When will you be heard?
Daniel 1:14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.”
Being heard…..
You would be heard and people will
Stand to listen to you, when you have
Earned their respect and trust through your
Good deeds, hard work and character.
So work on that rather than fuss about
People ignoring you!
A) DANIEL: When Daniel a young Hebrew slave in a Babylonian palace, spoke to his supervisor, the overseer stood and listened! Wow, I liked that portion and I started studying more about being heard…..Daniel earned that respect, admiration, good name and favor through his good and godly conduct during his tenure in the palace. Remember you are watched! Your talk has to be your walk!
Let me tell you Daniel lived among pagan idol worshipers in Babylon and also his work in the palace involved mixing with the royal people; therefore , he was surrounded by worldly people of all kind. Moreover, Daniel was young, handsome, skilled, brilliant, intelligent and with good character, he was a heart throb who cannot be missed. There are men with 6 pac muscles, tall and handsome; yet, they lack brains but Daniel had it all, he was a complete package; however, he conducted himself in a godly manner inside the palace. God watched Daniel’s behavior and granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials. (Daniel 1:9)
Remember your attitude, your behavior are watched and reported to the HR, don’t you think they don’t know anything., there are eyes watching even your Facebook postings and your Whatsapp DP. Everything directly reflects your character, dumb people have dumb positings, out of the abundance of your heart your mouth speaks.(Luke 6:45) In the above scripture we read that the overseer ‘listened ‘ to all that Daniel had to say and agreed. What did Daniel say? Daniel said that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine but asked the supervisor permission to eat only vegetables and water to drink. This was no insignificant matter, the supervisor was risking his life by agreeing to Daniel.
I was kind of amazed by the reputation that Daniel had mustered for himself, how about you? If you are a Christian, people would stand and listen to us only when they respect us. If you guffaw and laugh at dirty jokes, proud, arrogant, unkind, mean-spirited, stingy and cranky nobody would want to stand and listen to the Gospel we would like to share. We need to first start working on ourselves to start with……
B) God listened to Abraham:” but Abraham remained standing before the LORD!”
Wow, look at the way Abraham stood before the Lord! It was just Abraham and God! This is just too much to write….I had preached this sermon in the Church in the morning service and the anointing is still running all over me even after I left the pulpit. I started typing on my laptop….here I am unable to continue…
Listen, God called Abraham His friend, so here are two friends standing in front of each other with no one around. Abraham made use of this (golden) opportunity, he did not immediately ask God for a BMW or a sea facing Bungalow, Abraham asked, Genesis 18: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?(verse23) This plea comes after Abraham treating God with a feast at his home along with his wife, he said: "My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by.” Then ‘he hurried and ran’ are the words used in the Bible to describe the way he was preparing food for God and the angels.
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes."
7 Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.”
All of your efforts are noted by God! After the meal, God now fully satisfied by the wholehearted love of Abraham and Sarah stood and listened to Abraham. Did you get it now? Moreover God would stand and listen to a man when his request is not about himself but for the nation.
