Passage of the Day: Daniel 6: 10 - 11 … 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had 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. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.
My Journal for Today: For today’s devotional in John MacArthur’s, Strength for Today, the Author states flatly, “There is a direct link between prayer and integrity (for the Christian).” As we read in today’s passage, it was the faithful discipline of Daniel’s prayer life that prompted the already jealous Medo-Persian officials in the court of King Darius to establish a law against praying openly to Daniel’s God. And here we live in a world today where there are those in influence and political power who have already attempted to strip prayer by legal means from the public arena. And, many of these power mongers would like to wipe the Name of “God” from all public interactions. Take note now, as I write this, our “king’s court” are doing all they can to keep military chaplains from invoking the Name of “Christ” from any public prayer in the military; and hate crime legislation is being formulated in Congress which, as it is in Canada and Sweden, would make it a “hate crime” to preach homosexuality as a sin from a Christian pulpit. So, even today the integrity of believers in God is being tested much the same as was Daniel in the times of today’s text.
As MacArthur above states, we see that Daniel’s public display of disciplined prayer signaled his spiritual integrity, as prayer does, especially public prayer, in our lives as Christians. It is God’s will that we pray to Him (see Col. 4: 2 and 1st Thess. 5: 17 below). And it was so for Daniel as well; and his willingness to pray openly to His Lord was his public witness to his faith in the one, true God.
SCRIPTURE: Col. 4: 2 … Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
SCRIPTURE: 1st Thess. 5: 16 – 18 … 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Are we committed to God and His will, as was Daniel, … so committed that we’d be willing to risk our very life, or at least be imprisoned for our commitment to prayer, by standing for our God by kneeling in prayer … just as He demands of His believers? Seeing military Chaplains being told they cannot pray “in the Name of Christ” and the political trends of the day, it is not difficult to imagine a time, not too soon in the future, when Christians may face a ban on public references to God, which will be most evident in limitations on our prayer to our Lord in public. Where will we stand – or kneel – for our God? Will we be believers with the integrity of a Daniel?
My Prayer Today: Lord, I pray that I will always declare Your Name to honor You, especially in prayer. Amen
Showing posts with label dedication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dedication. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Thursday, February 26, 2009
2009 - Day 56. Feb. 26 - Selfless Dedication
2009 – Day 56.Feb.26 – Selfless Dedication
Passage of the Day: Exodus 2: 15 – 25 … Linked to passage for study ...
My Journal for Today: Is the deliverer of a nation raised in a palace with dreams of taking his people into glory as was Moses when he was raised by Pharaoh to be Pharaoh? No, … in this instance, a deliverer was birthed when he took the opportunity to save and serve seven Midianite women at the well who were being harassed by some lowly shepherds (see Exod. 2: 19).
There’s a great line of truth from Swindoll’s devotional today as he writes, “If you can’t do the good you would; do the good you can.” … I’m sure Moses dreamed of being the leader of a great people as their Pharaoh; but here he was humbled to be in the desert wilderness amongst Bedouin shepherds. But when the circumstances presented themselves for him to step in and be a savior and servant to seven innocent Midianites, Moses was there for them, humbly stepping in to rescue them and even to serve them in a way that we now see was a type of Christ.
Christ, as we know in Matt. 20: 28 or Mark 10: 45 said, “… the Son of Man did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” That, my fellow Christian, is the attitude and heart of a deliverer; and that was the heart of Moses as he stepped forward to be “the deliverer” for those seven daughters of Reuel, a Sheik of Midian. It was that act of selfless dedication which began Moses’ apprenticeship in humility, a deliverer’s training program which lasted 40 years in that desert place. But, as we know if read on in his story, it led to Moses being used by God for God and for God’s people, … a life of selfless dedication in surrender to the God Who would use a lowly shepherd to lead His people out of bondage.
Sometimes we get impatient as we seek to be God’s servant where we’re planted. It may be frustrating to live as we live or work as we work, thinking that there must be something bigger or better God has for us. But perhaps God simply wants us to serve Him right where we are, doing what we do; and perhaps He has greater plans for us. Or maybe not! Maybe God has placed us exactly where we are to serve Him as we are because there is someone in bondage right there in our lives who needs God’s deliverance. Whom do you know or work with whom you know is in bondage to there lost self? Perhaps you are to be used by God as the deliverer of this soul in bondage.
I leave it to you in this moment of meditation, just as I’m convicted by this time with God, to see if God has brought us to the place were we are in this life to be the servant for someone and maybe even their deliverer.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, show me whom I can serve and allow me to help You save someone in my life who needs to be set free of their bondage to sin. Amen
Passage of the Day: Exodus 2: 15 – 25 … Linked to passage for study ...
My Journal for Today: Is the deliverer of a nation raised in a palace with dreams of taking his people into glory as was Moses when he was raised by Pharaoh to be Pharaoh? No, … in this instance, a deliverer was birthed when he took the opportunity to save and serve seven Midianite women at the well who were being harassed by some lowly shepherds (see Exod. 2: 19).
There’s a great line of truth from Swindoll’s devotional today as he writes, “If you can’t do the good you would; do the good you can.” … I’m sure Moses dreamed of being the leader of a great people as their Pharaoh; but here he was humbled to be in the desert wilderness amongst Bedouin shepherds. But when the circumstances presented themselves for him to step in and be a savior and servant to seven innocent Midianites, Moses was there for them, humbly stepping in to rescue them and even to serve them in a way that we now see was a type of Christ.
Christ, as we know in Matt. 20: 28 or Mark 10: 45 said, “… the Son of Man did not come into the world to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” That, my fellow Christian, is the attitude and heart of a deliverer; and that was the heart of Moses as he stepped forward to be “the deliverer” for those seven daughters of Reuel, a Sheik of Midian. It was that act of selfless dedication which began Moses’ apprenticeship in humility, a deliverer’s training program which lasted 40 years in that desert place. But, as we know if read on in his story, it led to Moses being used by God for God and for God’s people, … a life of selfless dedication in surrender to the God Who would use a lowly shepherd to lead His people out of bondage.
Sometimes we get impatient as we seek to be God’s servant where we’re planted. It may be frustrating to live as we live or work as we work, thinking that there must be something bigger or better God has for us. But perhaps God simply wants us to serve Him right where we are, doing what we do; and perhaps He has greater plans for us. Or maybe not! Maybe God has placed us exactly where we are to serve Him as we are because there is someone in bondage right there in our lives who needs God’s deliverance. Whom do you know or work with whom you know is in bondage to there lost self? Perhaps you are to be used by God as the deliverer of this soul in bondage.
I leave it to you in this moment of meditation, just as I’m convicted by this time with God, to see if God has brought us to the place were we are in this life to be the servant for someone and maybe even their deliverer.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, show me whom I can serve and allow me to help You save someone in my life who needs to be set free of their bondage to sin. Amen
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