Historically, the city of Babel was the city where the people
of the land tried to build a tower that would reach up to the heavens but God
caused confusion amongst them so that they couldn’t understand each other’s
languages any longer Gen 11; 1-9. In the book of Revelation, Babylon was
referred to as a woman which represents the false church at the end time which
also represents the abominations of the earth, idolatry, pride, cruelty and
greed Rev 17:5.
In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem
and took some of the treasures from the temple of God as well as some of the
able young men of Judah amongst whom was Daniel, to Babylon. How did Daniel
fare in this strange land called Babylon? As Christians I would liken the world
that we live in now as our own Babylon because our home is in heaven and not here
on earth, also just as there was confusion in Babylon because of the disunity,
a lot of our problems in our nation Nigeria and the world as a whole stems from
a lack of unity. Just as Daniel was taken to a foreign land yet stayed true to
his roots, his culture, his heritage and most importantly to his God and had a
tremendous influence to the point where he rose to the top ranks in the government
of Babylon, so are we also as Christians to be in this world. From my study of
the book of Daniel I learnt a few things about how we too can survive in a world
corrupted by so much evil, lust, abominations etc.
1.
We need to surround ourselves with people who
will petition God on our behalf. People who will inspire us to serve God better
and do great things, not people who will tempt us to sin every time or draw us
farther away from God. Imagine if Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego weren’t friends
with Daniel, they got promoted because of their association and relationship
with Daniel.
2.
Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego did not bow down
to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image but they trusted in God and decided that they
will be different and will not follow the crowd, even if others were bowing
down they decided not to and they got promoted thus God was glorified. They didn’t
know for sure that God will save them, all they knew was that even if God
decided not to save them they will not bow down to any other god or compromise.
It is the same thing for us if we decide that we would not falsify records even
if others are doing it, we will not listen and dance to worldly and unedifying music
even if everyone is, we will not use that bleaching cream to lighten our skin even
if everyone is, we will not do that cosmetic surgery not for health concerns
but just to have a banging shape even if everyone is, we will not be dishonest in
the marketplace which is lieing just to make a sale or over charging for products
Lev 19: 35-36 even if that is the norm, we will not make empty promises and unfulfilled
commitments Psalm 5:4 and the list goes on. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego resolved
to rather die than to bow down to any other god apart from the only true God
and God honoured them for that.
3.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger and harsh
words Eph 4: 31; All these are the works of the flesh. Imagine if Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego were angry and were speaking harsh words and being very hostile
when the King decided to put them in the burning furnace, I don’t think Jesus
would have saved them because they would have grieved the Holy Spirit. We must
be slow to anger for human anger does not promote the righteousness that God
desires James 1: ,19-20, Eph 3:8
4.
Resist pride and self; we live in a generation where
self is promoted, the bible declares in 2Timothy 3:2 that in the last days
people will be lovers of themselves. When we fail to acknowledge God for his
goodness in our lives, we attribute all glory to our skills and expertise and forgetting
that it is only by his grace that we are able to do what we do and that it is only
by his grace that we are even alive, we are Proud. To survive in Babylon we cannot
afford to be proud. King Nebuchadnezzar was proud and refused to acknowledge and
give glory to God and so God turned him into a beast for 7 years and after the
7 years he began to give glory to God again and he was restored to normal
Daniel 4: 33. Take heed lest you think you are strong lest you fall 1 Corinthians
10:12, there is also something called spiritual pride when we feel we are way
up there spiritually and feel like we know it all and can never fall into temptation
also comparing ourselves to other believers believing we are better than them,
this is a very dangerous place to because it is God that gives us the grace to
will and to do, we must always recognise that by our own strength we can never
do God’s will so when we start to feel like we are too much and we know it all
surely we are near a great fall.
5.
Who are your advisers? King Darius had evil
advisors who advised him to set up a decree so that they will get Daniel in
trouble but King Darius did not know this, when in a position of leadership and
authority or even as regular individuals with no position of authority we must
be careful who we take advice from, we must surround ourselves with Spirit
filled individuals who can point us to the right direction and our chief adviser
should be the Holy Spirit because he is there to help us always.
6.
Daniel was innocent before God and had done no
wrong before the king. Daniel had done no wrong to both God and man so he had a
clear conscience if he didn’t he might not have survived the lion’s den. As much
as we are to be good people we must be careful to have a clear conscience before
God and all men that way we will be confident that God is on our side and will
fight for us always.
7.
In Babylon people will want to bring us down;
because we have been promoted, blessed, favoured, Spirit filed, and we do not
do the evil they do so they will not like us just like the case of Daniel who
proved himself more capable than the other officials and was to be promoted to
rule the entire empire. Daniel 6:2 some people will just not like us and will
go to any length to bring us down. But we must be like Daniel we must never let
their schemes distract us, stop us from being good or stop us from focusing on
Jesus we must always remain focused on pleasing God, if not we will get upset and
respond in the flesh instead of walking by the Holy Spirit.
8.
Fasting and Prayer; we must continue to commune
with God through fasting and praying regularly. The price of Persia withstood angel
Michael for 21 days Daniel 10: 12 from the first day Daniel started his prayers
it was answered but it met with challenges along the way, we have to keep praying
and fasting until we have seen the manifestation of that which we are praying
for.
9.
Spending time in the word of God; those that
know their God shall do exploits, we cannot know God if we don’t know the mind
of God and how do we know the mind of God? It is by taking time to study our
bibles and meditating on it. When we study the word of God we can dig out
treasures that enable us do exploits here on earth.
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