"The Go To Guy Of His Time"

"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 5:14
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I don't know about you but I love this verse and every time I read it, it makes me hope and pray that I too would have such a witness from those that my life touches. One of my heart's desire is to have a testimony that reaches out to the people in my life that don't know that His love for them is real.

I find it inspiring because of the fact that these words were spoken to Daniel, by Belshazzar, a heathen king, just after Daniel was summoned to help him. A hand had appeared and had written a message on the wall at the king's great feast and none of the king's 'wise men of Babylon' were able to give him the interpretation of the message.

Daniel, because 'the Spirit of God was in him' was of course able to interpret the message for him! Daniel's reputation was such that when 'the incredible' happened and an explanation was needed he was the one they turned to. Why? He wasn't one of them. He served a different God. He kept himself apart from them and diligently stuck to serving his God and his God alone. Still when they needed help he was the one they sought out. Why? This verse says it all. Because the Spirit of God was in him and where the Holy Spirit is, light, understanding, and excellent wisdom can also be found!

Take a look at the meanings of these spiritual qualities according to the Strong's Concordance: light is from - 5094 - and it means; illumination. Understanding is from - 7924 -and it means; intelligence; prim. root word meaning - to be (cause make or act) circumspect and hence intelligent. Excellent is from- 3493 - and it s meaning is; preeminent - from prom. root word meaning - to jut over or exceed; by implication to excel. And the word wisdom is from - 2452 - and its meaning is wisdom; a prim root - to be wise (i.e. intelligent, skillful, or artful) Sounds like a pretty impressive reputation to have!

I don't know about you but being the one unsaved friends and family turn to for help, or rather illumination in times of trouble sounds like the perfect opportunity to share the love of God to me. The thing is Daniel didn't seek after the reputation. It was the result of something pretty significant. It was the result of his surrender to the Spirit of God in his life. It was the result of a young man who was 'hard after God' and God alone! When he was captured and brought to this foreign land he was determined to bring God with him. He didn't turn on God! He didn't blame him for the situation he found himself in, but instead it says that 'he purposed in his heart to not be defiled' in other words to not compromise his dedication to the purposes of God in his life. Instead he trusted God to be in this new land with him and judging by the king's statement, and Oh yeah, the fact that the lion's didn't eat him, it is pretty safe to make the assumption that the Spirit of God stayed with him.

Daniel's reputation as a man that God revealed himself to was the result of a young man's 'purposing in his heart that he would not defile himself'. Daniel 1:8  His reputation was a result of his dedication to his determination to not defile himself  but to keep his heart right and his life clean as he surrendered and submitted it to the Spirit of God. No matter what he encountered in the Babylonian kingdom he was determined even from the beginning of his time there to keep God with him at the very center of each and every word and deed he performed. And, and this is a big and, because of this His love for God showed in every thing he did and he gained a reputation that made him the 'go to guy' in times of need because people saw and knew that the Spirit of God was in him. There was no doubt that light and understanding and excellent wisdom were found in him.

How about you and I as His representatives in the world today? Are we the go to guy in the lives of family, friends, and co-workers? Are we truly His ambassadors in the world today? Are we determined enough not compromise our faith but to instead simply pursue His holiness in our lives?

Do people see that the Spirit of God is in us, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in us? Have we, like Daniel, purposed or as the word really means; have we put it in our hearts to pursue God and God alone? Can it be said that we are we the 'go to guy' for our generation?