Daniel

Sunday SHMILY

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 10:1-12:13

“He will stir up his courage” Daniel 11:25
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We got to meet Randy Frazee the author of The Story today at church! I’m still TOTALLY geeking out about it! Like on a level I never would’ve expected! Of all people for Sean and I to meet, this was PRETTY HUGE! I just wish I could’ve taken a better picture!
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A smile on the way out of church. God is GOOOOOOOD to us!
I emailed Randy a copy of our book True Intimacy today, I would love for you to pray with me that he a) actually gets it and b) actually reads it then c) really loves it!

Categories: 365 Life, Daniel, Season 3, SHMILY! | Leave a comment

7×70

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 4:19-6:28

“A period of seventy sets of seven” Daniel 9:24

It’s the Fourth of July and Sean’s driving in the Sheridan Fourth of July parade, how could I resist the temptation to take pictures of my Beloved and NOT share them with you all? 😀 Happy
Freedom
Fourth
Ya’ll!

Waiting for the parade.
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Go 7×70! Praise Jesus we’re forgiven!
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Categories: 365 Life, 7x70, Daniel, Season 3 | Leave a comment

God is in Control

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 4:19-6:28

“…until you learn that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone He chooses.” Daniel 4:25

This phrase is repeated four times in today’s Word of the Day and perfectly sets the tone for the next several chapters of reading. Not to mention my day. God is in charge, period. He is the Most High God, ruler of heaven and earth. He is the commander of heaven’s armies and the Ancient of Days. He is the Father of every living thing on the planet. He is the holder of the keys of Hell and the Conqueror who overcame this world.

So often I get tempted to think that Satan is gaining an upper hand on my life, but that’s just what he wants me to think. And nothing could be farther from the Truth. In Job chapter one Satan is in attendance for a heavenly meeting where he and God end up discussing Job and how faithful he is to God. It is in this conversation that God agrees to let Satan test that faithfulness. Did you catch that? Satan had to ask for permission FIRST. At the last supper Jesus tells Peter that Satan had ASKED to sift him like wheat. If someone is the head cheese, the big man, the one who is large and in charge they don’t ask permission from anyone before they do something; they just do it. Satan doesn’t get to touch us without God’s permission. And if the God, who loves us enough to send His one and only Son to DIE for us on the cross in order to pay for our sins and give us eternal life, gives him permission to touch us, then He MUST have a good reason to do so. And that’s where faith comes in. When life comes crashing in around us we have to cling to the faith that we have a God who LOVES US and cares so deeply for us that He gave His only Son FOR US.

Categories: 365 Life, Daniel, Season 3 | Leave a comment

Papa Blue Jay

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 2:1-4:18

“‘I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?‘

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.'” Daniel 3:15-18

I just love this story don’t you? These three Jewish men unrelenting in their faith and traditions, standing toe to toe with the most powerful king of the time, telling him that they will NEVER serve his gods or worship the statue he has created. Talk about guts and moxy! They knew the meaning of a faithful God! They had seen how God had helped them honor Him with their bodies when they asked the guard to give them vegetables and water instead of the king’s food. They stayed up and prayed with Daniel when he volunteered to talk to God for king Nebuchadnezzar about his terrifying dream. They’d been through some stuff with this God whom they serve. They knew that when it comes to being in a pinch He always comes through.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been noticing lots of blue jays in our yard, and not a whole lot of anything else. I didn’t really think too much about it until this morning. It’s a gorgeous morning and I wanted to come out and enjoy it on my beautiful new deck that Sean made for me.

So I poured myself some coffee and grabbed my “office in a bag”

and headed out to the deck to read my Bible and write this post. A soft breeze blew through the back yard sweeping my hair back from my face as I prayed my Morning Prayer with thanksgiving for the peaceful morning beauty. Then from the other side of the house I could hear a mama blue jay cawing her little lungs out at something. I didn’t think too much about it until Mama Blue Jay came around to the back yard and started dive bombing our cat! I’ve been sitting here for the last hour listening to Mama Blue Jay cawing like mad at anything that even comes close to entering our yard, cats, other birds, even other blue jays! In fact right now she’s going ballistic on our cat Socks who is tormenting Mama Blue Jay by being on our roof! There is no way that anybody is going to get anywhere near her baby blue jay.

It wasn’t until I read the passage above that I realized why God had put it on my heart to come out here to write today. He is just like Mama Blue Jay and we’re His little baby birds. He protects us with such ferocity it would startle us if we could really see it happening. There’s a verse (somewhere in the Bible and I don’t have time to look it up this morning) that says that He protects us like the apple of His eye. Think about how your eye lids and lashes instinctively protect the apple, or pupil, of your eye; quickly and without even thinking they blink and protect. Just like Mama Blue Jay, dive bombing and cawing maliciously at any intruders to her territory, our Father God throws His hands protectively around us the moment trouble even looks like it’s coming near our nest. And before it ever reaches us in the nest we’ve been protected from troubles unseen and often unheard. But our Papa God has seen them and He heard them for us; protecting us from them before they ever got near enough to cause us any harm.

Thank You LORD for everything You do for us. The things we see and especially the things that we never see. Thank You for protecting us from the dangers all around us. Thank You for standing guard over us every second of every day. We are so grateful for You and Your activity in our lives. Thank You LORD. We love You! 😀

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So Long Insecurity!

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Mrs Knochel


2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23 & Daniel 1:1-21

“The LORD, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent His prophets to warn them, for He had compassion on His people and His temple. But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the LORD’s anger could no longer be retrained and nothing could be done.

So the LORD brought the king of Babylon against them. … God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. The king took home to Babylon all the articles, large and small, used in the Temple of God, and the treasures from both the LORD’s temple and from the palace of the king and his officials. … The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.” 2 Chronicles 36:15-18, 20

“During the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The LORD gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God.” Daniel 1:1-2

I probably said this last year on this day, but God is so awesome!!! I mean seriously. We’re reading through the Bible alphabetically and yet we still end up reading chronologically when we read from 1 Chronicles to 2 Chronicles to Daniel!!! Honestly, isn’t that just cool??? To my knowledge, and I haven’t check recently, I am the only one publicly reading through the Bible in a year alphabetically. I’m sure there are others doing it, but the last time I looked I couldn’t find them online. I’m just so honored that God chose me to do this! And I’m so grateful that He used my friend Kelly to introduce me to the idea! I love you Kelly!!!

Today’s Word of the Day was all about transition. It was a transition from one book of the Bible to another, in that transition was the Israelite’s transition from a time of rebellion into a time of captivity in order to use that captivity to guide them back into a humbled position with their God. And I love how God works, because my reading in Beth Moore’s So Long, Insecurity You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us went along those same lines. This week’s reading was about Beth polling her blog audience for stories on how insecurity has made a fool of them. She shares MANY stories that are great examples, many of which I could have written myself – sadly. And of course, God also has all this timed so that I’m dealing with all this in my own life at the moment so that I can even further relate to what they’re saying.

The more time I spend in these two books the more I’m recognizing insecurities in myself and I hate them. Hate isn’t a word that I throw out there often, but in this case I think it fits. I hate the way insecurity makes me feel. I hate the way that it makes me act. I DEFINITELY hate the way that it talks to me and tries to get me to believe its boldfaced lies! Insecurity has tied me up in knots with no bows. It has no laces hanging free to simply pull and unloose the work it’s done. It has grown and wrapped it’s tentacle-like roots tightly around my feet and kept me from walking freely and easily through my life. (Not that my life would have been easy without the insecurity, but it certainly would have been easier.) I’m fairly certain that insecurity caused me to make choices that set me on a path that wasn’t good for me – at all. I remember my Freshman year in High School the pressure I felt to have a boyfriend and to get physical. And the saddest part was, the pressure wasn’t from the other kids, it was from my insecurity!!!!! I was so insecure in myself and who I was that I felt like I needed to be like everyone else, do what everyone else was doing. And “everyone” else was getting physical with their significant other (this is of course the biggest lie of the century, but I believed it hook, line and sinker at the time). I never stopped to realize that honoring my personal worth should be more important to me than bowing to the status quo.

This week I’ve been in awe of my husband’s ability to voice his mind with very little concern to what other people will have to say about his opinions. He throws stuff out there on Facebook and really doesn’t get his feathers ruffled when people say things back to him. Me on the other hand, I can only be on Facebook for a few minutes before I take people’s status updates so personally that my heart starts to race and my hands start to sweat. One night I actually made myself physically ill because I was so distraught about what people were saying on Facebook – none of which was actually to me, or about me, just about things going on in the world that I don’t agree with. The thought of truly speaking my mind in such a public format terrifies me to pieces! What will they say? Facebook is vicious and people can be so mean without realizing it. What will they think of me? Will they still like me? To which Insecurity pipes up: “Of course they won’t, you have a different opinion than they do, they’ll hate you for it – duh!”

God has called me to public speaking and publicly voicing His words. Words that vastly contradict what the mainstream is saying. And insecurity has me immobilized. I’m paralyzed with the fear of the rejection of the people I love AND the people I’ve never even met before. For as long as I can remember I’ve always been desperate for people to like me. At times to the point where I would become someone else in order for them to like me. Obviously this is ridiculous because then they don’t like ME they like the pretend me which totally defeats the point! Honestly, if I can’t be ME and have you like me, then we shouldn’t be friends! I don’t want to be such a passive people pleaser that I completely lose myself in the process. That shouldn’t be OK with me and it shouldn’t be Ok with you either. I mean, I don’t want to be friends with someone whose not being themselves, do you?

I think that’s where I’m so grateful for God putting my husband and I together. He is my perfect match. He’s everything that I’m not. And he’s not everything that I am. I admire him so much and his ability to not let the opinions of others phase him when it comes to be honest to himself. When I grow up, I want to be more like Sean. Honest and unafraid to share how I REALLY feel about something. I believe I will get there. But in the mean time I’m so glad that God has blessed me with a partner who loves me for who I really am. He’s seen me at my best and at my absolute worst and he has stuck with me through it all. I can’t ask for much more than that now can I? 😀

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Daniel, Season 3 | Leave a comment

Egypt in the Bible

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 10:1-12:13

Last night I noticed a new app on my phone that I hadn’t put there myself – always interesting. But when you have two kids who play on your phone, it’s not unheard of. I tap on the icon and find out it’s a new social media app, fun! I’m a budding social media “expert” so let’s check this out. I start flipping through this new app, Flipboard, and it’s fun. The way you flick to get to the next story is gratifying. And it has news on there along with many many other features like a “trending” page. I noticed that #Egypt was going down in the trends and thought, “Egypt? What’s going on in Egypt?”

[photo courtesy of businessinsider.com]

(Give me a break, I don’t watch the news, like ever. I have my reasons.) So I click on the hash tag and find out about the coup going on over there.

[photo courtesy of www.cbc.ca]

The first thing I think about is the fact that it’s EGYPT. There are few places more Biblical than Egypt, except you know, like Jerusalem and Israel!

[photo courtesy of FoxNews]

[photo courtesy of MediaSalon]

Egypt was the original “bad guy” of the Bible. It was the place where the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years before the mass exodus and is the symbolic “bad guy” throughout the rest of the Bible because of this very enslavement.

[Photo courtesy of TheBlaze]

So when I see news of this coup going on in Egypt my radar immediately is triggered, but not so much so that I couldn’t sleep last night. However, I am now wide awake at 5am on a Saturday morning. So I pull back the covers and grab my trusty Bible to go hang out with Jesus for a while before everyone else wakes up. As I’m perusing through my pages of Daniel searching for a Word for today I find it. But not the kind of Word I normally get, where it’s personal and sweet. No. This time God gave me a word that has thrown me knee deep into news feed and Google searches. (I’ll include some links at the end so that you can beef up more on what’s happening if you haven’t heard much yet.)

Honestly, what are the odds that I would read a news story about Egypt last night and then less than 5 hours later in my Bible!?! But not just any comment on Egypt, well, I’m going to let you read and make your own decisions. But I find this “God-incidence” veeeery interesting and I plan on keeping a closer eye on Egypt and Libya for a while.

(Daniel 11:40-12:13) 40 At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

The Time of the End

12 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. 6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. 8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

News links for stories on Egypt and Lybia:

Fear, panic grip Libyan capital as unknown fighters wage battle in Tripoli

By Jomana Karadsheh, CNN

updated 6:49 AM EDT, Thu June 27, 2013

With Egypt unrest growing, U.S. Marines placed on ready as precaution

By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

updated 6:03 PM EDT, Fri June 28, 2013

Showdown? Egypt’s Morsy defies military ‘ultimatum’

From Hamdi Alkhshali. Reza Sayah and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

updated 11:39 PM EDT, Tue July 2, 2013

26 dead, more than 850 wounded as post-coup violence hits Egypt

By Ben Wedeman. Reza Sayah and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

updated 10:30 PM EDT, Fri July 5, 2013

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Only YOU

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 4:19-6:28

For the past few weeks I’ve been emphasizing the importance of doing what God has called you to do and being who God has made you to be. Last night I found out why I’ve been doing that. I received an email that confirmed everything. It was a Women of Faith Devotional, forwarded from a friend of mine, and written by Thelma Wells. In it she recounted the story of a dream that God had given to Rick Howard a dream that you need to hear about.

“Rick had a dream that he went to the judgment seat of Christ and was surrounded by people he knew. When it was his time to stand before the Lord, he thought he would be rewarded as the pastor of a megachurch and having fame in the media that surpasses many. He stepped up to Jesus sitting in the Judge’s seat and presented his works.

In this dream, Jesus tried Rick’s works in the fire—and they burned and burned and burned until nothing was left but a deep, black hole. The pastor stood there with a broken heart and asked Jesus why all of his works were burned because he had worked for the Lord all his career. Jesus told him that, no, he had not worked for the glory of God because God had told him to go into ministry on foreign fields. But because his wife refused to marry him if he went, the pastor had selected the woman over God. He had been responsible for millions accepting Jesus and for many great and wonderful works, but because the pastor did not accept the real calling of God and instead pleased his wife, his works were burned up like wood, hay, and stubble. Sure, the pastor entered into the kingdom of God in heaven, but he lost his rewards for the work he did on earth.

Rich also saw an old lady of no acclaim. Someone who was never written up in the paper, never appeared on television, did no radio interviews, and never spoke for a conference of any size. As she walked up to the judgment seat of Christ and presented her works to Jesus, they begin to burn. When they finished burning, what was left were stacks of gold, silver, and precious stones. This nobody on earth was rewarded at the judgment for edifying people while glorifying God. She received the rewards that Jesus will bestow at his judgment seat.

As Rich stood before the judgment seat waiting for Jesus to talk to him, there was a period of total silence and no activity. Disappointed and wondering, he woke up from the dream with no precise results.”*

What kind of pressure are you under today? Are you being pressured to eat the king’s food (worldly wisdom and media)? Are you being pressured to worship false idols (money, medicine, possessions)? Are you feeling pressured to be someone you’re not, do something you don’t feel is quite right? DON’T CAVE UNDER THE PRESSURE!!! Stand firm, be strong and courageous. Look at that fiery furnace before you and say, “O (fill in a name here), I have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

I think it’s always important with the story of the furnace to point out the “But if not”, for those circumstances where God doesn’t do what we hope and expect of Him. This doesn’t mean He’s not faithful and true and just and real. It simply means that He has a better plan that we can’t understand with our finite minds and perspective. If He doesn’t save in the way WE want Him to, does that make Him less God? No.

When we stand firm in our faith we have to stand firm with a “But if not” attitude, where come what may, we will still stand strong for God and HIS glory, knowing full well that it will not be easy.

In Rick’s dream his works were burned up because he chose his wife’s plan for his life instead of God’s plan. When I stand before that judgment seat of God and He asks me why I didn’t do what He told me to do; “because my husband told me not to”, will not be an acceptable answer. Ultimately, I’m responsible for my own life and how I live it.

We all have eternal life… somewhere. We have to live with today’s choices for eternity, no matter where we’re going.

God made YOU for a reason. YOU have a purpose, a position, a job that ONLY YOU can fulfill in this world. If you are not doing it then who will? If you’re not living out the dream that God placed deep in your heart then how will you answer Him on that day? The judgment seat isn’t for condemnation of sins – those have already been judged in the flesh of Jesus. The judgment seat is the day of REWARD. What will yours look like? You don’t have to do big things in human eyes to get your reward. You only have to do one thing – TRUST GOD. Trust His opinion of YOU. Trust His love for YOU. Trust His forgiveness of YOU. Trust His plans for YOU. They are plans for hope and a future not harm and destruction. The God of Love made these plans for you so they MUST be good! Good for YOU. Trust Him. Jesus loves YOU.

Lord, after weighing me in the balances of life, may I never be found wanting in Your eyes! In Jesus’ name, Amen!

* Devotionals Daily FaithGateway. Refining Grace by Thelma Wells. Copyright © 2013 HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 501 Nelson Place, Nashville, TN, United States. All Rights Reserved. http://www.faithgateway.com/refining-grace/

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Resisting Compromise

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Mrs Knochel


Daniel 2:1-4:18

“Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Daniel 3:15

Wow! Is anybody else noticing a pattern here? “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” Now where have we heard that before? Hmmmm… Oh Yeah! Just two days ago from the mouth of the king of Assyria, Sennacherib! It’s almost as if it’s not the kings saying it, but perhaps someone behind them. Someone… sinister and evil, and hell-bent on driving God’s people to extinction… someone devilish like, oh I don’t know, Satan perhaps?

You see, Satan is doing his utmost best to destroy us. But what Satan intends for our destruction, God intends for our GOOD. In today’s reading we find the beloved story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Three men of God, friends of Daniel’s, who refused to bow to the pressure of the king.

Yesterday we talked about the pressure that Daniel had to withstand in order to “just say no” to the king’s food and now today we find his friends (who also resisted the king’s food) in an even bigger pickle than before. Before it was just the food that they were eating, that was a big test at the time. But this, this was WAAAAY bigger than food. This was bowing to an enormous idol. And not doing so would result in death by fire! I mean, what food to eat, that’s one thing. But worshiping another god, that’s just unthinkable!

Or is it?

We tend to do it every day without ever giving it another thought. In Who Do You Trust I talked about some of the idols that we worship (money, doctors, medicine a hospital); the things or people that we place our trust in to save us from our difficult situations.

Let’s take Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for instance. They could have bent under the peer pressure and done what EVERY OTHER Hebrew there was doing to save their own skin and they could have bowed and worshiped the golden idol. But they didn’t do that.

They were friends with Daniel, who at this point had risen pretty high in the ranks among the king’s officials. They could have played their friend card with Daniel and tried to use his influence to get out of this situation. But they didn’t do that either.

Under the greatest of pressure they didn’t cave and they didn’t compromise, they trusted in God. Period. They stood firm in their faith. Which was no easy task, I might add!

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Only God

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Mrs Knochel

2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23 & Daniel 1:1-21

OK, today I especially loved the “coincidence” that we went from reading about the exile from Jerusalem to Babylon and then followed Daniel into the Babylonian king’s court. How cool was that? That doesn’t happen often when we’re reading alphabetically. Anyway, I feel I need to pull more on Daniel’s story today than on Josiah and Jehoahaz.

Daniel had just been sitting around in Jerusalem, minding his own business, doing his own thing when out of the blue he finds himself exiled to Babylon. Once in Babylon he is told that he has been chosen to “stand in the king’s palace” where he will learn “the literature and language of the Chaldeans”. Intimidating, but exciting none the less. Hey, it’s not slave work right? But then there’s something else. Mealtime rolls around and Daniel sits down to the table, his stomach rumbling and his mouth is watering from the smells that are coming from the palace kitchen. He was probably thinking, “This hasn’t been nearly as bad of a day as I had expected.” I can only imagine how crestfallen he felt when they brought in the trays filled with food that he couldn’t eat. Like a sweet-toothed diabetic in a candy factory, he couldn’t eat a thing. Then he probably thought, “I’m going to starve. I’ll be the smartest dead guy around.” The pressure to eat that steaming food before him had to have been incredible. Yet he stood firm in his faith and refused to eat it.

Sometimes in life God plants us into situations where we are forced to make a choice, his ways or the world’s, God’s food or the Babylonian king’s. We’re placed at a fork in the road where whichever path we choose will change life dramatically and neither really looks to be that fun. But we can’t stand at the fork forever; we have to choose one or the other. The pressure to take the World’s way is incredible, yet the eternal resentment of not taking God’s way is equally unbearable. But there is hope. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 tells us,

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Do you remember in yesterday’s reading when the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) had been attacking Judah and “sent his servants to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, ‘On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege in Jerusalem?'” (2 Chronicles 32:9-10) The Enemy of Judah was attacking the cities of Judah and putting intense pressure on the people. Yet they were enduring it and that infuriated Sennacherib causing him to turn his cause of frustration into a taunt. “On what are you trusting, that you endure the siege?” I talked about it yesterday and how there is always SOMETHING we are trusting in to save us, whether it’s money, medicine, doctors, or God. But of all these options, and the many more that I didn’t take the time to list, which of them is able to help you endure the siege? Which of them is able to help you withstand the pressure of the World to eat the king’s food? Which of them is able to help you locate the trap door hidden within every single temptation of life?

Only God.

Only God can be our source of salvation from the siege. Jesus is our shield and refuge, our shelter in times of trouble and in times of glee. Only the power of His Holy Spirit can hold us up in our human weakness.

Only God.

Hallelujah!

Categories: 2 Chronicles, 365 Life, Daniel, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Overflow

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Mrs Knochel


(If you would like to order a wall size print or a bible sized card of this prayer – or any photos on our website – to keep handy for yourself or share with others email me @ TamarMInistries@att.net and we can hook ya up! Every purchase made funds our ministry to be able to travel around the country and hand out free Bibles and get people into them!)

Today’s Reading: Daniel 11:1-12:13

“overflow” Daniel 11:10

You know, sometimes in life it only takes one word. One word to really hit you and knock your socks off, or maybe, there’s only one word that can describe how you’re feeling at any particular moment, right now for me that word is “overflow”. I mentioned yesterday that I am reading Max Lucado’s Safe In the Shepherd’s Arms, I recently read the section on the phrase “My cup runs over”, in the ESV it reads “my cup overflows”, and so it does! In the presence of The Enemy our heavenly Shepherd prepares a banqueting table for us, pours oil over our heads, anointing us for the work He has for us to do and to protect us from the Enemy sitting across the banquet table from us, perhaps wearing sheep’s clothing of his own, who knows! It is in that kind of a setting, at the banquet table of God in the presence of our Enemy having been anointed with oil that our cup is filled to overflowing!

In his book (pg 87) Lucado explains the symbol of the overflowing cup in David’s time. The host used it to wordlessly communicate with his guest, if their drinking cup ran low then the guest had stayed late enough into the night and it was time for them to return home. However, if the was host particularly enjoyed the guest’s company he would overfill the guest’s cup until it was flowing out over the rim of the cup and down the table! Oh my friend! God is so pleased with our company that He not only keeps our cup continually full, but continually running over the rim, down the table and onto the floor!!!

So often I have heard of this verse referring to our cup overflowing with blessings, this is how I feel right now. The cup of my heart is so filled with the joy of the Lord; I am completely overwhelmed with the gift of the task that He has set before me. To spend private time with Him every morning soaking in the Living Water of His word and then using it throughout the day to fuel my ministry of writing and sharing His word of hope with others. And honestly, I was thrilled with that! But then on top of that He added unto me the ministry of photography where nearly daily I am called to photograph yet another breathtaking scene that He has set up just for me in that moment. In the last week I have seen a double rainbow, a rainbow circling the sun, and a double sundog (a mini rainbow in the clouds next to the sun usually just before the sun sets)!!! I’ve been able to see the tiniest of insects drinking from a drop of rain on a flower, I’ve seen a perfect heart torn into the tire cover of a jeep ahead of me while driving. I’ve seen the light of the moon creating a cross with its light in the darkness night, I’ve watched my children bounding with excitement over one of the best inventions known to man – a Doritos Locos Taco from Taco Bell, I’ve seen numerous sunsets this week, all breathtaking and unique,

I’ve seen God’s creatures great and small, I’ve looked on as my husband and son sat side by side while my son entered a new era when he took his very first shot with a “real gun”. As a mother, it was terrifying and thirllling all at the same time. My eyes have watched the flowers grow and bloom with the light of the sun and the nourishment of the rain. My feet have walked a trail next to a calmly flowing river. I laughed, nice and dry, from inside the house while watching my daughter dance in the rain with her hot pink cowgirl boots, purple butterfly rain coat and Hannah Montana umbrella. I pondered the beauty of the grooves in a tree trunk… and in my face. I’ve lain on my belly in the fresh spring grass of a dear friend’s yard and been amazed at what my eyes have seen and my camera has captured!
And then last night I pulled over on the side of the road to photograph a field of yellow flowers in the setting sun when God whispers to my soul “Crossroads“. There I stood, children waiting in the car gleefully screaming “Mommy” at the top of their lungs, camera still perched in my hands having just taken a photo of the street signs, my feet planted in the middle of where two country roads intersect, the setting sun on my right and the rising moon on my left and God whispers “Crossroads“. “OK Lord” I respond, “where do we go from here? You lead the way and we’ll follow.”

The end of every day is a crossroad, that next step, the first step of the next morning, will lead you down a new path, a new road a new adventure in life. Where will it lead? Where will it go? Will you follow it? Will it be hard? Will it be painful or scary? Only God knows, and most of the time He doesn’t tell us what the road holds, He merely holds out His hand and says “Come, follow Me. Your Heavenly Shepherd who loves you more than you could ever imagine. Come. Let’s do this adventure together.”

Categories: Daniel

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