Daniel is 4:37

“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. ”

We all have a past. We all have had a time where we did not acknowledge Or even know God. We were living our life just to please ourselves. Doing everything thing we could find to do under the sun. But God has a way of waking us up, and causing us to bow a knee to him.

We call this transition by many names. I have heard ‘hitting bottom’, ‘God called my name’, ‘failure’, and ‘I tried everything, every thing failed so I tried God’. Call it what you may, the bottom line is God has a way to showing you who he is, and drawing your attention towards him.

Nothing that is good is achieved is done without God. There are many successful people who don’t know or acknowledge God. They achieve great success in their chosen field. Many may say they did it without God. But the truth is, just like Nebuchadnezzar, God’s blessing was upon them because the great tree of their success is there to provide sustenance for the people of God.

God is a master planner. He has a way of reigning in every heart that refuses to acknowledge him willingly. We see the fall and scandals of people everyday. God is doing what he has always done. Arranging things and situations where we run to him or fall. Nebuchadnezzar had the dream and Daniel gave him the interpretation. We call this a warning. But even with advance knowledge, Nebuchadnezzar never had the thought to change to avoid his fall. He thought his greatness would be enough protection.

But God is also faithful. He allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come back to his right mind. In Daniel 4:37, we see Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony, “Now, I praise and extol, and honor the King of heaven…” He says ‘now’ because prior to that he refused to do so. He believed that all he had accomplished was done on his own. He was glorying in his power as king. But God is the King of Kings. He will bring down every heart that is puffed up in pride. We all have been here at some time in the past.

We all have a ‘Now’ experience in our lives. We all have pasts and done foolish things. We have experienced failures and hopefully learned from them. Either way, we serve a God that transitioned us to ‘now’. And I am so glad he did. The alternative would be to continue in our foolishness, and miss heaven. Nothing is worth that.

Thank God for the Transition to ‘now’.

Daniel 3:30

“Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon. ”

When it comes to success, there are no short cuts. We must do the work in order to reap the reward. In God, the work revolves around obedience. Your ability to obey God’s word will is your guarantee of success.

The word of God is our roadmap. It’s your playbook. We must jump into the word to find our way. We must meditate on the word. Sometimes the thing we must do to be blessed may not taste good to us, but it is always good for us. It is not easy to love and show love to the ones that have hurt us, betrayed us, and lied on us. But we must love them, bless them, and not curse them. This is the will of God.

In your obedience is your blessing.

Looking at the story of the 3 Hebrew boys, there are some things we know about God, that there should not be any need to consider an answer when it is brought into question. We know our God is a jealous God and will not allow us to worship another false god. For he is the only wise and true God. When the requirement of the King came to worship the false god he made of gold. The answer for them was easy. Obedience kicked in, and they obeyed God instead of man.

We must have the same attitude. Yes, your obedience may lead you to some hard consequences, but God is ever with us. In Daniel 3, obedience lead Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace. Your obedience may cause you to suffer loss, persecution, or ridicule. But just as God was in their situations, he is in yours too.

Your obedience will bring about your miracle.

You cannot get to the next level without obedience. Many are afraid to do the hard thing, or at least what we consider to be hard. No one ever said obedience is always easy. But is it ALWAYS right.

What has God spoken to you to do? What is he leading you to do? Instead of talking your self out of it because it does not make sense to you, just take a step of obedience and faith. Trust God and follow him to the end. Your blessing is on the other side of your obedience.

Lest We Forget Who We Are…

Galatians 4:28

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”

To remember is to have in or be able to bring to one’s mind an awareness of (someone or something that one has seen, known, or experienced in the past).

Most of the enemy’s game plan is designed to get you so distracted by his deeds that we forget. We forget who we really are and who we serve. Why? Because knowing this will cause us to take advantage of the gifts, power, anointing, understanding, healing, etc. that comes along with being a child of God. We will take action. We will put some work with our faith and receive from God.

But when the enemy attacks us, afflicts us, causes people to come against us in every way imaginable, we tend to lose focus on this important fact. We are children of promise. God has invested in us and is routing for us (and helping us along the way).

We are built and equipped to withstand – period. We just have to remember that, and act accordingly.

Don’t allow to enemy to make you forget who you are. Stand up in the power God has given you and be great in Jesus name!

2 Timothy 1:12

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

God is way better that Allstate. They are quick to let you know you are in good hands with them. We serve a God who knows the secrets of your heart. He knows what you hold dear. And he can handle them all.

Most of the time we have to remember (or remind ourselves) just who God is. He is creator, protector, provider, deliverer, keeper, healer, and on and on. Once we remember who he is, then we must understand that he is able. He is able to bear everything that I commit to him. That thing is safe and secure.

Commit your heart and mind to him. He can handle it. Commit your gifts and talents to him. He knows how to try them and make them excellent. Give him your hurt and pain. He can take the power away from them to dictate your life. He will make you free. Commit yourself to him. He will give you wings of an eagle to soar high and bring Glory to his name. He can handle whatever you commit to him.

Be persuaded of his ability because you know him. Know him through his word. That precious word of God that provides the foundation of our life and is a light to show the way we should take.

Personally speaking, whenever things get tough and the enemy seems to be fighting more than ever; I remind myself. I know who I believed and I am convinced that God is able to keep the things that I have committed to him. It encourages me to keep fighting. Not to give up. I remind myself that God can handle it.

I choose to speak life, to speak victory. Even when the opposite seems easier or even true. Miraculously, God always seems to work every thing out for my good.

What a mighty God we serve!