Daniel 6:4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for
some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t
find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and
completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds
for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
Daniel 6:16-22 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown
into the den of lions. The king said to him, “May your God, whom you serve so
faithfully, rescue you.”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. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the
night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that
night. Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’
den. When he got there, he called out in anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living
God! Was your God, whom you serve so faithfully, able to rescue you from the
lions?” Daniel answered, “Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the
lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his
sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty.”
Daniel 6:23 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.
How do we grow in consistency?
1. START WITH THE END IN MIND
Daniel 1:8 NKJV But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself….
2. EMBRACE THE PROCESS
Daniel 6:10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home
and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward
Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving
thanks to his God.
3. FOCUS ON PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
Winston Churchill - “perfection is the enemy of progress.”
Philippians 3:12-13 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but
I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..
