(Read Daniel 1:18-21)
This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)” as we study the life of Daniel. Yesterday we saw how God gave Daniel and his friends the wisdom and ability to learn many different kinds of writing and science. For Daniel, God also gave him the ability to understand and interpret visions and dreams. The grace of God gave Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah a tremendous advantage as they matriculated through the three year training program.
At the end of the training Ashpenaz brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked to them and found that none of the young men were as good as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So these four young men became the king’s servants. They were slaves, but they beat out everyone in the training program, and they did it by the grace of God. The Bible says, “Every time the king asked them about something important, they showed great wisdom and understanding. The king found they were ten times better than all the magicians and wise men in his kingdom.” Think about that for a moment. King Nebuchadnezzar had access to countless magicians and wise men. His kingdom was vast and powerful. Yet none of his men were a-tenth as good as four Hebrew boys who were operating under the grace of God.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. By grace (unearned and unmerited), God empowered Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to outperform everyone in Babylon’s elite three year training program. The grace of God can have similar results in your life if you seek to access God’s grace with your faith.
2. God gave Daniel and his friends supernatural wisdom and understanding and He did it so they could outperform their peers. God is interested in your success. By grace God will empower you to succeed in life, so He can get the glory and so He can influence the world through you.
3. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had to overcome a great deal in order to earn their selection for the king’s service. The grace of God empowered Daniel and his friends to overcome national bias (they were from a different country), socio-economic status (they were slaves), and religion (they worshipped a different God) on their path to success. God will do the same for you. When God is ON you, IN you, WITH you and FOR you, nothing can stop you!
4. By grace (unearned and unmerited), God made Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah “10 times better” than all of King Nebuchadnezzar’s magicians and wise men. When you embrace and experience the grace of God it will cause you to outsmart, outperform and outlast your competitors. The grace of God can usher you right into divine success.
5. If God could cause four slaves to outperform all the king’s men, then what do you think He can do through your life? Are you thinking too small? Are you aiming too low? God’s grace can empower you to succeed in spite challenges, obstacles and issues. Stop thinking small, open your heart, dream God-sized dreams, and allow God, by His grace, to empower you to change the world!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. The more I study Your grace, the more I realize why You want to bless me and use me. You made plans for me before the world began and You made those plans by grace. Those plans contain my life’s purpose and part of my purpose is to become a conduit through which You are able to impact and influence the world – both the people of the world and the systems of the world. By grace You open doors for me that no man can close. And by faith I walk through those doors to make a difference. So Father, my confession is: I win in life, because I operate in the grace of God on me to influence this world. My faith accesses Your grace to outperform, outsmart and outlast my peers. I shine in this world, because I decrease to the point where Your light and love shines through me. So Father, I give myself over to You, to be used of You for Your glory. I decrease that You may increase in me. I minimize ME, so You can maximize YOU in, with, and through me. And as I do, as I allow You to flow through me, I will experience supernatural success and leave a mark in this world that will never be erased. Not because I am so good, but only because of Your grace. I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
