Resolute on God

Overview

Using Daniel as a sustained biblical example, this teaching reframes a New Year’s resolution as becoming resolute on God. Daniel listened to God under changing rulers, resisted cultural pressure, prayed consistently, spoke truth with courage, and trusted God through both threats and victories. The practical call is to arrange life under God’s authority and remain faithful despite distraction or opposition.

Transcript

A Resolution to Follow God

So, my teaching tonight is called New Year's Resolution Resolute on God, and 2022 has started with a New Year Comes, New Year's Resolutions. And one of mine this year is to follow God, especially amidst all of the busy moments that are happening in my life. For me, following God doesn't just mean including Him in for a 15-minute morning Bible study or just praying to Him throughout the day, but it goes beyond that.

It's a relationship with Him that requires listening to Him. And my goal this year is to be able to arrange my life under God's authority, much like men and women of the Old Testament have, good examples that just really saw God move in their lives. I'm just excited for this year to be able to see the same.

So a guy I've been reading about lately who steadfastly listened to God time and time again under various kings and rulership and different authorities over the land was Daniel. And what's neat about Daniel is he glorified God by trusting in Him with an unwavering stance and commitment. So Daniel had his challenges and he also had a lot of victories, but a little context about him is that Jerusalem was conquered and besieged by Babylon at the time.

So King Nebuchadnezzar was the king and Daniel was a captive youth who was in training to become a royal servant for King Nebuchadnezzar. And there are a few different accounts I'd like to cover today, but I'd like to start by mentioning that as a Jewish captured youth, he believed in God. And in that culture, Babylon culture, they didn't necessarily believe in God.

They actually believed in their own might and their own accomplishments. And the Chaldeans, they studied astronomy, math, and they used magicians and wise men. So their trust was in men's ability, not on God's.

So I'd like to start by mentioning opening up to Daniel 1 verse 17. And it says that God, he gave Daniel and his three friends the wisdom. So it says, God gave these four men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom.

And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. So Daniel's three friends, Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, and also their other names that you might know them by is Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego, they were given the unusual ability to have some wisdom. And we saw that in verse 18, verse 18 just shows us that the boys were trained for three years to become royal servants, to advise King Nebuchadnezzar.

And while in the training program, they actually adopted, well, they were exposed to the diet and the knowledge and the different customs of that culture. But what's neat is that these boys decided to rely on God, even with diet. They decided to eat a vegetable diet, and they still were more fair looking than the other boys in the program.

And if you jump down to Daniel 1.20, we can see that King Nebuchadnezzar really liked all four of these boys. And it says, whenever in every manner requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them 10 times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. So it's neat to see that truly God gave these boys all wisdom and King Nebuchadnezzar found them 10 times more capable than anyone else.

That's pretty neat. Let's talk about God's favor. So Habakkuk 1, verses 6 through 11, talks about how the Chaldeans were very fierce.

Daniel Under a Foreign Kingdom

And when they conquered, they did so kind of in a vicious manner. And so that was the culture that Daniel and his friends found themselves living in. And King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that kind of freaked him out because he couldn't remember it.

And he offered an award for all those who could tell him what the dream was and also interpret it. But at the same time, because of the cruel culture, he also threatened to kill any wise men and destroy their homes if they couldn't interpret the dream. So let's all go to Daniel 2, verse 10 and 11.

Daniel 2, 10 and 11. So starting in verse 10, the astrologers replied to the king. No one on earth can tell the king his dream, and no king, however great or powerful, has ever asked such a thing of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.

The king's demand is impossible. No one except the gods can tell you your dream, and they do not live here among the people. So we can see that the wise men responded to King Nebuchadnezzar, that his request to have his dream told to him and interpreted was just ridiculous.

And King Nebuchadnezzar is a man of power. He didn't want to hear that from anyone, that his dream couldn't be interpreted. So he ordered the wise men to be executed.

And Daniel and his three friends were among those wise men to be slain. So they went up to Ariak, the captain of the king's executioners, and Ariak told Daniel about the dream not being interpreted. So Daniel is gutsy.

He went up to the king himself in verse 16 and asked King Nebuchadnezzar for a time to interpret the dream. And then immediately he goes in verse 17, he meets up with his friends, and he prays with them. He gets to really focus on God's ability and ask that God reveal the dream and the interpretation so they don't die with the rest of the wise men.

So let's all jump down to verse 19 of chapter 2. And verse 19 says, that night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. And Daniel praised the God of heaven and said, praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events.

He removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light.

I thank and praise you God of my ancestors for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded. So that is pretty neat to be consulting with your friends and just ask God for revelation and just to be able to go to the king and tell him what he dreamt.

Conviction Without Compromise

So in 228, Daniel responds that no one can show the dream but God. He doesn't just go up to the king and say, here's your dream and then where's my reward? He puts the emphasis on God, that God showed me this dream. And he really wanted to explain God is the true God, that the magicians and astrologers and no one could even compare with.

So the response of all of this was that the king favored Daniel and he even admitted to God's might a couple of different times. We can see this in Daniel 4, verses 1 through 3, and also Daniel 4, verses 34 and 35. So even though these boys were trained on the Babylonian diet, their knowledge, and how to be a royal servant, God gifted these Jewish boys more than anyone else in the training program.

And the three friends even became in charge of the Babylonian province affairs. And Daniel became ruler over all of the Babylonian region and chief over all the wise men. So you can see that in Daniel chapter 2, verses 48 and 49.

And Daniel also remained advisor to king Nebuchadnezzar. So there's some great victories happening here because these boys decided to be bold, tell the king that they can interpret the dream and tell what the dream was. And they just prayed together and waited for God to show the answer.

It's just all of this was to glorify God and show his might in comparison to men's earthly ways. So I wanted to touch on one more account tonight, and that is Daniel the lion's den. I'm pretty sure many of you have heard this, but let's all go to Daniel chapter 6. So Daniel chapter 6, there were some men that were very jealous of Daniel, but they couldn't find fault in any of his work.

So they decided to enforce some laws where anyone who prayed to anyone other than King Darius would be thrown into the lion's den. So you can read about that in Daniel 6, verses 5 through 7. And then if we jump down to verse 14, let me get there. Well, let me get a little context here.

So let's go to 13 instead. Then they, the men who were spying on Daniel just to kind of trap him and say that he was praying to God. Then they told the king, that man Daniel, one of your captives from Judah, is ignoring you and your law.

He still prays to his God three times a day. Verse 14, hearing this, the king was deeply troubled and he tried to think of a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament.

So I just think it's really cool that this King, King Darius, the king that took over after, two kings after King Nebuchadnezzar. He really liked Daniel and he tried to think of a way to get Daniel out of going to the lion's den. So then we skip down to verse 17 through 21.

And this just shows how much the king really, really liked Daniel. But 17, a stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles so that no one could rescue Daniel.

Verse 18, then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep all that night. Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lion's den.

Prayer as a Settled Practice

When he got there, he called out in anguish, Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God who you serve faithfully, able to rescue you from the lions? And I love this response. In verse 21, Daniel, he answers, long live the king. So he really gives his respect to the king.

And then he comes in with the answer. My God sent his angel to shut the lion's mouth so that they could not hurt me. For I have been found innocent in his sight and I have not wronged you, your majesty.

And then in verse 23, it says, the king was overjoyed and ordered that Daniel be lifted from the den. Not a scratch was found on him, for he had trusted in his God. And then the king gave orders to arrest the men who had maliciously accused Daniel.

He had them thrown into the lion's den along with their wives and children. And the lions leaped on them and tore them apart before they even hit the floor of the den. So what's fascinating here is that Daniel was praying to God, no matter what the laws were of the land, that there was some religious, I guess, unfreedom.

These people weren't allowed to pray to anyone but King Darius. And the fact that Daniel was bold enough to just leave his windows open and pray and ignore the law, he just trusted in God completely and knew God would deliver him no matter what. So we saw this with the lion's mouth being shut.

And then this resulted in King Darius flat out praising God. And I guess verse 26, we can see this. He writes a letter to everybody in his land and it says, peace and prosperity to you.

I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed and his rule will never end.

He rescues and saves the people. He performs miraculous signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.

So it's neat here because we just saw another account where Daniel was able to work with another king and also show how awesome God is. So Daniel's God inspired King Darius and also had influence for King Darius to impact everyone else in the land and glorify God as well. So recapping what we learned about today, Daniel was about, he used his God given wisdom to keep his eyes focused on God.

Despite learning Babylonian cultures and customs, but God's favor was evidenced by his success at work. And he not only had the wisdom to interpret dreams, but also had an angel even save his life after jealous men trick the king into enforcing religious laws. So as God's children, there will be times where our Godly values will conflict with people's agendas.

God Gives Wisdom and Deliverance

And we might have to tell people to do the right thing. We might even have to keep standing with our true values and our trust in God when there might be times where we might find our religious freedoms taken advantage of. But no matter what, God will come to our rescue and he supports us and he favors us because we're his children.

So that means even if he has to intercede for us supernaturally by sending angels to stand in for us. And we can also really exercise the power we have in the name of Christ Jesus as well. So as we keep our eyes focused on God and we don't lose sight of him amidst our challenges, our life is gonna go well for us and even impact people in a positive way.

So we've seen that Daniel was a leader, he was placed in mighty positions. He got to train all the wise men and advised numerous kings. And he met great people.

But rather than being tossed to and fro with worldly distractions or climbing the ranks, promotions. He really just prayed to God and he mentioned how great God was. He apologized on behalf of the people of his city.

And he relied on God as his strength. So these are some just great things that we saw from Daniel. Now, I would just like to close out with a couple of different verses in the New Testament.

So let's all go to Philippians 4 13, and it says here. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So we're God's children, we have Holy Spirit on us, we have God in Christ in us.

And at the time Holy Spirit was limited in Daniel's time. But we're looking at just Christians walking around everywhere. This is some power.

We can do everything through Christ. Now let's go to Ephesians 3 20, Ephesians 3 20 it says. Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely, infinitely more than we might ask or think.

So that's pretty cool what we ask or think. I mean, I can imagine some cool things where I don't even ask God for things and all of a sudden he'll just bless me. He just enjoys really blessing his children.

So as we're going into the new year, let's be sure to remember God as our first priority and worldly distractions, they're guaranteed to happen. But let's choose to pray, pray with other believers, pray to God. And then just to delight God, to read the Bible, to be doers of the word, and to never give up on trusting God.

Remain Resolute and Speak Truth

Let's be fearless in speaking the truth to others and also speaking the truth, even if it's countercultural or not popular. So thank you all for listening in.

Key Takeaways

• Being resolute on God involves an ongoing relationship of listening, prayer, trust, and obedience.
• Daniel maintained spiritual conviction while living under authorities and within a culture that did not share his faith.
• Prayer was a settled practice rather than an emergency response.
• God can provide wisdom, favor, protection, and opportunities to make Him known in difficult environments.
• Believers are encouraged to speak truth fearlessly, remain doers of the Word, and refuse to give up on trusting God.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to be resolute on God?

It means arranging life under God’s authority with a settled commitment to listen, pray, trust, obey, and continue despite distraction or pressure.

Why is Daniel the central example?

Daniel consistently trusted God under changing rulers, maintained prayer, resisted cultural compromise, spoke truth, and saw God work through challenges and victories.

What practical response does the teaching encourage?

It encourages making God the first priority, praying alone and with other believers, reading and doing the Word, speaking truth courageously, and never giving up on trust in God.

Scripture References

Daniel 1–6; Ephesians 3:20; James 1:22; Daniel 1; Habakkuk 1; Daniel 2; Daniel 4; Daniel 6; Philippians 4; Ephesians 3

Verification Note

Prepared from a recovered transcript. The speaker’s name is not stated in the source. Verify attribution, names, quotations, historical details, and verse wording against the original recording and a Bible before publication.