HEAVENLY INFLUENCE

[This week we return to our year-long journey through the book of Daniel]

Greetings church family!

Daniel 2:46-49 - Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown, worshiped Daniel, and gave orders to present an offering and incense to him. The king said to Daniel, “Your God is indeed God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many generous gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

One of my favorite memories of my college years was singing in a 12-man Christian a cappella group called In Unity. During my senior year, we were invited to do a 1-week concert tour in the country of Taiwan. What an exciting experience it was. Our first concert was at National Taiwan University, widely considered the most prestigious university in Taiwan.  

About an hour before we were schedule to sing, we met a couple of the top university officials. During our conversation, we shared with the officials that our music was Christian in focus, and also that our habit was to talk in between songs about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We wanted to make sure that this was OK, since our understanding was that most of the faculty and students there were either Buddhists or atheists. One of the officials (who was a Buddhist himself) expressed admiration for our devotion to our gospel convictions, and assured us it would be fine for us to do what we normally do during our concerts.

We finished the concert, met many of the faculty and students, sold a good amount of CD’s, and left there to continue the rest of our concert series. Two days later, our Taiwanese tour guide informed us that the same official we had spoke to before our first concert at NTU inquired if we would be willing to fit in a concert at a city council celebration near the end of our week-long tour. He specified that, normally, the protocol would be for us to show and just sing 3 or 4 songs. However, he gave us the green light to talk about Jesus as well, if we so chose. We did end up singing at that celebration, and we did so choose to talk about Jesus as well as sing about Him.

Merriem Webster defines influence as “the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.” We didn’t demand that the university official OK our desire to speak about Jesus during our concert. We simply asked if it would be OK. Through our first concert, the Holy Spirit allowed our influence to inspire the official to allow us to do something not normally allowed at the second venue.

Never underestimate the influence you can have when you are committed to loving and serving Jesus and others!

We see this type of influence (but even greater) in Daniel 2. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he can neither remember nor comprehend. His court mediums and magicians could not tell the king what his dream was nor what it meant. This infuriated the king, and he announced a death decree to all of them. In stepped Daniel. After praying to the Lord to receive the content and interpretation of the dream, Daniel shares these with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s ministry to the king had such an influence on him that Scripture says the king fell down and worshipped Daniel. Normally, subjects bowed to the earthly king. But on this occasion, there was a reversal of customs. In addition to this, Nebuchadnezzar recognized Daniel’s God as superior to the Babylonian gods, he showered Daniel with various gifts, and he promoted Daniel to chief governor of the province of Babylon!

When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will walk and talk with kingdom-of-heaven influence.  This divine influence reaches places argument alone cannot. It penetrates pride, unsettles false security, and awakens recognition of truth. Furthermore, this type of influence does not flow through self-promotion, but through faithful deference to the Almighty God. Remember, Daniel’s words to the king earlier in chapter 2 were “...No wise man, medium, magician, or diviner is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about. But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days” (Daniel 2:27-28).

So church family, wherever you find yourself, you are not there by accident. Your faithfulness matters more than your platform. Your dependence on God matters more than your credentials.

Because when God chooses to reveal Himself, even the most unlikely people—kings, leaders, skeptics—may find themselves doing the unthinkable: bowing in recognition that there is a God in heaven who truly reigns.

Blessings

Pastor Chris