Daniel 6: 25-28
A weekday morning devotional series written by Aaron Marcarelli and hosted by Chad McBeam
“Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land: “May your peace abound! I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
Daniel 6:25-28 NASB1995
Daniel received Blessings due to God’s promises in Genesis 12:2-3: “And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Pastor Todd Clayton at Journey Fellowship in his sermon yesterday reminded us of God’s promises and his covenant with Abraham, to bless his descendants and to bless those who blessed His descendants. God continually followed through on that promise. From Joseph and Potiphar to the Pharos. From Moses through David and Solomon, God blessed the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When they remembered God’s promises and served Him earnestly the non Jewish leaders were also blessed. However, when the descendants of Israel forgot about the promises of God, those leaders surrounding Israel overtook Israel.
Then God through Jesus gave us a new commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. This was to go along with Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
For we had become to much like the rich young ruler in Luke 18:23-24
“When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”
If we love our neighbor as we love ourselves it’s easy to give things away, because we know that what we have is from God and we will not put anything before our relationship with God. Pastor Todd explained it this way he said “You need God’s favor more than earthly prominence!”
As followers of Christ, how do we know we have favor? Ephesians :1:5-6.
“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
It is Through Faith Alone not works!
Ephesians 2:8-9 says
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Therefore, we as followers of Christ have “God’s favor more than earthly prominence!” and are blessed if we seek Him first, love Him with all that we have, thus loving others as we love ourselves.
Lord we thank you for your promises and your mercies and eternal life with you through Christ. Lord help us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and give us strength and peace to love You with all our heart soul mind and strength. We pray all this in Jesus name.
Have a fantastic day!Blessings and Press In and Press On!