The Daniel Fast is a 21-day partial fast without meat, wine or rich food, based on Daniel 10:2-3. Many churches keep it at the start of the year, eating vegetables and drinking water as in Daniel 1:12, with more time for prayer and reading. The Bible does not command it: it is one way to seek God, and what matters is the heart (Joel 2:13).
In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
This is where the 21 days come from: for “three full weeks” Daniel ate “no pleasant bread”, no meat and no wine. It was not a total fast but giving up what brought pleasure, in a time of mourning while he sought to understand what God had shown him.
Read the chapter →But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Where the story begins, years earlier: in the Babylonian court, young Daniel resolves not to defile himself with the king’s food and wine. The Daniel Fast grows out of a conviction, not a diet.
Read the chapter →Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
The menu many churches follow comes from here: “pulse to eat, and water to drink” for ten days — pulse meaning vegetables, beans and grains. That is why some people keep the Daniel Fast for 10 days instead of 21.
Read the chapter →Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
The answer to Daniel: from the first day he set his heart to understand and to humble himself before God, his words were heard. Fasting does not buy the answer; it goes with a heart that seeks.
Read the chapter →And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Daniel had fasted before, with prayer and confession for the sins of his people — the whole of chapter 9 is that prayer. In the Bible, fasting almost always goes together with prayer.
Read the chapter →Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Jesus says “when ye fast”: he expects fasting in his disciples’ lives. And he teaches the way: in secret, for the Father, not as a show — social media included.
Read the chapter →Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
The fast that pleases God also changes how we treat others: sharing bread with the hungry, taking in the poor, setting the oppressed free. A good way to end the fast is to give away what you did not spend.
Read the chapter →Days 1 to 12: the book of Daniel, one chapter a day. Day 13: Nehemiah 1, fasting and prayer for Jerusalem. Day 14: Ezra 8:21-23, a fast before the journey. Day 15: Esther 4, a fast before going to the king. Day 16: Isaiah 58, the fast God chooses. Day 17: Joel 2, rending the heart. Day 18: Jonah 3, Nineveh repents. Day 19: Matthew 6:1-18, prayer and fasting in secret. Day 20: Luke 4:1-13, Jesus in the wilderness. Day 21: Acts 13:1-3, the church fasts and sends. Each day, read, pray over what you read and write down what God showed you.
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