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Feasting and Fasting

God invested knowledge and skill in Daniel and friends.

Daniel 1:5, 8-17; Matthew 6:16-18

We don’t know that the king had evil intent in nourishing them from his own provision. Perhaps all he wanted was healthy, strong young men. But maybe he was also wanting to detach them from the God of their fathers by violating their dietary laws. Whatever the intent of the king, Daniel had no intent of defiling himself in that way.

Daniel offered a test that showed he didn’t just have his own self interests at heart. His trust in God gave him an humble spirit. He would accept whatever verdict his master rendered.

God honored the faith and faithfulness of Daniel and his friends. Not only did He make them healthy and strong, He invested in them “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom” (Daniel 1:17). Read it all

Job’s Desire to Speak With God

Job was confident!

Job 23

Job had no interest in avoiding God, but he didn’t seem to know anymore where to find Him (Job 23:3). Wherever he looked, he simply could not see God (Job 23:8,9).

Job was confident of the rightness of his cause and the righteousness of his life. He would gladly lay out his case before God (Job 23:4).

He was also confident He could follow God’s line of reasoning, if he could only know it (Job 23:5).

And he was confident the Almighty would put His strength toward Job’s good. He believed the Almighty’s strength would become his own source of strength (Job 23:6).

Job was confident God knew about him and what was going on, even if Job didn’t know where God was nor what He was up to (Job 23:10). He was confident good would come from this test. He believed God would refine him, not destroy him. Read it all

Powerful Prayer

The effective prayer of the righteous can do a lot.

James 5:13-18

Prayer is as a solid rope, not as a wispy vapor.

Pray when you’re afflicted (James 5:13). The Greek term translated is afflicted here is used only three other times in the New Testament. Notice how its use in those contexts seems to restrict the meaning:

  • endure hardness (2 Timothy 2:3)
  • suffer trouble (2 Timothy 2:9)
  • endure afflictions (2 Timothy 4:5)

Why pray during affliction?

  • deliverance and glory (Psalm 50:15)
  • divine answers, presence, deliverance, and honor (Psalm 91:15)

Notice this connection between affliction, prayer, and humility: “And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers” (2 Chronicles 33:12). Read it all

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Despite physical decay, Job expected to see God with his own eyes.

Job 19:5-10, 14-27

Even at that stage in history, with the promised Redeemer still hundreds of years from manifesting Himself in the flesh, Job said in simple faith: “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

Reminds me of Enoch’s prophecy: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 14).

Our Redeemer, the One who was dead, is alive and will come again! While He awaits that grand event, He continues His redeeming, renewing, restoring, reviving work in our hearts so that we are ready to receive Him. “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Read it all

Jesus’ Intercession for Us

The access He gives us to God is eternal.

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Our Intercessor is there at the Father’s right hand.

He intercedes for His own on the basis of His sacrifice and their obedience.

He offers continual intercession for us (Romans 8:34).

Our Redeemer Priest is consecrated for eternity; therefore, the access He gives us to God is likewise eternal.

Jesus’ work makes His people perfect before Him because He rose for our justification (Romans 4:25). His work produces genuine cleansing and righteousness.

God requires obedience of His people, for Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). Those who do not obey Him have no business calling Him Lord (Luke 6:46). Read it all

Above all, love God!