THROUGH THE BIBLE IN THREE YEARS
"The work of life is living, and not, as we are so often told, preparing to die, except by living well."
—Phillips Brooks
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________SCRIPTURE________________________________________________________________
Dan 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
KJV
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_______THOUGHT________________________________________________________________
This was certainly a TEST OF FAITH for those three young men!
Henry Blackaby once said (in his book: EXPERIENCING GOD) that when a person makes a decision for God he is usually faced with a "crisis of faith." These men were certainly faced with a crisis of faith!
A Christian avows allegiance to Christ ONLY as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had given their ALL to God.
Would they ABIDE by their decision when faced with death?
Worship belongs to God and ONLY God. ((See Jesus' answer to the devil in Matthew 4:10))
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were of the same mind in their answer to Nebuchadnezzar because they were of the same spirit in worship of God ONLY!
They said, "IF you throw us in the furnace, God is ABLE to deliver us!"
AND they said, "But even if God DOESN'T deliver us, we will NOT worship your idol!"
Friend, it's hard to threaten a Christian with death!
After all, how can you threaten someone with Heaven?
If you read on (after the text above) you find that the king DID throw these three young men in a furnace!
But God was there to DELIVER them!
Remember, He will do the same for you!
Love ya,
Bruce