It’s likely that we think words are the most important communication ‘tool’, but in reality, it is our spirit that has the greatest impact. This is because our spirit serves as a ‘filter’ which defines our experiences for us. Have you known a person with a critical spirit? Don’t they always see the negative side of things? Do you really think that they experience more difficulty than other people? Or, is it that they simply ‘see’ more difficulty because they have a critical ‘filter’ through which they view life?

 

It is vital and a part of life to ‘define’ what we experience. This is how our lives acquire meaning. And how we respond to our experiences is what defines our character, just as God’s responses to situations we read in the Bible give us a picture of His character.

 

In the Old Testament there lived a man named “Daniel”. He was known as a ‘successful’ person, even among his enemies. Why? Daniel was intelligent, wise, and probably handsome! Yet, behind his skills and competencies we learn that Daniel was known as “a man with an excellent spirit”. He is described when “The queen spoke, saying...’There is a man in our kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God...inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel...’( Daniel 5:10-12).

 

Developing this heart quality is so important to God that He devotes a whole book of the Bible to it, the Book of Daniel. It’s that important to God. That’s why we need to know, what’s an excellent spirit and how to develop it?

 

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for “excellent” literally means “a jutting rock; an obvious break in the landscape.” So we get the sense of something that stands out from the rest of view, something worn by natural forces. Did you know that developing our spirit is the second most important decision we’ll ever make. The MOST important decision is our choice to follow Jesus which affects our eternal destiny. How we develop our spirit affects our here and now, our fruitfulness for God in this life.

 

And Daniel was known for his excellent spirit. “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.” (Dan. 1:20).

 

TEN TIMES BETTER!! But, in order to become who He created us to be we must cooperate with Him in developing our character. His plan is that we form our character after His. In the Old Testament the depth of God’s character was demonstrated through His numerous names. Jehovah Jireh, my Provider. Jehovah Rapha, my Healer. David takes all of the Names of God and describes His full character in one single word. What is that word?  “Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!” (Ps.8:9). That word is “excellent”. Clearly Daniel had a close relationship with God.

 

How was Daniel’s spirit changed to mirror God’s? What can we learn from Daniel’s walk with God? First, let’s consider the world in which Daniel lived. About 600 years before Jesus was born and 400 years after King David established the Kingdom of Israel the King of the Chaldeans invaded Jerusalem. Israel had sinned against God and had become vulnerable to its surrounding enemies. This Chaldean King had a plan. He directed his administrators to choose ‘the best of the best’ from the Jews left behind in Jerusalem after the attack, bring young Jewish people to Babylon, and train them in the way of the Babylonians. They were to learn Babylonian customs, become familiar with Babylonian gods, traditions, and lifestyle. Then, once their hearts had turned from the God of the Jews to the Babylonian gods, they were to be sent back to Jerusalem with new Babylonian names, married to Babylonian wives to repopulate and rule Jerusalem as a ‘colony’ of Babylon. The entire strategy was to ‘dilute’ the Jewish faith and people.

 

Daniel was one of the young men chosen. So right away we know that he stood out among the majority of Jews living in Jerusalem at the time. Certainly the Babylonian rulers considered Daniel a prime candidate for their strategy.

 

But those rulers underestimated Daniel’s spirit. They underestimated the strength of his identity with his God.  As we read the Book of Daniel we discover that Daniel challenged the Babylonian strategy. And, in spite of those challenges, Daniel gained the respect and admiration of the Babylonian teachers and rulers. It’s amazing! How did Daniel grow in character and in his relationship with God? Here are clues for Daniel leave behind for us as we commit to…

 

 

DEVELOPING A SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE...

 

The first thing Daniel did was he made a ‘no compromise’ decision to identify with God in all things. And like Daniel, we must set our hearts to…

 

 

1.  DECIDE ONCE AND FOR ALL TO IDENTIFY WITH GOD!!!

 

“But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank...” (Dan.1:8). Part of the Babylonian strategy to lure the ‘Jews in training to become Babylonians’ was to change their diet so that they would acquire a taste for choice Babylonian food. Daniel, however, was not enticed. He was not ambivalent in his commitment to identify with God. Ambivalence opens the door for temptation and gives our enemies an opportunity to influence our lives. It robs us of our confidence. That’s why it’s absolutely necessary to make a once-for-all decision to identify with Jesus if we want to develop an excellent spirit! The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is called ‘the faith chapter’ of the Bible. In this chapter many ‘heroes’ of faith are listed, many with the same spirit described in Daniel. “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, [then] they would have had opportunity to return” (Heb.11:15).

 

Q1:  Have you made a once-for-all decision to identify with Jesus first? If not, how has that ambivalence impacted your choices? If yes, how has that decision impacted your confidence? Are you willing to make that commitment today?

 

Long ago I made the decision to find all of my identity in Jesus. Still, there are times when I get ‘worn down’ and ‘forget’ who I am. Just a few weeks ago I was in a hurry to get to a meeting when the car behind rear ended my car after I stopped. The driver and I exchanged phone numbers and I drove off so that I could get to the meeting on time since I was the speaker! Over the next few days I had friends work on the car so that the repair expense would be reduced before I called the other driver to discuss his financing the car repair. Boy was I surprised when I spoke with him!! He wasn’t the least bit grateful that I had reduced the bill from $1,500 to about $600. What was that about???? I was tempted to tell him I could be his worst nightmare... when the Holy Spirit reminded me of my identity.

 

We all get worn down through the experiences of our lives which is why it’s important for us to…

 

·        RENEW YOUR IDENTITY OFTEN!

 

During Bible times minted coins had the image of kings imprinted on them and was valued by their weight in gold. During money exchanges parties would look at the coin to see if the ‘image’ was still apparent because the lighter the image would indicated that gold had been rubbed off the coin, so it was ‘worth less’ or ‘value less’.

How often do we feel worthless and valueless?

 

“And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One.” (Dan.7:25).

Wearing us down is the enemy’s Modus Operandi. And he’s really good at it!!  When you begin to question your identity it’s time to set your heart to worship God. Worship is part of a ‘re-minting process’.

 

Q2:  Can you identify with feeling worthless or valueless?  Have you recognized Satan’s plan to rob you of your sense of value?

 

Q3: Worship as a ‘reminting process’? Isn’t this a great picture? Spending time in God’s presence imprints His spirit on ours -- not acts of service -- simply being with Him, letting Him love us, extending our love back to Him. Do you need to spend time with Him in order to recover your identity and sense of value?

 

Not only can life wear us down so that we forget our identity, there will also be times when people will come against us. During Daniel’s life jealous enemies influenced the Babylonian king to sign an edict that all in the kingdom would bow to him in worship. The penalty for refusing to support the edict? Death! Here Daniel’s commitment to his identity in God shines because his identity doesn’t change with the circumstances. “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed...he continued to pray on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God as he had been doing previously”(Dan.6:10). Can you sense Daniel’s spirit? He’s not simply on his knees praying, he’s ‘giving thanks’!!

 

It’s easy to wonder why Daniel had to suffer through this experience. When we read further in the Book of Daniel, we observe that Daniel was actually thrown into a den of lions for his refusal to bow to the Babylonian king.

 

Q4: Suffering. We don’t look forward to it, do we? But, if we are honest, when we do suffer (and that’s inevitable) don’t we want people who have suffered to be our comforters?  Why is this? Could it be because of the lessons they’ve learned? What does the fact that Daniel ‘gave thanks’ during this trial tell you about His spirit?

 

It’s likely that we all know people of excellent spirit who have had to suffer tragedy and injustice. Why is suffering often used to build a person’s spirit? I’ve learned that God knows He must prepare the student before giving the lesson, much like plowing ground before sowing seeds. The deeper the furrow, the more likely the seed will take root. Hearts prepared through suffering learn ‘lessons’ deeply. So like Daniel, if we are committed to developing an excellent spirit then we must…

 

 

2.  TRUST IN AND ACCEPT GOD’S WAYS.

 

Quite often God’s ways aren’t part of our agenda. His ways seem mysterious at times. But we have to commit our heart to following Him where He leads and TRUST His love for us. How can we know if we are truly trusting God during difficult times? How did Daniel respond to his trials? “Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials” (Dan.1:9). “...he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself” (Dan.1:8b).

 

·        DANIEL MAINTAINED A GRACIOUS SPIRIT.

 

He didn’t rant, rave, curse, or criticize. Quite the contrary, Daniel exampled an excellent spirit of graciousness. And through this gracious spirit he expressed his trust in God.

 

Q5: The barometer of our trust is God is the graciousness of our spirit? Take a few moments to sit before Jesus who loves you. Invite Him to shine His light into your heart. Ask Him, “Jesus, do I have a gracious spirit? Do you think I trust You?” Listen for His voice. Receive His love for you. Ask Him to identify barriers that keep you from trusting Him.

 

Once we commit to trust and accept God’s ways and therefore, trusting Him to develop an excellent spirit within us, we face the most difficult challenge of all. We, like Daniel, must…

 

 

3.  BE WILLING TO BE TESTED.

 

“Please test your servants for ten days, then let us be given some vegetables and water to drink, and then let our appearance be observed in your presence. So he listened to them and tested them...” (Dan.1:12-14).

 

Daniel was willing to be tested because he trusted God to care for him. Isn’t this amazing? Many of us cringe at the thought of requesting a ‘test’. That’s probably because we confuse the word ‘test’ with the word ‘tempt’. Remember God NEVER tempts us! That’s Satan’s effort. To understand the difference, let’s look at the origin of these two words. Consider an item handcrafted by a skilled carpenter. Once the item is completed the carpenter ‘tests’ it to see if it is ready for it’s intended use. On the other hand, if one of the carpenter’s competitors wants to discredit the carpenter’s craftsmanship, he’ll put pressure on the item that it was never meant to bear in order to cause it to break. That’s a picture of the word ‘tempt’.

 

Yet why does God allow us to be tested? Why is this so important to Him? Because He knows “...that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”(1Pet.1:7).

 

What’s more precious than our faith? The PROOF OF OUR FAITH! How will we know if we have faith if we’ve not been tested? God, our loving Father, wants us to know that we can trust Him! This proven faith brings confidence to face further test and strengthens our relationship with Him.