Good Afternoon Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We can awake each day with an expectation to receive the benefits of The Blessing of the Lord. He lovingly tells us He loads up benefits for us daily.
Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Isn’t it awesome to know when you awake each day, there are benefits from our loving Father God awaiting us. Divine Spiritual blessings, divine physical blessings, divine protection blessings, and divine deliverance blessings.
One of my favorite examples of faith from The Scriptures is in the Book of Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The three young Hebrew men were appointed to oversee the province of Babylon. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon created a towering, golden statue of a god and commanded all in his kingdom to bow down before it and worship it, these three young men refused. Not only did they refuse, but when you read The Scriptures, there is no fear, no flinching, no doubt, no trembling, no begging on the part of these three young men. Instead, they are very BOLD. To refuse the king’s order meant death.
Daniel 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 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.
18 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.
When I read these three verses, it makes me want to get up and run around shouting about the boldness of these three young men in the face of death. Take that Satan!! If their boldness doesn’t impress you, then as Andrew Wommack says, “your wood is wet.”
Do we have this boldness? Is it’s God’s will for us to have this boldness? Yes, absolutely. The same boldness Jesus had. We’re meant to live each day as Jesus did and consistently get the same results Jesus did.
Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Romans 8:31
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
We see that King Nebuchadnezzar has Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into a fire that the king commanded be heated seven times hotter than ever before. We see the strong men who threw the three Hebrews into the fire died. When the king looks into the fire, he sees the three Hebrew men and a fourth, who the king exclaims looks like the Son of God. The king sees them walking about speaking together. Wow, it gives me chill bumps just thinking about how astounded the king must have been. Satan had to be beside himself. Foiled again by FAITH in The Word of God!!!
The king called out to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they walked out of the fire. Not a hair was singed, their clothing was not scorched, and there wasn’t a smell of smoke on them. Can you imagine this! I’m not asking a question, I’m making a statement of faith. Can you see them walking out of that heinous fire smiling and unscathed? We have to reach a point in our faith that we can see this and believe we, too, have this same blessing, praise God!
Now, get this. King Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree stating that if any man spoke against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they would be cut in pieces and their homes burned to the ground. AND……the king promoted each of the three Hebrews to even higher positions in the Kingdom of Babylon. This reminds me of God’s many promises He had the inspired writers (forty of them) pen over 1500 years. Here are but a few:
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
II Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.
Isaiah 54:14
In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the LORD.
Psalm 112:7
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
II Corinthians 1:20
For all the promises of God in Him [Christ] are yea, and in Him [Christ] Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
If, by faith, the three Hebrew young men were able to not only easily overcome the fire, but they were also able to joyfully exit the fire, completely unharmed, unphased, and then were PROMOTED, why can’t we have this as a daily experience? God is not a respecter of persons. If He does it for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He has to do it for us if we use the same faith. Otherwise, God is unjust.
Ultimately, it ALL rests with us – you and me. We can’t look to our mothers and fathers, our upbringing, our neighborhoods, our wives or husbands, our situation, our challenges, Satan, or God, and blame them. Our situation, good or bad, is entirely of our making. God has given us free will to willing and obediently obey Him and live a wonderful life or to choose to live under the curse. God makes this VERY clear in Deuteronomy 30:19.
Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
It’s all up to us. We can humble ourselves and cast everything on God (I Peter 5:6-7), or we can continue to struggle with it under our own strength, wisdom, and might. I choose to enter His rest (Hebrews 4:10-11) and cease from my own strength, wisdom, and might.
Remember, we DON’T have to go through things, but if we do, we have a loving, benevolent Father and Elder Brother Who provides us with the way out and a promotion on the other end.
Much love in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Larry