Restoring The Roar (Part 3)
1 Thessalonians 5: 23
23 Now may the God of peace sanctify you (make you holy) in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Proverbs 18: 14
The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear
I said we were going to look at three guys who experienced the truth of this. Last time we looked at Caleb. The Lord himself gave the following testimony regarding Caleb:
My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it….
What did the Lord mean by a different spirit? Quite simply, Caleb had a different spirit from the other people of his generation.
Paul puts it the other way round to the Corinthian church.
2 Corinthians 11: 3 – 4
3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
What is the simplicity that is in Christ? To me it can be summed up as “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”
Proverbs 18: 14
The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear
To sustain can also mean to cause to continue for an extended period or without interruption, or to bear pressure without breaking or falling.
The reality is that for forty years Joshua and Caleb continued to walk by faith while their peers fell all around them. God said it, they believed it, and so that settled it.
Through faith and patience they stayed over while everyone else of their generation went under….and they inherited the promise.
The second guy we are going to look at is Daniel.
Daniel 6: 1 – 28
1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps (government officials), to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12 And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”
The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”
13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”
16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.
18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. 19 Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”
23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.
24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.
25 Then King Darius wrote:
To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:
Peace be multiplied to you.
26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God,
And steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,
And His dominion shall endure to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues,
And He works signs and wonders
In heaven and on earth,
Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Caleb had a different spirit. Daniel had an excellent spirit.
To me excellence is synonymous with God’s perfect will.
An excellent spirit chooses God’s perfect will.
An excellent spirit declares the truth of Psalm 91: “Though a thousand fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand it will not come near me….“
How can someone say that? Because they recognise that anything that comes to take you out is to be resisted because it is not aligned with God’s perfect will.
Imagine if people could find nothing to accuse you of except the fact that you had such a strong relationship with the Lord that his word was your final authority in every decision and action and that you always put God’s word first in your life.
Imagine that they couldn’t say anything against you apart from the fact that you always believe what God says over what anyone else says.
Jesus called that seeking the kingdom first.
We need to understand that we have nothing left to prove to God. Jesus did all that for us and he covered everything in regards to performance. We are already as righteous and as holy as we will ever be.
But we do have an opportunity to prove something for God.
Faith simply believes that we have nothing left to prove to God and gets on with the business of proving something for God and choosing to be a life where his perfect will is accomplished.
Faith without works – without corresponding action – is dead faith. It doesn’t prove anything. We are here to prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. An excellent spirit stands and believes for the perfect will of God every time.
Excellence is not perfectionism. Perfectionism is an ism that creates schism because it’s root is in competitiveness, and so it causes striving in the flesh and produces ugly manifestations of the flesh when it’s impossible standards are not met.
Perfectionism will often employ control to try and produce excellence. But excellence is of the Spirit and so it empowers us to maximise the opportunity to be the best that we can be according to who our heavenly Father says we already are. There is no competition in this, and no striving – just simple faith and corresponding action.
Perfectionism is of the soul. Excellence is of the spirit.
Perfectionism arises out of a driving need to be the best.
Excellence arises out of already being the best.
Isn’t it sad that Christians are often known more for their protestations against the world system than for their proclamation of the goodness of God and his kingdom and his perfect will to save, to heal, and to deliver everyone?
Daniel didn’t protest against the king’s decree. He just continued to put God’s kingdom first. He didn’t badmouth or call the king and the nation of Babylon for every kind of evil and wickedness. In fact, he continued to honour the king, and so the king continued to honour Daniel, and ultimately to honour Daniel’s God.
Perhaps if the church did more to honour our civic and political leaders we would receive more favour.
We are here in this world as salt and light, to prove that our God is worthy of honour and glory.
The Hebrew word translated as excellent – yattiyr – can also mean preeminent or surpassing all others.
Colossians 1: 9 – 23
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard….
We are here to prove the preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ, to prove that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world, to prove that he surpasses all others, to prove that his name is the name above every other name.
We don’t do that by attacking every other kingdom but by proclaiming his kingdom.
Our king says to love our enemies, our king says to bless those who curse us, our king says to do good to those who hate us, our king says to pray for those who persecute us and spitefully use us.
Spirit prayer, Spirit praise, and Spirit proclamation. These are the weapons of our warfare, and they are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.
We are talking about restoring the roar.
The author of a new secular study entitled rather appropriately Born to Roar says: “When lions roar loudly and deeply, terrifying every creature within earshot, they are somewhat like human babies crying for attention…..”
The first thing the Holy Spirit does when we are born again from above is awaken the cry within us, “Abba, Father”. This is the righteous roar, the roar that terrifies the powers of darkness. A lion uses his loud roar to warn off anything that threatens his family. In the same way, when we call upon our Father and invite his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, there is a scattering of the opposition.
An excellent spirit. We have not been given a spirit of bondage to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, “Abba, Father”.
If Daniel could not only survive in Babylon, a nation that came to symbolise the epitome of wickedness, but actually be promoted to a position where his influence caused the king of that wicked nation to issue a decree that everyone within that nation was to honour the God of Daniel, then how much more can we influence and bring blessing to our nation and to the nations if we simply yield to the leading and direction of that same excellent spirit.
And so, instead of wasting our time attacking the existing culture we should simply promote kingdom culture by proclaiming it, living it, and demonstrating it.
Our every word and every action can be a means of releasing blessing and revealing the excellence of our Father’s perfect will, proving the preeminence of our King.
25 Then King Darius wrote:
To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.
26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
For He is the living God, And steadfast forever;
His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,
And His dominion shall endure to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth,
Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
The world needs to see what our Father will do for us, so that they will give him glory. Even when we get it wrong and blow it they need to see that the righteous get right back up again. They need to see the excellence of the Holy Spirit who never comes to condemn us but is always there to help us and to restore us. They need to see the preeminence of our Saviour and the excellence of his salvation, the excellence of his mercy and grace, the excellence of his healing, delivering, restoring power, the excellence of his glory.
We have a different spirit, we have an excellent spirit.
Proverbs 18: 14
The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear
Grrrr…..
To be continued…..