Protector or Almighty?

"For He is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end." -- Daniel 6:26b

I was reading the story of Daniel in the lion's den with my children before their bedtime tonight and was struck by a simple question to which the answer has left me humbled.

Who do I really expect God to be? In my journey with Him, do I look to Him soley for my protection, or do I look to Him to be my God?

God my Protector is who I most often present to my children -- who I most often relate to the rest of the world ... who I most often cry out to in my life.

He is, after all, the God that delivered the Israelites out of captivity time and again. The God that could divide the deep water, blaze from the core of the pillar of cloud and  open the up the very earth to swallow the evil of rebellion.

He is the God that walked with His faithful in the midst of the fiery furnace. The God that insulated his apostle from a roiling cauldron of oil, and led his captive disciples out of the chains of a death sentence.

He is the God that shut the mouths of ravenous lions to spare one who would not bow a knee to mere man.

Certainly, He is God the Protector.

But He is also the God that allowed his servants to bear the cross, the blade, the saw, the whip and the stone in His name. 

But they were rescured all the more -- taken out of this sinful world, parted with this flesh that we all struggle with and ushered into everlasting rest.

What struck me, as I read with my children of Daniel, is that when I present God simply as earthly protector, I fail to present the entirety of Jesus our Savior and what His work has provided for us.

God acts within His perfect will. That is the one true consistency we can present in our witness. His will is not only supreme, but it is His will.

Regardless of the earthly fate of His servants, His will has always been aimed toward presenting His love, His Glory to an unbelieving world -- literally throwing wide open the gates of Heaven and building a bridge between mankind and the very throne of God.

In the case of Daniel, it is King Darius who comes away decreeing of God that "He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." (ch. 6:27)

Indeed, God is mighty to save.

But don't miss the flip side, as the Roman Centurion gazes upon the lifeless body of our Savior and Redeemer hanging on the cross and exclaims, "Surely, this man was the Son of God."

Indeed, God is mighty to save.

Whether in life, or in death, it is Darius first words listed above that hold most true. "For He is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end."

Our time on this planet is terminally temporary. We are carried, comforted and strengthened throughout by the hand of a mighty God. He is our protector.

But, more than that, He is our Father. His ultimate desire is to bring us home, where our spirit does not perish and where moth and rust cannot destroy.

May we be ever ready to let Him act in His timing, in such a way that would point as many as He sees fit  toward Him.

"When he (Darius) came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?'" -- Daniel 6:20

You see, even if Darius had been met with Daniel's lifeless body, the answer to his question would still have been yes.

The answer is the same today.

He is the living God. And He endures forever.

Right down to the very small things

"Therefore I run: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into submission, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

-- Romans 9:26-27

 I run. If one can actually call it that.

For the past seven years, the period between when Daylight Savings Time begins in the Spring and the start of school in the fall has been my annual running season. More or less.

The "less" would be the years where I don't really get going until mid-Summer (cough, cough .. this summer) or I suddenly drop off mid-summer.

But, for the most part — and to varying degrees of success — I run.

Now, over time, here's what I've come to realize: The more effort I put into the small things around my running routine (stretching properly, participating in an appropriate diet, performing moderate strength training on my off days, ensuring I get out and run on a regular schedule) the more I actually enjoy running.

And out of that, a simple spiritual truth has risen to the surface.

The amount of time I spend getting the small things right across the board in my life, the more substance my walk with Christ takes on.

Now don't get me wrong — There's nothing anyone can do to earn spot in heaven. That work has already been done on the cross and is accessible to anyone who would profess Jesus as Lord.

However, the things you do — every one of those small things you take care of — has a direct effect in bringing those around you to the cross.

Of course, it is the Holy Spirit that provides the revelation, and it is ultimately up to the individual to make that profession of faith. But the work we do as Christians, dedicated and entrusted to our Lord, helps draws others to Him.

Simply, our joy as Christians during our time on earth will be ultimately proportionate to the amount of discipline  we exhibit in our daily lives.

It comes down to our thought life, and our prayer life. The amount of time we spend in God's word and the chances we allow Him to use for His good purpose. It is through that that we find opportunities to witness by the Spirit. It's through that that God can use our lives to reach those He's bringing across our paths, and through that allow us a greater joy out of watching Him work.

Now, God can use anyone or anything at any moment to proclaim His glory. Don't miss that point. But when we are plugged in to Him, dedicating every new thought to Him and allowing every situation be an opportunity for prayer, we receive a greater benefit in seeing Him move. He has more of an opportunity to show us how He'll move.

We tend to think of life decisions in broad, sweeping terms but the reality is that who you are, and how you act — the essence of your character  — is developed through the smaller things.

Consider the Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemane. It's where He made His final plea to God the Father to allow any other way for our salvation. Through great emotion and physical toll (the man sweat blood from his forehead!) He received His answer. And the following day, we received our Salvation.

Now, popularly, we see this as the moment where Jesus chose to die for us. But that's not it at all. Had He not chosen to give every moment as an offering before that, He would have been disqualified as a perfect offering.

Sin doesn't normally happen in one big decision. It wiggles in through the little concessions and compromises we make with ourselves over time. It's in our very nature, and that's why Paul, in the section quoted above, speaks of bringing our bodies into submission through discipline.

Similarly, as much as we can say we'll live for Christ in one big statement, it's not going to happen without a constant surrender of our lives through every moment.

So I ask you today, will you strive with me to give the small things to God?

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"I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of  God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -- Romans 7:21-25

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." — Romans 8:11.

The Great Surrender

"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, 'Whom are you seeking?'"

-- John 18:4

"Jesus of Nazareth," they said. "We're seeking Jesus of Nazareth."

Even in His surrender, Jesus Christ knocked His captors to the ground, literally.

"I am He."

John says that at those words, the detachment of troops and officers, bearing lanterns, torches and weapons, drew back and fell to the ground.

The moment changed our eternity. You'd expect it to be somewhat earth-shaking.

What you can't miss here is that Jesus does the same thing in our lives upon our surrender.

Upon our confession that Jesus "is He", he knocks down our captors. He's already won the battle. He takes it from there.

His journey to the cross was for all mankind, any who would come to call on His name. Free for the taking, given at the highest cost.

This was His great joy. This was His surrender for His beloved.

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"Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men." -- Proverbs 8:30-31

Prayer changes things

"And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

-- John 17:26

John records this intimate prayer between Jesus and the Father as the hour of the Christ's greatest trial rapidly approaches.

While this chapter gives amazing insight into the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, something more striking emerges.

When faced with a trial, do you focus your prayers on the Lord getting you through the trial? I know I do.

Jesus, after praying briefly for Himself, turns his attention on His disciples. And then He prays for those that would believe in Him in the future.

His prayers turned toward others, and not only that, but that others would come to a belief in Him.

He knew, well in advance, that His trial would ultimately bring about the salvation of many. He'd set aside His life so that we could live. That's an incredible thing.

Romans 8:28 states "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

The natural assumption -- at least mine -- has always been that God works all things together for my good.

To a certain extent, that is true, but it drastically skews the scope of the verse. It says He works all things together for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

God will indeed see us through our trials, but we can't miss the idea that our trials also serve the body of Christ -- both present and future.

What happens to us isn't about us at all. It's about Him, and what He wants to do through our lives.

Jesus knew He would ultimately overcome His trial -- death. He knew more so that His trial served an ultimate purpose -- eternal life.

What can others see about God through our trials? How can God be glorified through our trials? How can an unsaved world be drawn toward Him through what happens in our lives?

These are hard, but appropriate, questions to ask of God while praying over situations that arise. He is ready, and willing, to answer them -- but we have to listen with patience.

Prayer is commonly, and inaccurately, seen as a means toward our intended-resolution.

True resolution, I'm learning more every day, is found through seeking the revelation of His will through prayer. It truly changes everything.

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"Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Luke 22:42

Let not your heart be troubled

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."

-- John 14:1

Jesus speaks to His disciples, just hours away from His greatest anguish as He would hang on the cross, with a message of encouragement.

It was for His followers then, and His followers now.

What was about to happen, what happened 2,000 years ago, was His gift to us. It was His offering for a dying world. And He wanted us to know that beyond a doubt.

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."

Believe in Him. Believe in what He has done. Your heart will not be troubled.

Undeniable Testimony

"But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus."

-- John 12:10-11

This is such a fitting picture of Satan's approach in battling the believers in Christ.

The plan was to put to death the man Jesus had just raised from the dead.

How circular is that logic? To kill that which has already died and been brought back to life. Did the chief priests really believe that would work? What would it prove? How would you quiet the many witnesses to the event?

But this is the enemy's approach in our lives today -- to devalue our testimony.

Having given our hearts to Jesus Christ, we have literally been presented with new life -- eternal life.

The world will attack our past -- that which has already died -- in an effort to divert our attention from the fact that we are unpreventably alive through His blood.

The world will attack our present flesh -- that which is continuously decaying -- in an effort to divert our attention from the fact that our future is permanently sealed in His presence.

The world will attack our faith -- that which has given us new birth -- in an effort to divert us from the fact that on our account many would come to Jesus, seeking eternity.

The enemy would love nothing more than to hide your testimony. At its most basic, that's what the pharisees were trying to do with Lazarus.

It is a futile effort, though, because our testimony -- the idea that we were lost, but now we are found -- is undeniable.

People have witnessed it and seen the change in your heart. They can see life where there wasn't any before.

We can't forget what our testimony is for -- to proclaim Jesus as Messiah and Savior to the world.

Whatever attack or trial you are under, keep at the forefront of your mind that God will use even this for His glory. And through that, you -- and anyone who happens to be watching -- will be blessed.

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"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." Revelation 12:11

The death of the One for the life of the many

"And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said the them, 'You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."

-- John 11:49-50

There's probably no way Caiaphas could have known that in privately originating the plot to kill Jesus, he was uttering an outline of what would become the doctrine of our salvation.

Even John goes on to say in the next verses that "this he (Caiaphas) did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. (John 11:51-52)."

The episode that brought this unintentionally (at least in Caiaphas' mind) prophetic statement on was Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead after four days in the tomb.

It's an incident that struck Caiaphas and the chief priests deeply.

One teacher points out that as Jesus was dying on the cross, the chief priests mocked him, saying "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. (Matthew 27:42)."

And once again, intended as an insult, they unintentionally gave exposition into the nature of the sacrifice.

They saw the crucifixion as an ultimate end to a perceived enemy. They couldn't understand that it was God's ultimate beginning to victory over mankind's true enemy -- sin.

If Jesus had indeed saved Himself, all others would have been lost. All that would have been proven was Christ's power over death for Himself.

But He gave His life as an offering for the sin of the world -- Sin that never was, and never would be, His own.

When that righteous blood spilled, it was poured out on the world -- on us -- to cleanse us of our sin, if we would only repent of it.

If this was to be the purpose of His death, He indeed could not save Himself. Not that it wasn't in His power to do so. Rather, to save Himself would have been to wander outside the will of the Father and to lose the very world He'd come to save.

Repeatedly through the book of Acts, Jesus Christ's resurrection is qualified by the phrase "whom God raised from the dead."

Having given Himself completely unto death, Jesus was raised by His Father in heaven. And through that, we are saved.

"He saved others, Himself He cannot save."

True indeed.

Just as Caiaphas and the high priests were violently opposed to Jesus and were still used for His Glory, consider the people in your lives that just seem to live in opposition to God.

Not only can God use them to speak of His Grace and Salvation, but He can save anyone, because of the sacrifice He has given.

It's always a good question to ask, where these private exchanges between the teachers of the law occur in the gospels, how they came to light in scripture?

Whether it be the Apostle Paul, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea or some pharisee scripture doesn't record, these sections come from someone who started out opposed to God and ended up under His Mighty Hand of Forgiveness.

Then again, any Christian's story follows the same arc.

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"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." John 12:24