Discovering Destiny (Part 67): Some Decisions Have To Be Made Before The Pressure Hits
Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future. Yesterday, we met Daniel in Babylon. Today, we see the decision he made before the pressure ever came.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Peter 3:18 GNT
"But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever."
Luke 10:20 Mirror
"It's time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven's perspective."
1 John 3:10 Mirror
"There is a very visible and vast difference between living one's life from your God identity or from a fallen man's mindset."
Proverbs 25:2 NKJV
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter."
Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Daniel 1:8 AMPC
"But Daniel determined in his heart that he would not defile himself by [eating his portion of] the king's rich and dainty food or by [drinking] the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might [be allowed] not to defile himself."
Supporting scriptures:
Daniel 1:5 AMPC
"And the king assigned for them a daily portion of his own rich and dainty food and of the wine which he drank. They were to be so educated and so nourished for three years that at the end of that time they might stand before the king."
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
Romans 12:2 TPT
"Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God's will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes."
Isaiah 50:7 NLT
"Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame."
Psalm 57:7 AMPC
"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody."
Setting the Stage:
Picture Daniel's first days in the palace. He is a teenager, hundreds of miles from home. He has a new name, a new language, and a new school. Then the meals start coming. The Bible says the king "assigned for them a daily portion of his own rich and dainty food and of the wine which he drank." This was not prison food. This was food from the king's own table. Most young men in that program would have looked at that plate and thought, "I made it."
But that plate came with a problem. It broke the law of God that Daniel was raised on. Daniel knew that if he ate it, he would be saying yes to a lot more than a meal. So the Bible says, "Daniel determined in his heart that he would not defile himself." Notice where the decision was made. Not at the table. In his heart. Before the plate ever reached him, Daniel had already settled who he was.
Think about how easy it would have been to just eat it. Daniel was a slave. He was far from home and had no say in anything. Nobody back in Jerusalem would have blamed him. I taught you this years ago: Daniel had an easy out, but Daniel did not take it. He made no excuses, accepted no compromises, and offered no concessions to himself.
Here is what I want you to see today. The pressure did not make Daniel's decision. The decision was already made. Daniel walked into Babylon knowing who he was, and that settled decision protected everything God had planned for him.
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Decide Who You Are Before The World Tries To Tell You.
Daniel's decision did not start at the table. It started with knowing who he was. Babylon had already changed his name, his language, and his school, and now it was reaching for his plate. But the Bible says, "Daniel determined in his heart." The heart is where the decision gets made, and Solomon said, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." Here is the key. If you wait until the pressure shows up to decide who you are, the pressure will decide for you. Daniel did not walk into Babylon still making up his mind. He walked in settled. I have taught you this before: identity before activity. Know who you are, and you will know what to do when the plate is set in front of you.
How this applies to you:
-- Settled people are hard to move because once something is settled in your heart, circumstances cannot drive you.
-- Daniel did not decide when he was offered the food. He decided in his heart well before. Decisions made in the heart hold up when you are being offered something that violates your character.
-- You cannot make your best decisions in your weakest moments. Settle it while your head is clear and your heart is full of God.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and you protect it with decisions you make before you need them.
-- Babylon could put a new name on Daniel's paperwork and a new plate in front of him. It could not put a new heart in him.
-- You do not keep your convictions to make God love you. You keep them because He already does. The love of God fuels your faith and courage (Gal 5:6).
-- To live out your destiny, you must know who you are before somebody else tries to tell you.
-- Here is the bottom line. Satan is after your identity. The world is after your identity. Look at how the devil came at Jesus in the wilderness. Just days before, at the Jordan River, the Father had said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17). Then the very first words out of the tempter's mouth were, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matt 4:3). He came back with it again on the pinnacle of the temple: "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down" (Matt 4:6). Satan did not start with the bread. He started with the "if." He was testing whether Jesus knew who He was. Jesus never argued about His identity. He answered with the Word: "It is written." Babylon did the same thing to Daniel. It changed his name and put the king's plate in front of him, but Daniel knew who he was. The enemy will do the same with you. He will question who you are before he ever sets the plate in front of you. So let me ask you today: Do you know who you are?
2. Set Your Standards Before Life Tests Them.
Daniel's decision was a standard. I teach this all the time: a standard is a non-negotiable boundary you set today that changes your conduct right now and the direction of your future. Daniel did not look at the king's food one meal at a time and then decide. He drew the line once, in his heart, and that line held. I will give you a small example. In January, our church fasts from meats and sweets for 21 days. During those three weeks in January, almost every year, I'm given the opportunity to violate the fast. One year, I even had to host people in a suite at the Capital One Arena and order food for an entire team, knowing I couldn't touch most of it. But if the decision was already made in my heart, the food wasn't even tempting. If I ever allowed myself to debate the decision, I would look at the food, but once the decision is settled in my heart, the food doesn't matter anymore. When the standard is already set, the decision is already made.
How this applies to you:
-- A standard is a decision you make once, so you do not have to renegotiate it every day.
-- Without standards, circumstances drive you. With standards, God leads you.
-- To live as a man or woman of destiny, you must have standards, because without standards, you will be renegotiating your future on a daily basis.
-- When the pressure comes, a person with standards can say, "I'm not doing that, because that's not who I am." That one sentence will save you a lot of heartache.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and your standards are the guardrails that keep you on the road to it.
-- Daniel was a teenager when he set his standard. You are never too young to receive a revelation of who God called you to be.
-- Some standards are about what you will do, and some are about what you will not do. Daniel's was a "will not," and it opened the door to everything God had for him.
-- Once a standard is set and a decision is settled in your heart, it's amazing how stable you can be in that area. For example, I don't drink alcohol, cheat on my wife, or curse. Those are simple standards, but they're settled in my heart. Some things have to be settled in your heart, too.
-- A person without standards is a person who is open to just about anything, and that's a dangerous place to be. A line you never draw is a line you will keep crossing.
3. Conviction And Respect Can Live In The Same Heart.
Look at how Daniel handled it. He did not stand on a table and preach at the Babylonians. He did not stage a protest in the dining hall. The Bible says, "he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might [be allowed] not to defile himself." He asked. A slave asked the king's own official for a different menu. I taught you years ago that true humility is controlled confidence, the kind of confidence that lets you be humble and bold at the same time. Daniel had both. And here is what I love about it. Faith asks for the unreasonable, believes the impossible, and attempts the outrageous! A slave asking for a special diet was unreasonable, but Daniel asked anyway.
How this applies to you:
-- You can stand firm without being harsh.
-- Daniel did not have to win an argument to keep his convictions. He only had to keep his heart.
-- Humble and bold are not opposites. When you know who you are, you can be both.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He planned it to work through the people you treat with respect, even in Babylon.
-- Do not let false humility keep you from asking for what you know is God’s best. You have not because you ask not.
-- Daniel did not demand. He requested. How you ask matters as much as what you ask.
-- People will respect what you stand for, especially when they see you will not budge. Convictions with kindness open doors that anger never could.
-- People do not have to believe what you believe to respect the fact that you believe it. When you have convictions and standards, and your audio matches your video, you will be amazed at how many people respect your faith. I served 25 years in the Army, and I never had a problem living as a man of God. Everyone knew where I stood. I did not have to preach at anybody. I just lived it. Whether they believed in my God or not, they respected that I believed in Him. That is how God uses you. Daniel did not win over the chief of the eunuchs with an argument. He won him over with a life that matched his convictions. Live it, and your life will speak for you.
4. Pressure Only Reveals What You Already Decided.
Daniel's biggest tests had not even started yet. Later, there would be a furnace for his friends, a law against his prayers, and a den of lions he had to sleep in. But the man who walked into that den was settled at a table when he was a teenager. Paul said, "Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you" (Romans 12:2 TPT). Babylon's whole program was built to make Daniel imitate Babylon. But he was "inwardly transformed," so the outside pressure had nothing to grab onto. Isaiah said it like this: "I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will." Remember this. Pressure does not create your character. It reveals the decisions you already made.
How this applies to you:
-- What you settle in private will hold you up in public.
-- When your convictions govern your responses, the circumstances around you lose their vote. That is the difference between being driven and being led.
-- The decision Daniel made at the table got him ready for the lions' den. Small decisions today prepare you for big tests tomorrow.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born. In the same way, destiny is protected by the decisions you make ahead of time.
-- Settle it now, so you do not have to fight it later.
-- David said, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is steadfast and confident!" A fixed heart is not easily moved.
-- Tomorrow, we will see what happened after Daniel asked. God had already gone ahead of him and given him favor.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I settle in my heart today who I am in You!
I do not wait for the pressure to decide for me!
My decisions are made before the plate is set in front of me!
I keep my standards because You already love me, not to earn Your love!
I am led by Your Spirit, not driven by my circumstances!
I can be humble and bold at the same time!
I ask boldly because I know who I am!
I stand firm without a hard heart or a harsh word!
Pressure only reveals what I have already decided!
My heart is fixed, and my destiny is protected!
In THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen!
This is Today's Word. Apply it and prosper!
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