Series: Daniel
Daniel 10:1-21 (Vision, To Come)
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
Psalm 119:105 ESV
I Thessalonians 2:13 ESV
Proverbs 30:5 ESV
Romans 5:1-5 ESV (great comfort)
Learning to listen and wait is about letting God direct you.
For example, when I started this series I thought I knew what direction God had for me/us, but then I had a nudge (well several nudges) that directed me to be more personal about dreams, visions, and interpretations.
God’s word does unlock answers, even today.
It’s not always an easy process because as God speaks we learn to listen.
It’s not always immediate because learning to listen often requires silence. I’ve been reminded several times that silence is God’s first language. In other words before God created this world there was silence.
We learned in Daniel 10:1-21 that Daniel saw a man whose face had the appearance of lightening and his eyes were flaming torches. His arms and legs were bright bronze and his voice sounded like a multitude spoke. The vision left Daniel weak and trembling. One who came strengthened Daniel and told him the vision he had was yet to come.
God gave Daniel the gift of seeing His glory.
God revealed His strength to Daniel.
The power that God poured out in Daniel made him tremble, but God sent an agent to speak to Daniel and strengthen him.
God allowed Daniel to hear His mighty voice.
The truth of God, the power of God, and the word of God changed Daniel.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
That same word of God is still living and active today. It is sharper than any sword. The word of God pierces soul and spirit even to joints and marrow. That’s what happens to us when we turn to God and seek with our whole heart. Through the Spirit the WORD pierces soul and spirit.
The Spirit discerns the intentions of the heart.
The Apostle Paul wrote to his beloved Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Experts believe that Paul wrote those words from a dark and damp prison cell not long before he was martyred.
He wanted to leave his young charge words he could hold onto long after he was gone from this earth.
Paul wanted Timothy to continue with the work set before him with tools for teaching, help to shed light on things we do not see, a way to fully move forward with God, and training in the righteousness of Christ.
Paul wanted him to have the tools he needed to share the Gospel message to the world.
When David wrote in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” he sang God’s praises that in his lifetime God gave him a lamp to show him the way and a light to his path through His Holy Word.
Psalm 119 is an acrostic with 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. This poetic psalm points us to the unity of scripture, the variety of scripture, and the blessing we have available from the Word of God we have been given.
In I Thessalonians 2:13, Paul wrote we “thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
Paul’s words to the church at Thessalonica praised the church and believers there because they recognized the Word of God really was the work of God through the Spirit. They recognized it was holy.
In Proverbs 30:5, Agur wrote “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”
God’s Word has been proven to be true and it acts as a shield to those who read and rely on it for refuge. Speaking the word of God (even silently to yourself) acts as a shield when we are under attack.
Decades ago I read Romans 5 and the Apostle Paul opened with words that offered the battered and persecuted church in Rome an explanation of the gift they have available through the Spirit of God that lives in them.
On that day the Spirit moved in me and I was reminded that I am justified by faith. I memorized
Romans 5:1-5 nearly five decades ago and it blesses me as much (if not more) today, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
I know through the faith God gives the truth of God and we have peace.
God gives us grace.
We can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
We can even rejoice in suffering because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces Hope, and Hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured in us by the Holy Spirit.
For certain Daniel embraced the Spirit of God speaking in and through him. The Word of God changed him.
Spiritual Practice: Word of God
Memorize one scripture you can carry in your personal toolbox.
In God, Deborah
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