TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2022)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:16-25 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 294TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
God is faithful and kind. We thank Him for giving us another day and keeping us alive. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers them from they all.
We thank God for His mercies and wonderful works in our lives; giving us grace to move on, day by day and all that. To Him belong the glory in Jesus precious name.
This morning we will continue with our discourse on the blessed Holy Spirit.
In previous days, we dwelled on His most important assignment in our lives. The job of putting our lives in order for God to bless us. Today we want to move to the last phase of what the Spirit will do to bring about the restoration of what we lost in the Garden of Eden.
We will be looking at the gifts He brings into our lives if we become intimate with Him, and how they will help us succeed in all areas of our lives.
We cannot talk about the Blessed Holy Spirit without talking about His dynamic abilities to make us small gods on the face of the earth. One of the purposes of His coming and His gifts is to restore back the divine nature, or let me say, the divine life to us. It is to make us gods of the Most High GOD.
Let me make it clear that the Spirit is not here to make us gods to be worshiped by men, but gods to worship the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It takes gods to worship GOD.
The Psalmist say,
“Ye are gods” and Jesus said; “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” John 10:35-36 NKJV
Sons of God are gods. They are gods to worship the one and only true GOD. They are not gods to be worshiped.
It is the kingdom of men and religious darkness that make men gods to be worshiped. The kingdom of God and light makes men gods that worship the one and only true GOD, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
IF THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED TO YOU, THEN THIS WORD IF FOR YOU.
Sons of God are gods who do not live in sin, but live in God. Yes, they are gods that the Kingdom of God raises, not to live in iniquity, again but in godliness.
They are gods who do not walk in lies, but walk in truth. They do not marry the way the fallen man does, they marry the way the redeemed man does. They are gods that can bear children and raise them in the fear of GOD to be gods also. They are incorruptible because they are gods of the Most High God.
It may interest you to know that the Church was designed to be made up of gods not mere men. If you are part of the body of Christ, God designed that you live and operate as His gods on the face of the earth so that you can bring His kingdom down, and get His will done on earth as written in Heaven.
Only gods can know what is written in Heaven; the dwelling place of the Most High GOD. Only they can know what is in the heart of the Almighty God, who is the GOD of gods, to implement on earth.
True worship is all about doing the will of God on earth and becoming all that He wants you to be. It is all about submitting, obeying, dying daily and being all that God created us to be. Only gods can do all that.
In fact, in the beginning, the Godhead created a god and placed him in the Garden of Eden, and called him Adam. Like we said earlier, he was not created to be worshiped but to worship.
It is a terrible sin for men, especially those who have become gods in the image and likeness of GOD to be worshiped, and a terrible sin for them to worship others gods or bow to graven images. That was why the three Hebrew boys, who were a shadow of the gods of the New Testament, refused to bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar.
A major part of our devotional text says;
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 NKJV
NOW, THESE GUYS WERE NOT DEALING WITH A SMALL MAN.
They were dealing with a King who God made and raised to be in the status of an earthly king of the then kings of the earth, and an earthly lord of the then lords of the earth. He was so feared and respected that no one could say no to what he asks them to do. That was why everyone bowed to the what he said they should bow to.
They bowed because they were mere men. They had not come into the revelation of who they really were, because Jesus said we come into that realm when the revelation comes into our hearts (“If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came). But the three Hebrew Boys had the Revelation, and also the manifestation, hence they refused to bow.
You can have a revelation of something but if you do not have the manifestation, the revelation will be fruitless. Hearing gives us the revelation but being intimate with God gives us the manifestation. The three Hebrew boys had both the revelation and the intimacy with God.
God will later display them as His gods by making sure the fire they were thrown into did not consume them. The rest of the devotional text says;
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:19-25 NKJV
THIS IS ONE UNIQUE STORY IN THE BIBLE.
The fire the guys were thrown into consumed those who threw them in, but did not consume those who were thrown in. why? The distinction tells us that those who threw them in were still mere men.
The revelation there is, mere man can be consumed by evil flames but sons of God cannot be consumed.
Sons of God are gods and will always have their God with them in the midst of the fires of life. In fact, their God will step in to display them to be gods to the whole world like He displayed the three Hebrew boys to be gods to the whole ancient world. Hallelujah!
Bible History made it clear that God will later use what He did with his gods, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, to stop idol worship in ancient Babylon and transform their moral landscape. The Bible says,
“Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!
Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Daniel 3:28-29 NKJV
God’s vision for us is that we be gods that He can use to transform our moral landscapes.
Sin, iniquity and trespass have destroyed and dumped many in hell, God wants that to change. And that Change is not possible if the moral landscapes remain the way they are.
I believe the core message of today have been passed.
As we bring this to a close, understand that the next ultimate assignment of the Holy Spirit is to restore back our divine nature and help us manifest it on the face of the earth as gods. The enabling power dimensions to do so is what we call the gifts of the Spirit. We will go deep into these things as we journey along.
May the LORD use these truths to continue to build you up and give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.
They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
I said, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Psalm 82:1-7 NKJV