On The Job Training For Your Faith

Text: Daniel 6:1-28 (NIV)

This episode most likely occurred when he was in his early eighties.
• One of the repeated themes of the Scriptures is you are never too old for God to do something new in your life.

Daniel’s experience can be framed in a way that we all can identify with: The good, the bad, the ugly and the divine.
• The Good. Work offers great rewards.
• The Bad. People can and will conspire against you.
• The Ugly. Things can always get worse.
• The Divine. God has a way of working things out.

Main Idea: Every single element of your work day is on the job training for your faith in God.

Work is not just necessary to put food on the table. It is precious conditioning for a stronger and a more authentic relationship with the Lord. Everything is! And work is no exception.

I. God works inside out.

“exceptional qualities” (vs. 3) is also translated “excellent spirit.”

Over the course of those years on the job, God had continued to refine Daniel’s faith so it translated into an “excellent spirit.”
• His OJT with His God had helped to insulate him from letting the job beat him down and make him cynical or bitter.

Daniel was committed to his job but his commitment to his job flowed from his faith, it wasn’t in competition with it. In other words, job success was not more important to him than His relationship with His God. And contrary to what we may think, that priority didn’t detract from his work, it made him a worker with an excellent spirit on the job.

II. God’s objective is always a stronger faith in Him.

Sometimes things seem to get worse after we pray, but that is so the answer is more glorious.

The real story here is God in the Lion’s Den with Daniel.

Daniel had not personally experienced this side of the Lord before. He had seen God intervene like this for his friends but it’s different when it’s your testimony.
• There are things God wants to show us about Himself in the chaos of work that will bolster our confidence and security in Him.

There are also “lions” of the mind that threaten us.

God doesn’t just want us to do the right thing for Him, He wants us to believe the right things about Him.

III. God works it out His way.

Don’t fear the chaos. It’s never random. God is at work.

The Lord’s love is not just sentimental. It is also full of wisdom. He is not only moved by His emotions towards us, but by His long-term view of our joy in Him and the fulfillment of His purposes through us.
• That’s why there is at times a “disconnect” between our perception of what our love needs are from Him and what He actually provides. That’s why we have to trust. And why we have communion. To remember how He demonstrated His love.

THE Voice. A voice like no other. The Lord speaks and it becomes. He speaks and it changes. He speaks and it departs. He speaks and we see. He speaks and we persevere. He speaks and we understand. He speaks and we rest. He speaks and the jaws of the lion are locked. “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. ” (Psalm 29:4).

That’s the thing about this journey with Christ, when He is our focal point and discovering life with Him is our objective, you never know when, where, what, who, how much you’re going to discover and how it’s going to impact your life and the lives of others. Every day can be a “one day” that changes your life or the life of someone else.

God is as real on Your job as He is in Your church. When what we think of as “real life” excludes Him, our perception has become a deception.

Keep your eye on the ball, the most precious thing we have, more precious than gold is our faith. And the Lord’s on the job training is intended to refine it day by day so it becomes even more precious to us, so He becomes more precious to us.