PRAISE HIM WITH THE LITTLE

As I told you before, there is always someone out there trying to take God's glory away from Him to give to something else, or even place in himself. Daniel 5:14 is a clear example of this:

"I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee."

Belshazzar, who knew our Almighty King very well and knew everything that God had done to his father, Nebuchadnezzar because of pride (Daniel 5:18-22), still could not bring himself to acknowledge that God was the one that had blessed him and brought him thus far, and that God was the one who was working through Daniel. He had to give credit to the gods for Daniel's wisdom; gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand (Daniel 5:23).

So to re-affirm what He said in Isaiah 42, Belshazzar was slain that very evening (Daniel 5:30), and a new king took over. This is just to remind you about who and where the real glory, honour and praise should be directed towards. Not to any man (1 Cor 3:21), not to any god, not to yourself, but every ounce of praise that escapes our mouths should be directed at the Holy One.

But here is another thing the Lord wants to address in Daniel 5:16-17. Daniel was promised the honour of becoming the third highest ruler in the kingdom and offered gifts as well, just so that he could do what God had called him to do. God did not give Daniel the spirit of interpretation of dreams for nothing, but it was given to him so that it could be used to bring God glory. Daniel took note of that and told Belshazzar:

"Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation."

Daniel sought to merely do his job as a child of God and look at what the Lord gave him afterwards. v29 says that at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was given everything that he had been promised by the king and was made third highest ruler in the kingdom.

Although the fact that we must acknowledge God in everything that we go through is not missing is this message, I want us to also consider the fact that using the gifts that God has given us to bring Him glory is also very key in our walk with Him. Daniel did just that and God BLESSED him. We should do likewise, not even for the blessings, but because we love the Lord with all our hearts and want to praise Him with the little blessings He has given us. People will always praise us for the special things that God has blessed us with, influencing us to put our pride in our abilities, but let us remember that it is the Lord who gives and the Lord who takes away and praise His name at all times (Job 1:21). In any case, the Lord says that those that do not have, even the little that they have will be taken away from them (Matthew 25:29). So let us come together and help one another harness the little gifts that God has given us to be used in His Kingdom so that we can go out there and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19), for our reward is not on earth, but our reward is in heaven (Matther 5:12).

God bless you!! Live for Christ!!