“Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault: for as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.” (Daniel 6:4 KJV).

Those who seriously follow Christ, have had encounters with God that have powerfully impacted their life. Those are the moments that mark us. We never forget them. They become anchors for our soul! But what about those in-between times?

What about those times when the Lord seems distant? What about those times when we do not seem to feel the intensity of His Presence? What do we do during those times? The answer is that we remain faithful!

All of us enjoy those moments when the Presence of God is undeniable. But we must also learn to follow the Lord in the midst of the mundane; to follow the Lord in the everyday grunginess of life! It is during those everyday mundane things of life that our faith really grows.

We all remember those powerful moments in Daniel’s life when he experienced the Mighty Hand of God working in his circumstances; in the Court of Belshazzar, in the Lion’s Den, the visions of the end times, etc. But what we forget is that between those powerful encounters, there was everyday life. The mundane. The ordinary.

And in the midst of the ordinary is where Daniel’s faith grew and deepened.

It is when we are faithful in the ordinary that God teaches us and establishes us in our walk with Him! What that means is that between those powerful encounters, with God (and we all long for them), we just keep faithfully following Him! We continue fellowshipping regularly with our brothers & sisters in Christ (church). We continue reading the Word of God. We continue spending time with Him alone (prayer). We continue doing what we know to be is right (according to the Word of God) in all circumstances of life. And when we do that, we are laying a foundation that will sustain us in both the difficulties of life and in the highest spiritual moments in life. It is learning to be faithful in the ordinary that prepares us to experience God in the extraordinary!

James W. Black

In the dark days of Zedekiah’s reign (the last King of Judah 597-586 BC), Jeremiah, the prophet, received a Word from the Lord while shut up in prison. The Word was a word of encouragement, as well as a word of judgment. In Jeremiah 33:3 the Lord invites His people to “call unto me and I will answer thee…”. Jeremiah prophesied that although Jerusalem and the nation of Judah will be destroyed because of their rebellion and sin, God would ultimately restore the nation and bring her the peace that she longed for.

In Jeremiah 33:15, the Lord promised to send “the Branch of righteousness” who will sit upon the throne of David and bring both righteousness and peace to the land. That “Branch of righteousness” is the Lord Jesus Himself, the Messiah. That Branch has now come and ultimately will be revealed to the people of Israel as the Lord has promised.

Everyone experiences dark days band dark moments in their lives. But if we will stand upon the Word of God and call unto Him, He (the Branch of righteousness) will come and bring peace to us in the midst of our darkness. As he has been faithful to Israel, He will be faithful unto us. Call unto Him and He will answer!

In Jeremiah 29: 4-7, the Word of the Lord came to the captives in Babylon. They were to “seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives and to pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof, ye shall have peace (vs. 7).

They did not want to be in Babylon. They wanted to be home in Jerusalem. We would too! The life they once knew was gone. Things were different and difficult. But the Lord asked them to pray for the peace of that city so that they would also have peace. The Holy One wanted His people to seek Him where they were despite their circumstances. If they would, He would bless them where they were.

The Lord will do the same for us. There are times in life that we find ourselves in a place where we would rather not be. But we are there and there is nothing we can do to change it. What are we to do? We have two choices. We can become enslaved by bitterness and regret or we can seek the Lord where we are and honor Him there.

If we determine to seek the Lord, He will use those circumstances to work something good into our lives that could never have been done any other way. In other words, God will both redeem and bless in the midst of those circumstances if we allow Him. The greatest example of that is Paul the Apostle. He did not want to be in prison. He would rather be free to minister outside. But while in prison, God used him to write much of the New Testament that blesses and encourages us today. With God, nothing is ever wasted. So, seek the Lord where you are. He is at work in the midst of it.

One of the greatest blessings of being a follower of Christ is the ASSURANCE the Father gives us about our relationship with Him. Romans 8:16 says that “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (NKJV). In all the other religions of the world, no one can ever fully know or be sure of where they stand with God. But the joy that the followers of Christ have is that we can be sure!

That assurance is provided to us by The Holy Spirit. When Jesus ascended back to heaven after the resurrection (Acts 1: 8-9) the Holy Spirit came to indwell or live inside of each believer in Christ (Acts 2:4). The Holy Spirit (God Himself) now lives in each of us and lets us know that we belong to Him. It is a KNOWING that we cannot describe or explain. But the reality of that “knowing” is demonstrated by a “change” in us (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We think differently. We view life differently. We have a whole new perspective on life and the human condition. We understand things we did not understand before. We have hope that we did not have before. Life has a purpose and meaning that it did not have before. For the first time, we understand and KNOW why we are here. And even more importantly, we know where we are going when we die! What a joy and what a blessing the Father has given to us in enabling us to know we belong to Him!

In Romans 8:31, the Apostle Paul makes this powerful statement. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” That is the awesome message of the gospel! God is for us!’
All of us have people in our lives who, for whatever reason, do not like us. Some, particularly non-believers, can even be hostile to us.

But if God is for us and with us, no one can successfully stand against us or overcome us. That does not mean they will not try. They will. But because we are in Christ and Christ is in us we are “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37). We are already victorious because Christ Himself has already overcome all the powers of darkness; even the darkness that sometimes works through other people.

The power, strength, and victory are all in Him! Stand in Him and no one can successfully stand against you! For if they come against you, they are also coming against Christ Himself who is within you!