TRUTH
Something searched for but is feared when found. Something needed but not always well recieved. Something most people feel the need to keep hidden or not willing to share. Something easy to find but mostly overlooked. Something that is absolute but not recognized by the culture as being so. Something that is hard to write about because of repercussions.
_ _ _ _ _ , you fill in the blank, is something that I have been thinking a lot on lately. As I have been spending time in the word reading the book of Daniel, I have seen how God used and blessed someone who was really willing to stand on his beliefs. Someone who was willing to stand on the _ _ _ _ _ , no matter what the outcome of such a stand presented. Someone who was not afraid to be different and someone who chose not to become so encumbered by culture as to be made impotent. Someone who had faith that his God was going to take care of him one way or the other and no matter how bad things looked and no matter how much the _ _ _ _ _ was going to cost him he made the choice to stand on it always. Daniel’s stand on the _ _ _ _ _. for the _ _ _ _ _ , and willingness to share the _ _ _ _ _ was always blessed by God.
I personally am encouraged by the life of Daniel. Daniel was able to retain his standards of living for God while still being successful in the culture that he lived in. He did not do it by blending in, by hiding, by going underground, he did it by making a stand, by being different, by remaining faithful to his calling and his God. The first six chapters are examples of his stands and his successes, each success tied to his faithfulness to the _ _ _ _ _ and to God.
I want to be the person who does not have to wear masks so that I can be accepted by my friends, my church, my community. I want to be the person willing to take stands, to take sides, to be different, to be bold in my beliefs and be bold in the _ _ _ _ _ that my God shows me. I want to be the person who is not afraid to go to a brother or a sister going down the wrong path and share the _ _ _ _ _ with them, share the word of God and help them from making terrible mistakes. I want to be like Daniel.
I have a vision of who I want to be, how I want to live in the _ _ _ _ _ but I am not there yet. Go back to the introductory paragraph of this post. The _ _ _ _ _ has it’s risks to overcome, but I am encouraged that the same God that took care of Daniel in all of his stands is the SAME God I serve today. I have to keep that in the forefront of all my thinking and let that be an incentive to start sharing _ _ _ _ _ whenever, wherever, however I can.
Daniel 6:25 Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:“Peace and prosperity to you! 26 “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God,
and he will endure forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed,
and his rule will never end.
27 He rescues and saves his people;
he performs miraculous signs and wonders
in the heavens and on earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Great blog!