Do You Face “Lions” In Your Life?

Daniel 6:22 (NKJV):

²² My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

Some of you may look at this verse and say: “Why in the world this parallel with lions?” To me the verse makes sense because it spoke to me personally, and I will try to relate to your possible circumstances to show how much our Lord is faithful to deliver those who keep their hearts clean.

On the day of my custody hearing, I received a text message from my pastor with the scripture from 2 Timothy 4:16-18 (NKJV):

¹⁶ At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. ¹⁷ But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. ¹⁸ And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!

I really didn`t know how to accept this scripture and how to apply it that day because I felt destroyed from within completely. But so many times the Lord would speak something and it would be for the future although it ties to one`s current circumstances the same way it did for me. I know that God`s promise is faithful and true, so this promise above that I will be delivered out of “every evil work” and being preserved for His heavenly kingdom is all true. I accept that, and I thank the Lord for how much He loves me!

When reading the chapter in Daniel though, I didn`t realize the crucial component of these two places being tied together, and that component is: “Because I was found innocent before Him”. I know that every single decision I made was based on my willingness to suffer in order to do what`s right in God`s sight. I wanted to be as much “innocent” as possible regardless of the accusations that I heard to be otherwise. I also know that the same way God protected Daniel for “being innocent”, He protected me through the impossible circumstances that I faced.

This component of keeping one`s heart clean and pure is the crucial part of being delivered out of the “lion`s den”. God only cares about our hearts and the motivation that we have. I was honest with the Lord that I needed His strength to do what`s right to help me suffer in order to glorify Him.

Look at what Peter wrote:

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because^[c] your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But may^[d] the God of all grace, who called us^[e] to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 5:8-11 (NKJV).

We can clearly see 4 main things here:

-We have an adversary- devil who is walking around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour

-The weapon against devil is our Faith, and this is why the Lord makes sure our faith gets refined to the point of being effective against the enemy, this "roaring lion"

-Sufferings produce growth of faith and consolation to others who go through the similar circumstances

-God placed this example of the lion`s den in the Old Testament to remind us of how much of a tangible image we can relate to when considering the possibilities of devil when looking at Daniel`s story. If God was able to shut lion`s mouth`s in Daniel`s story, He does the same thing with devil when we exhibit our refined faith.

I told you before how the Lord spoke to me to write everything down, and the reason for this blog is to be this consolation to those who suffer and go through the similar trials. The Lord Jesus who was able to console me with the same consolation He had, He gives me the strength to show compassion and consolation to those whom I meet daily or to those who read this blog (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). I was promised to be strengthened by the Lord, so I could bring forth His message, and this is exactly what I try to do here. It is my testimony of God` s faithfulness and His ability to fix the broken lives that I testify to those who feel hopeless today.

My marriage is being restored slowly and God is doing the impossible by bringing my family together again after such an excruciatingly painful waiting period.

I really hope you understand that what God is able to do in my life, He is more than capable to do in your life. He blessed me with a great new job, a great new supervisor, a better and shorter commute, with more time with my daughter, and with the ability to pay down my debts. Do you understand that God is faithful always!!!

It comes down to trusting the Lord, believing in His word, and accepting Jesus as your Savior. If you have all these things, than expect miracles because God is not a liar to say and not do it.

I mentioned before the promise in Proverbs 16:7 (NKJV):

When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

I believe in this promise because the same way we can see Daniel being delivered, me being delivered, I believe that God is faithful to bring all those who spoke evil of me to repentance and realization of God’s faithfulness.

If you face “lions” in your life, please understand that God gave us all the necessary weapons to be the victors in Him. We must abide in Him and in His word:

⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5 NKJV).

Abiding in the Lord is essential, and I hope we all understand the significance of this. I grow weary when I don`t spend my time with the Lord DAILY. I make a sacrifice of waking up an hour and half earlier every morning only to have this special time with the Lord because of my understanding of how crucial it is to me. Guess what? When He sees this kind of willingness, He blesses it and gives strength to wake up daily. What`s more, He gives strength keeping up with the daily schedule. If there is anything that you can take out of this entire message, please know that the Lord is faithful and blesses the pure desires of the heart; He blesses honesty.

What makes Bible so special is when we read all these honest accounts of mistakes and the way God`s people accepted their accountability and honestly repented. It`s not the horror of the sin, it`s the deceit of the heart that`s an abomination to the Lord; when we attempt to make excuses for why we did something instead of repenting and accepting accountability for our actions.

God is faithful, and He is good, so please don`t forget about that. You may say, you have no idea what I go through, and it`s easy for you to say this……. I have been through the worst nightmare anyone could wish not to have, and my only hope was my God. The Lord came through for me, and I know He will come through for you. He is capable to deliver you out of the Lion`s den the same way He delivered Daniel, and the same way He delivered me. Satan will always try to break us and take away our hope in the Lord when we look at these “impossible circumstances”, but please do not give up. Job suffered a great deal, but he was able to say later in chapter 13:

Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. ¹⁶ He also shall be my salvation, For a hypocrite could not come before Him (Job 13:15-16 NKJV).

Job was desperate, frustrated, and decaying in the worst imaginable pain, yet he was able to honestly acknowledge that he would trust the Lord and wait out what He would do.

Important point here to emphasize is the purity in heart! Job`s heart was innocent. Daniel`s heart was innocent. My heart was innocent because I knew what I was doing and how I was obeying the Lord. This innocence gives us audacity to trust in the Lord and to rely on His promise to deliver us. Please understand how important this is.

If you live in a blatant unrepentant sin and you expect the Lord to bless you, He will not do that. This will be a preventative stumbling block in your life from being delivered. If you repent, God is faithful to forgive you and to give you a hope and a new start in life. This new start will provide you with this opportunity of God`s protection.

It starts with the heart, so I will challenge you today to examine it once again and see if you are in the right relationships with the Lord. If you feel like you need Jesus, all you need to do is to pray a simple and genuine prayer of repentance and accept Jesus as your God and Savior.

Dear Lord, please forgive me of my arrogance and self-sufficiency. Please forgive me of my self-reliance and pride in thinking that I can live my life on my own without You. I desire you, Jesus, to come into my life and to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to You, and I seek to honor You, Lord, with my life. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

If you have prayed this simple prayer of repentance, then you are a child of God, and He more than welcomes you in His family. Jesus died for you, so don`t hesitate to abandon your life and your plans for His because God`s ways are higher and better than our own. I urge you to realize how much the Lord has done for me and how faithful He`s been for me all my life even when I went astray. We have an all-powerful, almighty, and victorious Lord, so let`s honor Him with our hearts and with our lives, so those who see us, they could seek Jesus the same way we did.