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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Battleground between Heaven and Humankind


Verses: Daniel 10 : 1 - 21

My thoughts about the verses:

Let us take a look at this chapter from a much broader sense.  True it was written about the conflict between the Persian king and his attitude toward God.  The conflict is far more reaching than the conflict between this man and God.  Any leader that is spreading things against God is in conflict with the Holy One.

We have seen this throughout history.  A leader gains power and then lets it go to their head.  They think that they do not need God in their life.  Even though they are struggling in life it doesn’t matter.  They assume that their problems actually stem from other outside issues instead of recognizing it comes from their own behavior.

This doesn’t just apply to governmental leaders.  It also applies to business, clubs, schools and churches.  Any organization that has a leader that goes against the will of God will have struggles.  They will find that for every step they take forward they will take two steps backward.  Their leadership will not be blessed.  You can look around and see all kind of organizations that start to fail because the leadership does not walk within the boundaries of God’s will.  They wage war against what they could do to help humankind through God.  Instead they put their interest first and fight an uphill battle.

I recently watched a documentary about genocide.  It examined the destruction of societies by other societies.  It amazed me how people have used religion to justify the annihilation of people.  Genocide is isn’t a thing of the past.  It exists today.  The thing that I thought was amazing is that the leaders wanted more land and power.  They wanted the land and it didn’t matter who was there.  They had to be destroyed so the leader could have more power and land.  The problem was that people saw others as less than them.

I have talked a lot about ISIS lately but I really feel that they fit into this situation.  Their leaders want power.  They think that other groups are less than them. They feel that they are truly living the will of God.  They believe that God is leading into the battle to rid the world of people that are different than they are.  Is this what God really wants?  Have they not gone outside the line when it comes to God?

They are not the only religious group that has stepped out of the will of God.  Think on this a moment.  The crusades were a series of campaigns to reconquer the Holy Lands.  Many Jews and Muslims were killed in the name of Religion.  The powers believed that it was okay to go in and destroy people who did not believe their way.

It is no wonder that religious wars continue throughout the world.  People say that they are living the will of God.  Yet, what they are missing is that God is love.  God does not want believers fighting each other.  Instead, they want the leaders of religion to show love to others.  Through showing love we are able to reach a much bigger congregation and people will be set free. 

Yet, leaders of all types fall into the greed of the day instead of working for the power that their hearts desire.  Their goal may start with pure thought.  Yet, there comes a day that they step out of bounds.  This applies to any organization that moves away from the power and love of God.  Once you step outside that boundary there is only one way to fix it and that is through God.  God will fix things in God’s own time.  An organization may have to fail before people see that they drove it to the ground instead of turning over to God.

Yet, if the organization, country, school, club or church has faithful members it will arise out of the ashes like the Phoenix.  God will restore it to a magnificent organization.  The fact is that As long as there are faithful people in this world God will ensure them a safe place to live.

We have to understand in the time of Daniel the Jewish community was in exile.  They had been taking from their land and forced into assimilation.  Daniel had faced times of great struggle when he stood up against rulers that wanted him to give up his religious beliefs.  In this moment, Daniel was promised that things would change.  He was being promised that God would handle the way that the Persian King was acting.  Daniel just needed to live the way he was.  He needed to continue to worship and praise God knowing that his faithfulness was pleasing in the eyes of God.

What does this mean to us today?  We have to worship God no matter what obstacles come in our way.  We must not follow any other leader than God.  We must follow God and accept all that God wants for our lives.  We need to understand that we may go through very hard times.  Yet, it doesn’t matter what we go through as long as we are faithful to God our life will be blessed.   We must also remember that God will deal with those that fall outside the will of God. 

We as a people must continue to pray for these leaders and praise God when the organization returns back to its purpose and allows God to rule freely.  It is then and only then that we who are faithful can come out of the shadows and emerge victorious in God’s name.  W muse always remember that God will deal with the leaders and ourselves if we stray.  So be faithful God no matter the circumstance and feel the anointing blessings that will fill your life.

Prayer:
O Holy God we praise you for your love.  We thank you for never leaving us.  We worship you for your are worthy of our praise.  Help us to always stay focused on us.  Help us when we are faced with leaders who are leading us away from you.  We ask for your inner peace to fill our life.  Help us to always remember that our faithfulness to you will lead us to your blessings.  In the name of the Victor of Life we pray.  Amen

Questions:


Have you turned your life over to God?  Are you following God instead of others?  Are you being faithful to God no matter the obstacles that come in your life?

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