"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10 NKJV
Following Daniel's night with the lions, he had no injury whatsoever. God had protected him as he did, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, while they were in the hot furnace (Daniel 3). It could well have been a scary night but, if it was, Daniel showed no sign of it.
Think about this episode for a moment. How would you have handled this? Christians in many parts of the world suffer terrible persecutions, even losing their lives because of their faith. Yet, they do not give in.
Temptation to compromise can be strong when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. People may try to persuade us to take an easier route, 'You can always repent afterwards, God will forgive you.' He probably would, but would we forgive ourselves? Jesus took the route to the cross. He took no easier route but, went the whole way suffering the pain and the humiliation for us. Shouldn't we do the same? It's hard to say you would when you're not in the situation, but it may be different if you are. I believe at times such as this, Jesus gives us the strength to be able to cope with it all, no matter what.
When we are going through difficult situations and we are ready to throw the towel in and compromise our faith, we can almost hear the devil whispering, 'Go on, do it, no one will know.' Don't ever fall for that lie, because he will tell tales about you, after all, he's a liar. He's also a thief too (John 10:10), he will steal all that you have got if you let him, in fact, he will destroy you.
You see, the devil has nothing to look forward to. He has blown it and will suffer the consequences when Jesus returns. Therefore, he wants to take as many people with him as possible. However, take another look at the experiences of Daniel and his young friends. They knew they were in for a bad time and it would lead to their death. However, their trust was in God and they would not turn from that.
You may be going through a rough time at present. You may be at risk of losing your job because of your faith. Then again, you may be suffering terrible persecutions because people know you trust Jesus. Stand firm and keep standing (Ephesians 6). Call on Jesus and He will stand with you. Don't let the devil steal your faith. Take authority in Jesus' Name. Like Daniel and his friends, they will discover that they cannot take you on and win, because Jesus gives you the victory.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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