Daniel (Eight): Feet-On-The-Ground-Christianity

Good morning

I am sure we all remember the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, which you may read in the book of Daniel, chapter six - HERE. But I would like to have a closer look at it.

We read in Daniel 6:4: “At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” Immediately I hear you say that this is a high standard to follow and that you can’t possibly be like that, and I wholeheartedly agree. It does not sit within my personality to be like that and I also know that all of us do have a flaw somewhere, which is why the LORD told Paul when he admitted his weaknesses in 2 Corinthians 12:7 and asked the Lord to take it away: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” (verse 9). We may not feel perfect, but in Jesus we are perfect and we need to live as if we are perfect in Christ, whilst we make every effort to get there in terms of our behaviour (Philippians 2:12-13).

However, one flaw that Daniel did not have and we don’t have to have either, since it is a choice, was to pray continuously. “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before,” (Daniel 6:10). I love it! Daniel challenged these guys. He was not stupid or naive and knew the kind of relationship he had with King Darius. He also knew the king would not have issued such a decree, had he remembered Daniel’s devotion to the LORD. To get into the kind of position Daniel had been in, one had to have a relationship with your superior, which in Daniel’s case was king Darius, and the king therefore would have known Daniel well as we rightly see in his response when Daniel was brought before him.

What do we learn from this? Christianity is very much a feet-on-the-ground type of lifestyle. Some of us tend to super spiritualise our faith by wanting to experience the power of the LORD through physical experiences, such as falling over and so on. We read, however, in Galatians 3:11: “The righteous shall live by faith,” and in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “We live by faith, not by sight.” We therefore live in a real world, just like Daniel did and we build real relationships, just like he did, and we have to deal with our enemies and those who oppose us, just like he did in a real and practical way with the help of our LORD, by faith. He had no evidence that the lions would not eat him – only faith in the Lord he trusted.

Being in touch with his environment Daniel probably suspected that he had been framed by his enemies and, being in touch with the LORD, the Holy Spirit probably would have given him a word of knowledge. Daniel thus walked into the situation prepared mentally and spiritually, ready to see the Lord’s action in response to his faith and faithfulness. We should be the same. I think poor king Darius worried more than Daniel did. I loved it when “the king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’” (verse 16). It depicts camaraderie, almost like winking at one another knowing that our enemies have been outsmarted.

Can you see that Christianity is a practical day to day faith relationship with the LORD of hosts, and not an airy fairy emotional experience on a Sunday? I wish this was taught more in our churches, especially in the charismatic churches who often put much emphasis on the latter. Yes the LORD does do miracles and deliverance and all these kinds of helps, but it has nothing to do with emotional sensations. “For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite,’” (Isaiah 57:15).

When people experience your faith, would they bring glory to God like Darius did in Daniel 6:25-27?

Lord, help me understand the practicality of faith.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Seven): Who Do You Identify With?

Good morning

We are looking at the book of Daniel, chapter five, which you may read HERE.

King Belshazzar grew up in his father’s home and probably lived many years as an adult before his father passed away and he took over. He therefore knew everything that had happened with his father as Daniel had rightly put it in Daniel 5:22: “But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.” He knew everything his father had gone through, heard his father glorifying the Lord, especially after the Lord had restored him from his humbling experience, yet in spite of knowing all this, he sought the wide road – the power and the flamboyant lifestyle.

Daniel, on the other hand, was testified to by the queen, who also knew everything Nebuchadnezzar had gone through, as follows: “‘O king, live forever!’ she said. ‘Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king, I say—appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means,’” (Daniel 5:10-12).

When Belshazzar mentioned to Daniel that he “will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom,” (verse 16) Daniel almost abruptly waved it off: “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else,” (verse 17). Note that Daniel didn’t express the usual respect that a king should be addressed with, since he knew that Belshazzar showed no respect to God.

Both these men had several encounters with the Lord along their lives and both had the opportunity to decide which way they will follow – the way of God or the way of Mammon. Whereas Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way, there was no reason for Belshazzar to follow the same path. By the time he was an adult, he certainly had his good share of being introduced to the power of God. During his forming years his father was challenged by Daniel and his friends’ dedication to the Lord and Belshazzar saw the power of God in action. He therefore had the option to follow in his dads converted lifestyle, yet he chose what he chose.

Daniel, however, was tempted many a time to become like Belshazzar had turned out in the end, but he had his mind made up that he will serve the Lord. He had to sacrifice a lot of things that appeal to his sinful nature and that would have made life quite pleasurable to his flesh, but he saw something much better – the power of God in action - and he enjoyed the privilege to hear the Lord’s voice, have insight in the Lord’s ways and to be used by the Lord in a powerful way.

With whom of these two men do you identify? How many of us are in the position Belshazzar was in. We are used to a comfortable lifestyle, but know in our heart of hearts that we should actually sacrifice it for a godly and self-sacrificial lifestyle for the sake of the Kingdom of God, if we want to have a treasure in heaven. “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me,’” (Matthew 19:21).

Daniel did it and the Lord rewarded him with lots of spiritual riches and even a comfortable physical life. He had all these revelations and worked the miracles recorded in the book of Daniel. Even Nebuchadnezzar had revelations from the Lord once he had been humbled.

Do you want to live a life of earthly power and glory, which you receive from humans, or would you prefer to see God’s glory, wisdom and power in action in your life? Not so long ago my online poetry and short stories resulted in me receiving much praise from people, causing me to neglect my spiritual gift and get quite puffed up; ending up in sin. I had to decide between using my talent for the Kingdom or for my own benefit. Now I don’t receive praise from people anymore, but the Lord does encourage me, I receive much revelation and my heavenly treasure awaits me.

Lord, I want you to be pleased with me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Six): Who Is The Greater?

Good morning

We continue discussing Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as found in Daniel 4, which you may read HERE.

The Lord warned Nebuchadnezzar through the dream and Daniel gave him an opportunity to repent after he had interpreted the dream in Daniel 4:27: “Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.” Nebuchadnezzar heard the invitation to repent, but the tugging of Mammon was too strong for him.

I cannot help but notice how much effort the Lord put into the life of this godless king to get him so far as to acknowledge that He is Lord and that He has the power of life and death in His hand. This was very obvious in the book of Daniel, since Nebuchadnezzar was very well known at the time, but this is a message for all of us as well. The Lord takes a keen interest in each of our lives. He wants us to acknowledge that He alone should be Lord of our life. I have very personal experience in this regard, since I have a weakness which I allowed to overcome me at times to the detriment of God’s glory. I conveniently believed that I was not able to overcome it in spite of the Lord’s promise Philippians 4:13 that “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

The Lord has been patient with me, but gradually turned up the heat of my circumstances. My regular yielding to this sin has cost me dearly, but still I believed conveniently that the Lord will take the temptation away when it suits Him and in the meantime my flesh cherished the opportunity to continue in this sin. Then the Lord shook my circumstances and brought me down hard, just like He did with Nebuchadnezzar. I was forced to acknowledge that the Lord and He only should be served and that the responsibility for living holy is mine and not His.

It does not matter how holy and good we appear to be and what impression we create before men, the Lord is only interested in the image of Jesus in us and will continue to mould us by turning up the heat of our circumstances until we become like Jesus. Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not,” (Isaiah 53:2-3), and He said “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does,” (John 5:19). He also said in John 15:20: “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

Why do we desire to make an impression; to focus attention on ourselves? Why is it our ambition to impress the proverbial Jones’ and to be acceptable to man? Satan tempted both Eve and Jesus with the lust for power, wealth and the desire to please the sinful nature – which is self. This was exactly the reason why Nebuchadnezzar was unable to repent, for the pleasure that these three issues brought him was greater that the need to be in line with God’s will. Therefore it was necessary for the Lord to bring him down hard so he could repent and acknowledge the Lord as the highest authority in his life.

Jesus did not yield to these three temptations and lived a simple life of suffering for the sake of others. His resulting treasure in heaven was all authority on heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18, Colossians 1:15-20). How about us?

“If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him,” (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth,” (Revelation 5:10).

“Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years,” (Revelation 20:6).

Have you died with Jesus just like He was dead to Himself all His life? Will you have an eternity of reigning with Him?

Lord, I want to say like John the Baptist in John 3:30: “You must become greater; I must become less.”

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Five): The Big Purification

Good morning

In Daniel 4 (click here to read it) Nebuchadnezzar dreamed another dream. What I would like to look at, however, is Nebuchadnezzar himself. His first encounter with Daniel, as recorded in the book of Daniel, was when he had his first dream. Being a king did separate him from his subjects, so it was not as if he was a personal friend of Daniel. At the time he did place “Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court,” (Daniel 2:48-49). Nebuchadnezzar also “fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honour and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him.” He did say to Daniel, “‘Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery,’” (Daniel 2:46-47).

It is not as if Daniel was a stranger to king Nebuchadnezzar. He was one of the king’s courtiers and the head of the wise men, so he had to have had some interaction with Nebuchadnezzar at times. Yet in Daniel 4:5-8 we read how Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt a dream and how the so-called wise men could not interpret it for him until “finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)” (Verse 8). Daniel was the head of the wise men of Babylon, so why did Nebuchadnezzar not first call him? Nebuchadnezzar also acknowledged God in Daniel 2:47 and Daniel as His servant, yet he mentioned that ‘the spirit of the holy gods’ is in Daniel.

Nebuchadnezzar was like James 1;5-8 puts it: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” To serve the Lord properly and know the difference between a religious, self-centred life and a godly life requires wisdom. For us to gain this wisdom the Lord sometimes have to bring us down to earth hard.

This is what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. He had seen the glory of the Lord and had actually glorified Him and brought honour to His servants (chapter 2), yet his loyalty was still divided between his ‘other’ gods and the Lord of hosts. When he wrote this testimony he began it by genuinely glorifying the Lord (Daniel 4:2-3). Previously he did it almost as a duty – it was the accepted thing to do. Now, however, he did it from a changed heart after he went through this trial we read about in Daniel 4. He concluded his testimony with these words: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble,” (Daniel 4:37).

This is why James began his book talking about trials. Without being put through the tests of character we cannot really become godly, but will always be drawn to the glitter that the world offers. The Lord, however, wants us completely dedicated to Him and will go to great lengths to form us for his glory. Those who avail themselves have to be prepared to go through tests and hardship and the heat of purification, just like Nebuchadnezzar had to endure before he could testify: “At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before,” (Daniel 4:36).

Where do you stand? Are you still divided between the Lord and your idols of secular living, or are you one hundred percent committed to godliness? Are you prepared to be purified by the Lord through trials? Maybe you are in the midst of a trial and therefore I would like to encourage you – just keep your faith and do not accuse the Lord or yield to carnal solutions. The outcome will be holiness.

Lord, please get me where you want me to be.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Four): Denying the Lord

Good morning

In Daniel 3 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+3&version=NIV1984  we read the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused to bow before the image Nebuchadnezzar had made in spite of knowing the consequences of not doing it. It is interesting that the image was made of gold representing the symbol of wealth and power.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before [or besides] me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments,” (Exodus 20:2-6).

This is the command these three men obeyed and this is a command that still applies to us as well. Were you brought out of slavery to sin? This God who brought us out of this enslaving power that sin had over us and still does it daily, asked of us to serve Him and Him only. How difficult can it be? You tell me. When the inviting glitter of television entertainment, the satisfying power and fulfilment of things that money can buy, and the rewarding attention we receive by being a people pleaser knock at our door, how easy is it to bow to it, forgetting that we are committed to the Lord and Him only?

When these three men uttered these God-pleasing words: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up,” (Daniel 3:16-18) they knew they were bound to be burned. I love the fact that they didn’t bargain with the Lord. They obeyed Him unconditionally.

How often do we obey the Lord conditionally? ‘Lord, if you do this and that for me I will obey you, or ‘Lord, if I obey you, you have to bring your side of the bargain’, or ‘if I meet the condition, you are bound to make the promise manifest’. He is the Lord and we are his children/servants, so He calls the shots. He “works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose,” (Philippians 2:13). When we obey Him we can also be sure to be thrown into a fiery furnace. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (2 Timothy 3:12).

When the three men went into the fiery furnace they were not sure what awaited them. It could have been a painful death, or it could have been what actually happened. Jesus promised that if we are persecuted because of righteousness ours is the kingdom of heaven and great is our reward in heaven (Matthew 5:10-12). He did not say the persecution will be taken away from us.

Have you ever thought what would have happened had the three men actually bowed to this image? They probably would have become like everybody else in Babylon – powerless followers of an evil king, very much like us when we compromise with Mammon. They, however, chose to follow their God’s commands and walk in His power which had the following result: “Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way,’” (Daniel 3:28-29).

What would people say or think about you. “‘Your name’ is just like us and she calls herself a Christian”, or “she must really love the Lord, for in spite of persecution she refuses to be like us.” Do you defy Mammon’s demands brought to you via the peer pressure of the Jones’, in other words do you ignore the joys materialistic life offer you in exchange for obedience to the Lord?

Lord, help me not to deny you.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Three): All That Wisdom!

Good morning

In Daniel 2:24-48 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel%202:24-49&version=NIV1984 we read how Daniel told king Nebuchadnezzar what he had dreamed and what the dream meant. Like us Daniel was an ordinary man with a calling on his life. He had the choice to pursue his calling and build a relationship with his Lord, so he could hear when He speaks to him and do what He told him to do. When for instance Daniel was offered the opportunity to live like a lord and please himself with the comfort and power that would come along with it (Daniel 1), he was free to do it, but chose to follow the narrow way of the Lord of heaven and reaped the results the Lord had to offer him – His power and blessing.

In Daniel 2:27-28 Daniel told the king: “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come,” and when Daniel had told him, Nebuchadnezzar “placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him,” (verse 48).

When Daniel had received the revelation from the Lord he could easily have doubted it, just like we could do when the Holy Spirit reveals things to us. When he had received this revelation through a vision at night, he could have thought it was just a strange dream. When he was brought before the king who had just recently ordered all the wise men to be executed, he may have been a bit worried that this was not actually what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt and that he may have had the wrong end of the stick. What if he ended up being killed with the other wise men?

Daniel had to act in faith. The only evidence he had that the information he was about to present to Nebuchadnezzar was indeed correct, was the relationship he had with his God, and through that he knew he would give the right information to the king. He knew what he had seen in the vision, but the Holy Spirit probably led him to say what he should say the moment he started to talk with the king, just as we would be. “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit,” (Mark 13:11). Every morning before I start writing this message, for instance, I have no idea what would come out.

Daniel’s relationship with the Lord was one of putting the Lord first in all areas of his life. This could be seen everywhere in the book of Daniel – all glory belongs to God. We know he spent much time in prayer, and obeyed, acknowledged and glorified the Lord, even if his own life or comfort was at stake. “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven,” (Matthew 10:32-33).

How about us? If we walk in a right relationship with the Lord we will receive words of knowledge and wisdom (1 Corinthians 13:8) from the Holy Spirit about others so we could astound the hearer with the Lord’s power and bring glory to Him, just as Daniel did. Are you in a position of rightness before the Lord (righteousness) or are you indulging in a comfortable life, cushioned in the arms of Mammon? Do you hear the revelation the Holy Spirit gives you and if you do, do you have the faith, confidence and courage to challenge those the Lord send you to. We have not received a “spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline,” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The only person that could have stood between Daniel and the success he had in obeying the Lord was himself. Everybody that had tried to stop Daniel from obeying the Lord was dealt with by the Lord himself. However, had Daniel not felt like obeying, the Lord was powerless.

Lord, the only person that stops me from obeying and glorifying you is me. Please help me to be like Daniel.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (Two): What About Pretence?

Good morning

Today we are going to discover something very interesting from the second chapter of the book of Daniel http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel%202:1-23&version=NIV1984.

Have you noticed that life is a lot about pretence? How we appear, how we can impress people, and so on. When someone embarrasses us by affecting our image, we don’t like it and often readjust our pretence to remedy the situation. Sometimes we don’t really have the ability to do something required of us, but pretend we can so as to create the impression that we are able. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:19)

This nature of man is as old as man himself. Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His so called wise men or magicians, however, underestimated him for when he told them he would like his dreams interpreted and they said in Daniel 2:4: “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.” How easy; once they have heard the dream they could make up any story and the king would believe them – pretence. As long as the king thought they were clever, their image were safe and so were their jobs and lives. He, however, was not stupid and knew more than they anticipated, for we read in verse five: “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble,” and he promised rewards if they were able.

How upright are we? Do we try to deceive others in believing things about us that we are not?

Psalm 24:3-4

 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

Proverbs 22:11
He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.

Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

2 Timothy 2:22
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

In Proverbs 22:11 above we see the condition for having the king as a friend, to be in his favour. Nebuchadnezzar proved it true when he subtly warned the wise men of Babylon that if they try to deceive him, insulting his intelligence, they certainly would not have his favour.

How often do we insult our neighbour’s intelligence, even worse insulting the Lord’s intelligence? Trying to be what we actually are not is a form of pride. We are too proud to admit we do not know or need help.

How did Daniel respond when he heard about the king’s decree to execute all the wise men of Babylon? Previously he did act in much wisdom, which is why they came for him as well in response to the king’s decree - he was considered one of the wise men. It would have been easy for him to take pride in his wisdom and think that he was able to help the king on his own.

But Daniel did not have any pretence in him - the Lord was everything to him. When they wanted to kill him, he immediately knew he was not able to remedy the situation, but his Lord was. “Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said...” (Daniel2:17-20) and then followed his song of praise.

We have a choice to depend wholly on the Lord, purify our hearts from all kinds of deceit and acknowledge our dependence on Him. Then we will have the King of kings as our friend as well.

Lord, please give me grace to always be pure, honest and upright.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Daniel (One): What Do I Take In?

Good morning

In the next few messages we are going to look at Daniel’s life as well at those of his four friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah or otherwise known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The Bible tells as that they were among those who were taken to Babylon. What separated these four, of whom Daniel was the leader, from the other young men was that they honoured the Lord in everything they did. They did not compromise.

One of the first challenges they faced was whether they were going to live in the comfort and lush surroundings like princes, or whether they were going to stay true to their calling as citizens of God’s chosen nation.

We read in Daniel 1:5, 8-15: “The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. 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. Now God had caused the official to show favour and sympathy to Daniel, 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.’ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 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.’ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.”

Was this about becoming vegetarian? Many of us would suddenly have to choose between our nice steaks and living holy if that was the case. It was not about the food, but about making a statement. Back in Israel their lifestyles were geared on serving the Lord by keeping the law and the prescribed sacrifices and fasts. In Babylon they were about to be conditioned to live gluttonously and become like the Babylonians. We read above that they were to be trained to enter the king’s service.

However, our four friends under Daniel’s direction started off right. They resisted the influence of the status quo of the time and made the statement through their behaviour that is was the Lord they were serving and Him only – He alone will determine their actions. The result of this courageous act was that “God had caused the official to show favour and sympathy to Daniel” (verse 9), and “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,” (verse 17).

Daniel proved the Lord right by challenging the authority to test them. It was a courageous act, for Daniel had to believe the Lord for favour in the first place, since he had no evidence of what the official’s reaction to his offer was going to be. For all he knew he could have ended up in jail or worse, be killed. Secondly he had to believe God for the result.

What do we do to stand out? Do we just compromise and become like our friends at the club, at work and in social circles, doing the same kinds of things they do, or do we honour the Lord by living according to Jesus’ instructions regardless of the potential consequences. Do we ‘eat’ the Word of God and ‘drink’ the pure water of the Holy Spirit and stay spiritually strong and healthy, or do we defile our minds and bodies by ‘eating’ too much of the negative and destructive information that the world presents to us. Even listening to the news excessively or watching too many secular movies, drinking in the carnal messages that they subtly portray, create in us a negative or corrupt mindset. For instance, how many sinful sexual relationships are portrayed or at least hinted at in the movies, which we essentially approve of by watching such entertainment, and how much good news do we actually hear on the news programs? It must affect our thinking.

Lord, help me to make a statement for you by what I take in.

 Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Jesus, the Great Defender

Good morning

In our previous message we had a reminder from Isaiah 53 of what Jesus has done for us. I don’t think we can ever read that chapter enough, since it is essentially a summary of the gospel message.

Who was this man that was ‘despised and rejected, crushed for our iniquities and whom we have not esteemed’ as Isaiah put it? One revelation of who He really is, we find in John 1:1-5, 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Then we read in Colossians 1:15-20: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

Wow, this crushed, rejected, despised, afflicted and oppressed man is actually the origin of everything that exists. Can you see the picture? I am going to try and create an image for us.

Imagine a man builds this unique and precious object. To him it is so precious, that he will defend it with his life. A ruthless enemy comes and tries to steal this object from this man, but the enemy consists of a cruel leader and a whole gang of equally brutal henchmen. Alone this man stands up against this gang, bleeding as he defends this precious object that this gang tries to steal.

This precious object is us and the earth that comes along with us. I want to remind us that Jesus created groups of things on each day of creation, but that He spent one whole day just to create man. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground,’”(Genesis 1:26). Jesus also spoke everything else into being, but “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being,” (Genesis 2:7). Can you picture the loving hands moulding man and then gently breathing the breath of life into him, standing back in expectation as man sits up, looking around him in awe of what he sees? Can you imagine the expectation in Jesus’ heart as He started to build a relationship with man? He probably spent most of the sixth day getting acquainted with man.

But then... can you imagine the hurt in His heart as man continuously rejected Him whilst the ruthless enemy, Satan, tried to steal man - this precious creation of Jesus. For ages the battle went on and in the end Jesus took the ultimate step in defence of His precious creation – He died. The thief thought he had obtained this precious object that he for so long tried to steal, but because Jesus was without sin, death could not hold Him.

We have no idea how much Jesus suffered as pointed out by Isaiah. The gospels don’t reflect exactly how much Jesus had suffered, but Psalm 22 does. I therefore want to direct you to three earlier blogs of mine about Psalm 22, which reflect a bit more of what this ruler of the universe suffered for His precious creation: ‘Let Him Touch Your heart’ http://bibbytes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/let-him-touch-your-heart.html, ‘Oh, the Agony’ http://bibbytes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/o-agony.html and ‘Oh, the Agony (Part Two)’ http://bibbytes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/o-agony-part-two.html.

Lord, how dare I treat you with disrespect after what you, the Greatest Authority in the entire universe, have done in defence of me?

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Cost Of Our Salvation

Good morning

Today we need to remember what Jesus was prepared to do for us. What are we prepared to be and do for Him?

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Lord, we will never have a real understanding of what you have done for us. The least we can do is to allow you to work in us to change us to be like you, however painful it may be.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Spies to Canaan and Why God Was Angry (Part Three)

Good morning.

One thing I noticed with these ten spies is that they didn’t want to be on their own. Through influencing the people they looked for support. “And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored,” (Numbers 13:32).

Isn’t it just the same today? We see it in the schools, in the workplace and in the clubs – you always get a small group of negative instigators who gather for themselves a following from the indecisive majority, whereas the true leaders, and the morally and ethically strong people are in the minority and often the target of the majority. The moviemakers frequently focus on this, especially in the teenage movies.

Where do we stand in this regard? In which of these groups do we find ourselves? Do we want to be popular and accepted and as a result compromise our values? The ten spies did it and the nation chose to side with them in spite of what they had experienced of the Lord, and what was the price? They spent forty years in the desert and never got what they were promised. Why did they not get what they were promised? Isn’t the Lord faithful to His promises? They did not want what was promised to them. They constantly wanted to go back to Egypt and slavery. Every time something seemed a bit out of the ordinary, threatening to take them out of their comfort zones, they longed back to what they were used to.

How about us? Are we prepared to plunge into the deep end and swim where the Lord is leading us, reaching for that Promised Land with its good and bad? The Lord Jesus promised us that standing out for Him, like He stood out for us, would not be easy. Doesn’t Jesus refer to a similar situation awaiting His disciples (us included) in these words of His in John 15:18-20? “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

In this picture Jesus actually put His disciples before a choice. Either we are like our master and are part of the minority who are being persecuted, or we shrink back from the hatred and persecution that we receive from the world and end up compromising with the world. This is well summarised in this passage: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it,” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Do you think it was easy for Joshua and Caleb to stand in faith alone against two million Israelites? Do you think they considered succumbing to the pressure? Is it easy for anybody to swim against the stream? Yet we read in verses 30-31: “Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’”

As Christians we need to decide whether we are going to side with those who serve the Lord diligently, or whether we are going to be popular and acceptable, living in compromise. What does this entail in reality? Do we stand out for Jesus when others compromise? Do we follow the popular Christian status quo or do we obey what the Bible says - for example do we worship the pastor and great men of God, or do we worship the Lord? What is the motive in our hearts – a big flamboyant church or ministry that reflect on our efficiency or an effective one that involves developing everybody, doesn’t matter how big it is. When we need to obey by using the Word “for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) are we prepared to be unpopular because of doing that?

Lord, please help me to choose the right way.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.