Today...I had a lunch appointment with a guy named Daniel!

This week was a wonderful spiritual journey for me; found myself in the pages of that Old Testament Prophet's book - DANIEL. What an amazing story! I mean God had his hand on this young man even in the midst of the overtaking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

Daniel was among the nobility that was taken captive and transferred 600+ miles away from the "City on the Hill" to a boot camp in Babylon. It became just that because King Nebuchudnezzar was certain to take any means possible to break the Hebrew man in Daniel. He would do whatever it took to make Daniel understand and live out the life of a Babylonian; barring nothing. In fact, the first thing Daniel faced when he arrived was castration. He would become a eunuch. No wife, no kids, no intimacy with a God-ordained wife. He was humiliated; head shaved, broken down in many ways, but not spiritually.

Daniel chose to serve the one true God and he was not about to forsake Him. I wonder just what pressure you and I would face and still choose with tenacity to walk out our faith? Daniel is an awesome example of making God the top-shelf priority.

Daniel quickly refused to eat the food of the King's table -- pork, horse meat, and wine to top the list. The reason? Daniel was not willing to defile himself (Daniel 1:8) by eating meat that was sacrificed to another god, nor was he willing to eat that which was forbidden in the Law.

Instead he chose the route of cauliflower, broccolli, green beans, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and the like. Oh...now you get it! Just vegetables and some water for Daniel. Immediately the leader of the eunuchs thought he was going to be in trouble with the King because Daniel would show up on the low end; not "fattened" up like the rest of those who WERE partaking. But the Scriptures bear it out that Daniel, whom received favor to even eat like that was given better health, knowledge, understanding, and favor according to Daniel 1:15-20. In fact, it declares that Daniel and his three godly friends were 10x better that the rest of the camp in "every matter of wisdom and understanding."

Daniel abstained. He chose to turn away from some of those foods and implemented for us, what we know as a "fast".

As you move throughout the Book of Daniel and come to chapter 10, you see that Daniel is an older man now. He comes to understand a message given to him in a vision. He comes to understand his time of "mourning" for the span of 3 weeks.

Scripture tells us that he was on the banks of the great Tigris River on the 21st day of his "fasting" and his vision was one of the Christ. Isn't that amazing? It's pre-incarnate; Christ has not yet been born in the flesh. But God showed himself to Daniel and touched him as he had fallen face to the ground.

Daniel heard a voice (10:12) say unto him..."Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them." God knew the heart of Daniel. He stood for the one true God and desired greatly to hear from Him in the midst of time of tremendous transition.

Do you need to hear from the Lord in your life? Are you at a place where you need to experience clarity from the Lord as He speaks to you? Good, set a lunch appointment with Daniel. The menu will be slightly changed. In fact, you will do away with some of the things that you think you just can't live without. But the end result will be a clarity that comes from God. You will draw close to him and you will begin to see God the way should have seen Him all along.

Fasting? Yes. Jesus even said, "When you fast.....," not "...if you fast." He assumed that we would. He did. Right before he entered into public ministry. Soooo....

...set a lunch appointment with Daniel. As a matter of fact, try it for 21 days. You'll be glad you did. And your church will too.

For more information on the "Daniel Fast" go to www.danielfast.com . Have a great week!

Much love....less food!