You must be strong in faith
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As Christians, we should have strong faith. With weak faith, we can never win the spiritual battle of the devil that is taking place in our lives. The text introduces Daniel, the possessor of strong faith. A characteristic of a person who lives with strong faith is that he does not compromise with the world. They do not have a compromising faith that lives behind their faith for profit or cost. Faith is a decision. I must express my beliefs clearly. If you don't reveal it precisely, you have more circumstances to compromise.
Strong beliefs are not built overnight. Daniel, too, has been making choices and decisions accurately since he was young. The Babylonian army captured the royal families, nobles, and children in Judea and carried them to Babylon. Among them, particularly outstanding children were selected. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego… .
These children were thoroughly educated at Nebuchadnezzar's Palace School, and they were the figures Babylon intended to use. He was treated more special than others, and he gave them meat and wine every day. For some reason, Daniel and his three friends refuse to eat this food. This is because these foods were used in idolatry.
From the point of view of a student receiving an education in the royal court, the path to success is guaranteed only by showing it well to the teacher. However, they resolutely refuse to eat food to the person who manages them, the eunuch. Daniel 1:8 says, “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food and with the wine he drank, and asked the chief of the eunuch not to defile himself.”
What are the repeated words? I mean, it gets dirty. What do you mean? Daniel and his three friends wanted Daniel to be a clean person before God. This was their wish. Rather than succeeding in the world, he chose to live clean before God. Even if I get kicked out of the palace and live as a miserable slave, I will live right before God.
Daniel's three friends said, "Neither will they bow before the image, even though they knew that if they did not bow before the image, they would be thrown into the furnace. God will protect you. Even if you don’t do that, you cannot bow down in your faith and conscience.” steadfastly refuses. When they made this decision in faith, God protected them.
Many years have passed again. When Daniel was in high office, he was envied and jealous of others. They wanted to frame Daniel, but there was nothing they could do about it. If there was one thing, I found out that Daniel opened the door to the city of Jerusalem and prayed three times a day. So they come up with a secret plan, make an image of the king, and make and pass a bill that puts anyone who worships another god for 30 days in a lion's den.
What was Daniel's reaction? Let's look at verse 10. “When Daniel knew that this decree had been stamped with the king’s seal, Daniel went back to his house, went upstairs, opened the window to Jerusalem, and, as he had done before, knelt down on his knees three times a day and prayed and thanked his God.
Daniel's reaction was twofold. He was grateful for continuing to pray and for still being able to pray before God despite the passage of a law that would kill him. God raised Daniel from the lions' den and rescued him.
Daniel came alive. Daniel didn't come out because he had the power to kill the lion in one shot. What is Daniel's confession? “My God has already sent his angel… “God works by mobilizing even angels. He protects those who want to live by faith. It is of no use for the conspirators to starve the lion. It is no use for the framers to throw Daniel into the lions' den. When God blocks, no one opens; when God opens, no one closes.
God sows and reaps. God wins and loses. God opens and closes. God builds up and destroys. The important thing is, am I responding to God with faith? It is whether you have strong faith and completely trust the Lord who lives among us and works in your family and in our church.
I had that hope while preparing the Word. Daniel's work should happen among us today as well. The history of God's help, the history of winning by living by faith, the history of persevering and holding on to faith until the end even when trials come, the history of breaking through with strong faith without compromising on small things I believe that this kind of faith should overflow among us.
It is easy to compromise on too little things, so strong beliefs do not arise. We need to build trust from a young age. You have to believe strongly from the first time you believe. If you compromise properly from the beginning and lead a moderately religious life, your faith will not grow, and the evidence you have for your faith is inevitably weak.
Daniel opened the window wide. I prayed to God three times a day toward the temple. What is Daniel Declaring? “King Darius, you must look straight ahead. No matter how terrifying the king may have issued, I kneel before my living God. You too must kneel before my God.” - He is sending a strong message to the world as a life and an action.
Each of you can change a home when faith arises. When each of you decides to believe in the Lord, you can transform the church. When each of you becomes a strong believer, you can change the world. The world will try to knock you down into being entangled in the field of your life. This is the training given to me. Do not avoid it, do not compromise under any circumstances, overcome it, and live my life on fire.