KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2018
Chapters: Daniel 1-3
Message: We Will Not Serve Thy gods!
Hello My Friend,
If you were to study world history, and this is still happening in many countries today, you would discover that every country has their own religion and everyone residing in that country was required to follow that religion. America was founded on Christian values because there were faithful, born again believers of Jesus Christ who wanted to worship God His way, and risked their lives proclaiming, “We will not serve thy gods!”. We are in a time where it is getting to be that way again, faithful Christians are being severely persecuted and even losing their lives because they proclaim Christ as their Saviour. The devil is so good at intimidation, but we do not have to take his bullying, we can stand up to Him by standing true to our faith and proclaiming, “We will not serve thy gods, we will serve the LORD!” “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – Joshua 24:15.
The Book of Daniel contains twelve chapters. The author of the book is Daniel and it was first written to the Jews that were held captive in Babylon, 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. 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.
“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.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself” Daniel was not about to let the anyone tempt him with things that would defile his body. We are free to choose who we worship and should we choose Christ no one has a right to condemn us for that decision. Everywhere you go there are people, and we do it too if we are faithful Christians, trying to introduce you to their religion, but false religion does it by giving them gifts that feed off of their vulnerabilities, whereas Christians feed them with the bread of Christ, and that is true religion. “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” – Acts 3:6-8.
“but such as I have give I thee:” There is no better gift than to give someone the truth about Christ and how they can be saved. The world will never understand Christ, and that is exactly why God made it that way, only true worshipers of God will hear His Word, understand it, and believe in all of it, not what they pick and choose. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had all sorts of opposition, but never gave up on God, they could change their names, but could not change their faith. Now, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he wanted interpreted, the catch, he wanted someone to tell him what he dreamt first. He got what they called, wise men, sorcerers, astrologers, and 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 of the wise men killed. They came to Daniel and his friends, ready to execute them, Daniel asks why the king was so doing this.
“He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 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 2:15-19,47-48.
“Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods,” Do not let them fool you, they know there is only one true and living God, all others are just man made gods, including those who make up their own version of God and sell that to the people through all their gifts. You have to see how ridiculed many of the Babylonians had to feel as the Jews began taking charge in their land, well, let me tell you, God will use you anywhere need be to spread His truths out there, and of you are faithful to Him He will bless you, even if that means He throws you right into the fire. Why does He do this? So that some of the people will see that He is the only true and living God and choose Him, some will never worship Him as He is or accept Him no matter what He does to prove He is the only God to worship, but as long as He gets one out of that group we served His purpose. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” – James 5:19-20.
Nebuchadnezzar might have been impressed with Daniel’s God, but was not willing to give up his own to worship only Him, in fact, he thought of himself a god and has a golden statue made up of himself and he required all to bow down and worship it as soon music began to play.
“Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 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 3:4-6,15-18.
“that we will not serve thy gods,” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to bow down and worship this idol, stating they would die before they bow down to any god other than God Himself. Nebuchadnezzar had these men thrown into that fiery furnace, in fact, turning it up seven times hotter than it had been. That fire was so hot that the men throwing them into the furnace burned up and died instantly, but not a hair on these men, was singed, in fact, something amazing occurred, Jesus was in the midst of them, and it was Nebuchadnezzar who pointed that out. 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 Christ and that acceptance can utterly turn into hate. We need to stand true to God, even in the face of death we need to proclaim, “We will not serve thy gods!” “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20-21.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” – Daniel 3:25.
Today’s Prayer: God, With all the things that are going on today, and all the persecution we face just for choosing Your Son it is comforting to know that He is in the midst of the fire with us. I have chosen, and still choose You to serve. As much as we think and even know that all things are possible with You, when temptations and pressure comes our way it can be hard to believe that when we are being thrown into the fire. 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
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength
Copyright © 2018 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.