Lessons From the Book of Daniel

Today at my church, we just finished a sermon series on the book of Daniel.  (You can watch the whole sermon series online at http://www.efccl.org/sermons/ )

Personally, I felt like God really used this sermon series at a very specific time in my life.  Throughout the book, I saw God's hand on Daniel, and the kings, and the nations.  Everything that happened, whether good or bad, was orchestrated by God and was under His control.  God is full of sovereignty.  I found that a very comforting thought, and God has reminded me of His sovereignty during though times.

That was my personal lesson from the book of Daniel, but our pastor (Pastor Jay Childs) drew three final conclusions from this book that I wanted to share with you.

1.  If you want to have hope in life, you have to have a big view of God.

Is your God huge and awesome?  Can He do anything, or can He only do the small stuff?  Throughout all of scripture, God reveals himself to be an unfathomable God.  Your hope for the future will only be as big as you see God.  The bigger you see Him, the more hope you will have.  "God is large and in charge!"  (Pastor Jay Childs)

2.  If you want to be saved, reconciled to God, and escape His wrath, then you have to accept His (free) gift of salvation.

Salvation only comes through this:  "believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."  (Acts 16:31)  Nothing but asking Jesus to come into your life to be your Lord and savior will save you, reconcile you to God, or help you to escape His wrath.  Good works alone are not enough to get you into heaven.  (If you have questions about this, you can email us at sistersinchrist.girlz@gmail.com you can also check out this link.  It might help answer some of your questions.  http://www.efccl.org/beliefs/ )

3.  If you want God's blessing on your life, you have to be a person who takes obedience seriously.

God values obedience.  If you read the Old Testament, you see that when the Israelites did not obey His commands, God punished them.  When people in the Bible obeyed, they were blessed.  Sometimes, obedience comes with an earthly cost.  Take Daniel for example.  He continued to pray to his God (because God had commanded it) even though King Darius had said that anyone who prayed to another man or god besides himself would be thrown into the den of lions.  (Daniel 6)  Daniel was thrown into the den of lions (earthly cost) but God saved him.  At the end of the chapter, King Darius decrees that everyone should worship the God of Daniel.  (A blessing for Daniel, and brings glory to God)  No matter the situation, make sure that what you are doing is in accordance with the word of God.

How big is your God?  Have you accepted God's gift of salvation?  Are you living in faithful obedience to God?  I hope that these lessons from the book of Daniel (and the rest of the Bible) will challenge you to be a person who lives for God each and every day.