Thurs’s Devo - The Kingdoms of the World

Read: Daniel 7:1-28; 1 John 1:1-10; Psalm 119:153:176; Proverbs 28:23-24 Daniel had a dream and saw the same vision that Nebuchadnezzar had but saw things from a much different perspective. While Nebuchadnezzar saw the kingdoms as a great monument of different qualities of stone, Daniel sees the kingdoms as animals that kill, steal and destroy. *** He saw Babylon as a lion with its widespread take over depicted as wings. Nebuchadnezzar had become an animal until he repented and then could stand on his feet and run his nation like a human again. *** The second kingdom was the Medo-Persians. They were depicted as a bear who devours his prey. They were two kingdoms: the Medes who were in the south and more passive than the Persians who were in the north and extremely cruel. They were so cruel that if one person offended the king, his whole family and extended family were destroyed. The three ribs represented Media, Lidia and Babylon who were conquered by the Persians. *** The third kingdom were the Greeks. Alexander was their leader who swiftly like a leopard began taking and conquering kingdoms. Its four heads were: Cassandra who ruled Macedon and Greece; Lysimachus who rule Thrace and Bithynia; Ptolemy who ruled Egypt, and Sleucus who ruled Syria. *** The fourth kingdom was the Roman kingdom which is still in operation on the earth. No animal could describe its cruelty and strength. The ten kingdoms have changed over time but keep reforming. Now they look like the BRIKS nations, maybe. In the end a small leader will arise and take over three nations. He will boast arrogantly. *** It will then be time for God to judge. In the dream. the four kingdoms were taken down and someone like a son of man appeared before God with the witnesses of heaven. He was given authority over all the nations of the world. His rule is eternal and it will never end. *** The angel explained the whole thing to Daniel. In the end, the holy people will be given the kingdom and they will rule forever and ever. This is where we are right now! We have been under a one world government and it is becoming more and more obvious. But, we are becoming aware of it and are taking the kingdom back. The kingdom is being given to us to rule and reign. *** John wrote his first letter to give assurance to the believers of their eternal life in Christ. He also wrote to expose the false doctrines of people who had withdrawn from the church and gone back into the world. They were teaching heresy. *** John knew by personal experience that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus revealed the Father to us and taught us how to have fellowship with Him. God is light and has no fellowship with darkness. We have to walk in the light to fellowship with God. We can do this because Christ has cleansed us of our sin and given us access to God’s throne. *** Lord, thank you that we can come boldly before your throne of grace and have an audience with you. Thank you for forgiving our sins and accepting the blood of Christ to atone for us. We appropriate Jesus’ blood every day for our salvation.

Wed.’s Deco - Daniel’s Deliverance From Lions

Read: Daniel 6:1-28; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 28:21-22 Darius organized his kingdom into 120 provinces with three men in charge of them. One of the three was Daniel. Darius was planning to promote Daniel to be in charge over all of them. *** The other officers and high officials were jealous and looked for a way that Daniel would not be over them. They looked into all of his affairs and couldn’t find any fault with his works so they looked for a way they could attack him in his religion. *** They appealed to the king’s vanity and enticed him to make a law that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine our human except Darius should be thrown into the den of lions. They had him sign it so it could not be changed. *** When Daniel heard the law, he went about his praying as usual, praying to the only one who could help him. He had been set up and when he went up to pray according to his usual schedule, his enemies were waiting for him. *** They went straight to the king and reminded him of his law and how it can’t be revoked. Then they told him that they had caught Daniel praying to his God. The king was stuck and very upset. He realized he had been manipulated and worked all day to find a way to save Daniel. Darius fasted and prayed. That evening the men came to him and demanded he follow his own law. He finally gave the order to arrest Daniel and throw him into the lion’s den. He told Daniel when he was brought in, “May your god, whom you serve so faithfully, rescue you.” *** That night, Darius couldn’t sleep. He ran to the lion’s den at the first light of day and called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God: Was your God whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions?” *** Daniel answered him. He told him that God had sent angels to shut the lion’s mouths so they never hurt him. Then he proclaimed his innocence. *** Darius was overjoyed and ordered Daniel to be lifted from the den. Then he ordered that Daniel’s accusers be thrown into the lion’s den along with their wives and children. The lions tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. *** Then Darius sent out a message to the people of all his kingdom decreeing that everyone should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. This God is a living God and will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed and his rule will never end. *** Peter gives his reason for his letters and they are to stimulate our wholesome thinking and refresh our memory of what the holy prophets said long ago and what Jesus commanded through the apostles. *** He reminds us that in the last days scoffers would mock the truth, following their own desires. They will mock us with the fact that Christ hasn’t returned and that nothing new has happened. They forget that God made the heavens by the word of his commandant. he brought the earth out of the water and then surrounded it with water. He did this very thing again when he put the earth back into the flood. He destroyed the orderly arrangement of things with the flood and will cleanse the orderly arrangement of the earth in the end with fire. *** In a nut shell, at the right time, we are going to be given fresh skies and fresh soil because the chemical induced air and soil we have now will be burned up with God’s cleansing fire. We can take this as a picture of what he is doing in our lives and allow him to burn out all the impurities in our lives. *** Lord, you told us that you would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. We ask you to do that in us today. Make us pure vessels worthy to be your Temple.

Tues.’s Devo - The End of Belshazzar

Read: Daniel 5:1-31; 2 Peter 2:1-22; Psalm 119:113-128; Proverbs 28:19-20 A new king named Belshazzar had come to rule in Babylon. He gave a feast for 1000 of his nobles. He had his servants bring the gold cups that they had stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem. These were sacred cups that just the priests were to drink from. With them, they offered toasts to their gods. Suddenly a hand wrote a message on the wall: “Mene, mene, tekel, epharsin.” *** The king was frozen in fear and called for his magicians to interpret it. When they couldn’t do it, the queen ran in and told Belshazzar that she knew of a man who Nebuchadnezzar had used to solve his difficult mysteries. He had the spirit of the gods in him. *** They brought Daniel in and the king told him he would give him a purple robe and a gold chain for his neck and great honor if he could tell him what it meant. *** Daniel told the king he could keep his gifts, but he could tell him the answer. First he told him the story of what Nebuchadnezzar had to go through to learn that God was the Most High God who rules over the kingdoms of the world and he appoints whoever he desires to rule them. He, Belshazzar should have known this but instead chose to defy God by drinking from his sacred cups. *** The message meant that his days were numbered. God had judged his rule and it had not measured up to his standard so God was going to give his kingdom to the Medes and the Persians. *** Belshazzar gave Daniel the gifts he had promised, and that night Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took over his kingdom. *** In Second Peter, Peter warns them of false teachers who teach destructive heresies and deny Jesus. They teach immorality and slander the truth. They are bringing judgment and destruction on themselves. *** God did not spare the angels when they rebelled but threw them into hell. He also did not spare the people during Noah’s day when he destroyed the earth with the flood. God condemned Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made all of these examples of his judgement on the ungodly. So, God will surely judge these unholy teachers. *** But, God also knows how to save his godly, like Lot who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness of the people in Sodom. He knows how to rescue his people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. *** They will be caught like the evil animals they are and their reward will be their destruction. The list of their evils is astounding. God calls them wells without water - useless. When they heard the truth, they couldn’t continue in it and went back to their own nature. *** Lord, help us to love our enemies but discern what is evil and stay away from it. We take shelter in your wings and rejoice in your ways.

Mon.’s Devo - God Rules the Kingdoms of the Earth

Read: Daniel 4:1-37; 2 Peter 1:1-21; Psalm 119:97-112; Proverbs 28:17-18 Chapter 4:1-3 was written by Nebuchadnezzar after he experienced it so he begins with great humility. He tells the story of how he was enjoying the peace of his reign after all the wars and had a dream. In the dream he saw a great tree that reached to heavens and all the world could see it. He heard a holy man shout to cut the tree and let off its branches only leave the stump. Bound the stump with iron and bronze and let it stay in the wilderness with the wild animals for seven periods of time. Let it have the mind of an animal so that everyone may know that God rules the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses - even the lowliest of people. *** None of the wise men could tell him what the dream meant so he called for Daniel, Belteshazzar. Daniel explained humbly that the tree was Nebuchadnezzar and he would be driven from society and live in the fields with the wild animals for seven periods of time until he learned that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. Then he would be give him back his kingdom. He begged him to stop sinning and start doing what was right. Daniel suggested he start being merciful to the poor and maybe this wouldn’t happen. *** Obviously Nebuchadnezzar didn’t repent, and a year later when he was on his roof looking over his kingdom he proclaimed that by his own mighty power he had built this beautiful city to show forth his majestic splendor. Immediately he heard a voice from heaven saying that he was no longer the ruler of the kingdom. He was driven from society and had to live in the fields as an animal. His mind had left him and his hair grew long and his nails grew to be claws. He was there for seven periods of time. Then he looked up to heaven and his sanity returned. He was humbled and praised the Lord and was restored to greater honor than before. Now you can reread the first three verses and understand why he sounds so humbled. *** Peter reminds us that we have been given all we need to live a holy life. God has given us promises that enable us to share in his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. We do this by developing faith with moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance and godliness. Then we will have love for everyone. If we develop these characteristics, we will never fall away from grace. *** Lord, may we be productive and useful in your kingdom.

Sun.’s Devo - The Fiery Furnace

Read: Daniel 2:24-3:30; 1 Peter 4:7-5:14; Psalm 119:81-96; Proverbs 28:15-16 Daniel went the next morning to see the man who had been ordered to execute the wise men and told him he had the king’s answer. Arioch quickly got him an audience with the king. *** Daniel made sure that the king knew that no man could give him what he had asked, only God in heaven could reveal the secrets of what would happen in the future. *** Daniel then told him that his dream was of the future. He had seen a huge form of a man standing before him. His head was of gold, his breast and arms of silver and his belly and thighs of brass. His feet were made of iron mixed with clay. *** A stone not made by human hands smote the image on his feet that were of iron and clay and burst the whole image to pieces. The wind blew the pieces away and the rock became a great mountain that covered the whole earth. *** Then Daniel gave the interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold. A second kingdom would take its place represented by the silver. A third kingdom would take its place which was represented by the bronze. The fourth kingdom would be the last strong as iron and the last was a combination of iron and baked clay. It would be divided and be both weak and strong. *** At that time, God would set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It would crush all these kingdoms and stand forever. *** When the king heard Daniel’s interpretation, he fell down in worship of Daniel and commanded that sacrifices be burned before him. He recognized that his God was the greatest of gods and the Lord over kings and a revealer of mysteries. He appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon as well as chief over all his wise men. Daniel requested that Shadrach. Meshach and Abednego be in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king]s court. *** Nebuchadnezzar had a gold image made and had a huge ceremony to dedicate it. All the high officials were invited. It was 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. A proclamation was made that when the musical instruments played everyone was to bow to the ground to worship the King’s statue. If they didn’t, they would be thrown into the blazing furnace. *** The fact that Daniel’s three friends took the most valuable offices made many of the other astrologers mad. They set out to nail the three friends, so they turned them in for not bowing to the statue. *** Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were brought before the king. They were given another chance to show their loyalty to the king but they refused to bow. They told King Nebuchadnezzar that they didn’t need to defend themselves. their God whom they served was able to rescue them if he pleased. If he didn’t, they wanted to make it clear to him that they would never serve his gods or worship the gold statue. *** This made the king livid. He had the fire turned up seven time hotter and told his fittest men to throw them into the fire. When they did, they were killed by the flames but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were alive in the fire, walking with Jesus. *** The king saw the four walking among the flames and called them out. They had not one sign of burn on them and didn’t even smell of smoke. The king was so overcome he praised their God and decreed that if anyone spoke a word against their God they would be torn limb from limb, and their houses turned into heaps of rubble. He proclaimed that there was no god who could rescue like this. Instead of being killed, they were promoted even higher in the kingdom. *** Peter told the people that the end of all things was coming and they were to cover sin with love. They were to show hospitality and share their gifts with them. They were to glorify God in all they did. If you suffer for doing God’s will, you will be rewarded. *** Elders were encouraged to look after the flock and be good examples. *** Younger ones were to honor the elders and be humble. *** He warned us of our enemy, Satan who roams around seeking people to devour. We are to stand firm against him and be strong inner faith. God has called us to share in his glory. We are suffering only for a while, but we will be restored, supported and strengthened and placed on a firm foundation. *** Lord, may we boldly proclaim your kingdom and your power and not be afraid of death. May we be like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Sat.’s Devo - God is Greater

Read: Daniel 1;1-2:23; 1 Peter 3:8-4:6; Psalm 119:65-80; Proverbs 28:14 Daniel’s book starts when King Nebuchadnezzar came to besiege Jerusalem. King Jehoiakim was still reigning in Judah. He gave King Nebuchadnezzar permission to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God back to Babylonia where he placed them in the treasure-house of his god. *** Nebuchadnezzar commanded his chief of staff, Ashkenazi to take the wisest and best of the captives and train them in the ways of their kingdom. They were to learn the language and literature of Babylon. They were also to eat the food of Babylon’s royalty. *** Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen to enter this education. They changed their names to Beltteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ***Daniel was determined not to defile himself with their food and wine so he asked the chief of staff permission to test him and his friends. He asked for 10 days of eating kosher food and then he could see if they were still strong. They proved themselves more healthy than the others so they were allowed to continue to eat kosher food. *** When the recruits had finished their training, they were brought before the king and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego proved to be ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. *** One night, Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream. He clued for all his astrologers and commanded that they tell him his dream and what it meant. If they couldn’t tell him then their houses would be turned into heaps of rubble. If they could tell him then they would be given many wonderful fits and honors. *** They tried to get the king to tell them his dream but he refused. They told him how impossible and how no other king had asked this, but he wouldn’t budge. He was so mad, he ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be executed. So men came to kill Daniel and his friends. Daniel asked why they were ordered to die and Daniel was told the kings request. Daniel went to the king immediately and asked for more time to tell the king what he wanted and was granted more time. *** Daniel then went home to his friends and told them to pray with him that the God who knows everything would tell them. That night God told Daniel the dream and its interpretation. Daniel praised the Lord who controls the course of world events. *** It is important that we know this while navigating through our geo-political events. God controls the course of world events and removes kings and sets up other kings. *** Peter tells us to return a curse with a blessing because we are blessed. God uses our suffering for his purposes. *** Jesus suffered the cross then went to hell and preached to the spirits in heaven that disobeyed him on earth while Noah was building his boat. Those people got a chance to repent. God had saved 8 people in the flood and the flood represented their baptism. God’s baptism doesn’t just cleanse you from dirt but from a clear conscience.

Fri.’s Devo -Dividing the Land

Read: Ezekiel 47:1-48:35; 1 Peter 2:11-3:7; Psalm 119:49-64; Proverbs 28:12-13 Ezekiel was showed a river that led from the Temple on the east and southern borders. It got deeper and deeper and flowed to the Dead Sea bringing it life. Everywhere the river flowed, life was brought to the land. *** Once again, God divided up the land of Israel and gave each tribe a strip of land the same size. The order from north to south was Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah, then the area for the Levites and the Temple. Under it was land for Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun and Gad. Joseph was given two strips of land (Manasseh and Ephraim). *** The Temple was in the middle, with land beside it for the priests, the Levites and the Prince. Around the city were gates for each of the tribes to enter through to come to the Temple, Ephraim and Manasseh went through the gate of Joseph. *** Peter tells us that our worldly desires wage war against our very souls. If we live honorable lives, it will be a testimony to our unbelieving neighbors. *** For God’s sake, we are to submit to human authority. Our godly living will silence their lies about us. We have free will but we have chosen to become slaves to Christ so we should honor our king. *** We should honor and respect those we work for and work like we are working for the Lord, because we are. *** If those in authority over us are curial and we endure patiently it pleases God. Christ suffered in the same way and we are called to fellowship in his suffering. Christ didn’t retaliate when he was being treated unfairly. *** Peter tells the wives that they must be willing to suffer the same way if they had unbelieving husbands. Their kindness will speak to them and win them over. *** Beauty to the Lord is a gentle and quiet spirit. *** To the husbands, Peter tells them to honor their wives and treat them with understanding as an equal partner in God’s family. Then their prayers will not be hindered. *** Lord, help us to live our lives to honor your name.