DANIEL

Today is Friday.  I just finished Thursday's blog, and now for today's.  I am still reading in Daniel, and here is the thoughts I put a mark by in the margin of my Bible as I read:

1) AN EXCELLENT SPIRIT- Two times we will see this said of Daniel.  In each case, Daniel is an older man.  We see it in Daniel 5:12, and in Daniel 6:3.  As we grow older, it seems harder to keep an excellent spirit about us.  We can get where we grip, we complain, we judge, we criticize, we critique, we can become a sour crabby old person!! Well, that is not what I want to be!  I want an excellent spirit like Daniel who was way up in age at this time and yet had a wonderful spirit to be around.  He was not a complainer.  He served when asked, and didn't resent not being called to service earlier.  Wow!  Let us learn from Daniel!

2) CONSEQUENCES- There are always consequences for our actions, but they often reach so much farther than we ever imagined. (if we imagined consequences at all!)  In Daniel six, we have some presidents and princes trying to get rid of Daniel.  So these men decided that His obedience to his God was the only way to trip him up.  Through a law they had enacted, Daniel was found to be praying to His God and not to the king.  He was thrown into the lion's den.  Darius, king of Persia, fasted and prayed all night for Daniel's safety in the lion's den, and God heard Daniel's and Darius' prayer.  But, what about the men who had Daniel put in the den?  Consequences!  In Daniel 6:24  "And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den."  Now these men plotted against Daniel, but notice that it was more than just them that went into the Lion's den... their children, and their wives!  Woe!  Stiff consequences.  You see, consequences are always stiffer than you can imagine.  That is why a wise man studies a mater and determines the cost both ways before he makes a move.  So often we think that our lives are our own and things only affect us... but that is NOT the case.  It affects our loved ones, and there are consequences!  Let us never forget this important lesson.

3) HELP FROM HEAVEN- In Daniel 10, we see that Michael (an angel) was sent to help Gabriel (an angel) to fight a battle, and then it is said of him: vs. 21 "and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince."  God always has help that He sends us from Heaven.  It might not be an angel, but God can use anything He wants to help His children.... and He will!!  God will help us!!  I love what Nehemiah said:  "The God of heaven, He will help us!"  I love what Isaiah says:  "For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying:  fear not, I will help thee."  Wow oh wow!  Don't we have a wonderful God to help us from Heaven!  Keep this in your thoughts as well.

Hope you have a blessed day!  Pastor Mike Mutchler