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[reyatthefeel]

Daniel Chapter 2 Part 1

This chapter is so full of mystery and suspense we have to break into two parts so I'm diving right in.

God uses the situation that begins to unfold to prepare a way for Him to reveal Himself, not just as the God of all gods, but the God that desires a personal relationship with humans and of course, to do the impossible.

As it begins Nebuchadnezzar, troubled by a dream, summons his wise men, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers. He had already decided that he was going to kill all of them if they could not tell him what it meant. He wasn't just asking for an interpretation of the dream but for them to be able to tell him exactly what his dream was and then interpret it's meaning. He knew if they could do that they would not be able to decieve him by telling him something that wasn't accurate. What these wise men knew was that what he asked was impossible and tried to explain this to the king pleading their case by stating that only the gods could reveal what he was asking. Unfortunatley, they further explained, that their gods would never reveal this to them and the reason given was that their gods did not live among them. In other words...they don't have any form of relationships with human kind, especially personal relationships, seeing man as something beneath them.

All those wise men standing before the king could not know the intimacy and wonder of such a thing as the relationship that Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) had with the one true God. The gods these others served offered no help, no peace, no hope. Surviving this situation would require doing the impossible which their gods could not do therefore, they could not give the king what he asked for. (-ENTER GOD-)

The king was furious and ordered the execution of all the wise men in the Babylonian Empire. With that the Kings army was sent out to find and kill them. This, of course, included Daniel and his friends.

Upon the arrival of the army, Daniel hears of the Kings decision. Can you even phathom what 'the feel' was stirring inside of him? What would you do in this situation? Run!!! But not Daniel.

I imagine, against all human instincts, and obviously in the boldness God had given him, he went straight to the man in charge. Arioch, the Commander of the king's guard. The Bible says Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.

This captivated my attention because Daniel didn't say anything worthy of a wise man to Arioch. He asked a simple question..."Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?" So what makes that so wise and tactful? I thought the answer could simply be the favor of God on his words and though I believe that was definitely present, there was something more here. It specifically says Daniel used wisdom and tact and though his words do not seem more wise than the average there is so much more to wisdom than words. I have to believe that it was not in the words he spoke but in the attitude and demeanor with which he spoke them. His facial expressions, body language, and tone. There is so much wisdom in how we use them. Daniel also understood the authority of Arioch knowing that all authority was ultimatley because God allowed it and I believe he showed humility and great respect toward Arioch.

I love the next part that says Arioch explained it to Daniel. Here he is to kill him but he pauses to answer Daniel's question, in detail. What? He must have felt the respect from Daniel especially in the midst of the chaotic circumstances. I can't help but wonder if it left Arioch in some state of awe and perplexity, that as he was there to kill them all Daniel boldly, yet humbly, approached him and maybe even seemed unafraid of death. That could have captivated Arioch's attention all by itself. Oh to be a fly on a camel that day!

Whatever the case, this encounter was far from normal. It was a mighty God at work!

With the explanation from Arioch, Daniel knew what to do. Again with pure boldness he went before the king to ask for time so he might be able to provide the interpretation. The king granted it to him. Yep! This takes me back to chapter 1 where it tells us that the king found Daniel and his friends ten times better than all the other wise men in the entire kingdom. That had to play a factor here. That means that God was working on this situation before it ever unfolded. I absolutely believe it is part of the reason the king agreed to grant Daniels request. Isn't it just like God to use our current circumstances as foundations for our future ones. --Side note....whatever your going through, trust that God is using it to prepare you and others for what's coming.--

The next few hours were critical. The very first thing Daniel did was find Shadrack, Meshach, and Agendago and asked them to begin praying that God would reveal this mystery so they would not be executed. That was their only form of recourse or action. What else was there? Only the one true God could make the impossible possible. Prayer was their only way to fight. Oh...the power of prayer!

That night Daniel recieved a vision and in that vision every detail he needed to present to the king was revealed. Daniel praised God! I believe he danced around the room and cried in joy as he spoke the words....

"Praise be to the name of God forever and ever...." He continued as it shows us in verses 20-23. His heart must have been filled with such awe and wonder.

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TAKE AWAY

(Chapter 2 Part 1)

1. God is a relational God

If this doesn't get someone excited I'm not sure you fully understand. Right here we see one of greatest differences between the one Holy God and anything else that tries to compete in our lives with God. A genuine true love. The kind that is cobstantly in motion on our behalf. God does not view humanity as something of an annoyance, though we are totally beneath Him, but sees us as valuable and wants to be close to us. To walk through every hurt, every joy, and every crazy moment. He is most definitely relational.

2. Gods love is a righteous.

God's love for us is not the kind that says do whatever makes you feel good. Quite the contrary. It says... I want the very best for you because you are so important and because I know what you are capable of as your creator. I love you so much I have set guidelines and boundaries to help you know how to strive to live in a way that not only pleases me but brings great blessing to your life.

He gave us the commandments and Holy Scriptures that will help us achieve our greatest self. The very best of who we are in our humanity. This is God's love.

3. God works through every situation but allows hardships to help us.

We often hear these days that God is only love and if you follow Him you will have blessings...blessings....blessings. That is true but we have confused our definition of blessing with the worlds. God's greatest desire for us is to live the life He has given us in such a way that no matter what may come, good or bad, we continue to trust in Him and by the guidelines He provided. In fact, the hardest hardships that come often bring the greatest growth and closeness with God. Those are eternal blessings and those are the ones that change us for the better, renew our minds and refine us as it talks about in Proverbs 25. The beauty of it all is that our God never lets any hurt or hardship (which always includes some form of death whether physical, financial, relational, etc) happen without planting something beautiful in its place. This gives us a platform of new understanding and compassion for others walking through hard situations. He often also uses those hardships to prepare us for something that's coming that we cannot yet see.

I see and hear everywhere around me people proclaiming God is love. This is true but it is not the distorted tainted love of humans and we have sadly humanized God. Humanity says do whatever you feel. If it makes you feel good then it's right for you. But what feels good almost always has harsh consequences at some point, leaving families broken, individuals confused and lost in life, diseases rampid, children lost in a horrific foster system, and on and on. Human love is accepting of things that are unhealthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is unforgiving, it does not ever forget, and it often never trusts the right people. This is why God said in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

This is the love of a Holy and Soveriegn God that grants us grace and mercy and true forgiveness when we make a covenant with Him. When we truly decide to stop choosing sin and strive to do our best to live according to His standards. He grants the grace and mercy and forgiveness because He knows we are imperfect and cannot ever work to achieve perfection which is why He sent Jesus. But He still expects us to do our best to live as Holy as humanly possible. Not to simply accept the worlds ways and distort His words to justify sin. I'm just as guilty in this as anyone else. God has been showing me that and I am so grateful because I want to live in a way that truly honors Him. I believe this is so important for us to understand as sadly, many have said the Ten Commandments and parts of the Bible that instruct us in behavior were for then not for now. That is a lie straight from the depths of Hell! So heres how I have come to see it and maybe this will help you as well.

God gave us the Ten Commandments as a quick reference guide if you will. Like when you purchase a new piece of equipment and it has a guide book but the basic instructions are the quick start guide to get it put together so you can at least start using it. Then you can go back to the reference guide to learn how to use every feature that can make your life so much better. To learn all the the little things that the quick start guide never taught you. When your friends, who have the same equipment, come over and see you using yours to do things they had no idea it could do, they are amazed and want to know how you did it. How can they make theirs do that. This is that.

The reference guide is The Bible and the Ten Commandments are our quick start guide. Using the quick start guide allows us to live with honor and integrity but it doesn't get us there which we know all too well from the rich man's story. For those who decide to really study that reference guide, amazing things will happen in your life, in your attitude, your behaviors, and people will want to know how you handle things so well. How you can get through hardships. How you have this beautiful relationship with God and they will want it too. Tell them to read the reference guide to be able to make their spiritual equipment work in ways they didn't know it could and take their personal relationship with God to a whole new level.

Daniel and his friends understood this. And just wait till you see what's coming. What they did. What they were willing to do and how God honored them for it! So much more intrigue to come!!

[reyatthefeel]

All About Daniel.

For the next several days everything is going to be about Daniel and how he handled 'The Feel' as he faced so many challenges. I'm super excited to walk through this book of the Bible again. Its one of my favorites!

I think it's important to point out that God is our teacher. Everyone who desires to be a true disciple of Christ can only achieve that by studying the Word ourselves, everyday. As God teaches us He will bring us the understanding of His revelation and interpretation. Any other person we listen to should simply be confirmation of what God is already teaching us in our daily devotional study time. ALWAYS...take what you are presented by someone else and verify that it is completely in line with God's Word and if its not, discard it.

(Please read the 1st chapter of Daniel.)

Here we go...

We are introduced with the fulfilling of what Moses predicted in Dueteronomy 30:4-6

"Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live."

This is so exciting because we read it in Dueteronomy as a prediction Moses spoke, yet as we open up Daniel and begin reading chapter 1, that prediction has not only come to life but we begin watching each part of it be unveiled.

(A bit of history. Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. The larger portion was Israel and the smaller portion Judah. Judah was the kingdom in which David ruled as king before taking over all of Israel. God promised to have one of David's descendants on the throne in Jerusalem always. Here we see that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and beseiged Judah. He took many of the people as well as some of the articles from the temple in Jerusalem (an important factor that will come into play soon). He had his chief of officials hand pick the most handsome, intelligent, noble young men to become active in serving him in his palace.

Stop here!

If in your life you have questioned where you are, the exact time and place in history that you are living, your parents or family or lab thereof and have thought it must have been a mistake, you must have been a mistake, this should clear that up. Moses prediction some 800 years prior and here we watch how that plays out with each of these very specific people. It is a reminder that we are all placed in history during a specific timeline on purpose.

Proverbs 16:9 tells us "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." You and I are exactly where we are supposed to be at the exact right time. Even if our parents did not plan for us or care for us in the way they should, no one is a mistake. It's not where we are but what we do with where we are that moves us forward or keeps us stagnant. As Mordecai told Esther....for such a time as this. You are here right now where you are for a purpose. So if that question has ever lingered in your mind...may it linger no more. Now back to Daniel.

King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that these intelligent, flawless young men be taught the languge and literature of the Babylonians. He wanted them healthy and ordered a specific diet for them to follow over a three-year period before they would be allowed into his service. It is this that brought Daniel and his friends their first test.

Most scholars believe these four young men were around 17 years of age at this time, some believe they were even younger. They have been ripped away from their home, their families, from everything that felt safe and familiar and thrown into the home of the man who caused it all for the purpose of serving him. What was Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) feeling? What questions and thoughts were going through their minds? I can't imagine what 'the feel' must have been screaming at them. However, we do know what they did inspite of what they may have been feeling because we know how they responded. They didn't rebel or lash out, though they had good reason too. They didn't devise a plan to scheme, cheat, or start a revolution. Instead, they showed respect, honor, and humility in the midst of it all. Respect and honor toward those who had ripped them away from everything they loved, humbling themselves to be the best servants possible in spite of it all. It began with a simple diet but one that would have caused these four young men to break specific stipulations put in place under the leadership of Moses by command of God. They were able to be respectful, to show honor, and to have a genuine humility yet still tactfully offer a temporary solution without being offensive.

Daniel basically offered up a ten day challenge because after all, it was only ten days in a three year program. If it didn't work there was no great loss. Yet we know what God can do with an an instant, watch what He can do with ten days!

The guard agreed to go along with Daniel's request and after that ten days not only had Daniel and his friends proven that maintaining their way of life under God's direction was better, the guards were so impressed they implemented Daniel's diet for everyone. King Nebuchadnezzar may have thought he had taken them from their God and God's ability to work through them but instead he brought their God into the Babylonian kingdom creating the perfect environment for miracles which we will begin to see unfold in the next few chapters.

As God continued to bless these four young men with wisdom and understanding, Nebuchadnezzar found them to be ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the kingdom it tells us as the chapter comes to an end. I find it interesting that God used ten days and in the end King Nebuchadnezzar found Daniel and his friends ten times wiser.

Todays Takeaway:

In our world it seems extremely hard at times to stand our ground in regard to our allegiance to God. We want to be accepted, liked, and elevated. Our American culture, though founded upon God, has so shifted that it now seems to despise and hate everything that has to do with our God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

It is so much easier to listen to our feelings that tell us fitting into the world around us is most important. Even in the church we now go to feel good about ourselves and the God we want to believe in. The god we want to believe is all love and acceptance of all things so we can live however we want and not feel like we have to change or sacrifice anything that would be an inconvenience. W believe it to be a win-win as it also allows us to be accepted because these days our ways don't look much different from the ways of the world. In this we aren't causing any rifts or creating any hardships for ourselves in regard to the world but what we are doing in an eternal sense is more devistating than we realize. We ignore the truth that is so plainly stated through the Bible that God is indeed love but He is also indeed just. We should certainly be about the love of God everyday we are allowed to live but we should never do that out of balance with the justness and holiness of God.

Daniel could have decided to remain quiet and not cause any problems for himself and his friends. Go with whatever the Babylonians wanted because I am pretty certain based on Nebuchadnezzar's track record, Daniel could have even been put to death for addressing the guard in any form of disagreement. Yet, he didn't listen to his feelings that I am certain were telling him to stand down. Daniel was human, just like you and me, and a teenager to boot. He was certainly fighting those feelings yet he chose to stand against the world he was in and because he did it with tact and respect, the outcome was not only positive but was the catalyst of change for an entire empire. Yes, the entire empire. That entire empire was often guided in its direction by the wise men and enchanters of the king, all of whom had to go through that same three year preparation.

Daniel didn't chose the path of least resistance, he chose the path of God. He didn't accept the ways of the Babylonians that went against the teachings of God. He chose to serve and honor God first no matter the cost. A lesson we all need to apply in our lives. Oh if we did, how we could turn the American church back to its roots and that could become the catalyst for change.

[reyatthefeel]

What's 'The Feel'?

The Feel is what I refer to as the many things we experience in the form of a feeling in our everyday life. Our emotions and how they affect literally every action and reaction and why.

If you are like me you find yourself wondering how our world has declined so rapidly. You notice that people aren't as helpful, as kind, as forgiving, as respectful or as trustworthy. In fact, our world has become a downright frightening place to be.

Social media has enhanced the outlets and resources for us to share whatever is on our mind in a given moment of anger or frustration, joy, or sadness. Sadly, it has not only given us a platform to share what we feel with the world but these platforms have created an avenue to draw out feelings we weren't even experiencing until we saw a picture or read a post. The creation of these social media outlets may have been intended to connect and inspire and still do in many ways, but unfortunately have been effective in evoking negative connections and agendas.

It is a vicious cycle and one that is far more harmful than we can truly understand.

For those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, our greatest battle today is fighting 'the feel'. Some would disagree and say our greatest battle is with the devil himself, not realizing that the devil is much better at what he does than we give him credit for. Certainly not realizing how he is causing us to destroy ourselves from within ourselves. Yes, read that again. He is destroying the church as a whole through division, destroying the family unit through the destruction of marriage, destroying our country through hatred and prejudice. The enemy tempts and provokes, the destruction however, that is our doing. We are are responsible for the undoing of ourselves, our churches, our families, and this amazing country. A country in which so many have sacrificed their lives to ensure we could enjoy such freedom. We make sure the devil wins without having to work nearly as hard because we do the work for him....and all of this he accomplishes through that very powerful thing called 'the feel'.

This blog is about learning how to take back the power of 'the feel' so we can put that power where it belongs. In the hands of the only one that can take our feelings and emotions and purify them creating behaviors and reactions that align with His. Oh to be like Jesus!

Here's to taking back The Feel!