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Daniel 6:1-28 NKJV
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.
4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.
Because of Jesus and His blood, God finds no fault in you.
It pleased Darius to set Daniel on top but it didn’t please the others.
When God promotes, blesses and exalts you, others will not be pleased with it.
They say, “why are they getting chosen and not me?” Because maybe they have been faithful behind the scenes.
Whenever God exalts somebody it is never for their benefit, it’s for your benefit.
When we are faithful we are trustworthy but the person who is unfaithful cannot be trusted.
Daniel was faithful. He was trustworthy.
Daniel pleased God, not people.
Learn to please God, not people.
Be a people person not a people pleaser.
Daniel 6:3-4 NLT
3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire.
Get ready, God is making plans to promote you, place you over His kingdom. He is making plans to get His blessings to you.
He is taking you from the garbage dump to the boardroom.
He is taking you from glory to glory.
4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.
Lord, give us more Daniel’s in our government who can handle government affairs.
When you rise to the top you will be criticised and lied about. But criticism is a compliment when you know you are doing the right thing.
He was faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy.
Can that be said of you? Can your employer, your supervisor, your Pastor trust you, depend on you.
Are you faithful? Are you responsible, or are you wasting their time that they are paying you for.
Just because you are a Christian, it doesn’t mean you can be sloppy in your affairs.
Just because you serve in God’s house doesn’t mean we must give God shabby and sloppy service. We must be excellent in everything we do and say.
Daniel distinguished himself above the others.
Distinguish yourself. Be found as one who has an excellent spirit.
What is an excellent spirit? Being faithful, always responsible and trustworthy.
Daniel 6:4-5 MSG
…to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct.
The enemy is always looking for something in our past, some old scandal or skeleton that Jesus has already forgiven and cleansed us from, to pull us back down, to make us feel unworthy and belittled, so that we cannot be all that God has called us to be.
But just ignore and keep following God.
5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
Some people in the world come against you because your righteousness is an affront to them. It’s an offense to them. You are in their face with your Bible and Christianity and it’s too much for them.
That’s why they hate you. That’s why they persecute you.
2 Timothy 3:12 NKJV
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
John 17:14-15 NKJV
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Why in the world do they hate us?
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
John 17:14 MSG
I gave them your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn’t join the world’s ways, Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
Don’t join with the worlds ways. Drink like the world. Smoke like the world. Swear like the world. Lie like the world. Sleep around like the world. Come out from among them and be separate.
We must be found praying, not found at pubs and wrong places.
But Praise God, we don’t fear if they hate us because God will keep us from the evil one.
6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.
That’s the first commandment. You shall serve no other god. Satan is still trying to get us to disobey that commandment, to serve him and his gods.
The god of money. The god of power and fame. The god of social media. The god of pornography. The god of self.
8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.
Make certain that the right advisors are surrounding you, those whose motives are pure and who are not instigated by satan and others.
- Daniel Prayed To His God
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
It was Daniels’ custom to pray. It was a lifestyle. He prayed before the trouble showed up. Prayer was a lifestyle. Prayer is what set him apart from the others.
When in trouble run to the throne, don’t run to the phone. Get on your knees and pray.
Daniel never said “Thank you to God for the trouble, but Thank You for delivering him out of that trouble”.
Every Christian failure is a prayer failure.
James 5:13 NKJV
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray…
Who must pray? The one who is suffering. The word “suffering” means troubled or afflicted.
The one who is afflicted and troubled must pray, not others.
You see, if I pray for you, and there is a place for that, you will only be able to enjoy victory for a little while but then if another problem comes up, then you will need someone to pray again but God wants to show you how to have permanent victory in your life, by you praying for yourself.
Because in prayer, many times, God will correct the error that is causing the trouble every time.
Don’t depend on others to do your praying for you.
Daniel prayed. Prayer gave Daniel that great ability. Prayer made him stand out.
Prayer doesn’t make faith work. Faith makes prayer work.
11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12 And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”
The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”
The favour of God will reverse and change laws, rules, regulations for you.
13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
They lied about him. And when you live for God, people will be instigated by satan to lie about you. But prayer delivered Daniel from their lies.
Psalm 109:1-4 NKJV
Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
When you fight back and attack your accusers, God remains silent but when you pray for them, forgive them, bless them, release love towards them, God speaks up for you and rises up to defend you.
14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”
16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”
And I am saying to you today, Your God that you serve continually, will deliver you.
He has already figured out how he is going to deliver you.
If he allowed you to go into the lions den then He has a purpose for it. He is going to turn it around for your good. Many will see how God brought you out and He is going to get glory out of the situation. Many will turn to the Lord because of your testimony.
V16 MSG says, “But He said to Daniel, “Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this.”
Your God is going to get you out of this. Out of any mess that the enemy has conjured up.
- Daniel believed in His God
His faith was in God. He was a believer, not a doubter.
He never gave up and walked away from God when trouble hit. He kept believing in the midst of unbelievable circumstances.
Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone.
Dare to believe God when others are not.
17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.
18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. 19 Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”
This was a supernatural move of God to send His angel to protect and deliver Daniel. In the natural he should have been dead but God…
Lions are no respecter of persons but they had to respect Daniel because his faith was in God.
Daniel was not afraid. None of these things moved him. Why? Because he knew His God.
Daniel 11:32 NKJV
…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
When you know your God, you can sleep while lions are surrounding you. You can sleep knowing your God will shut the lions mouths and deliver you from them.
Psalm 34:19 NKJV
Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Look at what else Daniel said…
Daniel 12:3 NLT
Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.
We know that stars shine brightest when its darkest.
When everything around you is at its darkest in the world and in people’s lives, you are going to shine the brightest for all to see and they will recognize that it’s your God that has done it for you.
23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.
24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.
Look at how things turned around.
Psalm 124:1-8 NKJV
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say—
2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
5 Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.”
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
- Daniel’s Faith Delivered Him
His faith in God connected the power of heaven with his need on earth.
And if God did it for Daniel, He will do it for you.
25 Then King Darius wrote:
To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to you.
26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God,
And steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,
And His dominion shall endure to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues,
And He works signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
After trials and trouble always comes promotion, increase and blessings.
V28 MSG “From then on, Daniel was treated well during the reign of Darius, and also in the following reign of Cyrus the Persian”.
The world needs us. They need the Daniels and Joseph’s of this hour. That’s us.
We will stand out and be treated well.