What Is The Daniel Fast And Is It Good For You?

Beneficial For Your Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, and Mental Health

At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³I 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

I get a lot of questions about my healing journey and one of those questions I get asked a LOT is how to detox.

There’s no doubt about it, you guys: detoxing is critical to your health, and so is fasting. Detoxing and fasting are pretty similar. Some people may even say they’re the same thing. I go into detail about detoxing is in my post, here, but for the sake of this post, let’s focus on fasting.

Fasting is a natural tool for healing that can have excellent benefits on the body. And not only is fasting rewarding to the body, but it’s also a powerful weapon in your spiritual life as well. Combined with prayer, fasting can make a significant supernatural impact in your life. Throughout the Bible, many people fasted as a way of connecting with God: Esther, Job, Peter, David, Paul, Moses, even Jesus! And then, of course, there’s Daniel and his fast. The ever-popular Daniel Fast. This is a fast that’s pretty common to do within churches.

What is Fasting?

Traditionally, fasting is the voluntary and deliberate abstinence from food, drink, or both for a period of time Biblically and spiritually, the purpose of fasting is to engage in spiritual warfare for miraculous and supernatural results, such as healing, healing of others, dream interpretation concentrated prayer. Doing so can create a healing or detoxing benefit for the body, mind, and spirit.

Different types of fasts

There are many types of fasts to choose from. Some of which include:

Standard Fast: Which is an intake of water only.
Intermittent Fast or a Twenty-four hour fast: This type of fast you’re only eating, or not eating during a small daily window. For example: You can choose to only eat raw fruit and vegetables from sunrise to sunset. I used to do this fast every Monday.
Dry Fast: During a dry fast, you’re abstaining from all food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Then, after sunset, you may eat raw water-based fruit and vegetables. This type of fast is great for your body if done for three consecutive days.
Partial Fast: During this type of fast, you’re abstaining from pleasant foods. You’re partaking only of clear soup, fruit juice, cereals or grain. You can also give up one meal a day for prayer. (See Daniel: 1:8-16, & 10:2,3)
Absolute Fast: This fast consists of no water or food
Three-day Fast: This fast is total abstinence of food for three days. (See Esther 4:16)

This is just a small list of different types of fasts that can be done. They all have physical benefits, and can actually help move mountains in your life when used in conjunction with spending time in prayer with God and/or using that time to serve others.

If you are looking for a healing breakthrough in body, mind and/or spirit, then you may want to consider doing a Daniel Fast.

What Is a Daniel Fast?

The Daniel Fast or the Daniel diet is based upon the prophet Daniel’s dietary and spiritual experiences as recorded in the Book of Daniel in the Bible. For three full weeks, Daniel ate no pleasant bread, meat, nor wine. He ate no “choice food” as he put it, which is food that is generally perceived as pleasurable, such as (those days) cow, or (these days) cheeseburgers and fries.

My church gives us two options of doing the Daniel Fast:

Do 21 days of the Daniel Fast (See below for full Daniel Fast Food list). This means for 21 days, you can partake of the food on the Daniel Fast Food List below, whether the fruit and veggies are raw, or cooked. As long as you’re eating from the food list for 21 days, then you’re doing good.
We break the three weeks up like so:

First Week: We’ll do a partial fast (one cooked, meal per day made from the foods from the Daniel Fast food list)

Second Week: Partial fast (raw fruits and vegetables only)

Third Week: Total fast (liquids only)

Depending on your experience with fasting, you have the choice of these fasting types for the 3-week duration of the Daniel Fast. Those with health conditions such as diabetes who need to eat should eat something, or stay on the fruits and vegetables schedule (Fasting option 1). This is why is VERY important to be led by the Holy Spirit, and/or your healthcare professional for what works best for you if you have a medical condition.

The Purpose Of Prayer And Fasting

Why fast and pray? Why not just do the fast without prayer?

When we fast or give up food, and spend time with God in prayer, we’re showing God that He’s more important than our meals. It’s a way of connecting with God and honoring Him.

Satan has many ways that he’ll attack our lives. He works through people to do his bidding here on Earth, and there are demonic forces working behind the scenes in the spirit world against us too. Whenever we experience attacks from the enemy and his evil earthly agents (people who carry out Satan’s work), we must fight back and protect ourselves.

When we pray, we develop a relationship with God. That’s one of the best things you can do in your life–having a relationship with God. And, like any relationship, the more time you spend with God, the closer you guys become. You’ll begin to change. You get more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you’ll hear Him when He speaks to you and tell you to do something, or reveal something to you. Over time, you’ll begin to feel and receive everything God promised you in your salvation: Healing, Peace, Joy, Strength, Physical Safety, Cure, Rescue, Deliverance, Protection, Victory, Well-Being, etc. Fasting, along with prayer, is like gasoline to an already powerful fire: it ignites and makes your prayer that much stronger.

Here are some more purposes of prayer and fasting:

The need to crucify the flesh.

In order to become better believers in Christ and receive all the wonderful promises that entails, we need to become more disciplined. If we can get out flesh, or our destructive human desires out the way, we’ll have more clarity and a greater sensitivity in the spirit what to ask for and we’ll receive answers.

When we are dominated by the flesh, not only do we not know what to pray for, but we remained controlled by our bodies and our emotions. This is why it’s so hard for us to remained disciplined when we’re detoxing, or fasting, or even just trying to change our diets to a more healing one. Or to remain peaceful or be assertive in peaceful ways instead of getting out-of-control angry during confrontation. Our flesh is dominating us in these areas.

The need for a healthy lifestyle.

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:8

Isaiah 58:5-9 is a great scripture. It’s basically stating the miracles that fasting can do for you. Verse 8 in particular states, how fasting can cause your light to shine in the world for all to see, and how God will protect you.

Fasting disciplines our spirit and physical body. While we subject our flesh to the Spirit of God and develop a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father, we get the “side benefit” of a more healthy body. When we fast, our system is cleansed from toxins. Uncontrolled eating gradually damages the body. Periods of fasting bring the body into balance and help regulate the systems so that things run more smoothly.

The need for more power and to hear the voice of God

Fasting causes more power. Even people who practices the dark art will sometimes not eat nor drink while they are working to make their work more powerful. We as believers must do the same as fasting enable us to stand against the enemy. Prayer and fasting also give directions. It makes you sensitive to God’s voice. It enables you to hear His voice above the other voices around you.

Guidelines For Fasting and Praying

So, what should you pray for during the fast. How exactly do you go about doing this?

Things to Pray For While Fasting

What to pray for is entirely based on you and your specific needs. We all have areas of our lives that are out of order. And if you’re not sure what to pray for and focus on, here are some things focus on.

Ask God to show you areas of your life that need attention and correction. Do you have anger issues? Need healing? Self-Esteem issues? Difficulty with forgiveness? Do you suffer from rejection? Envy of others? Going through it on your job? Need a change in your life? Whatever the issue is, begin speaking to God about it, and ask him for help or guidance. As you seek after Him, He will speak to you about the issues that could be blocking the blessings in your life.
Ask God to reveal to you your purpose in life. We were all given a purpose in life, but we don’t always know what it is. A prayer life with God will put you on the right track for finding it.

The following are some guidelines for you to follow for the three weeks of the Daniel Fast.

Everyone is on a different spiritual level, therefore individual fasting needs will be different. Some people will be able to fast with no food and drink water only. Some will have to use the Daniel food list where fruit and vegetables (raw and cooked), salads, cereals and grains are consumed. And that’s OK! Some people will have to do Option 1 of the Daniel fast, while others do option 2. The choice is entirely up to you.
Prayer and fasting doesn’t always mean you do all the talking. Prayer does not always mean you are on your knees with hands folded praying. You can sit and read the Word, read a spiritual book, or just be quiet and listen for/to the Lord. Listening to a ministry tape or watching a ministry video on YouTube is very good too. Just be sure you don’t get distracted on YouTube during your time with God. Sometimes, just praising and worshiping the Lord in the Holy Ghost by praying in tongues is good too.
For those who are not used to fasting, I suggest that you pace yourself. Learn to become victorious with shorter kinds of fasts, such as an every other day fast, a half a day fast, or missing a major meal fast. You may choose to fast only 3 days out of the week. But if you really need to hear from God and are mature enough or think you can handle the fast, should go deeper and fast daily.
Always tell the truth, even if you’re ashamed of it. John 8:32 says: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” We can’t cure what we keep covered. Be honest. Talk to God as if you’re talking to your best friend/confidant–someone who knows all your secrets. Because He does! Don’t lie to yourself, and especially don’t lie to God. He already knows our messes. COME CLEAN. Even though God knows what’s going on with you, when you confess and come clean, it shows that YOU are willing to acknowledge your mess and that you genuinely want help. There is NOTHING you’ve done that God won’t forgive you of. NOTHING.
You may take an eight-hour period where you do not eat, then pray for an hour or more. Once you have done that, then you can check phones and emails and/or watch something inspiring.
If you give in to eating something you should not have during the fast, or turned on the TV, DVD, or computer, it’s not the end of the world. Just repent to the Lord: “Lord, forgive me in my moment of weakness.” And simply start over again. God will honor that. Don’t get into condemning yourself and making yourself feel bad. God forgives.
Don’t base the results of your fast on what you see during or immediately after the fast. What you’re praying, believing, asking God for may not manifest or be seen until days, weeks, or even months later. For we walk by faith, and not by sight.
It’s not a bad idea to go to church during this time either. God can certainly find a way to bless you with a message or an answer to your prayer during service.

Remember: Fasting is more than just not eating food. If you’re not eating, but you’re always on the computer or watching TV, then you are just on a diet. You’re not concentrating on God. Fasting is putting the flesh under so that you can hear from God. This is how you begin to heal. It’s so important to fast and pray.

Do only the necessary things for your home or family: work, chores, feed kids, etc. Give God some time alone with Him, at least an hour or more. You’ve be surprised how fast time will go by just being in his presence.

Daniel Fast Food List

With the Daniel fast, you’re not limited to any specific AMOUNT of food you can eat, but rather to the KINDS of foods you can eat. The Daniel fast is limited to fruits, vegetables, legumes, some grains, and water. NO MEAT, SWEETS (that aren’t fruit), or BREAD are allowed on the Daniel Fast.

The following fruit and vegetables list is not all-inclusive. You are not limited to what raw fruit and vegetables you can enjoy on the Daniel Fast. Generally speaking, if it’s a fruit or a vegetable, you can have it while fasting. Now, the liquid category is more all-inclusive, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MEDICINAL, NON-CAFFEINATED TEA. That’s allowed on the fast. Also, NO SWEETENERS ALLOWED, even natural, healthy sweeteners, such as honey and dates. Whatever sweetened food you may crave, you must get your sweet fix from fruit. This will help with gut issues, candida, and parasites.

And this is all the information I could pack in this post for the Daniel Fast. I pray that you make a commitment not only to do it, but to stick with it. The results will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. Prepare yourself for the fast. Don’t make excuses not to do it. Your flesh doesn’t want to be crucified. It wants to continue to dominate you. Don’t let it. I hope to hear all of your testimonies real soon. And I wish you all so many blessings for your health and healing.🖤

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