Published by Deborah Negron – Inspired by the Lord and His Word.
March 4, 2023
And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your Lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
Daniel 5:23
God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways…
We plan our days.
We do not ask Him where we ought to go today.
We act and react snd ponder not on the effectd of our actions.
We decide as if we had all the time in the world.
We claim to love God but live as though he is at a distance, so distant that he cannot see the wayward heart within.
He has given us talents.
The worth of our very lives, that has been designed and created by him, we think is ours to live eithout ever giving him a thought.
Good works. Kind acts. All nice and yet, he kniws the very motivations of the heart.
I was once given thesr terms by a supposed man if God.
You have to network. You have to come under mentors and seek to learn strategies so you can pursue your calling.
The truth is God does not network. God does not ask us to have mentors. These are psyxhological terms we have allowed to infiltrate the way we serve God.
God is not in need of servants. He is a God that chooses to use us based on his mercy and grace. The qualifications for service are very different in the kingdom of God.
The most prestigious education. The most eloquent public speaking ability. The titles from every possible field. Reverend, Doctor, Leader, Bishop, Priest, Administrator, Secretary of….
The illustrious, the list went on and on.
The admiration of men does not impress the Lord. The applause of men mean little to God.
That proud man who thought he was doing all things right. God threw to the ground and humbled him making him blind, So he could see. God caused him yo become void of his understanding so he could receive the truth that would transform lives.
This, well positioned man, That man, had been a religious zealot. He was known for his ability to study and know the law. Yet, he had murdered and had many executed. He has made dirty his hands with the blood of martyrs. He had chased the believers down and persecuted them. He reviled in the actions that brought many to death. He was sitting there in his pompous attitude.
Yet God threw him off his high horse, as it were and caused him to bow down before the King of kings and Lord of lords.
In Acts 9 we find the story of Saul. He had to unlearn all he had learned as God revealed himself as Jesus to him on his road to Damascus.
The wise man understood that he had been a fool.
When Jesus is Lord of our lives we recognize that if we have anything at all it is because of who He is.
John 1 says of Jesus,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:1, 3-5
If you only knew who speaks to you…
You would ask that he would give you his living water…
…”If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10
Oh if you only knew the author of your days. The one who holds your very breath in his hands!
“For unto us a child is born!”
░t░’░s░ ░T░i░m░e░ ░M░e░r░c░y░ ░C░a░l░l░s░ ░O░u░t░
Yes, That same Jesus whom they rejected has become the corner stone. The very one on who all of creation rests.
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:6-7
That Babe in the Manger. Yes that Man in that Cross… the one who Left the Tomb Empty.
Saul’s scales fell from his eyes. He understood his visitation.
The woman at the well understood whom it was who told her he would give her living water.
But let’s go back to the story in Daniel 5.
The son of old king Nebuchadnezzar, chose to become ignorant. He chose to ignore the history if his father. Hie God had caused his father to crawl among the beasts as a wild animal. Causing him such a stupor for his arrogance and his pride.
This kings son, as the new king was a fool.
He went and had the stolen vessels of gold and silver his father had taken from Jerusalem, brought in. He mocked the God of heaven. The God of Israel he decided to provoke.
When we do not listen and do not remember or when we choose to forget the lessons of rhe past. God does not ignore this. It is not taken lightly.
We who have heard of God’s mercy and grace and have then chosen to walk away, place ourselves in a place of rebellion.
God’s desire is that none should perish. This is the very reason why Christ revealed himself to Saul, whom we now know as Apostle Paul. But rest assured. Eithout repentance there cannot be forgiveness. Without a humbling of the heart, there cannot come salvation. Not everyone will make it in.
Heaven is not for thise who mock God’s Sovereignty. It is not for those who knowing better, choose to ignore God’s mercy.
This man, thought he could go worship other gods and mock the God of heaven. So the hand of God moved.
In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke, saying to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”
Daniel 5:5-7
No one could read the writing in the wall.
Perhaos today you are going through some horrible circumstance. You thought life was all good. You did not consider the error of your ways. You thought God was just some ridiculous imagined entity people made up. You called him the opiate of the people. You thought life could be lived without the very breath He placed in your lungs.
Now the bad news have come. The loss, the diagnosis. The strength is gone. Fear has over taken you.
You can understand how truly weak and helpless you are.
All of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Roamns 3:23
No one is exempt.
But today there is still hope.
Today grace is still here for those who turn away from sin.
You too can claim God’s word found in
Romans 3:24 -25. You too can say,
“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, God presented Him as the (propitiation) atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.”
The only prerequisite is humility. Repentance must come first.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I John 1:9
For God so loved the world that he sent his only Begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
When we turn to Jesus there is hope. When we come back to the Creator there is a new creation made of us.
(2 Corinthians 5:17) The old is passed away and the new birth gives us the privilege of becoming children of God. (1 John 3:1).
This king Belshazzar foolishly ignored God’s mercy. He sat and continued in his sin.
Knowing his father had been judged by God and had repented. He chose to ignore this. He chose to walk his own path.
We too have a choice to make. Life or death. Eternal life or eternal Damnation.
This king enjoyed himself for a season. Sin appeared fun and better then remembering the lessons of the past.
Drinking and enjoying his time with his wives and concubines and showing off infront of his peers and others who were also in sin. He disregarded that the very breath in his lungs belonged to God.
Your life is a gift of God. The oxygen you can still breathe in belongs to him. The ability to think and reason and act and move is his.
The choice is yours.
God gives us a free will. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Who will be the object of your devotion. What will be the purpose of your life?
To chose rightly means life. To choose poorly means eternal separation from the one who created you.
This man chose to worship the idols made by man’s hands. Thisr of silver and gold and wood and stone. He chose to bow down to his own inclinations. His carnal passions and desires. He ignored grace and mercy. He ignored the history.
History today is clear. Our calendar even denotes time with the BC and AD.
Meaning Before Christ and After Christ, my pastor quoted.
How will you be found.
The rest of this man’s story is sad.
The writing on the wall was clear.
Daniel was called in. The very same Daniel who. His father had known.
There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers.
Daniel 5:11
Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.
Daniel 5:13-14
Then Daniel answered, and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another; yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your Lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written.
Daniel 5:17-24
“And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Daniel 5:25-28
TEKEL:
You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting!
Will the Lord say this of you and me?
You have been weighed in the balances and found lacking….
● Do We lack wisdom?
● Do We lack understanding?
● Do we have such Pride that we think God will not Judge us?
Today is the day of Salvation.
We will one day have to gove an account to God for the very breath in our lungs.
Lord Help Us to Read this with Humility of heart. Help us to humble ourselves before you. We need you Lord.
Let us not be simple hearers of the Word.
This king had heard that you were the one true God. He ignored it.
Let us not ignore you.
Mercy cries out!
Wisdom calls out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares. She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates: “How long, inexperienced ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? If you respond to my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words. Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you. Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me. Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the Lord,
Proverbs 1:20-29 CSB
(Common English)
I pray today you would hear the one crying out.
Jesus is coming for those who have turned away from. The error of their past. He calls today. Won’t you come.
He does not want anyone to be lost. I pray this hits home. I oray you remember those lessons taught.
Remember God is love. He wants to save. He gave himself. His very sin died on the cross for us.
Come. As you are, just come.
Life and Faith By Deb 
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