Only God can provide this...

The story of Daniel and the Lions Den is one of my favorite stories in the bible. It happens in Daniel chapter 6 and I would highly suggest you taking a look at it at some point very soon. I feel as if each time I read that story - there is something else that I learn and I can apply to my life. 

This morning when I was reflecting upon what stuck out to me, it was Daniel's devotion to God through prayer. Now when the king issued the decree that anyone who worshipped anything other than the king's gods, Daniel made a commitment that he wasn't going to do that. Even though the consequence was being thrown into the lions den. 

Now when Daniel learned that the decree has been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)

Daniel made no attempt to hide his daily prayer routine from the government, even though he knew he would be disobeying their new law. Hiding his daily prayers would have been futile because surely the conspirators would have demonstrated that he was afraid of the government officials. Daniel continue to pray because he could not look at the king for the guidance and strength that he needed during this difficult time. Only God could provide what he really needed. 

I challenge you to think about what your response to this is. My response and what I take away is that I need to do a better job at praying. Daniel knew that no matter what he prayed about that God could provide those things for him. I pray, but don't as much as I should. I want to be able to shut out the outside world when I pray because only God can provide what I absolutely need most. 

my 365 day commitment

I believe that one of the best ways to honor a commitment is to build strong and disciplined habits. I feel as if a commitment is flakey unless you don't do something about it on a daily basis.

When I first started dating Rach - I was scared to be 7 hours apart from her for an entire year. I knew she was going to be the one, but I felt like there was something that I had to commit to in order to show her how much I loved her.

Last May (2019) I was mowing my grandparents yard and the whole time I was thinking about Rach because we had just spent the weekend together and I had asked her to be my girlfriend. But while I was mowing, I heard God's voice more clear than I ever have before. I had heard him tell me that if I wrote her 365 letters that I was going to marry her.

I was in.

The only person I told about it was my brother and he thought it seemed pretty legit. So that day, I went home and wrote her letter number 1. Now the original plan was to propose on the day I wrote the 365th letter - but honestly, I couldn't wait that long.

Writing Rach a letter every morning was one of the things that really helped us get through the distance. We were both extremely busy so it wasn't like we got to talk all the time, and some months we only got to see each other for one weekend. To me, writing a letter to Rach was my 10 minute date with her every day.

This morning I wrote her 365th letter. What a ride it has been. I don't think I've ever done anything that helped me truly commit to something more than this. 365 days. Never skipped one. It didn't matter what city I was in, what country, or how tired I was. I wrote every day for a year and it has been one of the greatest decisions I have ever made.

If you are having trouble committing to someone or something, my encouragement for you is to find a way to honor that commitment through your actions and discipline. You don't have to write 365 letters...you don't have to do anything extreme, you just have to find something that works for you. Because I guarantee you. Without that commitment to Rach, our long-distance relationship would've been so much harder than what it actually was.

I'll leave you with this. Make a commitment today. A commitment for your heart and your mind. A selfless commitment. Don't get into this just so you get something in return. We have to make commitments for our own hearts.

Writing Rach for 365 days led me to one of the greatest commitments I have ever made and that is to love her more every day for the rest of my life.

What will you cut off?

Those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. 

Often times in our lives, there are things that help us reach our success and get us to where we want to go. Whether it's something that we are proud of our not. We too often can't let go of that pride and accept who we are. It's like there are parts of us that we are too afraid to cut off.

In Daniel chapter 4, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about the magnificent empire that he had created. Everything that he had created had resembled a tree that you could see from all the ends of the earth. It was a sign of abundance. The king had cerated one of the most powerful empires in all of the world. 

The king's problem was that he was prideful. He would not give the glory, credit, and honor to God. In his dream, it was interpreted that the king was going to have to cut down the tree. Which meant letting go of the empire that he was created. 

The unique part about what God was saying to him in his dream was that there will still be a base of the tree, and when the time comes, he can start building a new empire while being humbled before God. 

So the king new what he had to do. He cut down the tree just like God had told him and he was humbled. 

Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like claws of a bird. At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High: I honored and glorified him who lives forever. 

(Daniel 4:33-34)

Talk about being humbled...he was basically cast out into the wilderness, ate grass like an ox, his hair was like the feathers of an eagle, and his nails were like claws. All this happened so that God could turn this king's pride into humility. 

I share this story because I believe that there are things that each and every one of us have that we need to cut off. There are parts about our lives that we need to make new. God is the one true king who fulfills us in ways that are unimaginable. 

What has to happen today for you to praise the Most High and the glorify him forever and ever? 

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

I am sure that most people have heard of Shedrach, Meshach, Abednego and the burning furnace. This post isn't going to be about the entire story, it's going to be about having incredible faith in God no matter what happens.

Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will delver us from your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." 

(Daniel 3:16-18)

What I like about what the three guys say is that whether God delivers them or not from the fiery furnace that they still won't worship the king's gods and the image he set up. No matter what God was going to do in this situation, it was going to be more rewarding than worshipping other gods.

See they trusted God to deliver them, but they were determined to be faithful regardless of the consequences. If God always rescued those who were true to him, Christians would not need faith. Their religion would be a great insurance policy, and there would be lines of selfish people ready to sign up. We should be faithful to serve God whether he intervenes on our behalf or not. Our eternal reward is worth any suffering we may have to endure first.

I think the belief is sometimes that we will believe only when we know that God will help us prevail in whatever situation we are going through. Because we hate to be let down. We fear to fail and not see God answer our prayers.

But imagine having the mindset and the faith in God that no matter how he intervenes in the situation it is greater than consequences. Our situations don't define who we are, our faith in God does that.

My encouragement for you all is to have faith like Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednego. No matter the outcome, our eternal reward is worth any suffering we may have to endure first.

crisis points

Imagine going to see a powerful, temperamental king who has just angrily ordered your death..

That's what Daniel was faced with in Daniel chapter 2. King Nebuchadnezzar was having dreams that nobody was able to interpret and it was starting to drive him crazy. He searched all over Babylon for someone to interpret his dreams and it seemed like nobody could. He even tried having the magicians and the sorcerers take a stab at it.

When Nebuchadnezzar finally hit his breaking point, he issued a degree to have all wise men in Babylon killed. The king sent Arioch, his servant, to look for Daniel. Daniel was the last straw. The king already knew that there was something different about Daniel because of his actions in Daniel chapter 1 when he resolved.

When Arioch found Daniel, he didn't shrink back in fear. However, he confidently believed the God would tell him all that the king wanted to know.

That's the first thing I want to point out in this post. Daniel, and every single wise man's life was on the line in Babylon and he didn't fear. He had confidence in God to tell him everything he needed to know. Imagine handling every crisis point like that.

Calamity and trust seemed to be the name of the game for Daniel. I believe that we should handle our crisis points more like Daniel. Rather than freaking out, imagine being calm, and trusting in God. His trust was deep though. Anybody can say that they trust someone. But Daniel legitimately believed that God was going to help him solve this mystery.

Calamity, trust, and belief.

Something else that sticks out to me about Daniel in the time of this crisis is that he kept his friends in the loop. Before he made any decisions, he wanted to make sure that his three friends were well aware of what was going on.

So Daniel found his three friends and they prayed.

I often think that we try to handle crisis points on our own. We think we can do it without help. We don't want to communicate with anyone what is going on, etc. To be completely honest, I believe that there is a pride factor wrapped up in it as well.

When we find ourselves in tight spots, we need to share our needs with trusted friends who also believe in God's power. Prayer is more effective than panic. Panic confirms your hopelessness, prayer confirms your hope in God. Daniel's trust in God saved himself, his three friends, and all the other wise men of Babylon.

My challenge for you is to ask yourself how you are handling times of crisis in your life. I believe we can learn a lot from Daniel in this passage. He was calm. He trusted God. He believed in God's power. He prayed with his friends. Ask yourself this question and really think about the answer...imagine if we handled all crisis points in this way? 

Resolve

Resolve is a strong word that means to be devoted to principal and to be committed to a course of action.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission to defile himself this way. 

(Daniel 1:8)

Have you ever had to say no to a group of friends or maybe even some people at work because they were doing something you didn't feel comfortable experiencing? This hasn't been the case with anyone I've ever worked with, but sometimes with friends at certain periods of my life.

There were times were I resolved and times I didn't. I will tell you this, the times I resolved were powerful because I could feel that God was showing his favor.

I think back to a pretty funny story actually...I was a freshmen in high school and it was towards the end of October. There is a scream park about 20 minutes from my hometown called Scream-acres. I had never been there before. I had just heard about it from my friends and upperclassmen I went to school with.

I remember when my mom finally agreed to take me and my friends. I was so excited and felt so grown up. Unfortunately we didn't get there till about 9:30 at night which is fairly late. My mom was very particular about what time we had to be back in the car because she sat and there and waited for us.

After about an hour of waiting in line to go through the haunted house, it seemed like we would never get through the line in time. She had told us that not matter what we were leaving at 11:00. My phone hit 11 and we were about 5 people away from going through.

When she called and and told me it was time to leave, I told my friends it was time and they didn't come with me. After some jokes and being made fun, I resolved not to do what they were doing and decided to obey my mom.

So I went outside and sat in the car with her while all my friends went through the maze.

Do you ever think God is just waiting for you to get it?

See, I understood that my mom was going to love me no matter what decision I made that night. But I wanted to make sure I did what was right and obeyed her. I wanted to make a commitment towards obedience.

God loves us when we make mistakes and when we don't. I think it's time that we start to resolve. It's time to devote ourselves to God's principals and be committed to a course of action.

When Daniel resolved himself, he was being true to a lifelong determination to do what was right and to not give in to the pressures around him. We are to often assaulted by pressures to compromise our standards and live more like the world around us.

Merely waning or preferring God's will and way is not enough to stand against the onslaught of temptation. Like Daniel, we must resolve to obey God.

one single purpose

What is your one single purpose?

I man often asked what I believe my purpose is...and I have given the wrong answer my entire life. A client asked me the other day why I do what I do... I told him that everything I do is for relationships. I love people, I love building up relationships and having an impact on someone's life. That is what brings me fulfillment from my business.

It seemed like a great answer. But the fact of matter is that is wasn't what my answer should've been.

Now all has been heard
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil. 

(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) 

The single purpose of life isn't the mysteries and apparent contradictions we face. The single purpose is knowing God.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon showed us that we should enjoy life, but that doesn't exempt us from obeying God's commandments. We should search for purpose and meaning in life, but they cannot be found in human endeavors.

We should acknowledge the evil, foolishness, and injustice in life, yet maintain a positive attitude and faith in God.

I encourage you to reshape your one single purpose. It might seem a little weird at first, but when your single purpose is knowing God, I believe that good things will begin to fall in place.