In Daniel chapter 1 we looked at three ways that the enemy will try to destroy our walk with God. He will try to remove us from God’s presence, he will try to remove God from us, and he will try to get us to fall into temptation. But the first chapter of Daniel doesn’t end there. Rather, it ends by showing how Daniel was blessed because of his faith and his stand for God.
“To [Daniel] God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel….; so [he] entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned [him], he found [Daniel] ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.” (Daniel 1:17-21, NIV)
Daniel made the decision to stand firm in his faith, and he was rewarded with earthly knowledge and understanding as well as spiritual understanding and discernment. As a matter of fact we are told that his earthly wisdom was ten times greater than that of all the “wise men” of the land. Because of this Daniel was given a very high position in the king’s service even beyond the reign of the Babylonians and into the reign of the Medo-Persians.
The word of God is very clear that there are rewards for those who put their faith in God. Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “So do not throw away your confidence (bold stance); it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” It goes on to say in verse 39, “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”
You see, Daniel was determined not to shrink back from his faith in God, and because of that he was rewarded with both physical and spiritual blessings. It’s important to note in verse 39 that the phrase “shrink back” is directly related to destruction. The Greek translation of this is not a physical destruction, but a spiritual destruction. In other words, it is an eternity of separation from God.
I’m convinced that if Daniel had not made the decision to stand for God in his youth, he would have never been given another opportunity, and his soul would have perished. But thanks be to God, we live in an age of grace. If you have failed God in the past, or if you have previously shrunk back be encouraged because God is still holding out hope to you. You have a new opportunity TODAY to stand for God. No matter how difficult things get, no matter how the world may ridicule and persecute you, stand for God. When you do there is an assurance that you will be blessed with the rewards of God which surpass anything we could ever imagine. And remember the words of Hebrews 11:6 “….He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
Monday, October 17, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
"Courageous" in retrospect
Two days ago, I went with my family to see the movie Courageous. While this blog is not intended to be a movie review, I do want to mention a few things about it.
First of all I highly recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. Even my 6 year old son liked it. If you don’t know anything about it, it was written, directed, and produced by a team from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. Sherwood has had 3 major motion pictures that they have released on very small budgets, and each one gets better than the last.
Some of you have already written this movie off because it is a “Christian” movie, but let me tell you the quality was outstanding. Others of you have already written it off because you feel that it won’t have enough action, blood, guts, swearing, or any of those other things that supposedly make for a great movie.
However, I can tell you first hand that this movie had some great suspenseful action. It made me laugh out loud more than most comedies I’ve watched; there were a couple of pretty intense fight scenes. And, yes, it tugged at my heartstrings, and I did not come away dry-eyed. (And for you TLC fans, there are also a couple of surprise cameo appearances.)
What Courageous did for me.
The main purpose of Courageous is to wake men up and inspire them to step up and be the husband and father that God has called them to be. And while I was definitely inspired in that area, that is not all of what the movie did for me.
There is a scene in the movie where the five main characters (all men) are sitting around a picnic table, and one of them asks the question, “So when did you know that you were a man?” A couple of the men were taken by surprise by the question, while the others knew immediately when they knew.
That question hit me hard. I am 35 years old, I’ve been married for almost 12 years, I have three children, and I still have never really felt like a man. I’ve accomplished some great things in my life, but I’ve always felt like I was just another kid in the crowd, and no one would take me seriously.
Society has taught us that if a male is not loud, tough, and take-charge then he is not a man. A man must love sports, he must shoot a certain amount of animals in his lifetime. He has to climb the ladder higher and faster than those around him, and he must be able to provide a large home and multiple cars for his family. If he falls short in any of these areas then he is reduced to what Hans and Franz would call a “girly-man”.
I don’t meet any of those criterion. I don’t like sports or hunting, I’m not an aggressive, take-charge person, and I have one car and no home. I love music, drama, and anything artsy. Over the years people have labeled me as a weak, second-class “girly-man”. Even as a minister, I have not been taken as seriously as other ministers (and at times I’ve even been teased and put down) because I prefer to minister through artistic ways such as music and drama.
Because of that I have pulled away from any type of close relationship with another man because I figure that they all see me the same. I figure they don't see me as a real man so I’m not worth their time. So I just stay to myself and do my required work then go home to my family that loves me regardless.
Having said all of that, Courageous is teaching me a lesson. I am learning that a man is not made by what he can accomplish or how big and bad he is. Manhood is not determined by any amount of money or possessions. A man is someone who loves God above anything else. He loves his wife unconditionally, and he would even lay down his life for his wife and family. A man is someone who loves his kids and trains them not in the ways of the world but in the ways of God.
So you can call me what you want. You can tease me and even put me down. But I know this one thing, I have a family that loves me and they love God. My kids are learning the word of God through the ways that we train and teach them. I know that my family will spend eternity with me in heaven and with Jesus, and that makes me a happy MAN.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Lessons from Daniel (part 3): Compromise
In my two previous posts we saw the first two ways that the enemy attacked Daniel. He tried to physically remove Daniel from the presence of God. When that didn't work, he tried to remove every trace of God from Daniel's life. Again, epic fail.
The final way we see that the enemy attacked Daniel was through temptation. Temptation is funny because it can come in so many ways. In this instance in Daniel Chapter 1, the temptation was not necessarily to sin, but merely to compromise.
Verse 5 tells us that the king assigned Daniel and all of the other young Hebrew slaves a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s own table. On the surface it seems like nothing would be wrong with that. They had a lot of work to do in their training, and they were going to need a lot of strength, and this was better food than they had probably ever had.
“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine…”(v.8). I see two reasons why Daniel’s decision was so important. First of all, the food was probably food that was forbidden for Jews to eat. The king’s meat more than likely included pork. As we saw earlier, Daniel was always reminded of God’s judgment over his life, and he didn’t want to face the judgment of God for any reason. Still this probably wouldn’t have been so bad. After all, all of the other young men were eating the king’s food.
But, the second reason for Daniel’s resolve is the most important. I believe that Daniel recognized the temptation to compromise. Eating forbidden food might not have been the most evil thing in the world, but if he compromised and disobeyed God in this one, little thing then it would be much easier to compromise later in something bigger.
Compromise is one of the biggest killers out there because it will gradually lead you to your destruction without you even knowing it. The enemy knows that. He doesn’t stop attacking someone just because they are strong in their faith. He knows that the strong would not intentionally fall in to sin, so he will attack with things that might not even be sin.
I don’t say this to puff myself up, but I don’t listen to secular music at all. My radio station in my car will never deviate from a Christian station. And if I’m not listening to the radio then I am listening to a Christian CD. I know the power of music in my life. Being a musician, I am always looking for ways to grow and stretch myself. Unfortunately, Christian music sometimes has a reputation of being average or even below average when it comes to quality. But God has called me to use music for his glory, and I don’t want to allow anything in my life that would lead me to create music for any other reason. There are many Christians, and many Christian musicians that don’t agree with my decision, but that is one area of my life that I will not compromise.
As children of God we must always keep our faith in front of us. We need to make a conscious decision of what we will allow into our lives and what we will not. Daniel drew a line in the sand and in essence said, “I will not allow anything into my life that could possibly lead me away from God.” Why is this important? We all know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den (Chapter 6). I believe that if Daniel had allowed himself to compromise early on, we would never have this story because Daniel would have eventually fallen in with the rest of the crowd. But because of Daniel’s resolve in the small matter of the king’s food, he was later able to stand against the king and continue to pray to the God of Israel when it was politically incorrect.
Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we are in a war against demonic powers. The only way that we can fight against them is to first decide to be strong in God’s power and stand firm in the full armor of God.
What areas have you allowed compromise into your life? Have you noticed yourself slowly drifting away from the Lord? Have you noticed yourself sin in ways that you thought you never would? I would venture to guess that if we could trace the origin of the sin, we could trace it back to a simple compromise that we allowed into our lives. It is time to put your foot down and draw a line in the sand and say, “No more! This is how I will live and I will not deviate from this path.” God will bless those who are faithful to Him, and there are great rewards for those who choose to stand for Him.
The final way we see that the enemy attacked Daniel was through temptation. Temptation is funny because it can come in so many ways. In this instance in Daniel Chapter 1, the temptation was not necessarily to sin, but merely to compromise.
Verse 5 tells us that the king assigned Daniel and all of the other young Hebrew slaves a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s own table. On the surface it seems like nothing would be wrong with that. They had a lot of work to do in their training, and they were going to need a lot of strength, and this was better food than they had probably ever had.
“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine…”(v.8). I see two reasons why Daniel’s decision was so important. First of all, the food was probably food that was forbidden for Jews to eat. The king’s meat more than likely included pork. As we saw earlier, Daniel was always reminded of God’s judgment over his life, and he didn’t want to face the judgment of God for any reason. Still this probably wouldn’t have been so bad. After all, all of the other young men were eating the king’s food.
But, the second reason for Daniel’s resolve is the most important. I believe that Daniel recognized the temptation to compromise. Eating forbidden food might not have been the most evil thing in the world, but if he compromised and disobeyed God in this one, little thing then it would be much easier to compromise later in something bigger.
Compromise is one of the biggest killers out there because it will gradually lead you to your destruction without you even knowing it. The enemy knows that. He doesn’t stop attacking someone just because they are strong in their faith. He knows that the strong would not intentionally fall in to sin, so he will attack with things that might not even be sin.
I don’t say this to puff myself up, but I don’t listen to secular music at all. My radio station in my car will never deviate from a Christian station. And if I’m not listening to the radio then I am listening to a Christian CD. I know the power of music in my life. Being a musician, I am always looking for ways to grow and stretch myself. Unfortunately, Christian music sometimes has a reputation of being average or even below average when it comes to quality. But God has called me to use music for his glory, and I don’t want to allow anything in my life that would lead me to create music for any other reason. There are many Christians, and many Christian musicians that don’t agree with my decision, but that is one area of my life that I will not compromise.
As children of God we must always keep our faith in front of us. We need to make a conscious decision of what we will allow into our lives and what we will not. Daniel drew a line in the sand and in essence said, “I will not allow anything into my life that could possibly lead me away from God.” Why is this important? We all know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den (Chapter 6). I believe that if Daniel had allowed himself to compromise early on, we would never have this story because Daniel would have eventually fallen in with the rest of the crowd. But because of Daniel’s resolve in the small matter of the king’s food, he was later able to stand against the king and continue to pray to the God of Israel when it was politically incorrect.
Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we are in a war against demonic powers. The only way that we can fight against them is to first decide to be strong in God’s power and stand firm in the full armor of God.
What areas have you allowed compromise into your life? Have you noticed yourself slowly drifting away from the Lord? Have you noticed yourself sin in ways that you thought you never would? I would venture to guess that if we could trace the origin of the sin, we could trace it back to a simple compromise that we allowed into our lives. It is time to put your foot down and draw a line in the sand and say, “No more! This is how I will live and I will not deviate from this path.” God will bless those who are faithful to Him, and there are great rewards for those who choose to stand for Him.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Lessons from Daniel (part 2)
In my last post I talked about the first way that the enemy tried to destroy Daniel. He tried to remove Daniel from the grasp and favor of God, but he soon realized that nothing can separate a child of God from His love.
The second thing the enemy tried to do after he took Daniel from the Promised Land was to change his name. He tried to steal Daniel’s godly identity, and his righteous heritage. In other words, when he realized that Daniel would not leave the presence of God, he tried to take God away from Daniel. However, what the devil meant to destroy Daniel, God used to strengthen him.
The name, Daniel, means “God is my judge”. Up to the time of the Babylonian captivity Daniel was reminded of this fact every time he told someone his name. I even imagine that he would think twice before giving into temptation because he knew that God was judging him. But as he was led away in to Babylon, he was given a new name, Belteshazzar. The name change was given to the young Hebrew men to try to remove any trace of their former Jewish life. The enemy wanted the God of Israel to be completely removed from the situation.
“Belteshazzar” means “God of the straitened’s treasure”. To be straitened means to be in some kind of a hardship, especially a financial hardship. When Daniel was given this new name it was given as an insult to Daniel and his God. You see if you are faced with a financial hardship then you have no physical treasure. The enemy was trying to tell Daniel that he had nothing, and his God was the god of nothing. But the enemy once again underestimated the strength and resolve of Daniel.
Paul gives us a great illustration of the strength of Daniel in 2 Corinthians 4:7-8.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;”
Verse 7 says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”. That means we carry a treasure around inside of us—the power and the glory of God. It lives and abides in the children of God. If the enemy had known this then he would also have known that nothing can take God away from the place that He chooses to dwell.
Verse 8 goes on to say, “we are hard pressed…yet not crushed; we are perplexed; but not in despair.” In other words, we are straitened physically (we are facing hardships), but that will not affect our spiritual state. We will not be straitened spiritually no matter how hard our physical situation might become.
Even though Daniel found himself in a foreign land with foreign Gods and evil rulers, he resolved that he would stand for God no matter the cost. And God will never forsake the one who has resolved to live for Him. So even though the enemy tried to remove Daniel’s Godly identity, Daniel turned it around and used his new identity to stand for his God even stronger than ever.
How has the enemy tried to remove God from your life? Have you found yourself in an identity crisis? Do the call and the promises of God for your life seem like a distant memory? Just remember that no matter what physical state you might find yourself in, nothing can take God away from the child of God. And the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead can dwell and abide in you.
The second thing the enemy tried to do after he took Daniel from the Promised Land was to change his name. He tried to steal Daniel’s godly identity, and his righteous heritage. In other words, when he realized that Daniel would not leave the presence of God, he tried to take God away from Daniel. However, what the devil meant to destroy Daniel, God used to strengthen him.
The name, Daniel, means “God is my judge”. Up to the time of the Babylonian captivity Daniel was reminded of this fact every time he told someone his name. I even imagine that he would think twice before giving into temptation because he knew that God was judging him. But as he was led away in to Babylon, he was given a new name, Belteshazzar. The name change was given to the young Hebrew men to try to remove any trace of their former Jewish life. The enemy wanted the God of Israel to be completely removed from the situation.
“Belteshazzar” means “God of the straitened’s treasure”. To be straitened means to be in some kind of a hardship, especially a financial hardship. When Daniel was given this new name it was given as an insult to Daniel and his God. You see if you are faced with a financial hardship then you have no physical treasure. The enemy was trying to tell Daniel that he had nothing, and his God was the god of nothing. But the enemy once again underestimated the strength and resolve of Daniel.
Paul gives us a great illustration of the strength of Daniel in 2 Corinthians 4:7-8.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;”
Verse 7 says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”. That means we carry a treasure around inside of us—the power and the glory of God. It lives and abides in the children of God. If the enemy had known this then he would also have known that nothing can take God away from the place that He chooses to dwell.
Verse 8 goes on to say, “we are hard pressed…yet not crushed; we are perplexed; but not in despair.” In other words, we are straitened physically (we are facing hardships), but that will not affect our spiritual state. We will not be straitened spiritually no matter how hard our physical situation might become.
Even though Daniel found himself in a foreign land with foreign Gods and evil rulers, he resolved that he would stand for God no matter the cost. And God will never forsake the one who has resolved to live for Him. So even though the enemy tried to remove Daniel’s Godly identity, Daniel turned it around and used his new identity to stand for his God even stronger than ever.
How has the enemy tried to remove God from your life? Have you found yourself in an identity crisis? Do the call and the promises of God for your life seem like a distant memory? Just remember that no matter what physical state you might find yourself in, nothing can take God away from the child of God. And the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead can dwell and abide in you.
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