I love my husband. I know, most of you who read this will not be shocked at that statement, but as I get ready to blog about what he taught me this morning, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to the God of heaven Whom has given such a man to me!
This morning after studying in Daniel, Tony asked me to come over to him,( he has to have eye to eye contact to be assured that the person is listening to him…) as he began to tell me what he got out of his time in the Word, I knew I had blogging material!
A little background to this lesson, Daniel and his friends were taken captive by king Nebuchadnezzar’s command to bring the best and the brightest that Israel had to offer when he conquered their land. However Daniel and his friends were 4 out of many, and yet they are the only ones mentioned that did not compromise their beliefs and stand on truth! The king has a disturbing dream and tells the wisemen that they not only must give him the interpretation but also must tell him what his dream was! How in the WORLD he could think this would be done, I have no idea! Because in the WORLD, this is impossible! The wisemen cannot do this and so they are facing death…. not just any kind of death but to be cut into pieces… this king obviously had some anger issues.. 
Daniel gets word that this is going on, and immediately ask to have an appointment with the king to interpret the dream! Now, this is before he even prayed about it! He had faith because he knew God had already done such great things in his life and the lives of his friends! Daniel and his friends get to praying and God gives Daniel the dream and the meaning which he in turn gives to the king! Now, this is where Tony picked up his lesson..
Daniel 2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.
The king responded in worship. Worship of his mouth and body as you can see above… he confessed/ acknowledged who God was, and then prostrated himself on the ground in honor of Him! One problem…. and the next chapter tells us what it was… HIMSELF! After this great show of worship, he then has an image built that looks like HIM and makes people bow down to it!
Isaiah 29:13
And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.
This gives us a perfect picture of what was going on here… his heart never came close to God…. just his mouth…
Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Tells us that there are two parts of relationship to Christ… confessing (which was done) and believing, ( which was absent). You see, the King kept God as “Daniel’s God”… never believed Him for himself.
I wonder how true this is in our churches today? How many come to church, acknowledging God with their mouth and even their demonstrative body language and yet go home to build an image of themselves that must be worshiped by them and others!
Just some thinking and teaching this morning in the Gott home…
hi mom