FROM UNSHAKEN BY KIERSTEN TELZEROW

SHOW NOTES: I think it's about time to get into our devotional. It sure is. We are on day two of unshaken. Faithfulness is today's title, Day Two of Ten. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank.

Therefore, he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the side of the chief of eunuchs.
And the chief of eunuchs said to Daniel,
I fear for my Lord the king who assigned your food and your drink,
you would endanger my head with the king,
as he was explaining that he would look weaker. That wasn't the case.
Daniel was incredibly faithful to the Torah, God's word.

He wasn't just familiar with God's word, but rather he meditated on it day and night.
Therefore, according to verse eight in the amplified version,
Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile or taint or dishonor himself.
In other words, Daniel refused to compromise in areas he knew God wanted him to be faithful in. Very good. Yes. Indeed. Also in Joshua 1 8 in the ESV,
this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have good success.
And in Isaiah 55 9 it says,
Whereas the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways, higher than your ways, and my thoughts, than your thoughts. Yeah, I recite that one a lot in my mind. These actions are an example of Daniel being anchored in who's he was, like you pointed out yesterday. The verses echo similar words found in Isaiah 55 9 when God says,
My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
God's way is always best.

Short cuts delay the promised land.

Compromise in one area often means compromise in every area.
Defiling oneself always affects someone else.

Daniel was faithful from the start, regardless of the consequences,
and it resulted in a favor and a compassion towards him. So the question might be,
What daily rhythms help keep you connected and faithful to God?

Well, it is supposed to be a rhythm.
It's supposed to be part of your habits.

Yes, daily bread, daily, daily, daily. That's why the day is a cycle, right?
Sundown, that's one complete day. And if you don't do it now, just as Pastor talked about this last Sunday, just takes 21 days of consistency for you to start getting used to that habit.

That's right. So if you're not in God's word every day and you want to make that a habit,
just do it one day and then another day and then another day.
And 21 days, evidently, supposedly is the magic number.
And regardless of that number, it will become a good habit if we just become
consistent at it. Sometimes it takes years to get into that.

It did for us. Now, finally, it's here. And if you're just listening to this, just occasionally,
maybe just get into the habit of listening every day. Right. And that might help. Well, and I like the Bible app, the U version,
because if you sign up for a plan, it'll notify you every day.
Oh, by the way, you've got a devotion to do today. Exactly. Don't forget your devotion. Exactly. So the best thing to do would be
to sign up for this devotional that we have.

And then just go to U version to the app, sign up for the devotional,
and then get to day two for today.

And you can follow along. Yes. And then tomorrow will be day three and you can read it with us.

That'd be awesome.

What a great idea. Thank you to U version and the authors there for all the hard work that they do in providing this help with God's word. Lord, we thank you so much for this devotional.

We seek this faithfulness.

We seek this daily habit.

We seek to be unshaken as unshaken as Daniel was against such odds in so many different ways.

In this case against a king, in other cases against a lion, no Daniel took a stand. Yes. And he was rewarded for it. Lord, thank you for that faithfulness and the example that he provided.
And thank you for your faithfulness and providing your only son to die for us.So that we could have eternal life. Lord, we thank you, we realize the magnitude of your sacrifice.
Help us to be worthy to call you Lord.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.