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            With all of the evil that happens in the world daily, it's important to not give into fear or the darkness but to stand firm in Gods light, love, protection, forgiveness and grace. A good way to do this, to renew our strength and bravery, is by reading the book of Daniel. Given the timing of tragic events close to home, skipping ahead  in the bible to focus on this subject matter is needed.  Daniel's life is a picture of the triumph of faith. 

            In 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon. That year he surrounded Jerusalem and made Judah his state. He took Jerusalems wisest men and most beautiful women to Babylon as captives. Of those captives was Daniel/Belteshazzar, Hanniah/Shadrach, Mishael/Meshach and Azariah/Abednego. Their names were changed after they were taken captive to make them fit in with their new Babylonian culture. 

            Nebuchadnezzar was a feared king by the world, and was always victorious. After he would conquer a country he would take the best of their best and have them train for 3 years to potentially serve him if they did well enough after their training. He gave all of his captives daily rations of food and wine. However, Daniel and his friends chose not to eat the food or wine. Either because the food possibly wasn't clean (pork) or because they didnt want to depend on a king who served false gods for their livelihood. Either way, for whatever exact reason to honor God, they refused their rations. 

            It was customary to execute anyone who disobeyed the king, but God Intervened and sent the chief eunuch to address this matter. The eunuch feared that if the king saw the boys looking famished they would be executed and the eunuch would be in trouble as well. 

            Daniel came up with a good solution for all, he suggested that the boys only eat vegetables and drink water for 10 days, and if they look healthy then they can continue with that diet plan and not the king's. After 10 days the eunuch looked the boys over and was pleased, they looked healthier and plumper than the others eating the king's rations. God was pleased that they stood up for their beliefs and Gods word, so He sustained their body's for them so they wouldn't have to eat the kings rations and wine. God also blessed them with a knowledge and understanding of literature. And Daniel was blessed with the understanding of visions and dreams. 

            From this we can learn a few things. First, no matter what everyone else is doing, do what makes God happy and what is in order with His word. If obeying His word puts you in a situation that could arise strife, He will deliver you. It's not always easy to follow His word, but it's what we were designed to do, if you want it, it is possible. 

            To the outsider looking in, sometimes things that nonbelievers do may appear better, but it's not. For example it may have seemed better to eat the kings rations,  it was more food and wine. But if it was pork and ruled unclean, it could have made the men sick from it not being acquired cleanly. Drinking wine may seem fun, but if you overindulge it can cause you to make bad choices and even cause headaches and nausea. 

            For example,  in today's culture it seems more common to lay with someone whom your not married too rather than to wait till marriage, but what can result from that is not always good (STDs, heartbreak, adultry). To avoid what is socially "normal" to stay in line with Gods word is always what's best for us. Daniel knew where his line was, what he was ok with and what he wasn't ok with. We need to know where our line is before we are put in a situation to be tempted so we can firmly rise above it and stay in line with Gods word. 

            Daniel was put in a position to where he could have easily gave up, became depressed or filled with anger and question and dwell as to why this was happening to him. But instead, he chose to focus on God and his loyalty and faithfulness to God rather then dwell on the troubles he was in. It's easier to lose hope and question when things go wrong, when accidents or attacks happen. There is so much that is not meant for us to know yet. But what we do know is God is faithful, He keeps his promises, and if we choose to focus in that we will be delivered and have peace while enduring the rough time. God does not force anything on anyone, He gives free will which can explain why evil things sometimes happen in the world,  people taking their freewill and choosing to serve evil. But God is honest and will follow through with His word, and that's what we should focus on like Daniel did. 

            Daniel was put in a new culture and persevered,  with Gods help. From this we can learn what to do when we are put in a new situation or environment. We can learn about it more, embrace the culture while still focusing on God. Dont consume yourself with the new surroundings,  engage in it while keeping your eye on God. Keep a positive attitude and rely on God to pull your through it. God blessed these boys with knowledge and at the end of their training the king found that they were ten times better than the magicians and astrologers that he had serving him. The king chose the boys to serve him up close, in a position of higher power than what they were in. The knowledge and talent God blessed them with could not be ignored. 

 

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            We are going to do things a little differently. Instead of going through the bible chronologically we are going to do focus on whatever part of the bible God wants us to focus on in that moment. If nothing comes to mind then we will refer back to the chronological order for that week. Today I am feeling like God wants us to have a revelation on the book of Job, specifically verses Job 5:19, and 5:26.

            Often times, when one receives a revelation on the word of God the devil will try to take that from you, you need to fight to keep it. I have had this happen many times and when you fight to get it back its much
harder to receive than to just keep it the first time. If you have a revelation of this message, fight to keep it and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Meditate on this message over and over again and protect it till you are standing strong in it to share with others without losing it.

           Job 5:19 tells us “He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.” 

            This doesn't mean literally six troubles, but it does show us that after we rely on God to take us through hardships and struggles and we stick to our faith in believing in His word, at some point we will arrive in that “seventh place” where no evil shall touch us, no troubles will come at us. Stop and picture this, visualize this, a time where no evil can touch you.

            Yes, God will deliver us from trouble, but God doesn't want us to be in trouble in the first place, He wants us to get to that place where trouble cant even phase us because we are untouchable, no evil will touch us.

            Some people think that God places trouble in our lives so we can grow and have a reason to seek Him. But this is false. God is good, only good, He does not put trouble or harm on us, its not in His nature to
be bad or to put bad things upon you. HE IS ONLY GOOD. All bad things come from the devil.  While we can grow closer to God in times of trouble, and seek Him more, God doesn't put the trouble on us and wants us to get to the place in our faith where we are untouchable from evil.

            A little over a month ago I dropped something on my foot and it hurt really bad. Immediately the devil tried to get me think, “Why didn't God protect me from this?” I ignored it and praised God for delivering me
from the pain and basically doing damage control on my foot. I couldn't walk on it for a week, I didn't know why, if a nerve was damaged or if something broke. But I didn't want to believe the what ifs, instead I chose to keep praising God that He was delivering me from this. After a week I was able to walk on it as if nothing had happened. In the reality, God delivered me from the “what could have been” ie nerve damage or broken bones. He delivered me from the pain and after a week I was back to full movement as if it never happened.  God did protect me in that moment by protecting my nerves and bones, in the flesh it hurt and appeared like something was wrong but in the spiritual God was already delivering me from it and keeping me protected. Without Gods protection there probably would have been a trip to the hospital for some X-rays.

            God is delivering us all the time from things we do not see, but God wants us to be in that seventh place where no evil will touch us at all.  Keep visualizing this perfection of peace and keep fighting in your faith
to get there. Ask God to give you a revelation on this and meditate over this a lot throughout this week, or longer, however long it takes you to cement this revelation into your mind.

            Job 5:26 says that we shall come to the grave at a full age as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. This verse lets us know that it is Gods will for us to live a long life, to a full age. Anything that doesn't support this in our lives is an attack, simply resist it and praise God that what He says is true, stand in it, in His word and believe it and it will help you get to that seventh place where no evil will touch you.

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            A lot of genealogy is shared in chapter 36. We also learn that Esau took his household and his animals and left Canaan to go to Mount Seir. Esau and his brother Jacob had both grown their household and animals so big that they could no longer dwell in the same place.

            Chapter 37 begins with the story of Joseph, one of Jacobs 12 sons. My bible notes that he was Jacobs favorite, and because of this his brothers hated him, so they tricked him and sold Joseph into slavery. However, God had bigger plans for Joseph, which is why he emerged as ruler of all of Egypt. From Joseph we will learn that no matter what trials or tribulations we go through, God is more powerful than it all and is in full control of us and our lives, if we have surrender all to Him. As He protects us we can learn a deeper wisdom and strength throughout life obstacles.

            We learn from Jacob, that we shouldn't have a favorite child, we should love all of our children equally. The last thing any parent should do is favor one child and cause the other child(children) to have resentment, insecurities and hate. Always ask God to help you have an equal love for your children,  the kind of God loving that they deserve.

            We learn from Joseph’s brothers that jealousy and envy isn't a good thing, even if we feel its justified. Satan will always try to allow you to justify hate/envy/jealousy. But God doesn't want us to give into those negative, satanic emotions. God wants us to rise above and look to God to make things right for us. We cant control how others treat us, but we can control how we let it affect us and whether or not we choose to go to God for love and strength, or satan for hate and bitterness. We always have the choice of which direction we will go. If you find yourself filled with any type of negative emotion, ask yourself if its there because you chose to dwell in that, rather than seek love and forgiveness and strength from God. It all starts with what we choose to allow to enter our conscience and dwell on.

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            The chapter begins by Jacob listening to God and goingg to Bethel to make an altar their to God. But before he did this he made everyone with him get rid of all their idols and pagan related items. Pagans used the idols as their gods, and some of Jacobs people had idols as well, but for different reasons. They believed them to be not gods but good luck charms, regardless Jacob demanded they all be removed because they could come in-between them and and their faith. He also made the women get rid of earrings, back then earrings were considered good luck charms to ward off evil, another pagan tradition.

            Today, earrings represent something pretty women wear, its as simple as that. However, today we have other spiritual idols in our lives that need to be removed. It may not be physical item but something that comes before our relationship with God is considered an idol. If we watch too much tv and that is more important than our relationship with God, we need to playfully asked if its in a sense an “idol that needs to be removed”. Television isn't bad, but if it consumes your time leaving nothing for God, than its problematic. What are your idols?

            God appeared to Jacob and blessed him, and changed his name to Isreal, which means to struggle with God. There is meaning to a person and their name, and God wanted to show Jacob that he was a man of God, and though he struggled he still seeked God. Christian life wont be perfect, no ones life will be perfect, however we can maintain the peace and joy that God has blessed us with by choosing how we react to situations. If we choose to stay in Gods peace and seek him, we will stay blessed no matter what the circumstances may be. God then told Jacob to be fruitful and multiply, that many nations would come from him.

            At the end of the chapter it explains that Rachel died during childbirth. Its important to remember that this was before Jesus came and died on the cross, during this time people had to live by the law and weren't fortunate, yet, to live in faith and grace through what Jesus did on the cross.  How blessed we are that we the holy spirit to guide and direct us, so that we can keep our relationship with God through Jesus and live by grace and not by the law.

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