Good day people of God in Christ Jesus. We bless the name of the Lord for the opportunity to present to you another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We thank God for His grace each new day and for God sparing our lives. Praise be to God.
In our today’s episode 570, we shall be examining the book of Daniel Chapter 1 titled:
Daniel, A Man Loaded With Massive Potentials and Great Abilities
This book was written during the time of King Jehoiakim’s reign between 609 and 598 BC. During that time, the Jews were greatly suffering under the invasion of the Babylonian empire because of their sins. But then, using various visions and stories, Prophet Daniel encouraged his people to be patient and endure what they were facing. He also gave them series of words of hope that the yoke of those tyrants would soon be broken off their necks.
The book of Daniel has two major parts:
The first part (chapters 1 till chapter 6), revolves around the account of Daniel’s deportation to Babylon with some of his royal friends named Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, how they were prepared for the royal service, and through their faith in God and obedience to Him, they overcame all the huddles they encountered in exile.
The second part of the book contains Daniel’s visions. You will see all these beginning from chapter 7 till the end.
So, it happened that Daniel and his three fellow royal prisoners of war, namely Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were very young at the time, were favoured to have been chosen to serve the Babylonian King.
For them to perform well in this new endeavour, Ashpenaz, the King’s chief official was instructed to provide them with all the necessary training needed for the royal service, especially to teach them to read and write in the Babylonian language.
Apart from that, the King also ordered that every single day, they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. The training was to last for 3 good years, after which they were to be presented before the King for final assessment.
As part of the training process, their Jewish names were changed. Please read Daniel 1:7.
Remember that before this time, Daniel and his fellow Jews were already trained and brought up in a very strict Mosaic laws and education, which means all their conducts were regulated by Mosaic laws and one major part of that was that they must not touch unclean things.
That’s why Daniel begged Ashpenaz on behalf of his friends not to be allowed to touch the King’s delicacies.
The reason was simply because all these foods were usually sacrificed first to their gods before presenting them as foods on the table.
God gave them favour in the eyes of the chief official, and he permitted them to use vegetables only.
Ashpenaz later found out after ten days of trying them out with vegetables that they grew healthier and stronger than all others who had been eating the royal meal. Upon seeing that, Ashpenaz decided to put away the King’s delicacies completely and allowed Daniel and his friends to continue with vegetables and water.
So, God gave the four young men knowledge and skill in literature and philosophy. In addition to that, God gave Daniel skill in interpreting visions and dreams.
At the end of their three years of training, Daniel and his friends impressed the King more than the rest and they were employed immediately.
No matter how hard the King’s questions were, these four Jews knew the answers and the Bible says they were found ten times better and more intelligent than several fortune tellers and magicians in the whole kingdom.
Daniel remained there in the royal service for many years even until Babylon was captured and conquered by Cyrus the emperor of Persia. Remember, Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel had already prophesied about this before.
What does this whole story mean for us as new testament believers?
It’s just for our learning. Apostle Paul talked about this in Romans 15:4
Any country, any location we may find ourselves, God knows about our movement. As a matter of facts, God already knew the exact time and the limits of the places where we would live or stay. Read Acts 17:26
Therefore, let’s always live our lives as God’s ambassadors, who have been sent to demonstrate kingdom culture to the entire human race and the level of intelligence to achieve all these, God will grant unto us all.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us Pray:
I declare by the authority in the name of Jesus, you will not be stranded in that endeavour. Your potentials will not be wasted, everything you come to this world to achieve will be fully accomplished to God’s satisfaction, in Jesus name.
The Holy Spirit will distinguish you for special and amazing opportunity and it will not pass you by, in Jesus name.
Every single one of your gifts and potentials will be activated by the power of God for the benefits of humanity. You will be an extraordinary instrument in the hand of God, fully equipped to establish God’s righteousness on earth, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: 1John Chapters 4&5 with Isaiah Chap 31.
I call you blessed now and always.
Monday October 19, 2020 (DDMI)
