Hello My Friend,
Perhaps one thing we should never forget in our walk with Christ is that the more we walk with Him, the more strength we have through Him. It is amazing how much a tiny bit of faith in God will do to change a situation, imagine just how blessed we are as that faith increases?. Praise God! You know, people of the world and even some Christians are going to try and wreck our faith in God, they want us to think that God cannot do anything for us, that we need to do it on our own. Well, these people do not know who they are dealing with, we have the one and only Living God on our side and no one can take us away from our God. They fail to realize that, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” -Matthew 19:26. We are human, no matter how much skills, money, or power we have, it is impossible for us to do some things, but nothing is impossible with God. Praise God!
The Book of Daniel is the twenty-seventh book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains twelve chapters. The author of the book is Daniel and it was first written to the Jews that were held captive in Babylon, the timeline for these events took place about 434BC. The purpose of the book was to show how God rules the affairs of all men. What we are to learn from the book is that God is sovereign and honors those who honor Him. “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” – Daniel 3:28.
Daniel was carried captive into Babylon when he was a youth, soon after his capture, he and a select few of the Jews were favored and assigned new names which would hide their true identity as Jews and make them appear as citizens of Babylon. “And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.” – Daniel 1:3-7.
The name Daniel means God is Judge, but his Babylonian name Belteshazzar means Prince of Baal. As Daniel heard his new name called day after day, it was intended to remind him that the comfort, self-esteem, and high position he enjoyed in his new society were all the result of his being the Prince of Baal.
However, he knew what their intent was and refused to submit to their teachings nor their bribes. The king’s intent was to brainwash the wiser of the Jews into living the way they lived, slowly forgetting that they were children of God and turn to their false god, then teaching their methods to the rest of the Jews. It is important that we live in the Word of God and stick to that, anytime we step into a church or religion other than one that follows the Gospel of Christ we are subjecting ourselves to their false gods and teachings. If we are not grounded in the Word of God we can forget that we are children of God and turn to their false god.
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” – Ephesians 6:11-13.
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had all sorts of opposition, but they never gave up on God, somewhere in their mind, they too proclaimed, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Daniel and his friends refused to blend in with society and remained faithful to God, they could change their names, but they could not change their faith in God. First, Daniel was put to the test when his life was threatened, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream that he wanted interpreted, the catch, he wanted someone to tell him what he dreamed of first. He got sorcerers, astrologers, and even magicians to try to reveal the dream, but not of them could, even they admitted that only a god that is not seen could do that. Out of anger Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men in Babylon killed, that meant Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also.
“Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.” – Daniel 2:16-19,27,47.
The first mistake Nebuchadnezzar made was thinking that those men were wise in the first place, but Daniel approached the king confidently, knowing that even if he died he God was on His side. Through God, Daniel was able to tell Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was and interpret it. Not only was his life spared, but the others as well. I imagine God’s objective to all this was for Nebuchadnezzar to realize not only that God was number one, but to put his false gods away and only serve Him, but all he did was acknowledge God’s existence. Many people know who Jesus is and that only He can save them from hell, but very few actually get saved, merely acknowledging Christ does not save us, only by receiving Him can we be saved. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9,10.
Now, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith would be put to the test, Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue built for worship and every time music played every person was to bow down to this statue and worship it. However, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to bow down and worship the idol, stating that they would die before they would bow down to any god other than God Himself. Out of anger Nebuchadnezzar had these men thrown into a fiery furnace, seven times hotter than it would normally be.
“Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.” – Daniel 3:21-26.
That fire was so hot that it consumed the men throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace, but not a hair was burned on these men, in fact, something amazing occurred, Jesus was in the midst of them. As Christian’s, we are going to be faced with lots of opposition, even more so because we choose to live our lives by following Jesus Christ. Take a person that believes in God and one can be accepted, but say that you believe in Jesus and that acceptance can utterly turn into hate. For this reason many fear telling people that they walk with Christ. However, we cannot allow the world or even our loved ones to keep us in the closet about our faith. We need to stand true to God even in the face of death, if we do, God will honor us as He did Daniel and every other faithful servant. With God Nothing Is Impossible! We can overcome every obstacle with God. “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.” – Romans 10:11,12.
Today’s Prayer: God, As much as we think and even know that all things are possible with You when difficulties and pressure comes our way it can be hard to remember that. Lord, give us Your power, wisdom, and guidance. Help us to look beyond our difficulties and remain faithful to You, trusting that all things are possible with You. Also, give us the strength to stand by Your Word and not buckle under pressure to those who are out to see us fall. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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