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What Happens In Babylon…

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Friday, February 05, 2010

Based on “The Church – Why We Do What We Do” by Pastor Mark Balmer;

1/30-31/10, Message #MB406; Daily Devotional #4 - “What Happens In Babylon…”

 

Preparing the Soil (Introduction): But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs… (Daniel 1:8-9, ESV)

 

Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): Taken into captivity at a young age, Daniel and his friends were faced with a life altering decision: be immersed in the decadent, self-pleasing lifestyle of the Babylonians (after all, they had been chosen by the king) or stand true to the way of living to which The King-Jehovah God-had called them. How easy would it have been for them to excuse away disobedience? “We’re prisoners and the king commands it.” “We’re not in Jerusalem.” “God has obviously abandoned us, so why bother?” A few distorted thoughts and suddenly we don’t have a Daniel whose story lives forever for his determination to be obedient, but in his place some syncretistic Hebrew lost to the annals of history.

 

Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): In her study on Daniel, Beth Moore suggests that we, in our affluent western civilization, face the same challenges Daniel faced. Will we hold fast to what we know God has called us? Will we say, “No!” to our fleshly desires? Or will the spirit of Babylon drive our every waking moment? What is the spirit of Babylon, we may ask? Isaiah 47:10 sums it up: “…I am, and there is none besides me.” It’s very easy to center our world on us—what makes us happy, content, and self-actualized. Our culture feeds the notion that I really am the center of the universe, and it actually is all about me. However, God takes issue with that mentality, because in reality it’s all about Him! As followers of Jesus we give up our rights to ourselves and in turn become God’s conduits to a lost and dying world—in whatever way He chooses. Let’s reflect on what occupies our thoughts most of the time. Is it mostly about ourselves and getting what we want, or are we thinking about God and what He wants? Our natural inclination is toward pleasing ourselves. Only by being challenged and transformed through God’s Word can we become light in the middle of a very dark world.

 

Cultivating (Additional Reading):  Isaiah 47; Daniel 1; Colossians 2:6-7

NLG

 

Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673

All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.

English Standard Version = ESV.

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1   Comments

  • Christ Follower

    February 05, 2010

    A meditation written in my husbands Bible from about 30 years ago.  We need to read this out often as a spiritual heart assessment. I can hear Keith Green singing,  "We are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ.  He calls us to offer up ourselves a living sacrifice."
     
    When you are forgotten, or neglected,
    or purposely set at naught, and you
    don't sting or hurt with the insult or
    the oversight, but your heart is happy,
    being counted worthy to suffer for Christ,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When your good is evil spoken of,
    when your wishes are misunderstood
    your advise disregarded, your opinions
    ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger
    rise in your heart, or even defend
    yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When you lovingly and patiently bear
    any disorder, any irregularity, any
    unpunctuality, or any annoyance; when
    you stand face to face with waste, folly,
    extravagance, spiritual insensibility-
    and endure it as Christ endured,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When you are content with any food,
    any offering, any climate, any society,
    any raiment, any interruption
    by the will of God,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When you never care to refer to your-
    self in conversation, or to record your
    own good works, or itch after commendations,
    when you can truly love to be unknown,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When you can see your brother prosper
    and have his needs met and can honestly
    rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy,
    nor question God while your own
    needs are greater and in desperate circumstances,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    When you can receive correction and
    reproof from one of less stature than your-
    self and can humbly submit inwardly as
    well as outwardly, finding no rebellion
    or resentment rising up within your heart,
    THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

    Are you dead yet?
    In these last days, the Spirit would bring us
    to the stake "That I may know HIM, and the
    power of HIS resurrection, and the fellowship
    of HIS sufferings, being made conformable
    unto HIS death."          
     
    Philippians 3:10 (Amplified Bible)
    10[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [[a]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

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