Kristi Burchfiel

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 48 Another vision about rebellious people. Read Daniel 8:1-12. Daniel has just finished a vision in chapter 7 and here starting chapter 8, we see a second vision. Interestingly, this vision also occurs during the time when king Belshazar was king, during the time when the king is so far from God. But Daniel continues to receive word from the Lord through visions. In this vision, as Daniel is seeing these animals with their horns and their leaders, he understands that part of this judgment is on people who follow God because they have been rebellious. As we are seeking the Lord ourselves, we can…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 47 Leading while being concerned. Read Daniel 7:28. At the end of this vision and even though he has received the interpretation from God, Daniel is still really bothered by what he has seen. It can be really hard to know difficult news or troubling information, and still be able to lead effectively. There is a balance between making sure people have the information they need, and keep thing motivated and focused. Being able to maintain the integrity of the information we have to make sure that we are sharing, but not oversharing is a leadership skill. Daniel made the decision that this information wouldn’t…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 46 The kingdoms. Read Daniel 7:16-27. As Daniel has had this vision, he doesn’t immediately know or understand what it means. The vision includes some ideas that are a little odd and troubling. Daniel goes straight to God. He knew that God gave him a vision in the first place, and that God can give him the answer and the interpretation. Daniel asks God to provide that. As God is sharing with Daniel what this vision means, Daniel understood that God is sharing with him multiple different kingdoms that are going to rule and what will happen to them. God is not leaving Daniel out…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 45 Seeing Jesus Christ. Read Daniel 7:13-14. Often, I have heard individuals who talk about the fact that Jesus Christ isn’t mentioned in the Old Testament. And while it is true that historically, Jesus Christ did not live on earth during the time frame of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is God and as God, he exists throughout all time. We see him depicted in many ways in the Old Testament. Today, we see one reference to him. Daniel sees a vision of the Son of Man coming before the Ancient of Days and receiving all glory and honor and power. He will be over…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 44 The Ancient of Days. Read Daniel 7:9-12. I’ve always been struck by this name for God: the Ancient of Days. It’s an unusual name that can be challenging to really even understand. When we recognize that God is Creator, we know that he is ancient and old beyond all things. He’s outside of time. He created time itself, so while he is exceedingly ancient, he is also tremendously new. Referencing the Ancient of Days, it’s a reminder of the all expansiveness of God. We cannot measure God. We cannot put God in a box and define him. God has been, currently is, and always…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 43 Messages in the midst of darkness. Read Daniel 7:1-8. Starting Daniel chapter 7, we understand that we are not moving directly through time. This chapter happens chronologically, before Daniel ends up in the lions den. It even happens before the handwriting on the wall that we saw earlier in Daniel chapter 5. This chapter takes place during the reign of the king who ultimately saw the hand writing on the wall. That’s an important fact to keep in mind because as we were reading that chapter, we saw just how godless the people had become at that time. That king had no interest in…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 42 Share with everyone! Read Daniel 6:25-28. Daniel has been saved. Those who accused him have been punished. The king completely and fully believes in God. The only thing that’s left is to share that message with everyone. The king issues a command and a decree and sends it out to his entire kingdom. He details what God has done and how God has moved through the life of Daniel. When God works and moves in our life, who do we tell? How widely do we share that message? God does tremendous and amazing acts in our life every single day and we have a…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 41 The repercussions. Read Daniel 6:23-24. We’ve all had that moment. That moment where someone does something vengeful, or spiteful and really hurts us and makes us angry. We want to see them destroyed. We want revenge. It can be completely natural to feel that way. However, as followers of Jesus Christ, what comes natural shouldn’t be what we focus on. We need what comes from the divine. Daniel didn’t seek the destruction of the people who tried to destroy him. There were consequences to these men who had deceived the king. It wasn’t Daniel, who told the king to destroy them, the king made…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 40 I’m innocent. Read Daniel 6:21-22. The night is over and now the king rushes back to find out if Daniel is okay. Daniel knew he had not betrayed the king. The king knew he had not betrayed him. But he had created that law, and even the king had to obey his law. Here we see Daniel letting the king know that he was okay. But more than that, Daniel wants to make sure he knows that the reason he was okay is because he was innocent. God knew that Daniel had not done anything wrong, and as a result God spared Daniel. Our…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 49 Did it work? Read Daniel 6:17-20. The first time we ever tried something, there’s always that moment of doubt. Did it really work? Did things do what we thought they were going to do? The king had prayed to God probably for the first time, asking that God would spare Daniel. Now, the moment of truth has come. The king isn’t sure what happened, but needs to know how God answered his prayer. The Bible explains that we come to God by faith, but that faith is never completely developed instantaneously. Faith is developed in stages. We start with relatively small faith wondering if…