YOU ARE EXALTED

Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king gave thought to set him over the whole realm.

Daniel 6:3 NKJV

Before you tune off satraps were governors. What does it even mean to have an excellent spirit? Daniel proved himself to be very good, outstanding, exceptional or even wonderful. Can your boss describe you as an outstanding worker? Romans 12:11-12 Never be lazy, BUT work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying the message translation to say it like this Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Colossians 3:23 AMP Whatever you do {whatever your task may be}, work from the soul {that is, put in your very best effort}, as {something done} for the Lord and not for men.

The reward for hard work is more work. -Tom Sachs

Let's get back to the story about Daniel. Daniel did not have a perfect life he was technically a slave, a servant, a staff so to speak but he was a learner, he took care of himself and was quick to understand. Essentially he was not stubborn, he was not tattered or raggedy. He kept himself well, like Joseph who had his boss's wife running after him. Although children of God they were well kept and hard working.

And the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in th eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses." Joshua 3:7 NIV

Without a holistic view, we can run with this scripture and if we do not follow certain principles that are beneficial to see the outcome of this statement it would never come into fusion. I loved statements like this that I can use as prayer points to have doors open to me as a child of God but here in the word, it speaks over and over again about people who obeyed GOd's word, people who were faithful and were able to do these extraordinary things. But to do extraordinary things you have to be willing to do extraordinary work. I heard my brother in Christ make such a profound statement the other day that stood out to me. The bible has been divided into two perspectives the old testament teaches us to have fear of the Lord and the new testament reaches the love of the Lord. Like any good parent who gives rules and creates some order or structure in a home, God has done the same thing. Through servants of God, we are able to see examples of God's wisdom, love, anger, silence, and his abiding presence so we can have dominion here on earth.

One day I was asking the Lord in prayer for diligence, but while saying it aloud I remember asking myself "do you understand what you are asking for?" To be diligent is to be meticulous, to constantly do something, to be committed and to be attentive. At the time I definitely did not display those qualities or even truly understood the time and effort that came with putting it to action. As I learnt more and more about the way God works I realized He will meet me where I am at. I know you have heard people say that many times but if he is meeting us where we are some prayers we are praying can be inconsequential-pointless, meaningless because we are not at the point to handle what we are praying for.

God is a God of order and principle, he does not go against His word. Psalms 138:2 NKJV For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. When we look at some biblical characters we can question why the Lord continuously showed up for these people but staying faithful to God's word made God show up on their behalf. I don't mean being able to recite scripture I mean living the word, being obedient and being faithful.

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid hands on him. Deuteronomy 34:9 NIV

I want the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of excellence. They did not just pray to have this impartation and live an exemplary life, they worked. I was under the understanding that when you become a Christian these characteristics came with it. God gives grace but if we do not use it and use it wisely it is stored. Matthew 5:15 NIV Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Our talents, wisdom and knowledge etc should not be hidden away but used to help others see (spiritually) and gain revelation.

God showed He is a God of principle by sending Jesus on earth. He could not get things done as a spirit so He came as the Son of Man. Feeling what we felt, living how we lived but displaying what is written. Through the death of Jesus, His name was exalted.

Additionally, God does not go against the principle of gravity in Matthew 4 Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. It is time to be tested!

Matthew 4:5 NIV Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." satan quoted Psalms 91:11

Gravity is what keeps things in place, on earth. God did not go against that law or principle.

The New International Version of the Bible has a commentary as an intro to the book of Joshua that says, " The book of Joshua and Judges tell the story of the early years of Israel as a nation. They describe how the Israelites conquer and occupy the land of Canaan, and then struggle to live up to their covenant with God." Did you get that? They were given land but they found it hard to obey and maintain what they had been given through an agreement.

People go to the bank to get a loan agreeing to pay with interest but complain about what they agreed to, there was a choice either to wait and save or to get an immediate result but pay extra. That's like sex prematurely you get the satisfaction at the wrong time but there is a price to pay for that decision. Throughout the word (the Bible) we are taught these principles so we can apply them and get the results we desire but when we go ahead trying to exalt ourselves we do not get the same results.

There is a reason the word says to seek first the kingdom because there are a lot of trifling people and things that will stagnant your walk in Christ. That getting premature results will impact your destiny. Seeking the kingdom we can follow kingdom results. In order to be exalted, we must be diligent, obedient and faithful.

In closing as we pray and wait on the Lord for answers to our prayers and commission you to assess yourself 2 Corinthians 13:5 — "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?" Failing the test is not seeing the result you have been praying earnestly about. Before I end I would like to also state that Galatians 5:22 infer the fruits of the Spirit but in all areas of our lives we should see the fruits based on our application of what we have learnt.

#faithful #diligent #hardworking #excellentspirit #aspiritofwisdom