on simmer rather than being on Holy Fire. You and I need The Fire. If you want to over come sin, restore your marriage, feel the presence of God, and be released in ministry you need the fire of The Holy Spirit.

I encourage you as you fast, stop being content right where you are at, and seek the Presence of God. If you have never received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit ask the Lord for it!

-Sam

Daniel Fast 2011 - A Love/Hate Relationship

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:12:03 -0500

This year as we prepare for the Daniel Fast, Sam and I have noticed an almost love/hate relationship with the fast among those who joined us last year and even among those who have never fasted before.

On the one hand, there is this sense of impending doom that everyone is feeling...the countdowns have begun and everyone is dreading the thought of having to pass on the donuts at work or bring a change to the weekend grilling routine. The groans and sighs are echoing across Ethos Place!

And yet on the other hand, the same people who are already mourning their daily cup of coffee are also filled with a great expectancy for what God is going to do in them during the fast. There is an almost tangible sense of joy that springs out of us that we simply can’t explain. Why are we ready and not ready for this fast? Why are we happy and unhappy about it? And should we be feeling like this??

I think the tug of war that we are all experiencing is a good thing! Jesus knew about our human hearts when he told his disciples, “the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak”. (Matt 26:41) Does that describe you and me or what!?

Our spirits are desperate for God to do something inside of us, to change our hearts and attitudes, to give us strength to do the things we’ve always wanted to do for Him. We are spiritually starving for more of God and our spirits are calling out to Him for a lasting renewal of our hearts and minds.

Our flesh is just desperate for pleasure and instant gratification. To eat what we want, when we want and to never say no to anything. We don’t really want to change. We’d rather keep things the way they are because real change is hard work and saying no is hard work and being transformed is gonna hurt our pride. Our flesh is crying out for normalcy and an easy way out.

Paul says this, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Gal 5:17)

If you are feeling at war with yourself over the Daniel Fast, you are in good company. Each of us must choose to say no to our fleshly bodies and choose to listen to the Spirit God has placed inside of us. When we “turn down” our flesh by denying it, we are “turning up” God’s Spirit inside of us.

If you are feeling like this battle is already lost before you’ve begun, take heart and listen to some more of Paul’s words in Galatians 6:8, “The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

Every time you choose to deny your flesh you are sowing into your spirit! Let the expectancy of what God is going to do in your life overtake you during times of temptation and doubt. Simply telling Him “God, I don’t want to be the same anymore” can release so much within us. Sing a song, pray a prayer, read your Bible, give to someone in need, call up a friend or simply count your blessings...you will soon find yourself in love again!

Pastor Ester Puente

(leave me a comment about what you are going through as you prepare for the fast. let’s use this blog as a way to encourage others with our stories.)

Clarity

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 23:26:51 -0600

Sitting around chatting about the fast with others I’ve noticed that many of us have begun to realize certain facts about ourselves regarding food and eating.

For example, I’ve learned that I eat when I’m stressed and I crave chocolate and sweets really desperately when things are busy or emotionally overwhelming. Food becomes my comfort and source of peace instead of allowing God’s Spirit to relax me and calm my mind. I blogged about it a while back...

Someone mentioned how they realized that they had been “living to eat instead of eating to live.” Their day was spent planning the next meal and really going all out in the preparations and seeing what new and delicious meals she could make. It’s an awesome thing to show love to our families by providing for them and taking the time to lovingly prepare meals and use our creativity. But she realized that her time and energy were being spent in this one area when she could be spending it elsewhere, like with her family and sharing time together instead of time alone in the kitchen.

Many times when we fast it’s like putting on spiritual glasses and we are able to see our hearts, motives and spirits with greater clarity.

Sometimes....we might not like what we see. We might notice that are motives tend to be legalistic and we are really seeking to add notches to our spiritual belts. We may notice that God really hasn’t been given His rightful place in our everyday lives. The Holy Spirit may reveal sins that we’ve tried to keep hidden or discernment about big decisions in our lives.

As difficult as this fast has been, I’ve realized that the hardest thing to figure out is who I will be once it’s over. Will I revert back to the person I was before...reaching for a brownie without thinking and saying to myself, “I need this...”?? My prayer today is that we will each be changed permanently. That the innermost parts of our souls will be forever impacted by what God has shown us.

Only a couple more days left to go....what lessons have you learned?

~ Ester ~

Prayer Points

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:45:24 -0600

Here are our prayer points that we want to focus on as we approach our Sunday gathering.

Pray for our Church

- Pray that we begin to be burden for Souls. The church must begin to travail for people if we are to grow. Let us pray like Rachel “Give me children, or I will die” - Gen 30:1-22.

- Pray for the Harvest, for Laborers

- Pray that we would hear from God during our Gatherings. We need God to move in our service/small groups in a powerful way. We desperately need an encounter with the living God.

- Pray for a spirit of Unity among us. Unity is an invitation for The Holy Spirit to have His way in our Church.

- Pray that we would not tire in doing good, in doing what God has called us to do. It is not news to us that establishing this church (or any church) is tiring, exhausting, and at times discouraging. Let us be joyful in the harvest field and lets be faithful with the seed and soil God has given us!

~ Sam

Awake - My early morning blunder

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:37:42 -0600

I’ve been waking up WAY earlier than normal and most days I end up falling asleep mid-morning for a quick nap. My body simply rejects the morning and even more so without my usual coffee to help keep me going.

Today I decided I would try to stay awake and went to Starbucks to study and have a cup of tea. I don’t know too much about all the different teas since I’m a big time coffee drinker and who needs tea when there’s coffee, right!? :) The lady behind the counter wasn’t too helpful in selecting a tea and just started rattling off names in their tea selection....Calm, Passion, Awake, Chai....

Well, Awake sounded pretty good to me since I was trying to keep my eyes open! I asked her if it was good and she says “yes, it’s a good black tea, I like it”. Okey dokey, ring me up! and only $2....I was ready to stay awake and study.

Now you might already know what I didn’t but black tea...has caffeine. In fact, it has a lot. But I didn’t know that and happily sipped away and the more I drank the better I felt, my head started to clear, my mind was processing at normal speed, I was in a good mood and excited about the busy day ahead.

I began thinking..”I like this tea...I think it works! I need to get more...now what did she say this was?...black tea...hmm....” Then something clicked in my head (since I was awake now...) and I googled black tea to find that the reason I felt so good was because I had just accidentally had caffeine for first time in 11 days! OOPS!

Well, I’m thankful for grace and also thankful that we are already halfway through the fast! If you’ve made it this far, congratulations!! That’s a big deal! And if you’ve struggled a little or made some mistakes like me, don’t worry. Let’s press on toward the finish line with renewed determination!

Feel free to share some of your blunders in our comments....I’d love to know that I’m not the only one making these mistakes! :D

~ Ester ~

Day 9

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 08:08:24 -0600

I got to talk with a lot of you during Sunday service and men’s small group last night and I am glad to hear that the fast is going great and that we are encouraging each other during the fast. I will admit that with this kind of fast you can quickly get caught up in what you can and cannot eat. Don’t get caught in that. What we as a church need to get caught up in is Him. He is the reason why we fast. Let us look at the words of Jesus in regards to fasting

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
(Matthew 9:14-17 ESV)

Jesus explains that his disciples do not fast because it is not necessary for them to since He is with them, but that I time will come when they will because they would be apart. That time has come. We fast because we are apart from Him in proximity. You see during any time of fasting, our main focus should be Him. He is the reason why we fast. We should long to get closer to Him, to know Him more, to grow deeper in Him, and to be more sensitive to His Spirit.

I want to encourage you to seek Him more than you ever have. Put some worship music on this week in your home, in your car, in your office and let His Spirit draw you in. Let Him speak over you and your life. Don’t be afraid to press in, wait on Him, you will not be disappointed!

~Sam

Day Four - Prayer & Fasting

Thu, 4 Nov 2010 13:02:44 -0500

Hope that all you guys well as our Daniel Fast is in full swing. I have been hearing a lot of great things already about the fast and have heard that other people who don’t join us on Sundays are also participating with us! That is so awesome!

When it comes to fasting, prayer goes hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. There is something so powerful when the Body of Christ comes together in prayer and fasting. So I wanted to encourage you with some prayer points for the remainder of the week for us to agree in prayer for.

I want us to focus our prayer on our church leadership. Pray for Ester and myself, pray for your small group leaders, & pray for our worship team.

- pray for fresh vision for the new year
- pray for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit & discernment
- pray for the church leadership to grow spiritually and numerically.
- pray for strength
- pray for God’s covering and protection
- pray for creativity
- pray that our leadership would have a deeper relationship with Jesus

~ Sam

Day Two - Energy

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 22:19:19 -0500

Last night we enjoyed some vegetable soup with salsa. Nice and hearty we were feeling very satisfied. I was experiencing some caffeine withdrawals but expected them, so overall, not too bad of a day.
We did go to bed much earlier than usual...without our late night sugary snacks and coffee to keep us up, we were almost falling asleep with the kids.

Today Sam was bright and bubbly and feeling good about his veggies for the day. Lunch was leftover soup and dinner was takeout rice noodles with veggies from a chinese restaurant. We did notice that they put egg in there when we got home but blessed the food and thanked the Lord for the extra protein. :)

I was in desperate need of energy today. I don’t know if I’m still dealing with caffeine withdrawals or what but I have had a massive headache all day and feel totally depleted. I’ve been munching on nuts and granola trying to get any energy I can out of them but don’t feel like it’s working. My goal now is to search out what foods will give a natural burst of energy, and buy them in bulk!

How about you? How have these past two days gone for you? Is the fast harder than you expected or easier? Are you having any withdrawals like me? Got any tips?

Let us hear from you in the comments. We want to know that we aren’t eating veggies alone... :) Thanks!

It Has Begun - Day One.

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 01:02:57 -0500

So the Daniel Fast begins today. I am excited, nervous, ready and at the same time pretty overwhelmed. When I think about 21 days without a juicy steak, a moist coffee cake, a latte, & late night snackage, it just makes me think that I have bitten off more than I can chew (pun intended).

To get the most out of the Daniel Fast and to remove that overwhelmed feeling, there are two things we have to do:

One: Take it a day at a time.
For the most part I am a big picture kind of guy. I want to see the whole thing beginning to end. But with the Daniel Fast we have to take it one day at a time, maybe even one meal at a time. Taking it day by day, meal by meal this fast will have a deeper spiritual impact in our lives. We will approach God’s Throne with a greater sense of gratitude and thankfulness for every successful meal and day.

Two: Find a buddy.
You can’t do this alone. One thing I love about our church is our openness. I thank God that when we break for fellowship time on Sundays I hear honest talk about what is going on in our lives. Make the most of the relationships that we have to encourage each other toward good works (Hebrews 10:24). Husbands encourage your wives, parents encourage your kids, friends encourage one another in small group, share recipes, and share meals. Have someone over for dinner or lunch, this will alleviate them from having to prepare a meal and it will encourage you and deepen your friendships.

I am excited that our church is on this journey together and I am looking forward to hearing about what the Lord is going to do in our lives!

~ Sam