Daniel prayer 8th day.
Daniel started to pray so he could understand the revelation he had received from God. Below verse is God's insight into Daniels state of mind at the time.
Then he continued, “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. “
(Daniel 10:12)
Daniel “decided to be humble before God by himself”. The basic mindset that we need the most during Daniel prayer is humility before God. The heart behind fasting and abstinence is the humbling heart before God. But if you don't understand it right, you may wrongly assume that fasting is like a hunger strike. Fasting and abstinence are one way of ‘repenting through self reflection’, and ‘confessing that God is my strength with trust’. When we choose to commit ourselves to fasting and abstinence, our heart should not desire fighting spirit or achievement, instead ‘we need a humble heart before God’. A humbling heart before God is bound to lead us to prayer and the Bible. And in such a humbling heart, flows the grace of God.
It has been 8 days since we have started the Daniel prayer, but if your heart is not ready yet as such, you can assume that you have not yet started Daniel Fast. This is because what matters to God is not our external gesture, but our true heart. If you think your heart is not ready yet, it is ok, you can still commit your heart today. God started to listen to Daniel’s petition after he had committed his heart.
Do you have difficult problems in your life, are you stuck with issues in your life that are beyond your capability to resolve? I ask you to humble yourself before God, commit your heart and pray.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi