Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Fasting together: January 2018

Here you can read all of our fasting posts for the month of January, 2018.

Preparation for a New Year

Rebuild and Restore

Daniel Fast Basics

Anoint your head; wash your face

When fasting turns ugly

Is there Power in Fasting?

Snacks and a Guest Writer

Just keep doing good

So, you think you can fast?

Our eyes are on You

Recognizing the Promise

Keeping Mercy for Thousands

The Right Way for us

Fasting and Working for Answered Prayers

Stay in the Ship!

When Desperation Sets In

He will deliver you!

What’s in your heart?

Pulling down strongholds!

Chosen, Committed, Commissioned

Fighting temptation while fasting

Drink your water!

Confusing the Enemy

The Dust I Can’t See

He cannot be absent in our story!

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!

What if my prayer isn’t answered?

That their eyes would be opened

Why does the lion roar?

The Holy Ghost Fell

Changed! 

Don’t forget to grab your copy of The Daniel Fast Devotional! Good for any fast, it is a great, simple read with devotions for every day of a three week fast. Get yours on Amazon here!

Fasting together: Recognizing the Promise

If you have missed any of our fasting devotions you can catch up here!

“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Luke 2:36-37 NKJV.

The story of Anna, the prophetess, as found in the Gospel of Luke, is fascinating on so many levels. Let me introduce this amazing lady to you…

Anna was elderly. The Bible tells us she had been married for seven years and then widowed. Then it is a little difficult to decipher whether she had been a widow for 84 years or she was 84 years old when we encounter her in Luke 2.

If it is the former, then she was around 105, which would not be out of the question, and many scholars agree this could be the case. She could have married at 14, a very common age to have married then, became a widow at 21, and then we come upon her at the temple 84 years later, at the ripe old age of 105.

This lovely lady served in the temple, night and day!                             

The Word even tells us she didn’t leave. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the New Testament as being a prophetess. (Philip’s daughters are said to have prophesied as well in Acts 21:9 but were not titled as such that we know of) Anna was highly honored in this regard as someone who could touch the throne of heaven with her prayers.

What is her significance here today?

Joseph and Mary had brought Jesus to Jerusalem to “…present him to the Lord…” Luke 2:22.  As was the custom in those days, every Jewish male baby had to be brought to the temple and a sacrifice made to the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

The parents of Jesus first encountered Simeon when they arrived at the temple. “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.”

“Waiting for the consolation of Israel.” What does that mean?

The same word used here for consolation is the same word Jesus used later when He described the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. The word is paraklesis and it means “…one who comes alongside to help, one who pleads a cause…”

So Simeon was waiting for the Comforter!

He was waiting for the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph handed the child, Jesus, to him the Bible says, “Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

The Comforter, the Consolation, the Messiah, had come!

As far as Simeon was concerned, he could die in peace. What he had been working for, waiting for and living his entire life telling others about, had finally arrived.

Then they encountered Anna, who had spent her time much like Simeon, fasting, praying and telling everyone she could about the One who was to come. She saw Joseph, Mary and Jesus with Simeon and this is what the Bible had to say about their meeting:

“And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38 KJV.

Look closely, or you will miss it. She comes up. She was not introduced. But immediately, in that instant, she gave thanks, and began to give God praise. She didn’t hesitate for one moment to tell everyone there that this was the REDEMPTION of Jerusalem!

How did Anna know?  Because she fasted; she prayed daily. She spent time with God, she knew Him and she was waiting for the promise.

She recognized Him when He came.

Will you know Him?

Will you recognize Him in an instant?

Like Anna, we must spend our days in relationship with Jesus Christ. We cannot afford any less than to love Him, to delve deep into the Word and into prayer and fasting. We must deny our flesh the pleasures of this world and realize that these things will pass away. We will not be taking them with us!

Only what is done for Christ will last. Only reaching for the lost will be what really matters in the end. Reach out to Him today…He is waiting for you!

The Daniel Fast, A Devotional, is a great tool for ANY fast that you choose as a sacrifice to the Lord. 21 days of devotions and recipes too. Available in Kindle or paperback!

Fasting together: Our eyes are on You

“Fasting is abstaining from anything that hinders prayer.” ~ Andrew Bonar

Learning about another great man of faith in the Bible who turned to fasting and prayer. Catch up on our previous posts here.

Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was about to be attacked by the Moabites and the Ammonites. “Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi).” 2 Chronicles 20:2 ESV.

Jehoshaphat did what any smart man of God would have done; any king that knew of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would call a fast! Not just any fast, but all of Judah came together to pray and seek their God for His help. Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” 

Did you notice the repetition of the word seek? Jehoshaphat was known as a king who “sought the God of his father.” Seek, in the Hebrew, means “to trample under foot,” or even interpreted that you go there so often you have made a path in the dirt!

The king’s prayer is interesting in that he doesn’t mention the problem that he is facing in the first four verses, he mentions GOD. And even when he gets to the problem, his focus is still on the One who can fix it.  O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12 ESV.

That focus soon pays off because suddenly, the spirit of the Lord comes upon Jahaziel, a Levite, and he says, “…Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s…Tomorrow go ye down against them…and ye shall find them at the end of the brook…Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 KJV.

What an answer to prayer!

What power!

What authority!

The next morning they got up early and headed into the wilderness and King Jehoshaphat said, “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:20 KJV.

I love what he does next. He appointed singers, “…unto the LORD, just to praise the beauty of holiness, and as they went out before the army, just to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.” Wow!

They took time to praise the LORD in the MIDDLE of the battle!

God had told them that it was HIS battle and they took Him at His Word.

When they began to sing and praise, then the LORD began to act. The Bible says He set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moabites and Mount Seir and they were all smitten!

The children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, trying to destroy them. So when they had accomplished that then they destroyed one another.

When Judah showed up at the watch tower in the wilderness they looked out at the multitude and all they could see were the dead, “none escaped.”

“And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they head heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.”

God had delivered His people once again because they turned to Him in fasting and prayer, believed and trusted in Him.

What can you believe God for today? What are you needing an answer for in your life? What battles are you trying to fight on your own?

Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!

He is your VICTORIOUS WARRIOR and this is HIS BATTLE, not yours, Let Him take care of it for you. Trust Him, put your confidence in Him and then do what King Jehoshaphat and his people did…

Worship and give Him praise for the victory that is coming! Whether you see it today or tomorrow doesn’t matter. He is in control and His timing is perfect. Trust Him for the victory and then rest in His promises.

Our eyes are on YOU, Lord!

The Daniel Fast, A Devotional, is a great tool for ANY fast that you choose as a sacrifice to the Lord. 21 days of devotions and recipes too. Available in eBook or paperback!