Act On These!

Dan.1:⁴ “Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said. “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.”

The king’s criteria for service tells us how committed the world is to excellence. However, even though Daniel and his friends possessed all these qualities, they were not put into the royal service immediately. They were trained for another three years. Take the Choir in God’s Favourite House for example. We have a standard process for people seeking to join that unit. They go through auditioning, then they have to take New Creation Reality classes. They have to do the Journey classes and then wait for about six months before they get to minister on the altar. I am directly in charge of the choir, so you can imagine the fire and the refining they have to go through. Roughly seventy percent of people that start, do not make it to the altar to minister.

Even as a church, we insist that everyone goes through the Journey. You are gifted, talented, and anointed – praise God! But you still have to do the Journey; you still have to submit yourself to the process. If the people of the world do not compromise on excellence then why should the Kingdom, why should we? How important is excellence to you, when you are recruiting people into your multimillion-dollar organization [say amen]? What do you look for in people that you recruit? Must the person be a Christian? It is interesting that Nebuchadnezzar wanted people for his royal service, but he was not tribalistic or religion centric. He chose the best from even God’s people, but he did not stop there which is where average people usually stop. He changed their names and then brainwashed, indoctrinated and fed them for three years.

By the time they entered the royal service, most of them had lost their identity, apart from Daniel and his friends. I believe the king employed more than four Jews, but the rest took on the Babylonian identity happily. Bearing the name, and in their opinion, living prestigious lives. They probably felt fortunate, favoured to eat from the kings table. Even though Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king, there is so much to learn from him and that is why we are pointing these things out. We have to come up with systems, come up with processes, documented ways of doing things whether in business or in home-making. You have to train your people, indoctrinate them. Train your domestic staff to do things the way you would do them. The king said, “Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon.” Does your home have its own language and culture?

Prayer: Lord, help me put into practice all that You have taught me today and let Your Name be glorified in the fruits that proceed from my time with You today, in Jesus Name. Amen!