To Be Used

In today's culture, we find ourselves wanting to be used by God but not spending enough time praying, listening, and preparing to be used by Him. Instead, we fill ourselves up with social media, music, and entertainment that takes us further away from Him. This leaves us with an unreliable foundation to live our lives as a follower of Christ - meaning that when we are tested or feel a push from God to step out in boldness and faith, we back down.

Boldness to step out and be used by God is built on a foundation of faithfulness that can only be produced through intimate, intentional, and purposeful moments with the Lord. In other words, if you want to be able to recognize His voice when He speaks, you first have to know who He is. For us, this means we have to get into scripture, read His living word for ourselves, and spend time praying, fasting, and speaking with Him.

Reading through the book of Daniel, there is one chapter that we are going to focus on. In chapter six, we read about Daniel being thrown into a den of lions and coming out completely unharmed. Realistically, Daniel should have never survived being put into that den. This den was used by the king as a way to punish people who came against him or broke a law. Naturally, anytime someone was thrown into the lion's den the expectation was for them to be devoured.

Daniel was such a faithful servant that he would spend intentional, intimate moments with the Lord at least three times a day. When the close advisors and high officers of the king saw that Daniel was finding favor in the king's eyes, they became envious, and scripture tells us that they looked for ways to take Daniel down. The problem was that Daniel always strived to do what was right and what was expected of him. This left the officers and advisors of the king's court to come against his personal beliefs. They thought there had to be something wrong, so they attacked what they referred to as, “his rules of religion”. What others saw as a religious thing, Daniel saw as a way to honor God. The officials advised that the king should pass a law that anyone praying to any God other than the king himself for the next thirty days would be thrown into the den of lions. Once it was passed and Daniel was told about this law, the first thing he did was go home to his normal spot and bow down, giving thanks to God. His prayer life never wavered even after the law was passed from the king.

Scripture doesn’t say anything about Daniel's intentions at that moment. The only thing it does say is that he went home, bowed to his knees, and prayed - just as he had always done before. Daniel was being bold, even in the normal mundane routine that he had. He knew that a law had been passed that would interfere with his time with the Lord. He wasn’t intending to take a stand against the king; he was making a choice to turn to the one person that he knew would be able to give him direction. He recognized that although he had an earthly king, Daniel knew that God ultimately had the final word. In wanting nothing more than to hear God's voice, he stepped out in faith that God turned into a testimony of boldness through the favor and Glory of the Lord.

Lots of times we look for the big moments for God to use us, and we have a preconceived perspective of what that should look like. In this story, all Daniel did was pray “just as he did before”. We have to stop looking for what God is going to do and just allow Him to work on our behalf, bringing us the opportunities to be used by Him and stepping out in obedience and boldness trusting that He will show us His Glory.

EXPECT for God to move through us and fulfillment of that expectation comes from a place of intentional intimacy with the Lord. If you read about the king's response, you can clearly see why God used Daniel the way he did (see Daniel 6:25-27).

Daniel has given us the perfect example of what it means to be used by God for His Glory. It may mean that you need to spend more time praying and seeking God in your secret place. For some, it could look like not allowing the fear of uncertainty to scare you into submission to the enemy's lies. Sometimes, it even takes allowing the pride to take a backseat to let God show in the humbleness of your actions.

Build a strong foundation of faith by getting to know who God is.

Be ready to step in boldness even if it makes you uncomfortable by stepping out on the foundation of faith you’ve been building.

When God responds and uses you, remember to give him all the Glory and honor he deserves…

Things to think about today:

• How can you step out boldly today?
• What are you going to do to keep building a strong foundation when you get home?