{"id":179704,"date":"2023-11-18T04:40:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T10:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=179704"},"modified":"2023-11-16T09:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T15:16:28","slug":"49-c-wilderness-13-i-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/18\/49-c-wilderness-13-i-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Graham Devotion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Things were going wrong in his personal life. He was immersed in a society that valued everything that he stood against. He was pressured to bow down and worship things that he knew were wrong. There was constant temptation to succumb to the worldliness around him.<\/p>\n<p>Sound familiar? No, I\u2019m not talking about the world in which we live today, but rather a young man from the Old Testament who was captured and taken into captivity in Babylon. I\u2019m talking about Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>The prophet Daniel is widely considered one of the greatest men in the entire Bible. In fact, unlike many other heroes of the faith, there is nothing negative said about him at all.<\/p>\n<p>In Daniel chapter 1, we see a young man who was going through difficult tribulations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Daniel\u2019s home of Jerusalem had been overthrown, and he\u2019d been carried off into a foreign and godless land as a slave of Babylon\u2019s King Nebuchadnezzar.<\/li>\n<li>Daniel endured a \u201creeducation program\u201d of sorts, meant to brainwash Daniel and the other young men to assimilate them into the Babylonian culture and prepare them to serve the king. He was taught astrology and magic, as well as Babylon\u2019s Chaldean language.<\/li>\n<li>He was given a new name. No longer would he be called Daniel (God is my judge), but now he would be called Belteshazzar (Bel protect my life), a pagan name.<\/li>\n<li>Daniel was expected to eat the king\u2019s meals, which were certainly gourmet. This was an indulgence that many would have happily accepted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>New home, new education, new language, new name, new food. \u2026 All of these things were an attempt by the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar to indoctrinate the young Israelites, including Daniel, into their culture. And I\u2019m sure that many of them were more than happy to enjoy the spoils.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel could have gone along with all this by compromising his convictions as well. He could have said, \u201cEveryone else is doing it,\u201d or \u201cI better obey the king!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Daniel\u00a0<em>\u201cpurposed in his heart\u201d<\/em>\u00a0that he would not disobey God (verse 8), even amid the pressure and temptations. He even convinced the powers-that-be to allow him to eat a diet of vegetables and water rather than the king\u2019s royal feast.<\/p>\n<p>Because of his faithfulness and obedience,\u00a0<em>\u201cGod gave them [Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah] knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(verse 17).<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward through the centuries to today. You haven\u2019t been captured and carried into a far-away land (I certainly hope not!), but the society around you perhaps looks unfamiliar and troubling. Young people\u2014like Daniel in his day\u2014are especially being led astray by a culture that is largely opposite of the life we\u2019re called to live as followers of Christ.<\/p>\n<p>With so many prevalent temptations all around us, it would be easy to assimilate and enjoy all that the world has to offer, but like Daniel, we must purpose in our hearts to serve Jesus and Him alone. We must feast on the things of the Lord rather than the evils of this age. As we do, God will not only give wisdom and understanding, but\u2014I believe\u2014opportunities to share His hope with those around you.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>It\u2019s hard to find peace in this troubled world, but Christ came so\u00a0<\/em>\u201cthat they may have life and have it abundantly\u201d<em>\u00a0(John 10:10, ESV).\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/peacewithgod.net\/?utm_source=bgmainsite&amp;utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=internal&amp;utm_content=will+graham+devo+daniels+uncompromising+convictions&amp;outreach=devo+daniels+convictions\">Would like to begin a relationship with Jesus and find the hope that He offers?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Things were going wrong in his personal life. He was immersed in a society that valued everything that he stood against. He was pressured to bow down and worship things that he knew were wrong. There was constant temptation to succumb to the worldliness around him. Sound familiar? No, I\u2019m not talking about the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/18\/49-c-wilderness-13-i-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Will Graham Devotion&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179704"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179707,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179704\/revisions\/179707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}