Dare to Be a Daniel

^{Daniel 6:25-27}

²⁵Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.

 ²⁶I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

 ²⁷He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

Hebrews 10:39

³⁹ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

A Pilgrim's Armor

We recently heard a sermon at church about putting on the full armor of God. This week, as we listened to Pilgrim's Progress, we saw an example of using that armor when Christian meets Apollyon, the prince of the City of Destruction. Christian considers fleeing when he first sees Apollyon coming but then he remembers that he has no armor to cover his back should he flee. This is what happened....

"Then did Christian draw, for he saw it was time to bestir him; and Apollyon as fast made at him, throwing darts as thick as hail; by the which, notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it, Apollyon wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot. This made Christian give a little back: Apollyon, therefore, followed his work amain, and Christian again took courage, and resisted as manfully as he could. This sore combat lasted for above half a day, even till Christian was almost quite spent: for you must know, that Christian, by reason of his wounds, must needs grow weaker and weaker.

Then Apollyon, espying his opportunity, began to gather up close to Christian, and wrestling with him, gave him a dreadful fall; and with that Christian’s sword flew out of his hand. Then said Apollyon, I am sure of thee now: and with that he had almost pressed him to death, so that Christian began to despair of life. But, as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly reached out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise, Mic. 7:8; and with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that, made at him again, saying, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. Rom. 8:37. And with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon wings, and sped him away, that Christian saw him no more. James 4:7."

We noticed that Christian used several scriptures to combat the lies of Apollyon and we discussed how we might use the scriptures that we have learned when Satan is tempting us with his lies. His goal is to discourage us in whatever way he can; to divide us in our minds and lives from our brethren and our Lord so that we feel  alone, tired and unworthy of our divine heritage. I have been feeling that way myself so I took special courage from this time of spiritual fellowship with my children. I have also appreciated this Psalm which we just finished memorizing- also an inspiration for a sermon at church:

Psalm 15

 ¹ LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
   Who may live on your holy mountain?

 ² The one whose walk is blameless,
   who does what is righteous,
   who speaks the truth from their heart;
³ whose tongue utters no slander,
   who does no wrong to a neighbor,
   and casts no slur on others;
⁴ who despises a vile person
   but honors those who fear the LORD;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
   and does not change their mind;
⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest;
   who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

   Whoever does these things
   will never be shaken.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Psalm 8

¹O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

²Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

³When I consider thy heavens, the work of

thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

⁵For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

⁶Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

⁷All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

⁸The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the

seas.

⁹O LORD our Lord, how excellent

is thy name in all the

earth!

We are watching the video series "Planet Earth" again this winter. I am always amazed at our God when I watch these videos. From the grandiose to microscopic, our planet is teeming with life that testifies to the greatness of it's creator. Last night, we watched the segment on caves and saw a cave so vast that a jumbo jet could fly within it's walls. And tonight, we watched the shallow seas segment where we saw up close some of the very, very small creatures that live in the oceans. Did you know that pound for pound, krill (a shrimp-like creature) is the must abundant animal on our planet? One swarm of krill can contain 200 million tons of these creatures. For perspective, a Humpback whale can eat 3 tons of these each day. Oh, and a Great White Shark weighs about a ton. Can you tell Adam asked what a ton is exactly?

Talk about perspective!?! This helps me to remember that there is a whole big world out there and what may seem like a problem, really isn't. God is mindful of me and he has the whole planet earth in His hands.

Our Great God

From Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley:
"For all things on this earth, from the tiniest flower to the tallest mountain, change and change all day long. Every atom of matter moves perpetually; and nothing "continues in one stay." The solid-seeming earth on which you stand is but a heaving bubble, bursting ever and anon in this place and that. Only above all, and through all, and with all, is One who does not move not change, but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

I had a special moment with Caleb a few days ago. He was reading about earthquakes in the book mentioned above and we chose that quote for his copywork for that day. We discussed that the earth that we think of as so permanent is really just a roiling and heaving crust that can change at any moment- like the recent earthquake in Haiti. This is difficult to comprehend but even more astounding is that God is changeless.

Then I read this during my quiet time.....

Hebrews 1:10-12 (amplified)
And (further), You, Lord, did lay the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They will perish but You remain and continue permanently; they will grow old and wear out like a garment. Like a mantle (thrown about one's self) You will roll them up, and they will be changed and replaced by others. But you remain the same, and Your years will never end or come to failure.

God's Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Peace

I wrote a mission statement for myself several years ago: humility+patience=peace. I want my life to be full of peace and not chaos, anger and anxiety. So that is my thought for the next few days moving forward. (I have found myself snapping, no, yelling at the children in my house as I am getting a little worked up about all of the things that I have planned, hmmm....) I picked up my Bible one day when I was feeling a little apprehensive about holiday planning and turned to a Psalm that said "His Mercy Endureth Forever" FOUR TIMES. So I think that with God as my source I can manage the holidays. Afterall, the meaning of Erin is peace.

As a sidebar, I am looking forward to learning some rudimentary Chinese this year through the BBC Foreign Languages website. Check it out here.

Peace!