28. Dan 1:9 - 21 And God Gave.....

Time:  605 BC
Place: King's Court

Today, I want to share with you how God acts when His people dares to stand up to live a holy life and not defile themselves.

Daniel 1:8 - Daniel takes the step of faith to live up to the holy calling. He resolves not to defile himself and so refuses the pleasure of food from the King.


Step of faith often requires some actions on our part.

1.  Daniel Spoke Up
2.  Daniel Asks


**Whenever we act in faith and stand up for God, God responds**

God always responds!

1.  Daniel 1:9  God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the enuchs.
2.  Daniel 1: 17 God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom...


I will be short today because I want you to meditate on these 2 verses: "God gave..."


In later articles, I will be expounding more on God's actions in blessing His people when we respond to Him in faith.




God responded and blessed Daniel and his 3 friends remarkable ways.

The same for you if you resolve not to defile yourself and live a live a holy life.

:)

27. Daniel 1:8 Resolves not to defile himself Part 3

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's Court
Scripture:  Daniel 1:8



Daniel 1:8  -  Daniel 'resolved' that  he would 'not defile himself' with the King's food or with the wine that he drank.  Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him 'not to defile himself.'

"Not to defile oneself" means "to live a holy life."  It is 2 sides of the same coin.

Daniel resolves to  live a "holy life"

We must commit to live a life of  holiness.  Daniel has the spiritual insight to see through the cunning of the enemy and the world's temptation to stray him from living a holy life, thus there must be this commitment - to live a life of purity.

Remember Daniel is a growing youth.  It is especially needful for youths today to keep themselves pure.  Our beloved young people, have you made a commitment to live a life of purity?

Today, make this decision to live a life of purity like Daniel! :)

God calls us to live a holy life and to be "saints of the Most High" in this world.

• "saints of the Most High" is a peculiar phrase in Daniel
• "saints of the Most High" - 4 X (Dan 7:18,22, 25, 27)

As you can see, there is this overall theme in Daniel - to be saints of the Most High.  Saints in the Bible means 'the holy ones.'  Our calling as Christians are to be saints of the Most High.

Dan 7:25 mentions that Satan shall wear out the 'saints of the Most High".  While Satan sometimes attacks suddenly, often times his attacks are gradual and slow.  He wants to work on you to wear you out slowly until you are so worn out completely over an extended period of time.  Why? To get you to throw in the towel and give up!

Holiness does not come about by chance. It is fought with many long spiritual battles.  We must fight them with purpose.  You must be on guard.  You must fight with fear and trembling.  You must fight against the downward pull of Satan to knock you out.  Battles will come one after another to tire you out, to wear you out.  Holiness renews your spiritual life with strength and power!

My beloved ones, let us  be careful and  hold fast to God's calling of a "holy life", to be worthy to be "saints of the Most High" in these last days.  

God is raising up "Daniels' in these last days!  Will you be a Daniel?

:)

25. Daniel 1:8 Resolves not to defile himself Part 1

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's Court
Scripture:  Daniel 1:8


Here is a Spiritual Challenge to all of us:

Daniel 1:8  -  Daniel 'resolved' that  he would 'not defile himself' with the King's food or with the wine that he drank.  Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him 'not to defile himself.'

Dan 1:6 "Among these....."  There was a  small group of captives offered with the King's food and wine, not just 4 of them.

So here are these young captives being fed with the same meat the King eat!  Imagine!  And they get to drink the wine that he drinks!  The king's food and wine can be compared to a buffet of food in hotels where you get a variety of the best choice of food and wine.  Wine was expensive in those days, so Daniel and his friends could have just let loose, and let themselves enjoy the pleasure of life which they were entitled to, just like all the others.

Why would anybody object to this?  Would you object to eat the King's meat and drink the King's wine?  All this is paid for and you don't even need to pay one cent.  They can dine and feast like princes and sons of the monarch.

They are given the golden opportunity to live a royal life of plenty and luxury.  It is a living standard far above what they had back home in Jerusalem.

Here is Daniel in the new world.   He could have chosen to live this new luxurious lifestyle and nobody would question him.  There was nobody to watch over him from his past.  After all, it was the king's offer for him to have the best food and wine for the 3 years to come.


Would you object to this great offer?  When in Rome we do what the Romans do.  When in Babylon, do what the Babylonians do.  Follow the customs, the lifestyle, the food and the fashion of the day.  What they do, we do. What they think we think.  How they act, we act.  Where they go, we go. We all want to be accepted in the 'norm'.


Look at the 2  different reactions in this group:

1.  Most of the captives in this group did NOT give it much thought and accepted the king's offer.

2.  But Daniel declined the offer!

     Why?  Why?  Tell me Why.

The answer is in Dan 1:8 ... he resolved he would not defile himself.  "Defile" is a very strong word.  Why would the king's food defile him?

What does it mean when it says "Daniel resolves not to defile himself"?  

We will look into this tomorrow.