All-Out Dependency
// May 10th, 2012 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Talk about depending on God! Last weekend at 217, over 90 people committed to the 10 day Daniel fast. Were are fasting from 4 things.
1. Caffeine
2. Sugar and Sugar Substitutes
3. Fast Food
4. Alcohol
It is always powerful to see a group of people rally together for one purpose. At 217 these last few weeks that purpose has been pursuing God through physical health. With over 100 people on the weight loss challenge and over 90 on the Daniel fast, there is one key area that we have been growing in as Christ followers during this Live Differently series.
DEPENDENCY
We had a chance to look at the life of Daniel and a few of the friends he had around him as they pursued God’s calling on their lives. Daniel was a normal guy who believed and depended on an extraordinary God. In Daniel 1 he is asked to hop on a “royal diet” and train to stand out among other men doing the same. The challenge to eat well and work out was for 10 days. But instead of doing the royal diet, Daniel ate what God had intended for him. Turns out Daniel and his buddies looked and felt better than any of the other guys on the “royal diet.” As it turns out not only did Daniel feel good and look good but he was given the ability to interpret dreams and see visions. So he became the official dream interpreter for the king.
For Daniel, chapter 1 of his life had nothing to do with a diet and everything to do with dependency on God. Through all the great stories we know about in the book of Daniel, like his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego surviving the fiery furnace or Daniel surviving in the lion’s den, it all began with a diet. The diet taught Daniel to be faithful with the small. Because later he would be faced with some really tough challenges while although much harder to go through, required the same dependency.
“The world will fill you in, but only God will fill you up”
Everywhere we go we are bombarded by the next thing we should buy. The next thing we should watch. Eat. Consume. Order. Subscribe to. When it comes to our difficult circumstances? We are bombarded with all different kinds of voices on how to make it through. Friends. Co-workers. TV shows. Self-help books. We are offered the “royal diet” whether it’s for our food or our issues and there is no doubt that the world can be loud sometimes as it is “Filling us in.”
But much like Daniel, its important for us to constantly remember that it is God and God alone that gets us through our circumstances. Ultimately this fast is not primarily about our physical health rather more our spiritual health. It has to do more with the question “Who am I depending on?” Is it the world that is filling me in or the God that fills me up.
This past weekend we prayed for over 50 people who wanted to be reacquainted with the voice of the God who fills us up over the world thats been filling us in. We remembered that like Daniel, if we are faithful in the small (diet) He will be faithful in the big (lions den).
So as we continue on to the second half of this fast. We aren’t thinking “this food is terrible.” or “I really want a coffee.” We are thinking “This addiction will be broken and this relationship restored.” Why? Because the same dependency on God for physical health that is getting us through this diet, will get us through our hardest circumstances in life.
We choose this week and going forward to remain faithful to the God who fills us up. Fully dependent on Him who can do infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine. May you all today walk harmlessly in the midst of your fiery furnace, and may you shut the mouths of the lions in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit!!!
Guest Blogger- Pastor Kevin Namur
