Daniel, in this world but not of it
I never understood being in this world but not of it in this context, i know this basics, like living here but being different than our surroundings and apart from the sin of the world, but this is amazing and encouraging to apply to our lives as wise men and women of God.
the first chapter of daniel says Gifted by God. God has gifted all of us, we are all chosen now through Jesus to be an influence in the world for the glory of God and to show the character of God through our gifts and His favor on our lives.
God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar (referred in our house as Mr. nezzer, thank you Veggie tales) to take captive Daniel, Rack, Shack and Bennie, to Babylon (symbolic of the world). Lets not forget things that happen to us that seem wrong could have been allowed by God to further his kingdom and His influence in the world. God chose these 4 because...they were healthy, handsome, intelegent, well educated, and showed leadership ability. Now we all know we arnt perfect and can honestly say," i am none of those things or I am just some of those things". What we have to do is believe who and what we are in Christ and not what we think of ourselves or act according to the labels we put on ourselves or the labels others put on us.
we can all chose to be healthy, that is our choice. Yes we have medical issues, but we also know that Jesus died for our healing. We can chose to live up to what doctors or our bodies tell us, or we can chose to fight tooth and nail for our physical wholeness.
they were handsome - no matter what we think we look like, we can chose everyday to shower, get dressed, fix our hair and put on an attitude of my Father is in control of this place and i am part of a royal family. I have never seen the queen of england in her pajamas, as a matter of fact i have never seen one of my bosses or my pastor in their pajamas either. Why do we look like crap so often when every where we go and everything we do is supposed to bring glory to God? (I was talking to myself right there, i could stay ugly and in my pj's all week long)
they were intelligent - I think all that means is they used common sense and didn't live by their emotions, emotions and feelings will ruin your life. your feelings will lie to you. If you think of intelligent people do you think about what they learned in college? prob not, you probably think of something simple they have imparted to you, some kind of simple truth. I have met PLENTY of educated people that definitely were not i intelligent. we have to show some common sense, thats just a given.
they were well-educated - we can always chose to learn more and be in the process of learning. as i read the Word i am inspired to research history, and do all kinds of things i wouldn't have other wise even wanted to do much less be motivated to do it. Currently i am reading The history of Christianity, How to live your Best when you Feel your Worst, and learning Spanish. that is only because i want to better myself in order to reach more people and that is entirely the spirit inside of me, the flesh side of me doesn't give a crap about much honestly. The more we indulge our God inspired desires, the more equipped we are to relate to more kinds of people.
they showed leadership ability - we are all leaders like it or not, if you are jobless, you have friends to help lead a more Godly life, if you have a family, you are to lead them to become Godly (as hard and time consuming as that is) if you work, you lead the people around you, if you are a boss you are leading a team, if you are in the ministry, you already know you are a leader and you should be working diligently to become a better leader to further the kingdom of God on this earth and equip your "followers' to be doing the same by example an instruction. You cannot duplicate what you are not, so if you won't read your Word, neither will they and that a whole other contribution.
Now Mr. nezzer represents the world and he wanted the 4 to be trained in the ways of his world. He wanted them to learn the language, magic and sorcery. Again, the ways of the world. But in this the 4 were favored by God and had the opportunity to eat at the kings table and be treated like royalty and after 3 years of training they were guaranteed a job in the palace, answering directly to the top leadership of the king. Only one problem with that...God didn't approve of some of the food being served.Now this is where it gets good...
Mr. Nezzer renamed the 4 in my opinion this is what the world tries to do to us. they try to change who we are and its easy to conform just because we are in the mix with them all of the time. BUT we have a choice to conform to the world, or stand strong and confident in who we really are. Who God says we are, and have the courage to do the right thing and be transformed. Daniel could have thrown a fit about the food, played the holier than thou role, given in, went to his room, thrown a holy fit to his 3 buddies about how things were being done, BUT he didn't, he was a wise man. He propositioned the leadership to make a small change with the food. Notice he didn't demand, or pull the God card on them, he said(my translation) "this doesn't work for us can we try something else? Test us and if we become weak or scrawny by not eating your food and if i'm wrong we will go from there." He went through the proper channel of leadership, he didn't go straight to the king and act like a baby, he went to the head of the palace staff and made a suggestion, then let him be the judge if it was good or bad FOR THEM, their kingdom, their show. Knowing God was on his side and had faith that God would give them favor in his request. So of course, God gave them not only favor, but healthier bodies than the rest of the staff also more knowledge and understanding than anyone else.
stay strong in who you are, don't complain about crappy circumstances because if could have been orchestrated by God to influence the i influencer. Be diligent in taking care of yourself. Take care of your mind, your body, and especially your spirit. don't make your relationship with God any less important than it should be, we must practice hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God in this world, in this time is depending on it because only we can do what God has called us to do. Ive always liked the saying "Nobody can do your push-ups for you" if you want a healthy body only you can make that happen, just like if you want to become who God created you to be, only YOU can do the work that makes that happen. Be encouraged by the Holy spirit today, live your life as the child of a king. The same power that conquered the grave live in us. I'm pretty sure I'm going to raise someone from the dead before my life on earth is over!! Thats right, I'm not content in this life to live like everyone else I have a power in me that can heal the sick, provide supernaturally for the hungry and homeless, influence the people that are running this country. I am a living breathing part of my Creator and just like you i have divine appointments, connections, and relationships that only I can take care of for Him. Sing praise! be thankful for the breath in your lungs. be Healed. Accept forgiveness. Give forgiveness. Show compassion, and submit to your leaders, they are probably your leaders because God set it up that way. Go out of you way today to do the right thing. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. If God is for you WHO in the world should even matter to you that is against you? God is good all the time and all things work together for the good of those who seek him.
Created over 1 year ago
