Today we continue our series entitled “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
(Read Daniel 1:9-16)
I love the story of Daniel. He dared to refuse the king’s diet. He rejected the food and wine because they violated the Judaic Law. Daniel asked his master, Ashpenaz, if he could eat something else. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a big deal, but these were no normal circumstances. Daniel was a slave, Babylon was in charge, Nebuchadnezzar was the king, and the king offered to share food from his personal diet. A refusal of the offer could be seen as disrespect, and in those days, it could lead to death.
The Bible says, “God caused Ashpenaz, the man in charge of the officials, to be kind and loyal to Daniel.” Another way of saying this is, “God gave Daniel favor with Ashpenaz.” The favor of the Lord will cause people to do things for you, even when they don’t know why they are doing it. Ashpenaz wanted to help Daniel, but he also knew the danger of going against the king. Ashpenaz told Daniel, “I am afraid of my master, the king. He ordered me to give you this food and drink. If you don’t eat this food, you will begin to look weak and sick. You will look worse than other young men your age. The king will see this, and he will become angry with me. He might cut off my head. And it would be your fault.” Ashpenaz made it clear that king Nebuchadnezzar took his orders seriously. Disobedience against the throne could lead to a beheading.
Daniel was in a tough situation, but he did not give up. Sometimes the grace of God will keep you from a bad situation; other times, it empowers you to get through it. Daniel came up with a plan. Daniel asked Ashpenaz to allow him, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to undergo a 10-day test. For 10 days, Daniel wanted his group to eat nothing but vegetables and drink nothing but water. After ten days, Daniel asked for an honest comparison between the Hebrew boys and the other young men who were on the king’s diet. Daniel said, “See for yourself who looks healthier, and then decide how you want to treat us, your servants.” The test was agreed to, and after 10 days, Daniel and his friends looked healthier than all the young men who ate the king’s food. So the guards continued to take away the king’s special food and wine and to give only vegetables and water to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
The next verse says:
(Daniel 1:17 ERV)
God gave these four young men the wisdom and ability to learn many different kinds of writing and science. Daniel could also understand all kinds of visions and dreams.
So what does this mean for you today? Let’s get into it.
1. Living by faith will put you in situations where you are totally relying on God.
Daniel put his faith on the line when he refused the king’s food and asked to be tested for 10 days. This was one of those “Hey God, I need you! If you don’t show up, we are going to be in trouble,” type situations.
2. Living by faith requires overcoming fear.
Daniel was a slave in a foreign land, under the control of a man who could have him killed, but his confidence (faith) in God was stronger than his fear of Nebuchadnezzar. Fear moves satan; faith moves God. Which will you operate in today?
3. Living by faith is exciting, and it puts you in a position to know God through experiences.
Daniel’s faith was not something he read or merely something he talked about. Daniel’s faith was how he lived. When you live by faith you get to experience the power of God and your life is exciting, because you get to see God work in ways that exceed human ability.
You can’t just know God from a book. To become the man/woman God has destined you to be, you must experience Him, in real life, on a daily basis!
4. To live by faith that taps into God’s grace, it must become your lifestyle.
God made plans for you before the world began, and He made those plans by His unearned and amazing grace. God has also given you the grace to accomplish everything He birthed you to do. But to actually DO IT, God requires you to access His grace with your faith.
Faith is an action word. Faith requires you to DO something. Daniel put his faith into action when he asked for the test. For Daniel, faith was not something he read or merely talked about, it was the way he lived, and God expects the same of you.
When was the last time you did something in faith? I mean genuinely, in faith, to the point where if God did not step in, it would not get done. If you can’t remember, then there is something wrong. Faith is how God wants you to live because living by faith is the only way you will actually accomplish all He called you to do!
5. To tap into the grace of God consistently, you must develop a mindset of faith.
Let’s think about Daniel’s situation for a moment. He was minding his own business when his nation was overtaken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. He did nothing wrong, and he wound up as a slave. Daniel then did nothing wrong as a slave when he was selected for a three-year training program. This training program required a particular diet, the king’s diet, and this diet violated Daniel’s beliefs. That’s the situation Daniel found himself in.
No one would have blamed Daniel if he had simply accepted the king’s food and wine. Most people would not hold that against Daniel because of the circumstances. After all, you could say that as a slave, he was being forced to do it. Daniel had an ‘easy out,’ but Daniel did not take it.
Instead, Daniel chose to take a stand. Daniel stood for God and his Law. Daniel, even though he was a slave, refused to violate what he believed in. Daniel made no excuses, accepted no compromises, and offered no concessions. Daniel stood for God, period! He stood in faith. Daniel was willing to put his faith in action by offering to endure a test to prove His God could keep him and his friends healthy and strong while eating a diet that was pleasing to Him.
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah took a stand for God, and heaven responded. You see, when you exercise faith that taps into God’s grace, you get to experience God’s best. As it is in heaven, so shall it be on earth, in your life!
Not only did God cause them to look and be healthier than all the men eating the king’s diet, but our text says that God “gave these four young men the wisdom and ability to learn many different kinds of writing and science.” Additionally, God gave Daniel the ability to “understand all kinds of visions and dreams.” That’s the kind of grace for success you can tap into when you live by faith.
6. You don’t have to compromise to get ahead.
— Daniel could have easily compromised, accepted the king’s food and wine, violated God’s Law, and then given the excuse that he was a slave without an option. But Daniel refused to compromise. He had uncommon faith, and it led to uncommon success.
— When you make a stand for God, God will make a stand for you. In the New Testament, when the pressure was on new believers to deny Jesus, Stephen refused to buckle under the pressure, and he stood for Jesus. Stephen was killed for it, and he became the first Christian martyr. But since Stephen stood for Jesus, Jesus stood for him. The Bible says that Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, STOOD UP when Stephen took a stand for Him (see Acts 7:55).
— Whatever you compromise to get, you will have to compromise to keep. But if you simply live for God and you stand in faith for what He leads you to do, He will bless you and keep you through everything you face.
7. Your faith positions you to embrace and experience the grace of God.
— Since Daniel and his friends were willing to stand in faith, they could access God’s grace to look and perform better than all the other men in their training program.
— You don’t earn God’s blessings (they come to you by God’s unearned grace). But that does not mean you do nothing. God is looking for you to operate in faith and to take a stand for Him. When you do, your faith will access God’s grace, and you can enjoy God’s best on this planet.
8. When you live a life of faith and tap into God’s grace, you get to operate in ways that far exceed anything you ever imagined.
— When Daniel and his friends took their leap of faith, they accessed God’s grace, and God empowered them to do things they could have never done on their own. The grace of God pushes you past the limits of your humanity.
— Since Daniel and his friends stood in faith for their diet, it would stand to reason that God would manifest physical health. The fact that Daniel and his friends “looked healthier” than those on the Babylonian diet makes sense. But the text says that God “gave these four young men the wisdom and ability to learn many different kinds of writing and science.” This means that beyond the physical (your body), God manifested His grace in their souls (your mind, emotions, and will). For Daniel, it went beyond the soul and into his spirit. Because the text says that God gave Daniel the ability to “understand all kinds of visions and dreams.”
— There is no limit to what the grace of God can do in and through you. There are three parts of you and the grace of God can manifest in all three:
a) Your body: The grace of God can empower you to be healthy and strong, destroying sickness, disease, malady, and infirmity.
b) Your soul: The grace of God can give you supernatural wisdom, revelation, and understanding. This revelation far exceeds anything you could have ever attained through education and experience.
c) Your spirit: The grace of God can give you access to spiritual gifts that enable you to do things that only God can do. Things like seeing into the future, discerning the intents of people’s hearts, understanding visions/dreams, knowing what to do in any given situation, and connecting with people in a supernatural way so the love and light of God can touch them where they are.
When you open your heart to God’s grace, and He manifests Himself in your body, soul, and spirit, you will be able to say things you have never heard said, do things you have never seen done, and give God the glory for it all every step of the way! This is #TheGraceLife.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
I live by faith every day, in every way. Because I live by faith and pursue Your will for my life and not my own, You grace me to do what I could never do without You!
By grace, You give me access to supernatural wisdom, revelation, knowledge, and understanding.
By grace, You download things from heaven into my heart and mind, empowering me to operate on the earth with uncommon wisdom.
I have wisdom that exceeds my years and education. This wisdom propels me far past my peers, and You freely release it to me because I seek to do what You birthed me to do.
I live by faith, You bless me by grace, and I become a conduit of Your light and love on this planet.
So as I enter this day, I say, Father, speak through my vocal cords, think through my mind, and operate through my limbs. Your power and nature will be seen and heard on the earth through me.
I decrease that You will increase through me. You use me for Your glory daily! And as You do, as You flow through me, I experience phenomenal and supernatural success! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
