An Act of Faith

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to speak to the students at First Baptist Clarksville. It also was the official announcement of me as the Student Ministry Intern (This was not on purpose, just happened to work out on the same night). Even in the few months I've been here I've already gotten so much out of it. The students are a great group and Jeff and Josh are some of the greatest guys to serve the Lord with. I look forward to what God has in store for me here.

When it was decided that I was to speak to the students on the final night of the "Rebel" series, something had already been laid on my heart for a good while. When I think of a rebel, in the sense of a rebel for God, one of the first to come to mind is Daniel. Now, Daniel, throughout the book of the same name, shows many instances where he rebels and takes a different path to follow God and not his surroundings. The passage on my heart was Daniel chapter 6, the story of Daniel and the lion's den. Now this story is something that we learn early in the church, but I wanted to go farther than the story of it, and on to the sound biblical truth contained in it. Daniel's reputation was that of one who followed his God above all, and this fact was taken into account by those who were out to get him because he favored highly by the king. These men set a trap for Daniel that anyone who makes petition to any king or god besides Darius, the king, should be thrown to the lions. Verse 10 tells us that Daniel knew full and well the law had been passed and the consequences of it, yet prayed to God anyway. Most of us know the story, Daniel was brought before the king and, even though the king tried to save him, Daniel was thrown in the lion's den. The next morning, after a sleepless night of God weighing on the king's conscience, he goes to see what has come of Daniel.
"Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." - Daniel 6:23

After this all of the accusers are killed, God is glorified through the king's proclamation, and Daniel prospers. The part I focused on, and caught my attention the most, was the way Daniel followed God unwaveringly, and acted completely on faith. We know that he knew the danger, yet he followed God anyway. This is something that we as Christians don't fully grasp today. We don't do things for God because they may seem dangerous, crazy, or stupid. Or maybe the world tells us that something has too big of a risk, when the reality is we should step out on faith. Our God is too great and has done so much for us, if we feel God's leading in a situation we should act out of faith and not worry about if the world thinks it is crazy or stupid. Our God is bigger than our own view of things and has a much greater plan than what we can foresee.

"Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: 'Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,

for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.'" - Daniel 6:25-27