It's NOT the end of the world!

SCRIPTURE

Daniel 8:15-27 (NRSV)
Signs of the end times

When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I tried to understand it. Then someone appeared standing before me, having the appearance of a man, and I heard a human voice by the Ulai, calling, "Gabriel, help this man understand the vision." So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I became frightened and fell prostrate. But he said to me, "Understand, O mortal, that the vision is for the time of the end."

As he was speaking to me, I fell into a trance, face to the ground; then he touched me and set me on my feet. He said, "Listen, and I will tell you what will take place later in the period of wrath; for it refers to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia. The male goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power.

At the end of their rule,
when the transgressions have reached their full measure,
a king of bold countenance shall arise,
skilled in intrigue.
He shall grow strong in power,
shall cause fearful destruction,
and shall succeed in what he does.
He shall destroy the powerful
and the people of the holy ones.
By his cunning
he shall make deceit prosper under his hand,
and in his own mind he shall be great.
Without warning he shall destroy many
and shall even rise up against the Prince of princes.
But he shall be broken, and not by human hands.

The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. As for you, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now."

So I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days; then I arose and went about the king's business. But I was dismayed by the vision and did not understand it.


DEVOTION

Today’s scripture speaks to me very profoundly. It reminds me of an expression I learned growing up in African American community. I used to hear the old folks say, “Trouble don’t last always.”

This expression is a reminder that although we may face hardship, pain, tears, terror, or injustice, it cannot last forever. The Bible has a similar expression. It says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5)!”

Now, I’m sure there are many of us who have gone to bed weeping and woken up weeping as well! (grin) So, I am sure that we know that this scripture does not always need to be interpreted to mean in one night and one day. Sometimes we have seasons of sadness, depression, or grief, but ultimately if we keep on living in the Light of God, our joy returns.

As I survey the newspaper, internet, television, and radio I am dismayed by how much transgression, destruction, cunning, and deceit is rampant in our world. As human beings we have great capacity to be lustful, greedy, envious, and prideful to our own detriment!

Furthermore, it is easy to look at the strong, powerful, rich, and influential people in our world, who are taking advantage of us “little folks” and feel very disempowered and small.

It would not be difficult to work ourselves into such a stew of dismay that we give up hope, but that would be very, very short-sighted.

Although there are many immoral and powerful people who abuse and take advantage of the weak, God is stronger than them all! Scripture promises that even the most vile, evil, and cunning amongst us will “be broken and not by human hands.”

God is at work in our world and God has great appreciation for people who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.

Jesus faced a lot of very smart, influential, and powerful adversaries. They did everything they could to discredit and destroy him. Ultimately, they falsely accused and executed him for crimes he did not commit. It looked like all hope was lost and that the “bad guys” had won.

But, early Sunday morning, God proved that “trouble don’t last always” and that even the power of the most evil one can be broken.

On that day, Jesus was resurrected with all power in his hands. He overcame sin, death, and the grave because God’s love chose to allow him to die on the cross, to save us from our sin, gift us with eternal life and raise him in victory!

As we put all of our hope in Jesus, we put all of our faith in God’s promise that better days are always on the horizon. Unless we look up into the sky and see Jesus’ feet descending, nothing that we are facing is the end of the world, my friends! (smile)

We can endure! We can overcome! We will emerge victorious!

As Christians we know that this is so because we live in the light of resurrection morning! We know that no-thing is impossible for God!

Today, let us look all of our troubles square in the face and tell them, “My God says, trouble don’t last always. I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus who loves me!”
Then let us step into our day with joy bells ringing. The best is yet to come!


INVITATION

If you would like to put all of your hope in Jesus today full of the assurance that trouble don’t last always, please pray with me:

God, sometimes my trouble seems so big and I feel so small. Please help me to know—and believe—that you are bigger than any trial that may befall me. I love you and I know that I am loved by you too! Thank you for allowing your Love to give Jesus to die on the cross to save me from my sin and gift me with eternal life. I believe that Jesus died and rose again on the third day! Please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I will be empowered to share your good news everywhere that I go. Thank you for making me a victor and not a victim! I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.


SPECIAL NOTE

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! Let me encourage you to tell a Christian friend that you just put all of your hope in Jesus. Ask him or her to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand and to find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your Christian journey!

I would be honored if you would let me know about your decision today by clicking "YES" in the poll located in the upper-right hand corner of the good news blog in answer to the question, "Did God save you today?"

Congratulations and Happy Re-birthday! Your salvation is our GOOD NEWS, please go and share the GOOD NEWS with others!

The Day of Restoration

SCRIPTURE

Daniel 8:1-14 (NRSV)
A vision of destructive power

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me at first. In the vision I was looking and saw myself in Susa the capital, in the province of Elam, and I was by the river Ulai. I looked up and saw a ram standing beside the river. It had two horns. Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second. I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. All beasts were powerless to withstand it, and no one could rescue from its power; it did as it pleased and became strong.

As I was watching, a male goat appeared from the west, coming across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a horn between its eyes. It came toward the ram with the two horns that I had seen standing beside the river, and it ran at it with savage force. I saw it approaching the ram. It was enraged against it and struck the ram, breaking its two horns. The ram did not have power to withstand it; it threw the ram down to the ground and trampled upon it, and there was no one who could rescue the ram from its power. Then the male goat grew exceedingly great; but at the height of its power, the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four prominent horns toward the four winds of heaven.

Out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the beautiful land. It grew as high as the host of heaven. It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars, and trampled on them. Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary. Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt offering; it cast truth to the ground, and kept prospering in what it did. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, "For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled?" And he answered him, "For two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state."


DEVOTION

I'm going to be honest with you, this prophesy from the book of Daniel is mysterious to me! As a Christian, I am willing to live with sacred mystery. I realized a long time ago that I am not able to understand all things having to do with God, for God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts.

Suffice it to say, there is going to come a judgment day in the future. When that day comes good will ultimately triumph over evil and God will reign supreme.

Now this pericope makes it clear that for a while, it will look like evil has won; but do not be fooled! We serve a God who is always victorious in every battle and we serve a savior who conquered sin, death, and the grave when he was resurrected on the third day with all power in His hands!

My favorite phrase from today is, "the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state."

There are a lot of things that need restoration in our world, lives, and relationships! Marriages are fractured, church families are torn asunder by disagreement, nations are at war with one another, personal finances are a mess, people live with addictions of every kind, and I could go on and on...

We are all in sore need of restoration! We desperately need God to put things back together again in our lives, communities, nation, and world.

Without God we will continue in the mess that we are in. Sin has put us in a terrible tailspin as each of us pursue our own agendas for greedy gain!

But, God knows our frame and has made provision for our sin to be forgiven, our relationship with God reconciled, and our lives to continue eternally, in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

When we put all of our hope in Jesus believing that He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we should ask or think, we open the door to true restoration in every area of our lives!

I don't know about you, but on a daily basis I need Jesus to fix me up! Today's scripture prophesies that all will be restored to its rightful place in God's perfect time and that gives me a certain peace that will allow me to endure any hardship that may befall me.

As I await that great day of reckoning, I will pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, Come!"

Do you need some restoration in your life? If so, please pray with me:

Holy One, my life is a mess and I really need your help. I've tried to fix things on my own, but I just can't do it. Will you please restore all that is broken? Today, I am putting all of my hope in you. Please forgive my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day. Please help me to share this good news with others, in Jesus' Name, Amen.


THE INVITATION

If you have questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, “Come to Jesus” @

http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html