Recently in Extreme Youth I shared a message called UFC: Inside the Lion’s Den that I’ve preached back in 2007 as part of the Vintage Series ths month. I shared a video of UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock from his 700 Club interview a few years back (watch here for reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X60RZ6zm8LU) that is about his life story from coming to know God at an early age in his childhood, to family problems, into foster care, entering into the UFC/MMA world, to gaining the world but costing him his personal life due to bad choices. He later has a comeback story where he re-marries and returns to his faith roots in God while continues to train new fighters in his facility ‘THE LIONS DEN.’
When thinking about the lion’s den it brings me to this story from the book of Daniel where he was physically tossed into the lion’s den all because of a new law that was made by people who wanted to destroy him because he was a man of faith. Daniel was in good standings with King Darius and was highly favored & successful. He had a daily relationship with God & was in good standings with God. So how does a man of God get into this situation? How does he combat against this?
1. The 1st Quality if FAITH!
Daniel was described to be faithful, always responsible, & completely trust worthy. He was favored by the King. He was in good standings with God. He commited himself to God by praying to him 3 times a day. With the situation of getting caught in the act of praying to God because of this new law Daniel now faced the Lion’s Den. Daniel had to activate his faith that God would somehow someway get him out or even through this situation. Would the lions eat him up?
Hebrews 11:1 ‘What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
We may not be able to see what will happen in our situations but God see’s the end result & we must rely on him to lead us through it.
2. The 2nd Quality is PRAYER!
James Ch 5:16 “Confess your sins to each other & pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power & produces wonderful results.
To see prayer operate in our lives we’ve got to be made right in God’s eyes. We’ve got to be in good standings. Confessing your sins is the way to be made right. Then you can see great power & wonderful results happen in your life.
The thing about prayer a lot of times we may not see results right away. God hears our prayers but God will respond in his timing. We can get impatient & then try to do things our way. It’s not about your time table. It’s about what God thinks is best for that moment. Doing things in our own time table is throwing God’s plans off the table. We’ve got to make time for God in our personal lives. Daniel committed to 3 times a day. What about you? Do you set a certain place & time for you & God to meet daily?
3. Lastly we need RELATIONSHIPS!
Relationships are important to every believer. Daniel had a good relationship with the King who was his boss/employer. Are you in good standings with your boss/employer at your job? What about friends & family? What about God?
Proverbs 18:24 “There are friends who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.”
Daniels friends or coworkers may have been buddies with him but when they begin to see the success he was having it wasn’t long their true colors showed. We may have people in our lives that may be pals with us but they could be just using you or eventually turn on you. Regardless God has called us to love people despite whether or not people will tear you down.
I encourage you to surround yourself with good company. Don’t walk or hang with people who are just going to tear you down. If you do end up spending some time with people who will try to bring you down, rise above & be the influence in their lives. Relationships are important to have just don’t spend most of your time with people who will just destroy you.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion of this Daniel was spared by the Angel of the Lord protecting him while spending the night inside the lion’s den proving that Daniel has done nothing wrong in the Kings eyes or in God’s eyes. The King was overjoyed and threw those who were after Daniel into the den to be destroyed. The 3 Qualities that I shared will help you through the battles that you will face in life. We all face battles. Whether we don't follow Christ or we do follow Christ we all face battles. These 2 stories are different but in the end what matters is God making a way through the battles when we lean upon him & trust him to help us fight through. Take these qualities & apply them to your daily life! You can comeback from battles that may have you down & defeated! The choice is on you whether to rise up & continue or laydown for the 10 count. You can sit down for the ending or you can stand up for a new beginning.
That person made a great entry! It's perfect because my family and I are doing a daily Bible reading and we're going to be starting Daniel this Wednesday and this will be something we can probably refer to! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete-Zach