Of all of the heroes of the faith, Daniel was probably the most righteous all around. None of our faith heroes were perfect. Abraham tried to fulfill God’s plan in his own time. Moses disobeyed. David fell into all sorts of sin. Even the apostles had quarrels amongst themselves. But when it comes to Daniel we have no record of him falling into any type of sin.
The prophet Ezekiel groups Daniel with Noah and Job in Ezekiel 14, but makes no mention of Abraham, Moses, David, or anyone else. Daniel was truly an exceptional man even from an early age. I believe that his success as a prophet began as a result of some critical decisions that he made as a teenager.
In this message I want to examine Daniel chapter 1 and examine three ways that the enemy will try to steal our heavenly security.
1. The enemy will try to steal you from God
The first thing that we see in Daniel 1 is the King of Babylon laying siege to Judah. As a result the king of Judah was taken captive to Babylon along with the most beautiful women and the brightest young men. Daniel was among those taken captive.
I’m sure Daniel had dreams and plans of how he would do great things for God in the land of Judah. He probably looked forward to living a long, prosperous life in the land of God. He had probably never considered the possibility of being stolen from the Promised Land at such an early age, never to return.
The enemy is very smart, but sometimes he can be quite stupid. He thought that if he could take Daniel from the Land of God, then Daniel would be outside of the favor, protection, and blessing of God. However, while it is true that God dwelt in Judah, we need to remember that God is Jehovah Shammah. He is our ever-present help. He will never forsake the righteous. Isaiah 43:13 says, “…No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” (NLT) You see, no one can curse what God has blessed, and no one can take you away from God.
Jesus found himself outside of the “place” of God. After He was baptized, the bible tells us that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days. Did you see that? The enemy didn’t take Him away from God, the SPIRIT led Him. You see, there will be times when we find ourselves wondering where God has gone. We don’t see, feel, or hear Him. But we often face those times because God has allowed it to happen so that we can be tested, and if we can pass those tests we will come out stronger and wiser.
I believe that while the enemy thought he was stealing Daniel from Judah, the Spirit was actually taking him into that foreign land so that he could fulfill his purpose.
What areas has the enemy tried to take you away from God? Maybe a better question would be this. How has the enemy lied to you to get you to believe that you are outside of the will, protection, and blessing of God? Maybe you have had dreams and plans of living a great life in God in a particular geographical location. You attended a great church. You had great, Godly friends and family that you could turn to. Everything felt good and comfy. But now you have found yourself away from all of that. Maybe you’ve had to move, or maybe circumstances have changed and things are not like they used to be. You feel like you are in a foreign land or even a wilderness. It seems you are no longer in that place where God is.
You need to remember that God will never leave nor forsake the righteous. No one or nothing can snatch you out of His hand. And you can never go beyond the reach, the love, and the blessing of God as long as you are seeking first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Maybe God is wanting to tweak your dreams, or He may even be leading you into that hard place so He can fulfill His dreams for your life. Whatever you do, don’t quit on God because He has never quit on you.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Last 15 years/Writing
Today is September 6, 2011, Labor Day, and I just celebrated my 35th birthday on the first. Someone asked me a few days ago if turning 35 was bothering me, and honestly it hasn’t really affected me. I’ve been joking that I am now in a new age bracket on applications and surveys, but other than that I think I’ve been okay. Turning 35 has, however, made me look back and assess my last 15 years of adult life.
My 20’s were wonderful. I can think of so many exciting things that happened during my first adult decade. When I was 20 I began playing the role of Christ in the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, AR. It was a dream come true; I had been dreaming of that since I was little. When I was 21 I moved to Saint Louis, MO to start my career and ministry as a worship leader. It was at my first church, Gateway Tabernacle, that I met my beautiful, wonderful wife and was married two years later. God also gave me my three amazing children in my 20’s.
My 20’s gave me some wonderful ministry experiences as well. I spent a short, but eventful time as the worship pastor at one of the largest churches in Saint Louis. We also spent four fabulous years in Panama City, FL as the worship pastors at St. Andrews Assembly of God. During that time I was privileged to build an awesome worship team. Our section of the A/G district held a community service once a year, and one year I was asked to form a community choir. I was highly involved in leading worship for district functions. And one of my biggest joys was writing, recording, and directing a full-blown Christmas musical.
When I turned 30 I was so excited. My 20’s were so eventful that I could not wait to see what more would happen in the next ten years. We left Panama City and moved back to Saint Louis about a month after my birthday. We were joining the staff at St. Peters Assembly of God (which later became Restoration Church).
We have had some wonderful experiences during our five years on staff at Restoration Church. We have made some of the best friends that we have ever had. I have been able to build the worship department and hopefully take it to a greater place physically and spiritually.
Another achievement has been the start of my music charting business, IGNITECharts.com. I started IGNITECharts.com four years ago to write sheet music and chord charts for songwriters that might not have the knowledge, time, or equipment to do it for themselves. Over the past four years I have been privileged to write charts for many songwriters, even some award winning artists including Martha Munizzi, Ricardo Sanchez, and John Mark McMillan. God has truly blessed this business.
As I look back, however, there is one key piece that is missing. I have never had much success in my own personal songwriting endeavor. I’ve always wanted to record a CD with my original music, and I’ve always wanted my music to be known in the music and worship community. I went through a couple of years where I just wanted to give up, and I basically stopped writing. I didn’t see my music go anywhere, and just wanted to call it quits. I’ve since started writing again and will occasionally turn out a new song to sing in our worship services.
I still don’t know how to get my music heard, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to record a CD, but I am now resolving to do more with my music. I’ve decided that I have to be intentional about writing. Even if I’m not feeling “inspired” I’ve got to just write.
So, my hope is that over the coming weeks and months I will have some blogs and links to some new songs and recordings for you to check out. I don’t ever want to write songs just for entertainment. I always want my songs to touch people, and hopefully lead the listener closer to Christ.
So that is my last 15 years in a nutshell. My dream is still to record a CD, but if that never happens I can’t give up on my love of writing. So if you ever call me, and I’m not answering, I might just be in a meeting with myself. So just leave a message, and if I’m really feeling inspired I might just write you back.
My 20’s were wonderful. I can think of so many exciting things that happened during my first adult decade. When I was 20 I began playing the role of Christ in the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, AR. It was a dream come true; I had been dreaming of that since I was little. When I was 21 I moved to Saint Louis, MO to start my career and ministry as a worship leader. It was at my first church, Gateway Tabernacle, that I met my beautiful, wonderful wife and was married two years later. God also gave me my three amazing children in my 20’s.
My 20’s gave me some wonderful ministry experiences as well. I spent a short, but eventful time as the worship pastor at one of the largest churches in Saint Louis. We also spent four fabulous years in Panama City, FL as the worship pastors at St. Andrews Assembly of God. During that time I was privileged to build an awesome worship team. Our section of the A/G district held a community service once a year, and one year I was asked to form a community choir. I was highly involved in leading worship for district functions. And one of my biggest joys was writing, recording, and directing a full-blown Christmas musical.
When I turned 30 I was so excited. My 20’s were so eventful that I could not wait to see what more would happen in the next ten years. We left Panama City and moved back to Saint Louis about a month after my birthday. We were joining the staff at St. Peters Assembly of God (which later became Restoration Church).
We have had some wonderful experiences during our five years on staff at Restoration Church. We have made some of the best friends that we have ever had. I have been able to build the worship department and hopefully take it to a greater place physically and spiritually.
Another achievement has been the start of my music charting business, IGNITECharts.com. I started IGNITECharts.com four years ago to write sheet music and chord charts for songwriters that might not have the knowledge, time, or equipment to do it for themselves. Over the past four years I have been privileged to write charts for many songwriters, even some award winning artists including Martha Munizzi, Ricardo Sanchez, and John Mark McMillan. God has truly blessed this business.
As I look back, however, there is one key piece that is missing. I have never had much success in my own personal songwriting endeavor. I’ve always wanted to record a CD with my original music, and I’ve always wanted my music to be known in the music and worship community. I went through a couple of years where I just wanted to give up, and I basically stopped writing. I didn’t see my music go anywhere, and just wanted to call it quits. I’ve since started writing again and will occasionally turn out a new song to sing in our worship services.
I still don’t know how to get my music heard, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to record a CD, but I am now resolving to do more with my music. I’ve decided that I have to be intentional about writing. Even if I’m not feeling “inspired” I’ve got to just write.
So, my hope is that over the coming weeks and months I will have some blogs and links to some new songs and recordings for you to check out. I don’t ever want to write songs just for entertainment. I always want my songs to touch people, and hopefully lead the listener closer to Christ.
So that is my last 15 years in a nutshell. My dream is still to record a CD, but if that never happens I can’t give up on my love of writing. So if you ever call me, and I’m not answering, I might just be in a meeting with myself. So just leave a message, and if I’m really feeling inspired I might just write you back.
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