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Daniel didn’t care what the crazy law said he just wanted to praise his God. He didn‘t care what people thought of him he just wanted to pray to the one true God. In doing this he risked death, because the king had decreed that no-one should pray to anyone other than him. I look at Daniel and it makes me think about my reaction to praying to my God in public. I look at Daniels courage in the face of death and it makes me think of my reaction to worshipping my God in public. Am I willing to risk everything just so that I can give God the praise he is due? Or am I concerned about looking silly in front of my mates? When someone says they need help, do I offer to pray for them there and then, or am I concerned about what they will say? What’s more important what other people think of me and you or what God thinks us. Here is the newsflash other people are not thinking of you most of the time, they are busy worrying what you think about them. It takes courage to live out your faith at school, it takes courage to offer to pray for your mates at college. Do I, do you have that courage? Are we willing to put our image on the line, are will willing to put what others think about us to one side and praise and pray to the one true God? Lets take the courage of Daniel as our example and pray and praise our God where ever we are.

Author - Max Cross, Daniel | No Comments »

We do like to think of God as our mate and that’s cool. We even sing about “My Jesus, My Saviour” and that’s cool too. Because God is an all loving Father, his love is what he wants to give us. God does want to be our mate; God does want to be our friend. But is there more to our relationship with God, then just being his pal? If your best mate had a laugh with you but the nicked your iPod, you would be a bit surprised. You might even think that didn’t even give you any respect. Or if one of you mates gave you a high five, but later you heard that they were walking around town telling people you were rubbish, you might think that they were not showing you any respect. You might get wound up and angry and give them a hard time next time you met them. Why? All because friendship is about more than just being friendly. And a relationship with the God who made the universe is about more than just singing or saying the words. My relationship, your relationship with the God who took the time to make you has to include respect. And just like the King, we should not be surprised that even though God wants to shower us with his love, he may have to show his anger if we don’t respect him and all that he is and does. So I say to you, don’t dis the main man.

Author - Max Cross, Daniel | No Comments »

This new King is turning out just like his father was before his father learnt the lesson that God is the one to turn to. Is that true of all of us are we going to turn out just like our parents, no matter what we do? Maybe your parents are great, maybe they are running with God and actually you would love to turn out like your parents. Maybe you never knew your parents. Maybe one or both of you parents aren’t so great, maybe someone has told you, that you are just like your Father or Mother and you didn’t see that as a complement. So are we doomed to be like our parents whether we want to or not? Well the bad news is that your parents are only human. But there is good news. The good news is that your parents are only human. You see the good things our parents do are great examples, but if we don’t do the same things then we can’t expect the same results. If our parents take the time to be with God every morning and as a result they develop a trust in God that every one envies, then we need to do the same to get the same result. The bad things our parents do may hurt, but we can know that if we don’t do them then we won’t get the same results. If our parents drink way too much alcohol and as a result become addicted and have bad stuff happen. Then we can know that as long as we make a point of not doing the same, then we won’t have the same bad results. It’s not about where we come from that is important it’s about where we look to for our advice that is crucial. If we look to our heavenly Father God for our guidance and combine this with the good example of our earthly parents then we can look forward to a future that does not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Author - Max Cross, Daniel | No Comments »

Well he can’t say he wasn’t warned can he? Previous to this reading Daniel had interpreted a dream for the king warning that if he didn’t buck up his attitude then he was for the high jump. But oh no King dumbo just ignored the warning and actually started boasting even more how great he was. Have you ever ignored a warning from God? I’m reminded of the scene in the film Bruce Almighty when he is asking God for a sign and a truck with a load of signs pulls out in front of him. The signs all point in one direction, but Bruce is so busy slagging God off that his misses the warnings and crashes his car. Yep that would be me, some times I am so busy running around wondering what God would have me do, that I miss the signs and crash my life. How about you? So what should the king have done? What should I do? What should you do? Perhaps we should just slow down, let our foot off the accelerator peddle for a while and wait. No need to text our mates straight away, no need to turn on the TV, the minute we get in. No need to jump onto the computer the second we have a spare minute. Maybe we could take a moment to wait on God and see if he has sent us a sign. Here’s a revolutionary idea, we could even ask him to speak to us, and then sit silent for a while so that we don’t miss it, when he does.

Author - Max Cross, Daniel | No Comments »

Do you ever feel a little humble when you speak to your Father God? Well the good news is that’s the right place to be. We should feel thankful that the God who created the universe, also took the time to create us and sent his son to die so that we can join him in heaven. Seems to me that that King dumb here may have been missing that point as well as all the others he has been missing. You see it doesn’t matter how big you think you are, it doesn’t matter how talented you think you are, your achievements are tiny compared to the God who created the universe. That’s not to say that you should not be pleased with your achievements but you might want to ask yourself if you are including God in what you are doing. Daniel is telling The King here that he is going to find out how small a king he really is compared to the King of the Heavens if he doesn’t get his act into gear soon. Do we have success in our lives, that we put down to who we are and not the grace of God who has given us talents? Have we achieved small or large things that we have not thanked God for? Why not take the time today to thank God for all your gifts and achievements, because he wants to share in those with you.

Author - Max Cross, Daniel | No Comments »