(WW3) The story of Daniel
Are you on a fast?
I’m currently on the Daniel fast which consists of 21 days of eating no animal products, processed or sweet things, and I’m also reading through the book of Daniel as I’m going on this fast. I wanted to bring you all along the book of Daniel but I wanted to start off by telling you the summarized story of Daniel.
Daniel was one of the members of the Royal family of David that was captured when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem. When he was brought into Babylon the king of Babylon wanted the men captured to be fed, taught and trained for a few years so they could serve the king at the end. This command however would have led to Daniel disobeying the rules of the Torah (the Holy book they were following at the time), so he requested for the eunuch in charge to him and his friends to not let them defile themselves and requested to eat vegetables instead.
Daniel was also blessed with the gift of interpreting dreams (Joseph was another man in the Bible that could also interpret dreams) which he used to interpret 2 dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, when no one else could.
Now, earlier I told you that Jerusalem was raided by the Babylonians and Daniel was captured, but he wasn’t alone, along side his capture were those of his 3 friends Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego whom were also loyal to Christ.
And in their loyalty they refused to bow down to a statue Nebuchadnezzar made and commanded all of Babylon to bow or else they will be killed. Even in light of the not-so-empty threat of death from the king, they still refused to bow down to it, and so the king ordered them all to be bound and thrown into a furnace so hot that the people that were outside and THREW them in, died from the fire. But even when thrown into a furnace that killed the people that threw you in, the 3 of them were saved by God and the furnace did absolutely NOTHING to them. They came out of the furnace unharmed and were subsequently promoted.
Later on there came a time when Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone to pray only to the king and no other gods, but Daniel refused and still prayed to God in his room. He was then caught, reported and thrown into the Lion’s den. However when the king came to the den to check up on Daniel the next day, he saw that Daniel was not harmed in ANY way by the lions. The King exalted God, Daniel was brought out of the Lion’s den, then subsequently promoted just like his 3 friends from earlier.
So much more happened in the book of Daniel which we are going to further explore in the following weeks.
Some people do not regard the Daniel’s fast as an actual fast because it doesn’t involve the complete abstinence from food, but I regard it as one because it involves the voluntary abstinence from things/food that brings you pleasure so you can focus more on Christ.
I chose the Daniel’s fast not because that’s the best fast or because it is famous, but because his story of faith in face of trial and acceptance in the face of death for his faith inspires me and I wanted to start this beautiful year of 2024 with an inspiration and submission to God like he did.
So like I asked at the start of this post.
Are you on a fast?
Care to tell us yes or no and why or why not in the comments below 😊, don’t worry we won’t judge🙃
P.S if you wanted to watch a captivating and creative summary of the book of Daniel I highly recommend this video!
CLOSING REMARKS:
Hey! I’m not sure if you are Christian or not and you just stumbled on this post, but if you’re not, and you feel led to give your life to Christ, you can pray the following and believe in your heart that the Lord has heard and answered you and you’ll be part of the Christian family :) (it’s pretty cool over here honestly 😎)
THE SINNER’S PRAYER
Dear God, I know that I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I want to turn away from my sinful life to the life You have planned for me. Please forgive me my sins. Cleanse me of my past, make me new. I know Your Son, Jesus Christ died for me. I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. At this very moment, I accept, confess, and proclaim Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior…to live in my heart from this day forward. Thank you Jesus for Your grace that has saved me from my sins and has given me eternal life. Please send Your Holy Spirit to guide me, and to help me do Your will for the rest of my life, in Jesus’ name Amen.
❤️Rejoice, for Heaven has gotten another one (Luke 15:7)❤️