When i was a child of about five-

My mother told me something to make me wise,

she'd look at me sternly, look me right in the eye

and say "now son, if you want to stay alive"

but to this day

I still don't understand the next thing she'd say, 

cause i still don't know - 

What does it mean to "hayve"?

How can i be it, if i don't know what "it" is?

I'd walk around thinking "is hayve easy or hard"?

But no matter how much i craved,

the meaning of "hayve",

She'd only tell me again and again-

"young man -  BEHAVE"!

Be hayve? I know be happy, i know be good,

but how do i be hayve? 

Book of Daniel part 3

 

Chapter 3 vs. 2& 3 - All authority given by men to man is then used by man to become glorified and ultimately worshipped. Rev: 13:15&16 - we worship our image today in countless ways  - movies, tv, magazines, Internet, etc.

Vs. 4&5 -  No one is exempt, all must worship the man-made image (meaning all must obey king) or be threatened with death. Just like when men must receive the "mark of the beast" or die. There is no neutral ground- all must bow to Jesus or Satan. Like the old Bob Dylan song said "you gotta serve somebody".

Vs. 7 - Same today - the vast majority of people,  99.9%, chose to obey. Actually,  it says ALL THE PEOPLE fell down and worshipped....all seek to preserve their brief life, in this flesh, whereas Jesus said we should lose it for his sake, to gain eternal life. Only those without the mark whose names are found in the Lamb's Book of Life will refuse to worship the beast or his image. Only they will have the testimony of verse 12 - "They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up".

Verse 15 - the king had previously known God as a revealer of secrets - yet still doesn't know Him as our deliverer and protector. He asks "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Good question! One God is happy to answer. Remember this - there are times when God will deliver you from evil, and there are times when He will let evil befall you, then deliver you and protect you in the midst of it, the choice is His. Just know - the longer He waits, the more glory He gets. Remember Lazarus? Jesus said one of the reasons he waited so long to come to him, after he died, was so the believers would see God's glory AND BELIEVE.

Verses 17&18 - must be our testimony too. We must resolutely reply to Satan like this when he tempts us to worship ourselves,  or our fellow man. If all God's people replied to religious leadership the way the Apostle's did in Acts chapter 4, if today's Apostles and Prophets proclaimed this, it would deliver and set free multitudes of saints - "WHETHER IT BE RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD TO HEARKEN UNTO YOU MORE THAN UNTO GOD, JUDGE YE. FOR WE CANNOT BUT SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD". Hallelujah! Far too many today hearken unto men more than God. They obey their church leadership rather than God. It must end now! 

Verse 22 - those who try to slay us will themselves be slain in the same trap they set for us! Those who's tongues are "set on fire of hell" - who try to slay us with their hateful words, will reap what they sow - for every tongue that rises against us in judgement God will condemn, not us. We do not curse back when we are cursed, we do not revile those who revile us, for we know "Vengeance is Mine,  saith The Lord". 

Vs. 24&25 - Nebuchadnezzar begins to see the light - he calls the fourth figure in the fire "like the Son of God"....he says this by Divine revelation (yes God uses heathen kings). 

Verse 29 - our goal is to cause the heathen to testify - There is no other God like our God - there is none greater.

Verse 30 - promotion is of the Lord. Those who do not lust after earthly riches, who do not set their hearts on gold or silver, will often be rewarded with those very things, because God sees they are willing to lay down their lives and give it all up at a moment's notice.  If the rich, young ruler did not have his heart set on his riches, but rather on Jesus, Jesus may not have told him to sell all he had and give the money to the poor. Like he did with Abraham, when he stayed his hand at the last second and provided a ram. If the young man had agreed to sell all he had, Jesus might have said, no need, i see your heart belongs to me. Notice too, Jesus didn't say "sell all you have and give the money to Me", like so many today would do. Jesus esteemed the poor more highly than himself, as should we. The riches we gain from following Christ are far greater than all earthly riches anyway. Those who do not compromise , who stand firm in their values, who stay the course God puts them on, even in the midst of fiery trials, knowing He is with them always, who endure till the end of the world in them, WILL BE SAVED.

Book of Daniel part two

2:43 - Again, a timeless truth is revealed- Satan's kingdom is divided, division is the hallmark of his kingdom- denominations are a prime example. 

2:44  Today, in our day, before our eyes, God will "set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed"  We must intercede and cry out for this kingdom to fully appear here and now.

2:45 -  God reminds us this is all done with a stone cut out of the mountain with out hands. God can do as he pleases without man's help or input, thank you very much. We are not nearly as important as we think we are, though we are loved as much as we think we are.

2:47 - Would that we would all walk in such a way, that we would put on display God's glory and power, that the heathen and the pagans would testify that our God is mighty. Still, the king doesn't quite get it - he calls God a god of gods, not THE.

2:48&49 - Great promotion comes to Daniel, like it did to Joseph, and like Joseph, God uses Daniel to save many lives, through wisdom and understanding,  through dream interpretation. This is our purpose too, in the earth today - to save lives, to preserve souls, to give life, not condemnation.  Our message is one of hope, but the door to the gentiles will not remain open forever. The whole thing, by the way, was a God set-up. He gave the dream to the king, then withheld it from his conscious mind so he could then give the dream and interpretation to Daniel, who would in turn give honor and glory to Him, unlike the pagan wise men. These "wise men", instead of being gratefull to Daniel for sparing them, were jealous and resentful of his new found wealth and position, and because he could do what they could not. Don't be surprised when this happens to you. If you display God's presence in a supernatural or miraculous way, rather than being grateful,  your own pastor or brethren may turn on you and respond with jealousy and envy, hating and resenting you, instead of loving you, becoming angry instead of thankful.  Hear this - The prophetic especially and the supernatural in general, exposes people's hearts, lays them bare before God and man. Remember the ten lepers? I have to fix my mind on God and keep it focused on him. Quit flirting with God and commit. HERE I AM LORD - REND ME.

Chapter 3

1 - the image is king/man made -  mankind is heavily into worshipping himself. Anything we can dream up can become idolatry. Self on the throne of our heart is the "Abomination that causes desolation". In Babylon,  "Nebuchadnezzar" literally means " tears and groans of judgment". This is a graphic depiction of all who remain in Babylon, submitted to it's king, Satan. Jesus described it this way "weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Part three soon

 The Lord has told me to study the Book of Daniel for two main reasons: 

1) He refused to eat the meat offered to him by the king of Babylon and

2) He fasted and prayed and did not quit till breakthrough came.

V 1 & 2 - Part of, not all of, the vessels of The House of God were carried away to Babylon.  Today, we, as God's people,  are "The vessels of the House of God" with most, but not all of us, captive in the "treasure house of his god. A remnant remains free of Babylon's chains.

Daniel was a eunuch. He was free of fleshly lusts and desires.

V 8-16 - They refused the kings meat and drink. If we allow Satan to feed us his "doctrines of devils", if we allow him to care for us in any way, we become deeply compromised.  If we accept his pleasures of the flesh, alcohol, drugs, sex, food, etc. we start on a path that leads to our destruction.  Fleshly pleasures look better than God's physically but never spiritually. God's pleasures last forever, there is no end, while the earth,fleshly pleasures Satan pushes are fleeting, temporary, one day to be replaced by torment eternally. 

V 20 - God's children 10 times better than Satan's- Wow! In matters of wisdom and understanding,  we can't be beat, which makes sense, since the Holy Spirit is in us. We say "I am wise", not "i have wisdom" - there is a difference. 

2:4 - The false are full of arrogance. They lie to the king "we will show the interpretation" not "we will try". 

2:9 - The king sees through their deception, finally. Eventually,  all lies, all corruption, will be exposed for all the world to see, unless they've been repented of and they're under the Blood.

2:15 - God delivers His own, when they most need it, often at a late hour, that all the glory might be God's and God's alone.

2:21 - So true. Donald Trump for instance.

2:20-23 - What an awesome prayer! Knowing God as the "revealer of secrets" is one of my favorite ways to know Him. I love receiving revelations from Him, heart to heart, far more than I like hearing man's voice.

2:24 - Daniel has mercy on the pagan/unsaved so called "wise men" of Babylon, who have 1/10th the wisdom he has. Later, these same "wise men" turn on Daniel and try to have him murdered.

2:27&28 - Part of our purpose, as Apostles and Prophets, is to give God, the only true wise God, glory and honor before the lost, pagan kings of this world. The authorities in this world being used by Satan can be used by God too. He trumps Satan, Satan has the losing hand every time he tries to outwit God.

2:30 - Humility is a key attribute if we wish to continue to be used by God to do his will.

2:34 - The "Stone cut without hands" alludes to something God does, not man. Man uses his hands, all God has to do is speak. God's Kingdom is founded on Him - His ways, His words, His deeds, not man's. Moses was told to build an altar without hands, without hewn stones, nothing of man, nothing originating from man must become a part of our worship and walk with God for man taints and corrupts everything he touches. Man is self-centered, not Christ-centered. Man tries to get glory or honor or wealth or power for himself -  I've personally witnessed it over and over again, give people even a little authority or power and most cannot handle it. Very few follow Francis Chan's path. They become full of pride and they get arrogant. I've seen it in pastor's with very small congregations,  most of whom are family members,  yet still, they're full of pride, reveling in their position, blind to the truth. The stone that was "cut out without hands" which smote the image, is Jesus - the kingdom he smites is Babylon  ( Satan's ruling ptincipality on earth). We are now in the feet of iron and clay (mixed) stage. The world is now full of mixture, holy and profane, wise and foolish, good and evil, Genesis chapter one is all about separation - when we enter into relationship with God, He begins a process of separation in us. Holy from unholy, good from evil, light from darkness. Iron is unyielding, it represents pride  clay is soft and pliable, when wet, it represents humility.  Jesus wants all that is not of him to be separated from us. Remember the tares and the wheat? He wants us to "come out of Babylon and be ye separate" so when he smites Babylon we won't suffer and be punished with her. We won't be "broken to pieces" because we're already broken!

Part two soon

 The Lord is sharing with me - only a few of the original 12 Apostles of the Lamb have any part of their personal testimonies included in Scripture. I mean, their personal lives after Jesus departed, what happened to them each, individually is not found in scripture.....for a reason. They were being highly honored by God because they received the blessing of anonymity. They had no attention or glory diven to them beyond what we see in the Book of Acts, which does not single them out but mostly reveals what they did as a group, which is how we should behave today -  our identity should be more in what we're doing within a group then what we're doing individually. 

We know from history that most of them were martyred but none of their deaths is recorded in scripture. The more anonymous we are, the greater the calling, in most but not all instances, i think. The more God can use us when the time comes, for him to release us into our time of high impact, we must not crave the spotlight. Even Jesus,  except for a few brief moments at birth, at three years old, and at his Bar Mitzvah at 12, was anonymous (scripturally) until the time came pre-appointed by the Father for him to burst upon the national scene. I will gladly labor for a lifetime in anonymity for just one month of ministry like Jesus had, much less three years! I have to have every ounce of desire for self promotion  or self glory drained from my heart completely before Father chooses to use me to shake foundations, uproot long held (false) beliefs and traditions of men, and to dig wells and establish paths to dwell in. He must exalt me, for i cannot in any way, exalt myself. I must seek HIS GLORY for any other glory is vain glory, no matter how we couch it in Christian cliches or give testimony that we say is to glorify God but the real intent is to make us look good in the eyes of people. I must continue to seek and desire anonymity in my heart, only entering the spotlight  He shines on me, only going where HE sends me, only speaking what HE puts in my mouth. This is all assuming He will use me at all. I've squandered far too many years. He may decide to curse me like he did the fig tree, if he comesvto inspect and enjoybmy fruit and finds it rottingnor non-existent. In fear and trembling i cry out to Him- take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Renew a right spirit within me. I crave his presence more than fame or any other spotlight men can shine on me. To be used by Him to bring glory to Him is my soul desire. My stubbornness and pride is breathtaking in it's scope, I've too often refused to be broken. Saving my soul is the greatest miracle Jesus will ever perform for me. Lord, S.O.S. - Save Our Souls!

PS  i wrote this in December 2017