"To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Daniel 1:17
"In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."
Daniel 1:20
The cashier at Walgreens this morning began telling me how miserable the holidays were because of her job in retail. I managed to escape this treacherous career path several years ago...I could relate. But as I began to ask questions, I found out she had just lost a husband she had been married to for 40 years. She was really struggling with the thought of spending the holidays without him. I told her about the grief-share program at our church and gave her my phone number.
While I felt compassion for her loss, my deeper concern was for her soul. Though the meeting was short, I didn't really get the impression that she knew Jesus and had a relationship with Him.
I couldn't help but wonder, as so many of us continually do, how can we reach them?...It's like we are in another world, another realm, and we're trying to pierce our hand through some mysterious veil and pull them through... rescuing them and bringing them in to ours. I search for the magic words, the magic key...but so rarely can I find it. What is the answer?
I love the first couple of chapters of Daniel. So much of it is about wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and knowing the deep hidden things of God. The NIV commentary explains Daniel 1:17…”with God's help, Daniel and his friends mastered the essential Babylonian literature on astrology and divination by dreams, but in the crucial tests of interpretation and prediction, all the pagan literature proved worthless. Only by God's special revelation was Daniel able to interpret correctly.”
Daniel's heart was pure. He loved His God more than anything. He refused to eat the King's choice food and drink his wine. He prayed with discipline and refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar. He studied and learned everything there was to learn...science, literature, art, mathematics...all the stuff of the earth. But when it came to the stuff of heaven, he relied on God. He fasted...he prayed...he worshiped...he trusted...and when the moment of truth came...the hot seat...the time to "make it or break it"...he trusted. And God came through...He came through with the interpretation, he came through in the furnace, he came through in the lion's den...and He even gave Daniel the prophecy we are still waiting to see unfold; thousands of years later.
"the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is the image of God.". 2 Corinthians 4:4
Piercing the veil...how do we reach them? For the lady at Walgreens, I wish I had a magic wand from God. I would tap them/her on the forehead and watch the change take place before my eyes! I taught Daniel 1:17-21 to Annaliese and Justus tonight. I told them that God was "giving them knowledge and understanding of all literature and learning" through their studies in school, and ultimately they would be given special revelation in times they needed it...if they kept their hearts pure and committed themselves to God, like Daniel. I told them they would speak to kings and presidents and these kings and presidents would be so much more impressed with them than the magicians of our day that they would see their God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was the true God...as long as they kept their hearts pure...undivided...committed to Him, and steeped in His word.
God will use us to Pierce the Veil...but we must use words...faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God...plain and simple...we gotta tell em...but something that I think will help, something that will maybe help us find the right words, the "special revelation"...the "dream interpretation", is that we gotta love...like Daniel's heart, we've got to love our Savior...above all else...when the world says eat our finest foods, drink our finest wine, we gotta fast a little...when cable TV says I've got one more thing to check out, we gotta pray a little...and when the Nebuchadnezzar of our day, the world system, says worship me, we must remain steadfast and worship the one, true, LIVING God, our precious Lord Jesus, the Christ!
"In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom."
Daniel 1:20
The cashier at Walgreens this morning began telling me how miserable the holidays were because of her job in retail. I managed to escape this treacherous career path several years ago...I could relate. But as I began to ask questions, I found out she had just lost a husband she had been married to for 40 years. She was really struggling with the thought of spending the holidays without him. I told her about the grief-share program at our church and gave her my phone number.
While I felt compassion for her loss, my deeper concern was for her soul. Though the meeting was short, I didn't really get the impression that she knew Jesus and had a relationship with Him.
I couldn't help but wonder, as so many of us continually do, how can we reach them?...It's like we are in another world, another realm, and we're trying to pierce our hand through some mysterious veil and pull them through... rescuing them and bringing them in to ours. I search for the magic words, the magic key...but so rarely can I find it. What is the answer?
I love the first couple of chapters of Daniel. So much of it is about wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and knowing the deep hidden things of God. The NIV commentary explains Daniel 1:17…”with God's help, Daniel and his friends mastered the essential Babylonian literature on astrology and divination by dreams, but in the crucial tests of interpretation and prediction, all the pagan literature proved worthless. Only by God's special revelation was Daniel able to interpret correctly.”
Daniel's heart was pure. He loved His God more than anything. He refused to eat the King's choice food and drink his wine. He prayed with discipline and refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar. He studied and learned everything there was to learn...science, literature, art, mathematics...all the stuff of the earth. But when it came to the stuff of heaven, he relied on God. He fasted...he prayed...he worshiped...he trusted...and when the moment of truth came...the hot seat...the time to "make it or break it"...he trusted. And God came through...He came through with the interpretation, he came through in the furnace, he came through in the lion's den...and He even gave Daniel the prophecy we are still waiting to see unfold; thousands of years later.
"the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is the image of God.". 2 Corinthians 4:4
Piercing the veil...how do we reach them? For the lady at Walgreens, I wish I had a magic wand from God. I would tap them/her on the forehead and watch the change take place before my eyes! I taught Daniel 1:17-21 to Annaliese and Justus tonight. I told them that God was "giving them knowledge and understanding of all literature and learning" through their studies in school, and ultimately they would be given special revelation in times they needed it...if they kept their hearts pure and committed themselves to God, like Daniel. I told them they would speak to kings and presidents and these kings and presidents would be so much more impressed with them than the magicians of our day that they would see their God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was the true God...as long as they kept their hearts pure...undivided...committed to Him, and steeped in His word.
God will use us to Pierce the Veil...but we must use words...faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God...plain and simple...we gotta tell em...but something that I think will help, something that will maybe help us find the right words, the "special revelation"...the "dream interpretation", is that we gotta love...like Daniel's heart, we've got to love our Savior...above all else...when the world says eat our finest foods, drink our finest wine, we gotta fast a little...when cable TV says I've got one more thing to check out, we gotta pray a little...and when the Nebuchadnezzar of our day, the world system, says worship me, we must remain steadfast and worship the one, true, LIVING God, our precious Lord Jesus, the Christ!
Would you join with Daniel and all the saints that have gone before us...in fasting, praying and worshiping...that we could Pierce the Veil and reach the Nebuchadnezzars of this world?
Love this. Well said!
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