Daniel and his prayer life @ 85 years of age

The book of Daniel is a very interesting book. It tells about the life of a young boy Daniel and his life time. 

We can divide the entire book (12 chapters) into two categories - Past (first 6 chapters) and Future (next 6 chapters). 

Past events:

Chapter 1: We will not touch the food offered to idols

Chapter 2: I will describe your dream to you, O king.

Chapter 3: We will not bow down to the image

Chapter 4: Be careful of your pride, O king.

Chapter 5: Mene Mene Tekel Uparsin

Chapter 6: No matter what, I will not stop praying, though it may cost my life

Prophecy:

Chapter 7: 4 Kingdoms - Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome

Chapter 8: Fight between Persia and Greece kingdoms

Chapter 9, 10: Daniel's prayer for going back to Jerusalem

Chapter 11, 12: Future revelation and the end time prophecy.

We see that this book has everything that is needed for a believer. 

Let us now focus on Chapter 9.

In this chapter, Daniel shows us how to pray. His prayer is a role model for every believer. In this chapter, we see that Daniel not only prays for his nation, but he also confesses on behalf of the entire nation Israel. Let us now read the first few verses from Chapter 9:

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

Verse 2 talks about Daniel understanding from the Scriptures. How did Daniel get hold of Scriptures of Jerusalem. 

If we peek into his life, at the age of 15 he was taken captive to Babylon, and this prayer is at the age of 85. He was in Babylon for 70 years, and all these years, he was the Prime Minister in Babylonian Kingdom. As a PM, he had privileges to certain things - one such privilege is to lay hands on the Holy Scriptures. 

He read the book of Jeremiah. In that book, Jer 2:12 and Jer 29:12-14 , we see how the Lord clearly mentioned about the 70 year captivity and how he will redeem the children of Israel if they seek him diligently. 

Daniel took that verse and he turned to the Lord and pleaded with him in Prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and ashes. 

He also prayed to the Lord and confessed the sins. We see that he led a life which as blameless and his colleagues and others tried to find fault with him, but they could not. 

It was not his sins that he confessed, he confessed the sins of his ancestors and God forgave the people and sent them back to Jerusalem. 

How great and merciful our God is. He hears our prayer and delivers us. 

We need to pray till we get bold in the presence of God..

In the next post, I will explain the details of his prayer, meanwhile, you can keep praying and asking God to prepare you to be a prayer warrior. 

Bountiful Dealing of the Lord

Today in the Church, we had a verse which said that the Lord will deal bountifully with us.
I really liked the verse and dug deep into the verse.

It is located in Psalm 116:7 "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee."

It is also located in Psalms 13:6 "I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me."

In these Psalms, we find that David is reflecting on God's goodness in his life. 
If we look back into the history of David, we find that he was a shepherd boy, taken light by his own family, not given any importance in the family things. We can clearly see a distinction between the sons of Jesse. 

The first few sons had a good job at the Army of Saul, the others were successful in farming, the last son, (the 8th son) was left to fend for himself. He was given a few sheep and was asked to take care of the sheep. I personally feel that the people in David's town wouldn't know him very well. He would rise up in the morning to take the sheep to the pastures, and would return only when it is dark. He was insignificant in the eyes of the world. 

He sat with the sheep, but his thoughts were filled with the goodness of the Lord. He meditated on the sayings which he heard about the Lord God Almighty from his ancestors. 

We read in the word of God that from a shepherd boy, God lifted him up and anointed him to be a King. He was a man after God's  own heart. 

At one point of his career, his own son Absalom wanted to kill him and become the king of Israel. God protected him and restored his kingdom back to him, though in the process, Absalom got killed. 

In the 116th Psalm, David speaks to his own soul, and affirms his soul to be at rest. He reminds himself of how the LORD dealt bountifully with him in the past. 

How true it is! The LORD deals bountifully with all of us. It is upto us to take his bounty or to leave it. The choice is ours. 

In Eph 3:20 - The word of God says, that God gives more than we can ask, or expect - according to His plans and not our expectations.

In John 10:10 - The Bible says "the thief comes to steal,kill and destroy but i have come to give life,life in abundance.

in 1 Cor 2:9 - we read in the bible that God has prepared things which eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and the heart has not understood for those who love him.

We need to claim these wonderful promises and understand the depth of them. 

Also, it is not a man that is promising these things, it is the Lord God Almighty who is speaking. 

In Numbers 32:23, we read that God is not a man that he should lie, and he is not a son of man that He should repent. 

So, let us be confident in the assurance that the Lord will deal bountifully with us. We do not deserve such dealings, but it is the goodness of the Lord which does this.

In the lives of the children of Israel, we find that it is not their goodness, but it is the promise of God to Abraham that made him deliver them. 

We too, are like the children of Israel, lost in our own world. But God has promised that He will deliver his children. 

Let us be assured that the Lord has dealt bountifully with us. 

Amen! 

Story - where there is a will, there is a way

An old Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig  his tomato garden, but it was very hard work as  the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Vincent,I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.  If you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.Love Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad, Not for nothing, but don't dig up that garden. That's where I buried the BODIES. Love Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the  entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man  and left.

  That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.  That's the best I could do under the circumstances.  Love Vinnie

Sermon on the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ

Introductory verses: Matthew 25: 1-13

V 13 - Be alert and vigilant

Additional references: John 14:1-3, Daniel 12:1-4 and Matthew 24:3-44

There are 1845 references to the 2nd coming in the OT, whereas,

There are only 318 references of the 2nd coming in the New Testament.

Acts 1:10-11

Story of a Judge - 1st time to save, but 2nd time to judge.

Jesus’ second coming was foretold by many prophets in the OT and in the NT, by Jesus himself. Let us not take this subject lightly and spend time carelessly. We need to be alert and vigilant so that the enemy may not fool us.

Let us look at a few references about the 2nd coming of Jesus which was foretold by:

1. Prophets: Daniel 7:14
2. Jesus: Matt 25:31
3. Angels: Acts 1:10,11
4. Disciples: 2 Peter 3:9, 10-13

• Now that we know, the prophecies, we need to understand, Why is Jesus going to come a 2nd time? Here are a few points for you to know...

1. To complete the salvation of the saints - Heb 9:28
2. To be glorified in his Saints - 2 Thes 1:10
3. To bring to light the hidden things of darkness - 1 Cor 4:5, 5:10
4. To judge the living and the dead - 2 Tim 4:1
5. To reign forever and ever - Rev 11:15
6. To receive us to be with himself - John 14:3
7. To destroy death - 1 Cor 15:25, 26

Let’s be very clear here, there is no specific time mentioned about His coming. People over the ages have said many things, but nothing specific is mentioned in the Word of God.

We can get some clues from the following verses:

Matt 24: 36-44

1 Thes 5:2

2 Pet 3:12

But Jesus did not leave us in the dark. He has given specific signs before his second coming. If we can review these signs and gauge their sequence, we will know that everything will fall in place:

1. 23 signs very prominent today - 2 Tim 3:1-7
2. 10 signs - very particular - Matt 24:5-10
3. About Jerusalem being rebuilt - Luke 21:20-22
4. Israel regathered - Eze 36:24 (In May 1948, the nation was rebuilt and now it has over 7 million Jews)
5. About Gospel being preached in all the world - Matt 24:14
6. Instant worldwide communication - Rev 11:3, 7-10
7. Underground shelters - Rev 6:15, Isa 2:19
8. Missiles - Rev 9:17-19, 20, 21

Finally, brethren, what should we do? There are many things that we can do, but let us consider a few:

1. Do not be a scoffer - 2 Peter 3:3
2. Plan and live a holy life - 1 Thes 3:12-13
3. Keep yourself busy in evangelism - John 9:4
4. Look forward - Rev 22:20
5. Comfort one another - 1 Thes 4:18

Lost Promised Land - reason - murmur and grumbling

In the word of God, in Philipians 2:14 and 15, it is written "Do all things without murmur'. Also, in 1st Peter 4;9, James 5:9 and in 1 Cor 10:10, it says similar things.

The Word  of God is specifically asking us not  to murmur, and not to grumble.

Let us see some examples in the Bible:

1. In Exodus 16:1-3 - the people of Israel  murmured about food. They said that it would better for them if they had died in the wilderness  rather than coming here and dying  of hunger.

They soon forgot what the Lord had done for them in the past. They forgot about the 10 different miracles that the Lord did  for them. They started to grumble about food.

How much we grumble  when we do not receive what we expect. We really react to situations and get into the grumble and murmur mode. 

2. In Exodus 17:3, 4 and 6- the people of Israel are murmuring  about water. They crossed the Red sea, they saw how the mighty hand of God helped them cross the Sea. But they soon forgot and started grumbling about water.

3. In Numbers 14: 1-3 - they complained about the promised land

4. In Numbers 21: 4-9 they grumbled about tasteless food.

5. In Numbers 11:1-3 - they grumbled about the tiredness on the way

6. In Numbers 11: 4 -6 and 10 - they grumbled and murmured that they did not get non vegetarian food.

They grumbled so many times and their constant murmur displeased the Lord. 

The Lord God lovingly called them His people, but now he killed them on the way to the promised land.

Matt 12: 36-37 - Every word is recorded and you will have to give an account of every word that we speak.

The Book of Esther - Bible

This time of the year, yes, lent season, time to go to church every evening.
This whole process began in the year 2008 when our church pastor announced that during the 40 day lent season, we all will gather at the church premises and spend some time praying.
Then with the suggestion that only praying for an hour and a half would be too tedious, pastor added 30 mts songs, 30 mts of Bible meditation and 30 mts of prayer time.
The journey of Bible reading began in 2008 when we all started with the book of Genesis.
Everyday people would take turns to read and explain one chapter from the Holy word of God.
Initially, we were only 10-15 people who would attend it religiously, but as the years went by, and as new people started coming in, and as young people starting becoming old, and as children who attended the sunday school classes started growing into young men and women, the interest in this season sprouted...

Enough of flashback, lets come to 2016.
This year, surprisingly, the church is getting filled before we begin the service. There are more than 100 people who rush to sit inside the building to sing, listen to the word of God and to pray.
Though it might be tough to make people sit through the list of names being read from the books of Ezra, Nehemiah etc, people are so interested that they are reading the stuff before hand and are coming prepared to the church.
Surprising, the Bible says that in the last days, there will be apostasy, but also there will be a mighty outpouring of the Spirit. We are witnessing that everyday in our church.

Well, let me come to the topic. We started meditating on the Book of Esther from the Holy Bible.
It has always been my favorite book of the Bible, right from my childhood days. I love the way, things move and I love the way it is written. There are many anomalies in the book, many things that makes ones blood boil and many things that can be made into a classic movie, but above all, we can see the  PROVIDENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD though the name God is not mentioned in the entire book. There are 10 chapters, 167 verses and not even once any spiritual matter is mentioned, but surprisingly, we find every chapter the hand of God guiding the circumstances.
All through my life, I have been encouraged by the events happening in the book.
In my next blog post, I will write about each and every character found in the book,
for now, its time to read it...







You can read the 10 chapters in just 27 minutes.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=NKJV

Come on now, click the above link and start reading,
and if you are not the electronic guy/gal, take the Book in your hands and start reading, you will not regret the decision.

Come back and lets do the character studies ...

see you till then...

Harmless Petty Sins

A familiar fable tells of the hunter who lost his life to the leopard he himself had saved as a pet for his children when the leopard was just a cub. The moral of the story can be deduced easily from the title, Little Leopards Become Big Leopards; or else, sin is easier to deal with before it becomes a habitual practice that eventually defines our lives.(1) Though the story as it stands is a beautiful illustration of a profound truth, there is a deeper lesson regarding the nature of sin that is easily concealed by this line of thinking and which, I believe, lies at the very essence of the Christian call to Christ-likeness. The problem is that the parallel between little harmless leopard cubs and little harmless sins can be dangerously deceptive.

Whereas leopard cubs are indeed harmless, there is no stage of development at which sin can be said to be harmless, for individual acts of sin are merely the symptoms of the true condition of our hearts. It is not accidental that the call to Christian growth in the Scriptures repeatedly zeros-in on such seemingly benign “human shortcomings” as bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, and malicious behavior (Ephesians 4:31). In his watershed address, The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus placed a great deal of emphasis on lust, anger, and contempt—behaviors and attitudes that would probably not rank high on our lists of problems in need of urgent resolution. Armed with firm and sometimes unconscious categories of serious versus tolerable sins, we gloss over lists of vices in the Scriptures because they seem to be of little consequence to life as we experience it.

 But when we fail to grasp the subtleties of sin, we run the risk of rendering much of biblical wisdom irrelevant to our daily life and practice. While we appreciate the uniqueness and necessity of the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf, his specific teachings can at times appear to be farfetched and the emphasis misplaced. Does it not seem incredible that the God who made this world would visit it in its brokenness, dwell among us for over thirty years, and then leave behind the command that we must be nice to each other? Can the problems of the world really be solved by having people “turn the other cheek” and “get rid of anger and malice”?

 Unfortunately, those “little” sins are not only the mere symptoms of a much bigger problem; they are also effective means of alienating us from God and other human beings.  How many careers have been ruined only because of jealousy? How many people have been deprived of genuine help as a result of the seemingly side-comment of someone who secretly despised them? How many relationships have been destroyed by bitterness? How many churches have split up because of selfish ambitions couched in pietistic terms? How much evil has resulted from misinformation, a little coloring around the edges of truth? And have you noticed how much we can control other people just through our body language? From the political arena to the basic family unit, the worst enemy of human harmony is not spectacular wickedness but those seemingly harmless petty sins routinely assumed to be part of what it means to be human.

According to a NASA scientist, a two-degree miscalculation when launching a spacecraft to the moon would send the spacecraft 11,121 miles away from the moon: all one has to do is take time and distance into account.(2) How perceptive then was George MacDonald when he uttered these chilling words, “A man may sink by such slow degrees that, long after he is a devil, he may go on being a good churchman or a good dissenter, and thinking himself a good Christian”!(3) Similarly, C.S. Lewis warned that cards are a welcome substitute for murder if the former will set the believer on a path away from God. “Indeed,” he wrote, “the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”(4)

 Now the decisive path out of this quandary is not just a greater resolve to be obedient to God. Such a response is usually motivated by guilt, and the duration of our effort will be directly proportional to the amount of guilt we feel: we will be right back where we started from when the guilt is no longer as strong. The appropriate response must begin with a greater appreciation of the holiness of God and a clear vision of life in God. It is only along the path of Christ-likeness that the true nature of sin is revealed and its appeal blunted. Yes, brazen sinfulness is appallingly evil and destructive, but it only makes a louder growl in a forest populated by stealthier, deadly hunters masquerading as little leopards. It is no idle, perfunctory pastime to pray with King David:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
And lead me along the path of everlasting life (Psalm 139:23-24).


Thanks to J.M. Njoroge for this wonderful article. Njoroge is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.