MY FRIENDS, CAN WE DARE TO BE A DANIEL IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE DARE TO BE A DANIEL IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-3 (KJV)

”perfect result, complete, lacking in nothing,” those words tells us that our faith is “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Before Christ comes for the second time, our eternal destination will have to be based totally on our faith and endurance. Let’s go to Daniel chapter 6 and see how one of God’s faithful in that generation handled a situation where it was all about his faith in his God.

“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. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.” Daniel 6:10-11 (KJV)

if we go back to the beginning of chapter 6, Daniel has been appointed satrap or governor of one of the provinces under the ancient Persian monarchy. Then in verse 3 it tells us “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”

Then the chapter goes on to tells us; the other satraps attempted to find some fault with Daniel, in other words they were jealous and prejudice; this alien outsider, how dare the king put him in such a prestigious position. So they set out to find a loophole to trap Daniel, so their conclusion; we will never be able to find any fault with Daniel, so they decide to go after the God he serves and how Daniel serves Him.

But not fully understanding, as God’s representative, the light from the living God Daniel serves, shines through Daniel, out to the world. So if they can find no fault in Daniel, how could they ever think they would fine any fault in the Creator of the universe. My friends, does the world know our God through us if not, why not?

And does He live within us to such a point that it becomes obvious that no one “shall separate us from the love of Christ [and His will for us? not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword………..and in all these things we [have become more] than conquerors through [our faith in]him that loved us? Romans 8:35-37 (KJV)

The plot thickens, the other governors devised a plan to get the death penalty for Daniel, But God’s chosen never changed his routine so he continued, three times a day praying with his window open so all could see. So the other governors get their wish.

But Daniel’s light from God, did shine onto the king because of His relationship with him, and  he tells Daniel “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” not He might deliver you, but He will deliver you. Oh yes my friends, he believed in the true God and what He was capable of doing. What a testimony to the one who serves God and let’s “His light so shine that others may see Christ in him.

Daniel spends the night in the lions den and in the morning, the king hurried to the lions’den. He calls Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.

They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.” And then at the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.”

My friends, it all comes down to, do we have the passion and endurance to dare to be a Daniel in the 21st century and have the perfect result, complete, lacking in nothing, as we carry our cross while following Christ wherever He leads us.