Dare to Stand Alone

Daniel Chapter 1

Hey All, Lately in my bible-readings I’ve been being challenged by the need for us as Christians to stand up for our faith. As Christians we are called to Obey God first and foremost with all our lives. We must put him first in everything that we do and always work for his glory. We see in Daniel Chapter 1 that Daniel and his friends do this. Here’s a summary of the story: What happens in Daniel Chapter 1 is that the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) takes a number of young men from Isreal and seeks to assimilate them into Babylonian culture. He changes their names and teaches them the Babylonian language and customs. He also gave them his royal food to eat. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this, but God’s law to the Jews was that they were not to eat food that was sacrificed to idols (or False ‘gods’). Most of the exiles just went ahead and ate the food, but Daniel and his three friends refused to do so. They refused to disobey God, even though it was the easy option and instead they took a stand and obeyed him. They asked if they might have vegetables and water instead – they chose the hard option and obeyed God. At first they were not allowed to do this, but they refused to give up and found someone who would let them do it. The result was that God blessed them and made them fitter and wiser then all the other Jews, and that in turn resulted in everyone being fed vegetables and water. This was their first stand in obeying God and it led them to making many more bigger stands later on (See Daniel 2,3,4,5 and 6)

So how does this apply to us? The point which I want to draw out of the passage is that they were courageous enough to stand out and obey God, even though it cost them. We must do the same. We are called to obey God - to be holy and godly in an unholy and depraved world. It doesn’t have to start big, but you have to make a start if you are ever going to make progress.

What sort of things can you do? Well for me, it means that at school, when all my friends are swearing, making crude jokes and talking about ungodly things, I have to first of all not join in and secondly (what’s much harder for me), tell them to stop as well as look for chances to point them to God and tell them that this isn’t how he wants us to live. It means not messing around in class when the teacher leaves the room. It means spending time reading the bible and praying every day when everyone else is doing what they want to do.  What does it mean for you? We Christians are called to be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16) This means that we are called to stop sin and point people to God. Will you obey God’s call?

If your not a Christian then whats your choice? Will you turn to God and be saved? Or will you ignore him and live life your own way, which results in eternal destruction in hell?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake 

The Weapon

Ephesians 6:17b

'...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.' 

And so we have our only offensive weapon - the sword of the spirit. God's word. The Bible. The Bible is our only weapon against Satan and his attacks. Jesus himself shows this by defending himself with it in Matthew 4:1-11, where he speaks God's word to Satan when he is tempted. The Bible holds immeasurable amounts of instruction about how to fight sin and Satan, how to serve God. We need to read the bible as much as possible, making the most of our time while we can (Ephesians 5:16). We have no other weapon against Satan. The sword here mentioned is double-sided, useful both for defending and attacking. That's God's word, we need to know it and use it. Do you?

Helmet of Salvation

Ephesians 6:17a

'Take the helmet of salvation...'

This is the last piece of Armour which we are commanded to take up, but without it there is absolutely no use to wearing the others. Salvation is our biggest defense against Satan. Any other wound usually will not kill a person, but a wound to the head basically means instant death. Once wearing the helmet of salvation We have no fear, we are protected from the worst of Satan's attacks. As Christians, if we die but are saved, we are going to heaven. We have no fear in death, or persecution or any of Satan's other attacks, because we know that the worst he can do to us is kill us, and death is just the doorway to heaven. 

The word used for 'take up' can also be translated to 'receive' - we do not save ourselves, God saves us. We have no part in it, God created us, he sustains us and he worked through our salvation to completion. God saves us, he deserves all glory for it, none to us. We have assurance of salvation and confidence of heaven for eternity. Satan will seek to take that assurance from us, but we must hold firm to God.

Isaiah 59:17

He put on righteousness like a breastplate,

And a helmet of salvation on His head;

And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing

And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

The Shield of Faith

Ephesians 6:16
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

http://vipdictionary.com/shield

This is the second last piece of armour which we are commanded to take up or wear. We must actively take it up, actively be faithful, actively trust God. How do we do this? We obey God, do what he says to do in the bible. For Roman warriors there were two types of shields: Small shields and then big square shields. The word used here refers to the larger shield. This shield covered the whole body of the soldier so that he could not be hurt, and one manouver used by the soldiers was to bunch together and make a shell of these shields which was impenetrable. We must trust God and know his word, Obey him and so Be able to stand when Satan attacks us. We are saved by faith, not by works, but works prove our faith. This will protect us from Doubt, Persecution and any other attacks Satan throws at us and let us stand firm in God.


Reference:
http://www.preceptaustin.org/new_page_32.htm

Readiness

Ephesians 6:15

'... and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.'

This is the third piece of 'Armour' which we are to wear as Christians who are fighting Satan. The Roman Soldier wore sandles with spikes on the bottom, which dug into the ground so that in battle they might stand firm and not be moved. Likewise we are to have a firm and solid understanding and Knowledge of the bible (God's word/'the Gospel of Peace') so that we can stand firm in battle with Satan. The word peace refers to unity. The gospel unites us (Christians) with each other, and we should be bound together with the same cause - to glorify God.

So, Are you firm in the word? Do you have bile verses memorized to defend yourself against Satan's attacks? Do you read the bible daily and pray? Do you encourage others to do the same? You should. I speak from experience when I say it is very important. The bible is God's word and there is nothing more true or stable.

References:

http://www.preceptaustin.org/new_page_32.htm

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Ephesians 6:14b 
'...with the breastplate of righteousness in place'

http://www.medieval-chain-mail-armor.com/wearable
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This is the second piece of Armour which we are commanded to wear: The Breastplate of righteousness. So, what is Righteousness?

One Dictionary I looked up said that Righteousness means Morally upright; without guilt or sin. Righteousness is being Right with God, and Sin is disobedience to God and takes us out of a positive relationship with Him, so righteousness must be the opposite - being godly and holy. But we also know that we are all sinful and all deserve hell (Romans 3:23) so how can we be righteous? We can only be righteous through Jesus. He died and paid the penalty for our sin (which is death) so now (If you  have repented and believe - If your a Christian) you are righteous. 

But this is also a command. we are to put the breastplate of righteousness in place. We must actively be working to fight sin in our lives and be holy. We must repent of our sin each day and work hard to do good instead of evil.  If you do this then you have the breastplate of righteousness and must continue to do so. The breastplate was the central piece of armour, that covered the heart and all the vital organs and it also covered the back. Righteousness is one of our main defences against Satan's attacks. It means that when we are accused falsely of sin, our lives are proof that we did not do it. It means that when Satan sends guilt and tries to bring us down, we can stand firm because we know that Jesus has taken away our sin and made us righteous through himself - that we are forgiven and free from slavery in Sin and Death.


Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Belt of Truth

'Ephesians 6:14 
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...'

This is the first piece of armour which is outlined. The Belt of Truth. This outlines our need to be truthful in all we do, and not lie. we know that God is truthful (John 14:6, Romans 3:4), while satan is the father of lies (John 8:44) - and as christians we are children of God (1 John 3:2), not slaves to sin anymore (Romans 6:20): thus we must be honest and truthful.


The belt of the roman soldier was where the sword was held. We hear later that the sword we have is the word of God. We must be truthful so that when we share the gospel (our only weapon) we are trustworthy and people will listen. If you don't show your salvation through your life, why would anyone listen to what you say?


Sorry for not posting much, life has been hectic recently, I'm hoping to pick it up soon though :) 


God Bless,
Nat