Week 13: Day 3
In our Orbit reflection today, Josh reminds us that its through knowing God that we will be able to do great things.
With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
Intro: What’s up everyone, welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites – my name is Josh Green from 24-7 Prayer. Every weekday, the guys from Satellites have got some amazing people in to share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.
Bible: Now, if you’re into action and thriller I recommend a read of Daniel 10 & 11. It sounds like something from Lord of the Rings. In fact, the whole book of Daniel is action-packed. We’ve got angels and demons. Demons resisting angels. In Daniel 11, which we’re looking at today we’ve got dark kings and warlords fighting with each other. We’ve got fighting, drama, mass scale movement of armies mobilising. We’ve got heists of treasure and precious artefacts. It’s going down! So, thanks Satellites for giving me the easy Bible passages!
However, in the midst of chaos, fighting and disaster there is this beautiful verse, Daniel 11:32 says:
“The king of the north will play up to those who betray the holy covenant, corrupting them even further with his seductive talk, but those who stay courageously loyal to their God will take a strong stand.”
Another translation says, “the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits.”
Thoughts: A lot of us want to be great in life. We want to achieve things and make a difference. We want to help people and be significant.
But if you want to do great things then you first have to be great. We can’t just put a superhero cape on and save the world. We can’t just put on a pair of football boots and become an incredible footballer; we have to put in the work. So, it starts with us first.
We live in a generation that want to be famous without being faithful. We want to influence without putting in the work to have substance to influence people with.
Daniel 11:32 tells us that it’s through knowing God that we become strong and do great things. But it’s not enough to know about God mentally, we have to know God relationally. It’s heart knowledge not head knowledge.
See, when I think about my Mum…everyone loves their Mum. When I wanted something when I was young, I would ask her. It was the strength of my relationship with her and not how much I knew about her that meant I got what I wanted.
We get to know God through prayer, talking to God. As we get to know Him, we pray in line with His heart. See, prayer isn’t about changing God, it’s about changing me. That way, when I go through hardships, like these people were in a war-zone, I can look to God not to get me out of the fight but to put the fight in me so I can stand my ground.
I don’t want to scare you but there are dark spiritual forces out there that resist us and want to stop us following God. God calls us to stand firm and be people of the Light. To be people fully committed to Jesus and stand for truth. That’s what it’s all about today; standing our ground!
Life has been a bit of a war-zone of these last 2 years. Covid pandemic, politics, and the exposure of racism, sexism and poverty. Some of these issues are historic, but the last 2 years have been intense. Life can be like that, so we need to learn strength and resilience. The best place to find that is in Jesus.
And the best place to find Jesus isn’t on Google or TikTok, and sometimes it’s not even in church, the best place to find Jesus is in your own private prayers. And the good news is, He’s not hiding.
Prayer: Let’s pray.
Lord, I need your strength today. Life has been a war-zone and I need your rest and peace. I want to know you, so that in knowing you I can receive the resilience and power I need to stand firm in the midst of chaos. I stand against every dark force which seeks to resist me and push me down, I stand up in your love and victory today God. Help me to stand firm today, Lord. Amen
Action: Draw on paper or design something on the internet (like Canva or something like that) and design an image with different colours and images (like the prayer hands) and use the text “STAND FIRM” - as a reminder!
Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us. I'll be back again tomorrow to finish off Daniel with you beautiful people, see you then.