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Home Group Notes on Lent/Daniel Fast
In the established church, Lent starts next week on Ash Wednesday, continuing through to Easter Saturday. This marks a church season that is devoted to prayer and fasting prior to the celebration of the Lord's resurrection at Easter. As a church we are encouraging members to participate in a Daniel fast for the first 3 weeks of Lent from 25 Feb - Mar 17th. During this time we are looking to seize the opportunity to let God know that we are His, that we will seek His face, that we need His break through in the lives of those around us and that we want to practically assist those in need. The home group this week is therefore split into Business and Bible in order to optimize the impact of this fast on the participants, on those we are praying for and on NRC.
Business
1. Make a record of those home group members who are going to participate in the fast (please forward a copy to Robin over the email)
2. Collect together a list of home group prayer requests and a list of people whom your home group is seeking to connect with church. (These lists should be issued to the home group and to Robin prior to the start of the fast).
3. Identify together a charity or project that your home group wants to financially support, using the money you will have saved from food purchases during the time of the fast. Arrange how you will collect and distribute this money.
4. Sometimes it is nicer to pray together with others. Find out whether any home group members would like to pray at a particular time each week and whether they would be happy for others to join them in prayer at that time.
5. Praying scripture - the church has four scriptures that we have really taken to heart. We're encouraging the church to pray these scriptures over each other and over NRC: Jeremiah 17:5-8, John 7:37-38, Rev 22:1-3, Acts 2:42-47
Bible
Read together Daniel 1:8-20
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” 11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. [NIV]
Questions from the passage for discussion (you can refer to the notes below):
What do you like about this story?
What did Daniel not eat?
Why did Daniel not want to eat the royal food?
What did he eat instead?
What was the result? (v15-20)
Questions about fasting:
Can you recall any other references to fasting in the Bible?
What would you consider good or bad motives for fasting?
Does anyone in the gorup have any stories to tell regarding fasting?
Have you got any remaining questions about the proposed fast?
IVP NB Commentary notes
1:8-21 Passing the first test
Daniel believed that by taking the royal food and wine he would defile himself (8; cf. Ezk. 4:9-14). The reason was probably more subtle than simple allegiance to the levitical dietary laws against eating ‘unclean’ food (since no prohibition was placed on wine) or that the food had been offered to idols (unless vegetables escaped such consecration). In view of this, his resolution may simply have been his determination not to allow himself to be assimilated to (and spiritually conditioned by) the Babylonian culture when it was possible for him actively to resist. Concerning his education and his new name there was little he could be expected to do. The narrative thus underlines Daniel’s wisdom in knowing at which point his resistance should be focused.
Find more notes at this link: http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?b=27&c=1&com=wes
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Robin Plummer, 17/02/2009 |
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