It is currently day 4 and 5 of the fast and prayer needs to become a priority. Learning to dedicate time to actually praying is essential and I have noticed that going into prayer does not excite me as I know it should. If we are honest and transparent, you will probably admit the same thing.
There are other things in my life that I am more excited about and look forward to do, for example, eating.lol. I enjoy making new meals, presenting them nicely and eating it or watching programmes on Youtube or Netflix. What excites you more than prayer?
Daniel Fast Experience priorities and prayer
Acknowledging our flaws does not mean we have to stay that way. After doing my reading and devotions of the day I realised that as long as I have the intention to priorities prayer, the more likely I will do it. One of the devotions made me realised that I am sitting on inheritance but not claiming it.
Imagine knowing that someone has left you with an inheritance of 20 million, you know how to claim it, you have been informed that it is yours but choosing or refusing to claim it. This is exactly the same thing we are doing when it comes to prayer.
We have the JESUS CHRIST credit card and we are allowed to use it but instead of going to the shops we are choosing to stay at home and be miserable. When you start to see the value in prayer, your desire for it changes or should I say increases.
HOW TO PRAY when you don’t enjoy it
To make the statement that we do not enjoy prayer means we are basing it on feelings.
Prayer is not about feelings, it’s about connection
The core foundation of Christianity is relationship, and relationship is developed through connection. We this changed mindset let us talk about how to actually do it in our daily lives
Tips on how to pray
I have seen for acronym PRAY to stand for PRAISE – REPENT – ASK – YIELD
PRAISE – Praise is how you are to enter into the presence of God (Singing, or play some praise and worship in the background if it helps)
REPENT – Taking the time to ask God to search your heart and help you repent from anything that has come between you and him. Or asking God to reveal any sin in your life you may be overlooking.
YIELD – Yeilding is when you stop talking , and you wait, listen. and seek to hear from God
Don’t worry about the time, if you pray for 5mins or 2 hours, it doesn’t matter right now. Just do it
I realised that I actually do not priorities my time with God. I do not commit time to actually spend time with God. The worse thing is that I know that it is my source, it is my lifeline but I neglect it for other things that do not feed my spirit or help me to grow as a Christian woman or a faith based business woman. Doing this Daniel Fast is highlighting to me the areas I lack in and we could say that this is part of the process in my spiritual walk but sometimes we can identify a flaw but do nothing about it. I have decided to do something about it.
Struggling with the Daniel Fast Tips
I have read and watched a lot of peoples experiences and most of them mentioned their struggle with the food. I am finding the food element of the Daniel fast pretty easy, I think partially because I was already gluten, egg and daily free plus due to having IBS I was restricted on what I could eat already. So the tips I am about to share are working in process tips so here we go.
How to grow spiritually on the Daniel Fast
Many people say the Daniel Fast changed their lives. I want to have the same testimony so anything that requires growth needs to be watered. In order to grow spiritually we need to do spiritual things. So I decided to commit my self to a few rules on a daily basis
Rule one – Read daily
I am doing a 21 day Daniel fast devotion via YouVersion plus reading the book of Daniel – I have committed to achieving this no matter how I feel or what time with the 24 hours of the day. It has to be done
Rule two – Pick a personalised devotion
Two areas of my life that I need help and clarity in are in my business and in building meaningful relationships with people and being consistent with it. I love and care about people but I know that I am capable of sharing and. showing people that I love and care about them through my actions. So during this fast, I want to have a break through and see a change in my attitude and character because there is no such thing as this is just who I am. We all have the ability to grow and develop in areas
Rule three – Pray in your own way
Sometimes we compare ourselves to others when God has already told you that he accepts you for who you are. You do not have to change the style or length of time of your prayer because you are fasting. If it happens naturally then praise God, but as I mentioned before, anything that needs to grow needs to be watered. The more you do something the easier it becomes and the better it gets.
Having IBS and doing the Daniel Fast
The Daniel Fast is vegan based so it includes a lot of vegetables, a lot of high fodmap vegetables like beans and onion and garlic. The average western diet accounts for only 15% being fibre. On the Daniel Fast that can go up to about 40 – 50% at times and this does not sit well with people like me.
I have IBS-c and suffer from a lot of bloating and gas and this is exactly what happened on day 1 – 3 of the fast. I was extremely bloated that I felt sick. My stomach had extended by about 10 inches and I looked 5 months pregnant.
Give your stomach a break
I tried peppermint capsules which usually helps but didn’t this time so I had to give my stomach a break and just do a juice fast for about 18 hours. Giving my stomach time to rest. In this time I went back to the drawing board of my Daniel fast plan and review what I can actually eat that will minimise a flaw up. So all the high Fodmap ingredients needed to either go or reduce drastically.
Plan your meals and be adaptable
Plan your meals so they are both Daniel fast compliant but also low Fodmap as much as possible. I did this by watching general vegan recipe videos and low Fodmap recipes and adapt them to fall in line with the fast.
We are in a season of uncertainty, a season of not being able to predict our tomorrow and it can feel very unsettling. We are use to living a life believing that we have the ability to control our lives and our day but this ‘PANDEMIC’ has thrown all of that false believe out of the window.
I recall going to the shops and seeing shelves empty, seeing people panic buy and I must admit, I got caught up in the craze. But my husband decided that we need to see everything for what it really is. We are living in the end times and Jesus is coming back for his church.
The truth is that, our pastor was mentioning the return of Christ, nearly every week but it’s like we became so use to hearing it that we become desensitised to the expression.
UNTIL a prophecy was released into the congregation. God himself spoke and told us that He is coming soon so no time to play church. No time to pretend that we are saved when our lives reflect something else.
HOW TO COPE
Firstly you need to know what the bible says
These are words spoken by Jesus, letting us know the signs of the end times.
Luke 21:10-13New International Version (NIV)
10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.13 And so you will bear testimony to me.
Matthew 24:6-7New International Version (NIV)
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
We need to rest assured that everything that is happening needs to happen. It is just for a season and God is in control.
Secondly, check yourself.
The bible teaches us to test ourselves to know that we are in the faith. Take a few minutes and reflect and evaluate what you REALLY believe. Do you really believe in what the bible teaches, do you believe in the words of Jesus. Do you live a life that brings glory to God? If not, then it is time to make a decision.
2 Corinthians 13: 5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?
Thirdly, Trust GOD and Wash YOUR HANDS
Even through we can find peace in knowing the word of God, it is also wise to take the necessary precautions to keep yourself and family safe. Like in Passover story, the Israelites where instructed to put blood on their doorpost and stay indoors. Only a fool, will say ‘ I am covered so I will go out’. Don’t be a fool and think that if you put yourself in harms way that it is God’s duty to save you. Be wise and take action. Plus, Check out a video I created with my husband on how we need to be as christians during this Covid- 19 pandemic.
Making Jesus my First Goal! The key questions is , are you setting all these goals but forgetting the number one focus. Putting God first?
Is Jesus your First Goal? Goal Setting
Being an ambitious and driven woman, I am all for goal setting and striving for excellence but in setting goals and working towards them, God convicted me about putting him first. God has given us the promises in his word that if we put Him first then everything else in our lives will work out. So why do we rush around setting goals, creating vision boards, buying courses, going to events if we have not got our priority in check. Have you consciously made Jesus your first goal?
MATTHEW 10 : 37
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Second Scripture : LUKE 12: 31
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
Christianity is all about relationship. Are you on the same page with God in the secret place
Do you desire a relationship
If you do not desire a relationship, you will not have it. If you do not believe that you want or desire it then as humans we will self sabotage and we will never have that relationship unless we desire it.
What do I need to build this relationship – Talk
Praying, speaking, pouring your hard out to him.
Get to know God
Read your bible – Show an interest in who God is. Get to know him
Top Tip : The Principle of the First 15
Pray for 5 mins
Read for 5 mins
Write for 5 mins – Journal because
Desire the will of God
What does God want you to do. What mark do you want me to leave on this earth Lord.
In today’s post we have a guest writer and she wanted to share how trusting God and having crazy faith can pay off.
The Power of Prayer
Here is my testimony about the power of prayer – Antigua:
It’s been a LONGG time coming, but finally!!
Last year, the key thing I needed to work on was my prayer life. I don’t know but sometimes I think we play it too safe with our prayers, and often times our requests to God are mundane. I have read stories in the Bible where God has been able to do remarkable things and I have even heard jaw dropping testimonies, but yet I failed to believe the same in my own life. However, this time, it’s like God wanted to show me that He can go beyond & that He wanted to demonstrate just how powerful He is. I then realised that it was time for me to let my requests match the God that I serve, increase my faith in Him & His ability to do miracles.
My Crazy Faith Prayer List
This inspired me to create what I call a 𝑪𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒊𝒔𝒕.This consists of requests which deep down, I would love to see happen, but on a regular day it probably wouldn’t (this is D O U B T)… sooo instead I would then pray & genuinely believe that in time these things would come to pass (this is F A I T H).
Best believe God was ticking off those boxes!!✅ ..To the point where I had to share my testimony at church to encourage my church family…
Crazy Faith in Action
However, there was 1 prayer on my list which was ‘𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒂🇦🇬 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 ‘
Let me explain the significance of this request..
My church are part of a Christian Fellowship which have a strong vision for World Evangelism, and during our annual Bible conferences, Pastors & their wives, who have a burden to spread the Gospel will announce which areas across the world they are going in to make an impact.
Antigua is a small island in the Caribbean, and for those who don’t know, my parents are from there & half of my entire family live over there.
I’ve visited the island a few times and have seen that people have a love for God, but not many are on the road to salvation. I desperately want them to get saved & be involved in a full gospel church where they can grow spiritually & see a REAL change in their lives, just like I have.
But can you imagineee, that throughout my life I’ve hardly met any other Antiguan’s in London and for most people, I’m literally the only one they know! Lol..so I knew this request was definitely going to be a test of my faith.
In Oct 2018, the International announcements were about to be made on the Thursday night of conference. I was so nervous that day, because at this point EVERYONE in my church knew what I prayed for and I am not gonna lie, I didn’t want to be disappointed. I wanted the end result to be a testimony to God’s faithfulness and an opportunity for others to be encouraged that God really does answer prayers, IF you have the FAITH to back it up.
So let me tell you…𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐃
That night IT actually happened! The couple sitting in the row in front of me were announced to go into St. John’s Antigua. Not only was it the country I prayed for, but also the exact town where the majority of my family live, and the Pastor himself is Antiguan! Haha look at that!..It was an awesome moment, I just remember my church fam coming up to me saying ” OMDZ GOD ANSWERED YOUR PRAYER DEE!!
🏾🏾” 🤣 the excitement was real..& little did I know but some of them were praying too
I’m sorry but you could never put this down to a coincidence, this has God’s stamp ALL over it.
So fast forward to Nov 2019, my church were privileged to be the 1st ever Impact Team to the new church in Antigua. The pictures above speak for themselves. In the space of a week, we were able to maximise every opportunity we had to spread the gospel, via radio interviews with ZDK, outreach in the town, music on the float etc. It was LIT.
But most importantly, we saw over 20 people give their lives to Christ & amongst those, my aunty was healed of an issue in her knee that she’s had for years.
I wanted to share a snapshot of this trip with you guys so God could get the praise He deserves & because this whole experience shows 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑
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