Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. "The Power of Spiritual…

- - - - If we as a fellowship are to make a united impact we must together learn to discipline our appetites and its not just food but all of our senses. Our bodies as God described it is wonderfully and fearfully made. Inside of us are bound up so many desires, passions, tastes etc. God also says that we together are members of His body, His Church
        What are we looking at with our eyes- The wonder of God's creation or pornography, posessions, some woman or man we desire.
        Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
        What are we listening to with our ears? wholesome words, Psalms, hymns, Spiritual songs, God's wisdom in His Word or are we listening to the latest gossip, songs with empty lyrics that promote sex, viloence and greed, or teachers who appeal to what we want to hear rather than convict us about sin, righteousness and judgement.
        What about our tongues? Do we gather to gossip or to build each other up as long as it is called today, so that no ones heart is hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
        And yes what about our physical bodies. Are we taking care of the temple of God. The Mosaic laws have been fulfilled, we are not bound by those food laws anymore, but there is tremendous merit in watching our diet and exercising. So that we can be physically able to carry out our day to day tasks and serve the kingdom of God with vigor and power by the Spirit of God.
        
        Over this Covid period I had the oppurtunity to spend some time at a brother's home and my wife and I spent the night at their home. They happened to have a scale in the room we stayed and I took the oppurtunity to weigh myself, I was shocked to see that I had actually reached 200 lbs. I have never been that weight before.
        Also during this period I was speaking to 2 separate brothers and we were able to work together on our purity. For 2 separate months I go the oppurtunity to pray and fast and have daily accountability as we strove to guard our eyes and for me personally to train myself to have one less meal in the day. On both fronts, from a purity stand point and physically, because I started running and riding as well , I feel a lot better and look forward to working more and more with my brothers and sisters to discipline my desires so that I can be practicing the godliness that God Expects of me by the power of HIs Grace.
        
        I challenge you my family, in your circle of fellowship, discipline your desires for the purpose of Godliness. God blessed the fellowship of Shadrach Meshach, Abednego and Daniel after the discipline their desires, I believe if we imitate them He will bless us also.
- - - - Surrendered prayer, is prayer required in situations that have stripped away all dependence on things of this world. Money, power, position all unreliable and undesirable for surrendered prayer. Often times you don't know what the answer will be, or if there'll be one. All of your university degrees, masters and PHDs, completely useless in this arena. None of the king's advisors were up to the task.
        As it says in Isaiah 55: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
        Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego , could not depend on their own strengths or those of Babylon but in God and His provision
        
        When I think of surrendered prayer I think off when I first came into our church in the year 2000, I was inundated with examples of sacrifice and a church on fire with prayer. From the Arthurs having recently moved to South and a vibrant growing ministry, to Roger and Margaret and others giving up the comforts of Trinidad to move to St Vincent to plant the church there. We had many a prayer walk and all night prayers from around the savannah, to Mt. St Benedict, at various households and even walking from Port of Spain to Arima as Justin did and then some of us following him from Sangre Grande to Mayaro so that we could see the power of God work through prayer. We often said we'll go any where, do anything , give up everything for the sake of the gospel and many people strove to live the Acts 2 template out in their lives.
        When I think of surrendered prayer I listened to Francis Chan share how he started a church in His living room and it grew to thousands of people, a year they pledged 250 000 US to a world hunger fund and they just didn't have the money, and the deadline was fast approaching, the Sunday before the deadline he and his staff had been praying and when the money was counted that Sunday it was exactly 250000 US . Or another time when they had a conference and they had planned to feed the poor, except they had run out of meat and they weren't going to be able to feed the vast number of people that were showing up, they prayed and then someone from Trader Joe's calls to say , the strangest thing happened , our power went out and hasn't come back on, do you mind taking our meat?....exactly what they had prayed for.....The following year, they had the conference again, gues what happened, the person in charge of the kitchen says, we've run out o meat and we won't be able to feed all of these people.... they began to pray and then the phone rings again.... it's trader Joes, "He the strangest thing happened, our power just went out and it won't come back on, do you mind taking all of our meat".......
        
        It may seem incredulous, but God works in mysterious ways and often times when we are completly out on a limb for HIm with no way seemingly out and we are praying together He shows up for us. Are we playing it safe in our Spiritual walk, or are we actively together, in a position to impact this world as we pray surrendered prayers for God to open up His plans for us. As it says in Acts 4 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Lets us pray together and God shake the ground and enable us to speak His words with boldness
- - - - 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
        
        If we were asked to worship a false god under the threat of death would we abandon our faith? Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego did not give way to these threats but encouraged each other to stand up to Nebuchadnezzar in clear and precise terms.
        “King Nebuchadnezzar, we DO NOT NEED to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is ABLE to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 BUT IF HE DOES NOT, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that WE WILL NOT serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up
        They were confident in what they believed, defiant in their response, almost dismissive of the king, such was their faith in God.
        If ever we are challenged to give up our faith our CONFIDENCE and in fact DEFIANCE should be as strong. This I think is much more possible when we are part of a fellowship who's FAITH is that strong.
        Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego, apart from witnessing what their own nation's IDOLATRY brought onto their own nation, the destruction and enslavement of their people. It would have been burned into their hearts and mind the eventual cost to pay for such unfaithfulness to God. They weren't about to make that mistake again.
        Plus God's provision for them especially in captivity, THeir positions within the KIng's service was because of God, when God had saved them by revealing the king's dream and interpretation of that dream to Daniel. How could they now turn their backs on God?
        
        So they confidently refused to bow to the idol. They were thrown into a fire 7 times as hot as its usual temperature. The men who carried them were burnt up.
        But then miraculously, they are not burnt , but in fact are walking about freely in the furnace and then Nebuchadnezzar sees a fourth person and he describes him as "one like a Son of Man"....who is this person, Nebuchadnezzar eventually said it was an angel, but the use of that term is the same term used for Jesus in the New Testament. I found it strange that it was used here. Made me ask myself, could this have been Jesus who saved them out of the fire?
        Their Confidence and Defiance in refusing to worship any other God was rewarded as they stood up to the king.
        Would we have that kind of Courage? In certain countries of the world, where Christianity is not the major religion people are constantly asked to or forced to renounce their faith. In Communist China , at times it has been out right illegal to meet as a church and it forced the formation of underground churches.
        If that were our situation and our comforts, possessions and even lives were threatened , would we willing to hold onto our faith in God and His Son?
        
        In the new Testament a church community when faced with persecution for their faith was tempted to turn away. An unknown Christian writer , inspired by God wrote them the letter to the Hebrews .
        In Hebrews 10 :19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ( You see Jesus has appeared to all of us Christian's and what's more His Spirit now resides in thos who have believed, repented and been baptised)
        23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, ( Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abedngo) for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ( You see , even in the new testament the importance of the fellowship is outlined in helping us to maintain and grow in that Courage f Confidence and Defiant faith in God)26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.**
        ( God will not look lightly if on continuance unrepentatnt sin, nor will He take lightly any one who denies Him**
        32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,he who is coming will come “In just a little while, and will not delay.”[f] 38 And,And I take no pleasurein the one who shrinks back.”[h]“But my righteous[g] one will live by faith39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved