Discovering Destiny (Part 69): God's Grace Will Make You Stand Out
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 saw God give Daniel favor with people he never expected. Today, we see what God did with Daniel after the test.
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 1:17 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."
Daniel 1:20 ERV
"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."
Supporting scriptures:
Daniel 1:18-19 AMPC
"Now at the end of the time which the king had set for bringing [all the young men in], the chief of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king conversed with them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they were assigned to stand before the king."
James 1:5 TPT
"And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won't see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace."
1 Corinthians 15:10 TPT
"But God's amazing grace has made me who I am! And his grace to me was not fruitless. In fact, I worked harder than all the rest, yet not in my own strength but God's, for his empowering grace is poured out upon me."
Colossians 3:23 ERV
"In all the work you are given, do the best you can. Work as though you are working for the Lord, not any earthly master."
Proverbs 22:29 TPT
"If you are uniquely gifted in your work, you will rise and be promoted. You won't be held back, you'll stand before kings!"
Setting the Stage:
Yesterday, we watched Daniel and his three friends pass the 10-day test. They ate vegetables and drank water, and at the end of 10 days, they looked healthier than every young man eating from the king's table. The guard changed their diet for good, and the four Hebrew young men went back to school.
And it was not an easy school. It was an elite program. For three years, they studied the language, the literature, and the science of Babylon. These were the best young men from the royal and noble families of Judah, sitting in classrooms built to turn them into Babylonians. But the Bible says something happened in those classrooms that Babylon did not plan: "God gave these four young men the wisdom and ability to learn many different kinds of writing and science." And Daniel got something extra. "Daniel could also understand all kinds of visions and dreams."
Then graduation day came. Remember Ashpenaz, the man who was afraid the king would cut off his head if these boys looked weak? At the end of the three years, Ashpenaz was the one who brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them himself. And the Bible says, "among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah." So they were assigned to stand before the king.
But it did not stop at graduation. "Every time the king asked them about something important, they showed great wisdom and understanding." Think about that. Nebuchadnezzar had access to every magician and wise man in his whole kingdom. These were “thee” experts. This was their culture, their language, and their system. And the king found that four Hebrew slaves were "ten times better than all the magicians and wise men in his kingdom."
So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. God Will Give You Wisdom You Could Never Get From A Classroom.
Daniel and his friends went to school for three years, and they studied hard. But the Bible does not give the credit to the teachers. It says, "God gave" them the wisdom and ability to learn. And for Daniel, God gave something no school in Babylon could teach: the understanding of visions and dreams.
God can give you wisdom by revelation that far exceeds anything you could ever get through education. James said, "ask God for wisdom and he will give it!" And look at the rest of that verse. He will not scold you for what you do not know, but "he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace." You do not have to be the smartest person in the room. You just have to be connected to the One who knows everything.
How this applies to you:
-- Your wisdom does not start with a diploma. It starts with God. God released wisdom over these four young men well before they walked across the graduation stage.
-- You can study hard and still need God. Grace and study work together.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He already planned the wisdom you would need to walk in it.
-- If you do not know what to do, ask God. He is generous, and He is not mad at you for asking.
-- God can give you wisdom that exceeds your years, wisdom that exceeds your education, and wisdom that puts you past your peers.
-- Daniel got something the other students did not get, because he had a God the other students did not have.
-- When God applies His super to your natural, you can do things you have never seen done.
-- God can make you a trailblazer, even in environments where other people are supposed to have an advantage over you. They will be amazed (and you will be amazed) by the level of wisdom and insight that God gives you, and it is all tied to your destiny.
2. You Do Not Have To Compromise To Get Ahead.
Daniel could have eaten the king's food. He could have said, "I'm a slave. I don't have a choice." Most people would not have blamed him. But he refused, and three years later, the young man who refused the king's plate was standing in front of the king. Babylon thought you had to eat from the king's table to get in front of the king. Daniel proved that you can keep your convictions and still come out on top. I have taught you this before: whatever you compromise to get, you will have to compromise to keep. Daniel did not compromise, so he did not have anything to protect. He just had to keep walking with God.
How this applies to you:
-- Early in my Army warrant officer years, one of my warrant officer mentors told me that when we traveled with the boss (the general officers), we would hang out at the bar at night. He said that's where we really get to know the boss and how we can get ahead. He said, "Rick, I know you don't drink, but you could just hang out." I said, "I'm not hanging out at a bar. If I need to hang out at a bar to get ahead, I guess I'm not going to get ahead." Well, guess what? I never hung out at the bar, and God still promoted me to the highest position in my field.
-- Uncommon faith leads to uncommon success. Daniel had both.
-- The king's food could not make Daniel ten times better, but God could.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and you do not need a shortcut to get there.
-- Some people think they have to lie, cut corners, or go along with everybody else to get ahead. You don't.
-- God is looking for you to be a man or woman of integrity who lives by their convictions and standards.
-- What you get by compromise, you will have to keep by compromise. What God gives you by grace, you will never have to struggle to keep.
-- Daniel did not lower his standards, and God raised him up because he kept them.
-- You can stand for God and still stand out. Your convictions are not holding you back. They may actually be the reason why you get propelled forward.
3. Grace Does Not Make You Lazy; It Makes You Excellent.
Some people hear me teach about grace and think it means you do not have to do anything. That's not grace. Paul said, "God's amazing grace has made me who I am! And his grace to me was not fruitless. In fact, I worked harder than all the rest, yet not in my own strength but God's." Paul worked hard, and grace was the power behind the work. Daniel and his friends sat in those classrooms for three years. God gave them the ability to learn, and they still had to show up and learn. Remember this: God's grace does not come BY work, but it surely comes FOR work! Paul also said, "In all the work you are given, do the best you can. Work as though you are working for the Lord."
How this applies to you:
-- Grace is not a license for laziness. Grace is the power to be excellent.
-- If you name the name of Jesus, please don't be lazy in what you do.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and He gave you the grace to do it with a spirit of excellence.
-- When you claim to be a Christian, people want to see how you perform. Let them see God in your work.
-- You are doing it for God, not for man, and that changes how you do it.
-- When I was in the government, if you took something the government gave you and you used it the wrong way, we called it a misappropriation of government funds. In the same way, when God bestows His grace upon you to do what He called you to do, if you're too lazy to do it, you are wasting God's grace. That is a misappropriation of God's grace.
-- Hard work without grace will wear you out. Grace without hard work will keep you in the waiting position. You need both.
-- Grace and labor go together. You don't work for grace, but you work by grace. When you do your work empowered by the grace of God, God will see to it that your labor is not in vain.
4. God Can Take You From The Back Of The Line To The Front Of The Room.
Look at where Daniel started. He was a foreigner. He was a slave. He worshiped a God nobody in Babylon served. On paper, he had every reason to finish last. But by the grace of God, he outperformed everyone in the program, and then the king found him "ten times better than all the magicians and wise men in his kingdom." Solomon said, "If you are uniquely gifted in your work, you will rise and be promoted. You won't be held back, you'll stand before kings!" That is exactly what happened. The grace of God helped Daniel overcome national bias, his social status, and his religion, all at the same time. When God is ON you, IN you, WITH you, and FOR you, nothing can stop you!
How this applies to you:
-- Where you start does not decide where you finish. God does.
-- The king's own experts had every advantage, and four slaves with God wound up 10 times better.
-- God planned your destiny before you were born, and no label people put on you can cancel it.
-- If God could make four slaves 10 times better than the king's best, what do you think He can do through you?
-- Stop thinking small. Stop aiming low. Dream God-sized dreams.
-- Ashpenaz was afraid these boys would make him look bad. God made them so good that they made him look good.
-- Tomorrow, we will see that Daniel did not just make it to the front of the room. He outlasted the kingdom that captured him.
That's enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, You give me wisdom no classroom could ever teach me!
When I do not know what to do, I ask You, and You answer!
I do not have to compromise to get ahead!
What You give me, You help me keep!
Your grace does not make me lazy, it makes me excellent!
I work as unto You and not unto man!
Where I start does not decide where I finish!
You can take me from the back of the line to the front of the room!
Your grace on me makes me ten times better!
You are ON me, IN me, WITH me, and FOR me!
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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