#DanielChallenge – Day Six Chapter Six

Hello Beautiful People!

Its amazing to see so many of you on board with the #DanielChallenge! Even those that haven’t done the previous Bible Challenges ( #EstherChallenge , #RuthChallenge, #JamesChallenge and #LWChallenge.) we welcome you! For those that still don’t know what it is, don’t worry! The Daniel Challenge is a 12 day challenge, where we read the 12 chapters in the book of Daniel in the Bible! It is not just about reading, I would love for us to share our understanding of what we have read with each other, so as you read, feel free to hashtag #DanielChallenge if you have twitter. In addition, please email biblechallenge@outlook.com with your notes for each chapter, or a summary and I will put it up on this blog page! The book of Daniel really focuses on our character and identity, especially in the area of being CONSISTENT and LOYAL which I believe is so key in really getting the most out of our Christian walk and abiding in God’s will for us! Some points I haven’t touched on in my summary are covered in everyone else’s contributions, OR I have purposely left out to encourage you guys to touch on! 🙂

Day Six- Chapter Six

I’ve done a video for those who prefer audio/video than reading a whole bunch of text! I summarised the chapter and spoke about the main points for me, which are also below. Enjoy and Share! PLEASE SEND IN YOUR NOTES AS I AM LEAVING ALL OF THEM TO YOU GUYS! 🙂

KEY POINTS FOR ME (Elaborated in the video)

Jealousy & Envy

People will jealous the favour of God upon your life…tell them ‘don’t jealous me’ and direct them to the source >> God

Where do you seek your counsel from?

Dedication and consistency. Pray without ceasing.

The Lion of the tribe of Judah and the roaring Lion

The parallel with what happened to Jesus <<< THIS IS AMAZING! WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A DETAILED OUTLINE!

What you all thought:

1) My first finding is the immediate link to Chapter 3, whereby Daniel is faced with what can be rightfully acknowledged as vindictive acts of spite. Its almost as if the administrators & satraps were finding ways to disprove God’ power, his presence, his grace & make Daniel suffer. Regardless of this, Daniel still prayed to God, the faith never left him and as a result his deliverance was undoubted.

2) James 1:2-3 | “Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” Daniel never appeared apprehensive, composure lives within him. The faith that we believe in is the same faith that delivers us, unrivalled belief strengthens us.

3) One point I find confusing is how King Darius can authorise such decrees that no prayer should be made to any God but himself, yet later issue a decree that states every part of the kingdom should fear the God of Daniel.

I suppose as it was the administrators and satraps that initiated or encouraged the decree, some blame can be removed, but King Darius still had the overall option to oppose it. Leon – @LeonMalibu

Daniel excelled in his place of work because “he had an excellent spirit within him”…The spirit of God will shine through you wherever you are…it’s light cannot be hidden..

All the other officials were jealous of him and they decided to conspire against him, but because he was without fault he was living to the glory of God they decided to attack him using his faith…as Christians we have to be prepared for people to criticise us/conspire against us only for the mere fact that we are Christians…

When the king was coerced into signing this injunction, he tried to go against it when he realised it condemned Daniel…he was distressed..the fact that he couldn’t eat or sleep while Daniel was in the lion’s den was testament to how highly he was held in King Darius’s regard…When the favour of The Lord is on you, it cannot be removed by enemies, no doubt these other officials have talked behind Daniel and tried to discredit him to the king all to no avail…it is said in Isaiah that all the tongues that rise up against us shall be condemned..

Daniel’s accusers were thrown in the den and faced the fate they wanted for Daniel….Though we may face trials for the sake of our faith God will be glorified in the end if we keep being faithful to him..

The key point in this chapter is that Daniel was targeted not because he was doing evil but just because he was doing well at his work through the grace of God. The devil will use many means to try and undermine us in our daily lives either to our employers or otherwise but we must stay steadfast in the faith knowing that the God we serve will not allow his own to be put to shame…as it is written “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 54:17 ESV) – @Fleurparfait

I put the song I wrote above here, because I believe it really conveys my reason for creating these bible challenges. Its for people to see God’s glory wherever they are in the world!

Not even one is gonna believe that God is the true and living God. As Christian people we need to stick to the word, because God is using us so other can see the light. How many of us can truly say that they will still call on God when we are thrown in the prison?

Daniel is a true man of God despite everything he Still called on God.

You may be going through a rough time where it seems like the whole world is against you, but hold on and trust God. Remember, God can turn around any situation. Still praise Him even when you are given reasons as to why you shouldn’t. Your circumstance can be used to help others, so don’t give up. #danielchallenge –@mrschinaboo

‘My God sent his angel to close the lions’ mouths. They have not hurt me, because my God knows I am innocent. I never did anything wrong to you, O king.”’ (Daniel 6:22) -x-
‘“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”’ (1 Chronicles 16:22) !!!
Those two verses go hand-in-hand showing that God is our protector. Even though we may be persecuted by the rest of the world for our Godly lifestyles (like the way them other supervisors and governors snaked Daniel) that’s not to say that God doesn’t have our backs. Psalm 91:2 says ‘“You are my Defender and Protector. You are my God; in You I trust.”’ No one said living righteously would be easy but it’s definitely worth it! – Matthew 5:12 ‘Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.’.
God’s got us 🙂 ‘so we mustn’t play for crowd but instead play for The Coach’.For me this chapter does really well in showing us the power of faith.
Verse 11 says ‘Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.’ & in verse 16 it says ‘..The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”’ – both men (even if it wasn’t so explicit in the case of King Darius) exercised faith here and of course God came through on Daniel’s behalf – their faith was rewarded! And as Hebrews 11:6 says ‘Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’ Let’s keep them faith levels high 🙂 -Sarah Aramide

Often times, people begin too worry too much about you. They don’t even care about themselves or the challenges they might be facing. They want to see you at a low level like they’re in & they can go to ANY extent just to see that happen.Daniel was said to be ‘Faithful, always responsible and completely trustworthy’ .. His enemies (the other two administrators) were envious and jealous of Daniel. It started to eat them up, they couldn’t take it any longer. They searched, and searched, but Daniel couldn’t be criticised or condemned about anything.

Daniel was in a dilemma. The new law said that everyone had to pray to the king. Daniel knew he couldn’t. He can’t serve two masters. God was always there for him. He decided to stick to what was right, no matter how severe the consequence was. But again, God rescued and saved him. Those that wanted him destroyed, God destroyed them in return. It doesn’t matter what men have said will happen if you don’t obey their laws, but what God has said concerning you will come to pass! As long as you’re standing on the truth and not compromising, watch how God will lift you up.
One thing I found amazing how as how Daniel didn’t even bother to revenge against his enemies. He left it all to God knowing God knew exactly what to do with them. – @Ledo_AN

The importance of being credible and upright: In verse 4 we can see that “At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.” (NIV)

From this we can learn that if we live according to the word of God, and we are trustworthy people, it will be difficult for people to speak negatively of us. Daniel’s experience here make me think of Galatians 5:22-23 which reads, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (NIV) Daniel remained faithful to God, and he was raised up by the numerous kings that we have encountered so far in the book. Daniel’s character could not be attacked by the satraps, and they even tried to find fault in his “conduct of government affairs”. This shows us that not only should we have a credible character in our relations with people, but we should also be credible when it comes to our place of work, study, worship and every other organisation that we are involved in. – Simone