Drunken Mystic

Hopefully despite the looming Christmas season you’ve taken the time to look through the principles we find in Daniel.  These seven principles are very timely for today and the near future, but they also are the call for the Church under any foreign government … and since the Kingdom of God is of the Spirit and the heavenly, all earthly governments are foreign governments.  We are the aliens and exiles here.

Let’s recap the principles:

1.  Daniel would not defile himself with the king’s delicacies.

2.  Daniel and his friends refused to worship another man’s image and reserved their worship for God alone.

3.  Daniel speaks truth, even harsh judgment, upon kings who hold his physical life in their hands, trusting himself to God alone.

4.  They could find no charge to bring against Daniel.  He was without error and fault.

5.  Daniel intentionally disobeyed, openly and without compromise, when laws were passed against the Kingdom of God.

6.  Daniel read scripture and received revelation about the coming Kingdom of God.

7.  Based on the revelation of restoration, Daniel took the responsibility to become an intercessor for the Kingdom of God, not an earthly kingdom.

Some of you may rightly observe, this has little to do with earthly governments.  My point is, exactly.  The Church should be, as Daniel was, way more interested in the Kingdom of God than any earthly nation.

But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved.  Daniel held one of the highest offices in the land, as a former slave, and had daily responsibilities for the administration of two empires, but we can see that his focus was on another nation entirely.  Which means that although he was deeply involved in these empires, he wasn’t invested.

God wants a Church that is IN this world but not OF it.  He wants His Bride to be invested in an eternal, invisible Kingdom that possesses true reality, even while involved in the things of this world.

While Daniel proved and testified to his independence of these empires, he did not rouse a rebellion and force the restoration of Israel.  He didn’t play Spartacus.  Daniel served where God had him but continually looked forward to and set his hope upon the restoration GOD would bring, not what Daniel could work out on his own.  Daniel didn’t go off by himself and become a hermit and separate himself from the world, either.  He was deeply involved, as God placed him in that circumstance.  But again, he was not personally invested in the success, nor was he personally shaken by the fall, of two great empires, Babylon and Persia.

If you haven’t read the comments, go back through and read them.  There’s some good stuff in there.  Leave some of your own, too!  You can click on the subject link on the right of this page to just see these posts.

Peace.

Daniel 9:3-19

So Daniel gets this great revelation about the restoration of Israel, even a specific time.  So what does he do with this revelation?

He immediately begins to intercede on behalf of Israel before God.

He didn’t preach on it.  He prayed about it.

But intercession is not just a simple prayer (although it can be).  Intercession is standing in the place of a person or a group of people and asking God for things from that place.

Some believe that intercession is a specific gift, as if some are called to intercede while others are not.  You, like me, have probably heard the term “prayer warriors” from a young person if you grew up in the institutional church.  But the Bible never speaks of such a thing.  In every listing of spiritual gifts, we never get one for prayer or intercession.  Why?  Because intercession and prayer are the place of the whole Body.

Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, says “when you pray” and “when you fast.”  No “if’s” there.  Some people are more effective in their prayers because they’re more comitted and disciplined about it.  People who say, “I’m just not good at prayer” or feel inadequate in prayer don’t do it very often.  I know because I’ve been one of them.  I didn’t feel like prayer was “my gift” and just never really prayed.  But as I began to commit myself more to prayer and fasting, I realized it was a gift to me … and the whole Body.

Think on it.  What is part of Jesus’ position right now before the Father?  He stands, as the only true High Priest, to make intercession for His people.  If that same Christ is in you, how is intercession not part of your call?

Despite teaching to the contrary, it is.  And Daniel took the revelation about Israel’s restoration and began to intercede.  Let’s look at what he said before God:

First, Daniel exalted God for what He had done and His very being.

Second, Daniel admitted the sin of the whole nation, confessed the sin of the nation before God as if it were his own.  Some might say that, “wasn’t Daniel without error and without fault”?  Absolutely.  It takes a righteous and holy vessel to stand before God and intercede for sin, which is why principle number 4 was before number 7.  Didn’t it always take a lamb without spot to be the sacrifice?  The prayers of a righteous man avail much.

Third, Daniel admits the righteous consequence for their sin (from the words of Moses).

Fourth, Daniel calls upon the love and mercy of God to restore Israel to glorify Himself.

Daniel begs God on behalf of others, to restore and act.

As a result of Daniel’s intercession, the angel Gabriel came and gave him even more revelation on things to come.  The last three chapters of Daniel are full of great revelation and specific vision.

I don’t want people to come away with only the idea that we are to be individual intercessors only, but I believe that God desires a PEOPLE who collectively intercede before Him, a Body of Christ that intercedes as Christ does for the Kingdom of God and the revelation of the New Jerusalem.  All creation groans and waits for the sons of God to be revealed (that’s us!).  Do we groan and wait for it?

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 9:1-4

Daniel reads the law and the prophets and begins to truly understand.  Daniel gives us a time of when he began to have this understanding, the first year of Darius’ reign.  This was later in his life, after decades of living under not one, but two, foreign powers, living a life completely dedicated to the Lord and looking towards the restoration of Israel.

He reads the law and the prophets, more specifically Jeremiah, and God gives him revelation of what Jeremiah was saying.  The exile would be for 70 years, then the exiles would return to Jerusalem.

While this seems simple, I believe two main principles are evident here.  First, Daniel dedicated himself to the reading of the scriptures and to meditate upon what the prophets were saying, seeking God’s heart on what they meant for his time.

Do we do this?  Do we read the scriptures dilligently, seeking to know what God is saying to us?  Being involved in open meetings as I have for years, the lack of individual study and meditation in the scriptures becomes evident in some people.  Some people don’t have anything to bring to the Body or the meeting because they haven’t been disciplined enough with their own time to hear God teach them through his anointing within them.

But we also have people who never have anything of their own to say.  Some people speak in a meeting, but they are only repeating what someone else has said, not what God has specifically told them.  Of course repeating someone else’s teaching or heart has its place in the Spirit, but there is a problem if that’s ALL you do … because that means you, conscious or no, see another as your mediator and priest, and therefore a danger exists that you place that other believer on a pedestal they do not belong.

One of the main foundations of the New Covenant includes the ability to personally, individually and collectively, hear the voice of God without another mediator.  Yes, some are gifted as teachers and prophets and have those responsibilities and functions within the Body, so they will naturally say more, but that doesn’t negate your responsiblity to hear the voice of God by yourself.  In fact, a true teacher or prophet will only be satisfied if they can lead a congregation to the point where they hear God independently from a professional or designated leader or minister.

So much to say about that, but I’ll leave it there.

Second principle here is that, while Daniel was one of only three governors in the most powerful nation at the time, the Persian Empire, his mind was focused on the restoration and position of Israel.  At this point, Israel had no king, no borders, no army, no officials; Jerusalem was broken down, burned, looted.  But Daniel didn’t allow that to discourage him or dissuade him from setting his heart on Israel and Jerusalem.

And so God gave him revelation on THAT.

And Daniel’s revelation was not just knowledge, but revelation that was timely and specific to his call and what he was about.

Are we more concerned with the future of the Kingdom of God, the Church, the Body of Christ, the spiritual Israel, than with the future of America or other worldly nations?  Do we read the scriptures with a heart to know what the Kingdom of God is all about and the promises entailed within?  Do we really seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and believe He will add everything else we may need?  Is our focus on restoring the Old Jerusalem or do we put our hope in the New Jerusalem being revealed in the earth, the Jerusalem from above?

When that’s your heart, God will give you revelation about it.  I guarantee it.

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 6:10

Those jealous of Daniel could not find any fault in him, to charge him or accuse him, so they had to find a way to get him.  So they convinced Darius to sign this decree that for 30 days, no one could pray or petition any god but Darius the king; or be thrown into the Lion’s den, a sure death sentence.

Daniel hears about the decree (which is irrevocable under Persian law once signed by the king), and IMMEDIATELY goes home, opens his windows so all can see, turns to JERUSALEM and prays to the Lord.

This is willful disobedience.  Knowing the law and the consequences, Daniel openly brok the king’s law and prayed to the Lord.

His facing towards Jerusalem is key, because in that he made a statement that he knew who he belonged to, what nation he was truly a citizen of despite his current circumstances, and he had to obey THAT law, regardless of the laws of men.

If you can bear to hear it, let me share something.  Under the next president of American and congressional majority, the amount of rules and regulations will exponentially increase.  While I might concede some good motivations, the increasingly socialistic mentality necessitates more rule and regulation.

The heart of man is basically selfish, which requires being “born again,” made into a new creation by the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore the Church can be expected to give out of extreme compassion.

Without the Holy Spirit and the eternal collective perspective and organic anointing of the Church, man must be forced to share, at least long term.  Therefore, the need for rules and regulation.  (If you don’t believe me, read Marx.  While he saw this time of control and dictatorship as a transition, no nation has ever moved past it.  None ever will.)

And as the rules and regulations increase, the likelihood that God will lead you to break man’s law will increase.

Wait a minute, you might say, doesn’t the scripture tell us that we are to obey earthly masters?  Yes, it does; but we also have examples from Jesus (healing on the Sabbath) and the twelve (picking and eating grain on the Sabbath; and preaching the gospel) where, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, they broke man’s sacred rules and traditions, willing to suffer whatever consequences the world deemed to dish out.

Who should we obey, God or man?

They are not the same and may come into conflict.  I’m telling you the time is coming, perhaps is already here, where it will.  Obey God.  Realize your true hope of redemption is the New Jerusalem and your citizenship is in Heaven, not safety and security in this life.

Daniel wasn’t looking to break laws or be rebellious.  He was interested in keeping God’s law.

In my historical studies, I’m amazed and inspired by MLK and Gandhi, men who felt it was their duty to disobey unjust laws.  They did it for largely political reasons (although they truly acknowledged the spiritual).  Will we do it for the eternal alone?

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 6:4

While the title says Nebby, we are now under a new kingdom and king, Persia and Darius.

Daniel, a former slave and current Jew, a non-Persian, distinguished himself and maintained a high position in the Persian empire even after nobly serving under Babylon.

Because of the favor shown him, Daniel was one of three governors over the whole Persian empire, accountable to the king only.  This engendered some jealously from the other governors and satraps (Persian regional rulers).

But Daniel’s enemies could “find no charge or fault because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.”

It is part of the Church’s call, especially in this hour, to be a complete testimony of righteousness.

This does not mean the world will not bring accusation and charges and investigate you.  Biblically, we’re promised they will.  But they should find no evil or error.

Too often they easily find the error.  And excusing ourselves by throwing up our hands and saying “Christ is my righteousness” while we sin away is not being His Body on the earth.

Jesus was greatly persecuted and hated by the world, especially the religious.  Then He tells those who would follow Him, “they hated Me, they’ll hate you.  In this world you’ll have trouble.”  But Jesus did nothing wrong, despite the charges and accusations against Him.

If we are to be Christians, little Christs, we should have the same testimony.  Jesus said we are blessed if persecuted for “righteousness’ sake.”

“Surely this is not for the whole Church,” you may say.

Peter, writing to the whole Church (1 Peter 3:14-16) says this: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed … But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evil doers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”

The assumption, again, is that the world will defame you, but they should have no reason to do so.

This totally flies in the face of many who claim no difference between the saved and the unsaved besides a mental acknowledgement of certain doctrinal truths.

If all God wanted was a people He had to continually forgive, He had that under the Old Covenant.  He gave the New Covenant, the resulting grace and indwelling Spirit, to have a people that, once forgiven, would live righteous.

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 4-5

While many may not initially see the connection, the first two principles I discussed are foundational to be the vessel and voice for truth that the Lord desires us to be.

First, live a life of complete dependency upon God, living a testimony where the Lord is your only provision.  This is real and practical.  To live your life your way and say, “The Lord is my provision,” doesn’t express the testimony God desires for us to have.

Second, refuse to bow to the things of this world; to give anything God’s place is idolatry.

Now Daniel was free to speak truth, even difficult truth, to Nebuchadnezzar, the king.

Nebby had a vision and specifically asked Daniel to interpret it.  Daniel’s interpretation was that Nebby would be humbled by God for taking pride in Babylon “’till you know that the Most High rules the kingdoms of men and gives it to whomever He chooses.”  This humbling would take the form of Nebby being driven into the wilderness to act like a mindless beast.

It happened as Daniel interpreted by the Spirit. 

(Daniel also responded similarly in another situation with Belshazzar … even to Belshazzar’s death and Babylon’s destruction!  If his hope had been, in any way, tied to Babylon or the king, could he have given the same word?)

When living under the first two principles, we are free from this world’s control so we may clearly address this world as the Lord opens doors and gives opportunity.

Daniel wasn’t eager to criticize, but he was free to speak the truth as the Lord gave opportunity.

The Church needs to be this voice.  Not a constant voice of criticism or taking the freedom of speech as a right, but obediently following God and giving this world His word as He gives opportunity.

This could be judgment or encouragement or whatever the Lord wills, but in order to speak Truth to this world while in it, we must not be of it.

Jesus often had harsh words for Herod and the religious leaders while in the flesh.  But He also made it clear He acted doing His Father’s will, not His own.

This means God’s word might challenge our own notions of conservative, liberal, moderate, free, slave or American.  The things of the Spirit will conflict with the philosophies of this world.  Be careful when you marry them.

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 3

This particular principle has more to do with Daniel’s friends than Daniel himself.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had gone through the Babylonian training and ended up in leadership in the Babylonian Empire.

Meanwhile, Daniel had interpreted a dream that had been troubling Nebuchadnezzar.  In this dream, God showed Nebuchadnezzar an image of a man that symbolized the current kingdom, Babylon, as the head and then the subsequent kingdoms that would follow.

Nebuchadnezzar took this message from God about the temporal nature of his own kingdom … and proceeded to make a huge image of himself made completely of gold.  Then Nebby decided that everyone had to bow down to it.

After three years of a diet of vegetables and water, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had seen the favor and faithfulness of the Lord.  They would not bow down.  The consequence of not bowing down was to be put in the fiery furnace.  Nebby practically pleaded with them to reconsider.  Their response?  “God will deliver us.  But even if he doesn’t, we will not bow down.”

We all know the rest of the story well.  Basic Sunday School type stuff.  God did deliver them and Nebby even saw a “fourth” person like the “son of God” in there with them.  The three young men emerged from the fiery furnace unscathed.

While this is a very familiar story, the principle I would like to take away today is, what image are we being asked to bow down to?  Those who seek to serve the Lord alone will bow to NO OTHER IMAGE.  What does that mean?

Well, surely we don’t bow to actual idols, at least in our culture, so we feel safe from idolatry.  But did you know that the scripture equates greed and covetousness with idolatry?  So even though we do not bow down to a little (or big) image of something or someone, we still might be guilty of idolatry.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all served in the empire.  They weren’t rebelling against the whole empire.  They just would not bow down to any besides the true God.  Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon had its place for its time, but it did not have THAT place.

So at what point do we bow to something?  When you seek your identity from that thing, or your security, or your provision.  When you give place to something that should only belong to God.  If we continually have faith in the state to rescue our nation from every woe, then we bow down and worship the state.  If we have faith in our nation to police the world and its conflicts, then we bow down and worship our own nation.  If we see a political party or candidate as a reason for hope and prosperity, we bow down to those things.

America, its government and leaders have a place … but not THAT place.

We could also get into religious idolatry, as Alice left in a comment from yesterday’s post.  The hero worship that happens with ministers in the Body of Christ is quite disconcerting at times.  To see preachers, teachers, and worship leaders marketed like the latest celebrity is more worldly than we seem to understand.  It goes directly against Jesus’ example and teaching.  He wouldn’t let them make him an earthly king and continually told people to NOT tell anyone what he did, even though they did it anyway.  He also taught that “the first will be last” and leadership in the Body works differently from the world, that we shouldn’t even let ourselves be called by names like “teacher” or “father” or other position type mentalities.

Those are the words of Jesus, of course.

There are other types of idolatry.  Idolatry is basically giving created, temporal things the place of the eternal Creator.  This is why Paul lists greed and covetousness as idolatry.  You seek your satisfaction from things.  True satisfaction can only come from God.

As people seeking to serve the Living God, be sure that you bow to only him.  He is a jealous God, and he broaches no competitors.  Not your career or your wealth or your entertainment or your country or your politics or your heroes.  Nothing should have his place.

Thoughts?

Peace.

Daniel 1:8

Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon when God gave Juday over to captivity due to their idolatry, greed, violence, and the oppression of the poor.  God even calls Nebby “my servant” to indicate His use of Babylon as a vessel.

Daniel and his three friends were singled out because of their youth, appearance, and ability to learn.  The king appointed them a provision of his own delicacies over three years of training.

But Daniel “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portions of the king’s delicacies.”  He brought his request to the chief of the eunuchs, the man in charge over them.  Daniel asked for only vegetables and water, convincing the chief eunuch to give them a trial period of ten days, since the chief was afraid of the king’s judgment if he saw his prized captives looking sickly.

At the end of ten days, Daniel and his friends looked even better than the young men who ate the king’s delicacies.  So from what I can gather, Daniel and his friends ate only vegetables and water for three years of their training and education.

Now, obviously the point here is not to eat only vegetables and water for three years, unless the Lord leads you specifically in that.

But there is an important principle here.  As Americans, the wealth of kings is at our fingertips.  Does that necessarily mean it is God’s will we partake in them?  Daniel would not, understanding that to take part in luxuries afforded him would “defile” him.  He trusted in God for his health and favor.  This was a risk for himself, his friends, and the stewards over him.

Daniel purposefully lived a lifestyle where God would have to supernaturally provide or he would fail.  Daniel would not allow the king to even pretend glory in Daniel’s favor.

Another aspect of this, I feel, is the idea of being an independent agent.  Daniel was a slave, a captive, but he was proactive in being different, set apart, and making his own choices.

Daniel “purposed in his heart.”  This took conscious choice and an act of will to be set apart.  Daniel was intentional about this.

As someone who has made similar choices in my life to live a life like this, it proves very difficult.  Surely the other captives and trainees couldn’t understand why someone, when given the free opportunity, would choose not to partake in the king’s luxuries and delicacies.  It is the same today.  People, even well-meaning Christians, have a hard time understanding why you would choose to live without luxuries in our culture when they are readily available.

I can tell you, as Daniel learned, God is faithful and the discipline of such simplicity is liberating.  One of the main dangers to our spirituality, as Jesus explained in the parable of the sower, is the “cares of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth”, thorns that rise up and kill the life and fruit God desires for us to produce.

The cares of this life are therefore in conflict with the Kingdom of God.  Too often Christians equate the cares of this life with participating in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus clearly felt the opposite.  He continually called those that followed him to leave everything and give everything away, not just the rich young ruler.

It is not coincidence this is the first thing Daniel dealt with in his book, and therefore the first principle we discuss.  It was fundamental to God’s favor and Daniel’s victory while a captive and serving under a foreign king.  He had to establish first his unwillingness to be subject to any ruler other than the true God of Israel.  Then he could act in complete freedom.

Seek first the Kingdom, then all things you need will be added.  Is not the body more than clothes, life more than food?  The “Gentiles (those bound by this world)” seek after these things.

I can’t tell you what “king’s delicacies” defile you.  Whatever keeps you from regular and intimate fellowship with the saints should be an initial red flag, but other things could be revealed to you as the Lord wills if you would “purpose in your heart” not to be defiled by the things of this world, to be set apart, to be a testimony in this.

Thoughts?

Peace.

Over the past few years, more and more Christians have re-visited the role of Christianity and its relationship with the state.  Many became disillusioned with the awkward partnership between the Republicans pary and evangelical Christianity.  Of course others had already partnered their views with the Democrats, while still more were frustrated with conservatives but saw an even greater evil in modern liberalism, therefore they stand stuck in this nebulous region where no political spectrum expresses their views.  And there are still the die hard Christian conservatives that won’t be budged.

So some Christians have become even more apathetic about politics in general.  Also, a growing number of social-gospelites see the state as a possible vessel for redemption.

Overall, I believe any discussion questioning such things to be a good thing, if intellectually honest and seeking what is right and true, not just a knee jerk reaction based in what Bono would think is cool.

I’ve made my personal views clear.  Based on the nature of the two, the Church and the state are not just separate institutionally.  They are separate in scope (eternal vs. temporal), purpose (redemptive vs. legalistic) and design (organic vs. organized).  The state has its role and purpose, but the Church has an even greater mandate that I feel needs to be addressed, especially in the time we find ourselves.  The Church’s mandate is not just for today, but for all of history and eternity.  And we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill this mandate.

Jesus once rebuked the Jews by saying, “You can look at the sky and predict the weather, but you can’t seem to discern the times.”  God is shaking our economic systems (and will continue to do so) and is handing our nation over to a messianic political figure all at once.

This will be a bright day for the Church if we can see ourselves for who we are.

I feel the example of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are timely for us now and in the future, and also as a basic understanding of the role of God’s people within a worldly government, under any type of administration.

We are, by nature, aliens and strangers, a people in exile but with a full assurance of full and eternal restoration.  In this world but not of it.

I will be pulling seven principles from the book of Daniel.  Please consider them over the next week … and comment!  Share your thoughts, as well, on these principles as we go.  I would love to hear your input.

Peace.