Lesson 212 – When the Spirit Is Known in You

Daniel 4:8-9

"But at last Daniel came before me (his name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god; in him is the Spirit of the Holy God), and I told the dream before him, saying: 'Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the Spirit of the Holy God is in you, and no secret troubles you, explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation."

Can you imagine being abducted from your family as a teen, then raised in a foreign land, made to learn new customs and language, and forced to work for a foreign government for the rest of your life? Daniel and others lived out this reality when they were taken from their homes when Babylon invaded Israel. And in spite of this almost unimaginable circumstance, our text tells us that even the king of Babylon noticed something different about Daniel--that the Spirit's touch was upon him.

As the church of Jesus Christ, we claim the truth of God's Word that the Spirit lives within the heart of the believer. But how many of us live in such a way that even those in power notice the Spirit within us? Probably not many in the church today can make this claim, though God wants to shine his light through us to a world of darkness.

While our life circumstances probably won't be as dire as that of Daniel, if we will live out each day in the reality of the Spirit's presence, our lives will reflect God's glory. In Daniel's case, the king knew about the Spirit because Daniel had undoubtedly told him about God's presence, possibly when after God helped him interpret an earlier dream. And it's the same with us. As we live for Christ and the Spirit shines through us, we still need to say the name of Jesus. People need to know why we are as we are in Christ.

Our sharing the Spirit with others simply begins with obedience to commands of Christ as outlined for us in the New Testament. Jesus lays out a way of living which gets the attention of others as we share God's love. Jesus often contrasted the attitudes of the heart to the ways of the world, he showed us sacrificial love, and gave us the Spirit to guide us in daily life until his return. We've got what we need to live in such a way as to make the Spirit known.

Unfortunately, Satan has convinced pretty much all of us that we don't have the right to speak of the Jesus anymore. We're afraid we'll step on someone else's sensibilities, so we've simply quit shining Christ's love. It's not time for the church to turn this around.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for presence of your Spirit in the church today, and pray that in my life I will live in obedience to your word and will, and ask you will bless me in a way that will draw others to you. Amen.

(see also Daniel 5:11, 14)