Mat 10:33...whoever denies me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Daniel found himself taken away by force from his parents and his country because of Jehoiakim, the evil king who reigned over Judah. Daniel was probably a young teenager at the time and was taken to a country void of God along with three other Judeans who were also without blemish and well educated. His very name was taken from him and a Chaldean name, Belteshazzar, given him. We read in Daniel chapter one that in that hostile environment he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself even though those in charge over him insisted. He courageously requested a different diet which followed God's laws and was granted what those in charge thought to be an experiment. Because of his commitment to God, God blessed him and gave him success. This put him in the position of much jealousy directed towards him by those who thought they were more entitled to the high positions given to Daniel.
Those scoundrels gathered together to try to figure out a way to magnify Daniel's faults in order to defame him. The conclusion was that “...we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. (Daniel 6:5).” Hopefully there would be nothing found against us if anyone examined every aspect of our life, except that we are keeping the law of God. The trap was set, and yet Daniel boldly took it before God. At the risk of his own life, Daniel refused to obey the new law against praying to God but instead he went home and before an open window as he always did three times a day, he knelt and prayed, giving thanks before God. Even though they turned that against Daniel and he was sent to the lion's den, God protected him and he won even more favor with the king (Daniel 6:10-28).
We don't know the extent we will have to take something before God in our future, nor how many times we will need to go before God until we receive an answer. We must build that habit of prayer now, not letting anything crowd it out. It is our lifeline to God. Things are going to become far worse, in fact unimaginably horrible and dangerous in our world before the return of Jesus. If you choose to build a strong relationship with Him now and develop life sustaining habits, you will not fail to continue to walk with Him when things get impossibly tough. As a result, you will not be prone to deny Him for your own life's sake, for if you do, He has said He will deny you before the Father (Matthew 10:33). There could never be anything worse.
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