Friday, May 18, 2012

May 19, 2012

"Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up?  Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand."  Daniel 3:13-17

Faith grows out of a relationship with God in Christ. It is an expression of His presence and power resident in your life.

From that relationship arises a righeousness that desires to please God.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had no desire to bow to the golden image because they loved the true God, Jehovah.
Thirdly, faith brings you in touch with God's reality and gives you the ability to see situations from a faith perspective.
As these three Hebrew children stood before the Mighty Nebuchadnezzar he breathed threats he was well able to carry out. But they were not detered by His powerful threats. Their faith was operating and it put them in touch with a Higher reality - that the power God was greater than the authority of the king. They were not arrogant concerning their own power, nor were they ignorant regarding the King's vast authority. They knew the danger they faced. But they also had faith in a Greater King with absolute sovereignty over every king and kingdom and their confidence was in their God.

Real faith is not about trusting your belief. Faith is not just about positive thinking or positive confessions. It is not a mental exercise to quiet the voices of doubt in your mind.

Faith is trusting God, and your relationship with Him and His righteousness operating within you!

Real faith is not trusting in what we want to happen. If your idea of faith is about finding out how to get God to produce your desired outcome, you aren't in touch with real faith. These three men had no idea how this would turn out, but they knew God was in control and whatever He decided would be fine with them.

Faith is being confident in His control and comfortable in whatever outcome He chooses.

Real faith is not trusting your ability to read God's will and get out ahead of it. Faith doesn't require you to know what only God can know, it simply knows God and that God is good! You need to follow God not try to lead Him!

Faith is unconditional love and trust in God just because he is worthy of your love and trust!

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a faith that defined their reality. The didn't deny the seriousness of their situation. They knew the threat was real. But they knew that pleasing their God and refusing to bow was worth whatever they would suffer. Like all the great heroes of faith they understood:

"All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised.  This was because God had something better in store for us" Hebrews 11:39-40

"We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right sideof God’s throne!"  Hebrews 12:2

These great heroes of faith made a lasting impact on their world because they were focused on a greater reality from a better world - the world where they currently reside - THE REAL WORLD!