God gets His Greatest victories out of Apparent Defeats. How you may ask, because very often the Evil Ones, seem to triumph, and God allows it for our Faith and His purposes! Then He comes in and upsets and undoes, all the work of the Evil Ones, He overthrows their apparent victory, and as the Bible says, do not worry about the Evil Ones, or the people they work through. Psalm 37:1-8 Do not fret (worry) because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers (who seemingly prosper or win). 2 For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness (in the Lord). 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way (life) to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret (worry) because of him (the evil doer) who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. 8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to (your) evildoing. The story of the three Hebrew children, in Daniel 3, being cast into the fiery furnace is a familiar one. Here was an apparent great victory for the Evil Ones. It sure looked like the servants of the living God were going to have a terrible defeat. As Born Again Believers, most of us have been in places where it seemed as though we were Defeated, and the Evil Ones, rejoiced. Here is what happened in: Daniel 3:14-18 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. I loved their answer to Nebuchadnezzar....It should be our answer to the Evil Ones, anytime they work through people to try to force us, as Born Again Believers to do what they want us to do. So what happened to them.....read on. Daniel 3:19-25 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven (7) times more than it was usually heated. 20 He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. 22 For this reason , because the kings command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew (killed) those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. 23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire? They replied to the king, Certainly, O king. 25 He said, Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods! (it was Jesus the Christ) So this apparent Defeat, of Gods people, instead resulted in a Great Victory. BUT suppose that these three men had lost their Faith and Courage, or had complained, saying, Why did not God keep us out of the furnace! They would have been burned, and GOD WOULD HAVE NOT BEEN GLORIFIED! So if there is a great trial in your life today, DO NOT SEE IT AS A DEFEAT, but continue, by Faith, to claim the Victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror. Let us learn that in all the hard places God brings us into, He is giving US Opportunities to exercise Faith in Him as He will bring about results that GREATLY GLORIFY HIS NAME AND ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSES. Daniel 3:27-28 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the kings high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the kings command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph (Victory) in Christ, and manifests (makes known) through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we (as Born Again Believers) are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one (unbelievers) an aroma from death to death, to the other (believers by Faith alone) an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 17 For we are not like many, peddling (selling) the word of God, but as from sincerity (of our Love), but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God....amen. youtube/watch?v=4Buj4k1qI3I
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 09:04:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015