How Men Can Be Deceived - Power Secrets / Articles / Free Bible Email

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In the process of time, "Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits; he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon" (Dan. 3:1). He was probably over-ambitious or excited concerning his earlier dream, which God used Daniel to interpret to him.

"Thou art this head of gold" (Dan. 2:38) must have blown the mind of king Nebuchadnezzar to such a degree that he decided to outrun God by making an image of gold himself. That is the case with men today. The sycophants in his domain also accelerated his downfall, which is always the case with the people in authority. "Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar, the king, hath set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace" (Dan. 3:4-6).

In my experience as a child of God, I have found that if one prayerfully maintains his stand, the devil and his agents will always try him; perhaps he shall compromise with them. The king was power drunk when he endorsed the charges and the consequent charges and sentence, which his people had brought against the people of God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood firm with their God yet found themselves in the midst of the burning fiery furnace that was so exceedingly hot that the flame of the fire slew the mighty men that dumped them therein. Alas! The men of God were inside, still not blaming God for not "destroying their enemies." I feel strongly in my spirit that they fell down to continue in prayer. Hallelujah!

Yeah! The Son of God was already inside the fire before they got there. Yes, the king himself confirmed it. "Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king, was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors [sycophants], Did not we cast three men, bound, into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Dan. 3:20-25). Hallelujah!

In the end, King Nebuchadnezzar confessed with his mouth that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were truly servants of the Most High God (Vs.26). "... and it shall come to pass [after an experience] that, in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God" (Hos. 1:10). Amen! The people that reject you today will surely accept you when your time comes. The king went further: he blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, reversed his demonic decree, and promoted the men of God. Prayer is the unchangeable changer.

If an aftermath of your persistent prayer is an accelerated persecution or trouble, then if you do not give up you will end up breaking or making a record. That was the case with Daniel. In Daniel 6, we find that as Daniel's prayer began to yield dividends the prayer less people were filled with the spirit of envy and jealousy. But nothing will change God's principle that He "is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). The wicked found that Daniel could not be roped "because an excellent spirit was in him." "Then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever" (Vs. 5-6).

Can you imagine how dangerous people are when the devil uses them to bring a person in authority down? The same statement, "King, live forever," was what the sycophants were saying in the time of Darius's grandfather which eventually led to his doom. When wants to get people, he tells them that their present position is permanent. If his own grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had lived forever, would Darius have been there, or even his own father? I am sure the same form of sycophants intoxicated his father to death.

"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God" (Vs. 10-11).

According to the demonic decree, Daniel was found guilty of praying to his own God and not to the king. But the King of kings sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths so that they could not hurt Daniel. Hallelujah! Daniel made an everlasting record. "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den" (Vs. 23-24).

The king now made a counter decree that in every dominion of his kingdom men must "tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" (Vs. 26-28).

Prayer is the Believer's Remote Control

As a believer, you need to arm yourself with prayer always (I Thess. 5:17) to effect changes to our desires. But one must not forget to delight himself also in the Lord, in order to enable Him to give one his heart's desires (Ps. 37:4). Otherwise, one will be carrying in his hand a remote control with a dead battery. I have experienced, times without number, prayers moving the unmovable, working the unworkable, tearing the untearable healing the unhealable, getting the ungetable, touching the untouchable, changing the unchangeable, et cetera, et cetera. Howbeit, I recommend that you read my testimonies in God's Remote Control, my other book.

The Glory

When Prophet Haggai, an older contemporary of the Prophet Zechariah, was prophesying in the time of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, he said; "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag. 2:9). God, because of His all-knowing Father-spirit, spoke through His prophet to prove that He will never leave or forsake His own people, no matter what. God really cares.

God saw that, when the post-exilic temple was completed, some of his people were still discouraged and disillusioned, because the temple was viewed as nothing in comparison with the magnificence of the first temple built by King Solomon. As the Americans would say, "You ain't seen nothing yet". If the apostles could pray to invoke earthquakes (Acts 4:31) in the early church days, then the latter days church must pray not only to invoke the earthquake but also to rain thunder and fire as our own sign. Yes, some of them were called "Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder" (Mk. 3:17).

"We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long" (Ps. 74:9). But I say, if the Glory refuses to come down, let us bring Him down in prayer. I have yet to see how someone can remain victorious in this Christian race without being a person of prayer. In all honesty, there can never be such a Christian, because our Lord Jesus Himself was a prayer warrior. If any Christian says he or she has arrived at the shore of success, but without prayer and prayer continuity, the so-called success is a mirage. The man or woman God uses is a man or woman of prayer. Of course, there is no glory without a story preceding.

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