The Challenge how much do we believe in God. If we were to be given a choice between acknowledging Him, and denying Him, what would be our choice.

In Daniel Chapter 3:

King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. Then he sent messages to the princes, prefects, governors, advisers, counselors, judges, magistrates and all the provincial officials, to come to the dedication of the statue of himself he set up.

The who is who in his kingdom was there, as well as all the rest of the people of the kingdom. All those people, who in this situation would not do what the King required.

Well the king required something that Our Lord and Our Friend, would not want us to do, bow before the statue of a mere man. Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, took the challenge, not to bow to the statue of the king. Three young men had faith in God, more than anyone else in the kingdom that day.

Many more that were there that day most likely had faith in God too, but the challenge to stand for their beliefs, was build on the fear of death. All the people there, were required to bow to the king’s statue, or be thrown into a fiery furnace.

It was a life and death situation, but really the truth of the situation, to bow to the statue was death, the death of denying God. Without God in our lives, we do not truly live. These three young men were the only ones to stand up for what they believed.

Verses 16 to 18: tells us what these three brave young men said to King Nebuchadnezzar, who had flown into a rage, because they would not bow to his statue.

“Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you, If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty. But even if He doesn’t, your majesty can be sure that we will never serve your god or worship the gold statue you set up”.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnce, they had no idea how their story would turn out. Theirs would be the first miraculous deliverance recorded in the book Daniel, but they didn’t know that. Their confidence in God’s ability to save them was not based on any prior guarantee of deliverance.But neither was their worship.

This was not a test to determine if God would come through and therefore deserve the faith and service of these three young men. Even if the outcome was death, these young men were committed to their God alone.

There was no panic in their prayers, like save us oh God and we will serve you, Instead they declared, we will worship You alone, oh Lord, whether You save us or not.

Knowing Faith, Trusting Faith, Believing Faith, Our Lord and Our Friend, deserve it, for He know the plans He has for us. Maybe you could be facing a life and death situation today, not as dramatic as the three young men, but still as troubling. Be firm and stand strong in your faith in all of Who, Our Lord and Our Friend is, He gave His life for us, so we through what He did on the cross, can also have new life.

I always say whether I live or I die the powers of darkness and Satan loses, so let our Declaration of Faith be ” We will worship You alone, Oh God, whether you save us or not. Stand firm for Our Lord and Our Friend today.

God Bless.

O F J.