King
James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning
Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Sunday,
September 13, 2015
Chapters: Daniel 1-3
https://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-256.html
Message
Title: In
The Strength of Christ

Hello My Friend,

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 and nations.
What we are to learn from the book is that God is the only God and
gives honor and protection to those who worship only 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 one of the captives carried into Babylon, he was quite young,
perhaps even a teenager, he and three of his friends were favored and
assigned new Babylonian names. The name Daniel means God is Judge,
but his Babylonian name, Belteshazzar means prince of Baal. Daniel
and his friends were among a group of Jews that they king chose to
teach them the ways of the Babylonians, but they would not defile
themselves by taking the kings provisions.

“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. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would
not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the
wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the
eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” - Daniel
1:3-8.

That
he might not defile himself, this is how saved, born again
children of God get wrapped up in false religion, they are quick to
accept the oh so wonderful offerings of those ready to reel them into
their teachings. I have seen many people leave a church and go right
into another religion because they offered them food and other
provisions when they were vulnerable. It takes a strong Christian
faith, walking with Christ daily to resist the temptations of the
devil set out to pull us away from Him and into false religion.
Regardless, once we are His, we are His forever, the devil can't take
a saved soul from Christ, but he can keep them from telling the truth
to others. “And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Take heed that no man deceive
you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.” - Matthew 24:4,5,11-13.

Daniel,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had all sorts of opposition, but they
never gave up on God, they could change their names, but they could
not change their faith in God. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had a 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 none 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, including
Daniel. Once Daniel found out why they had a death sentence on him he asked to speak to the king, and God gave
Daniel the interpretation of the dream. Once
he revealed it to him he was so impressed that he made him a ruler in
Babylon.

“And
in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to
other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these
kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that
the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it
brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the
gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to
pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation
thereof sure. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and
worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation
and sweet odours unto him. 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. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many
great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon,
and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.”
- Daniel 2:44-48.

The God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed, one day Christ will return to set up
His Kingdom, every other kingdom still in existence will be destroyed
and He will reign as King. I imagine God's objective in all this was
for Nebuchadnezzar to realize that He is the only God and to 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, but very
few actually get saved. Merely knowing of 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.

Nebuchadnezzar might have been impressed
with God, but was not willing to give up his own to worship only Him,
in fact, he has a golden statue made up of himself that all would
worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's faith was about to be
put to the test when they did not worship this statue at the call to
do so. “There are certain Jews whom thou hast
set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve
not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If
it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O
king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not
serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
- Daniel 3:12,13,16-18.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
refused to bow down and worship this idol, stating that they would
die before they would bow down to any god other than God Himself.
Nebuchadnezzar had these men thrown into a fiery furnace, seven times
hotter than it had been. That fire was so hot that the men throwing
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace were burnt to a
crisp, but not a hair was singed on these men, in fact, something
amazing occurred, Jesus was in the midst of them, and Nebuchadnezzar
witnessed another miracle from God. 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. We need to stand true to
God even in the face of death, when we do nothing Is Impossible! We
can overcome every obstacle with God. “I can
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” -
Philippians 4:13.

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. Give us the strength
to stand by Your Son, and not buckle under pressure to those who want
to see us fall. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am
praying for you,
Christina

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