Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 55 Why do we ask God for things? Read Daniel 9:14-19. So often, we come to God and we make requests. Our prayer time is full of the things that we want to see God do in our lives. This can be anything from healing sicknesses, helping out people, or any number of requests that we come to God with. Why do we come to God with our prayer requests? It has to be for more reasons than just because we know we should. Daniel explains here that the whole reason he is praying is not because he knows that he is worthy. He is…

Leasing Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 54 He told them so. Read Daniel 9:9-14. Most people don’t like hearing, “I told you so.” The idea that someone gave us an advance warning of what would happen that we didn’t pay attention to, and now our experiences and the consequences of really difficult to deal with. Daniel points out that that is exactly what has happened with the children of Israel. God told them what would happen if they didn’t obey. God had them write it down. God made everything very, very clear, and still they did not obey him. As a result, now they are experiencing all of the negative consequences…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 53 Corporate repentance. Read Daniel 9:4-8. While we may have a difficult time with the idea of repentance, the concept of corporate repentance is even more foreign to most of us. We struggle to take accountability and responsibility for our own wrongdoings, let alone being willing to collectively come together and admit our wrongdoing as a group. For an individualistic culture, like the United States where I am, this can be an especially difficult concept to grasp. In some other cultures, where they are more community minded and focused, this is still difficult, but maybe not as foreign of a concept. This prayer and Daniel’s…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 52 Saying you’re sorry. Read Daniel 9:1-3. So one really likes saying they’re sorry. We do it and we tell other people to do it because we know that’s what we’re supposed to do. But, the actual, genuine act of repentance, and telling that feeling to others, is not something that we lean toward or get excited about doing. True leaders understand power of repentance. They can genuinely and legitimately express their sorrow and repentance for things that they have done wrong. That is a powerful leadership characteristic and trait. While we all know that no one is perfect, we all like to pretend that…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 51 Worn out. Read Daniel 8:26-27. Have you ever felt worn out doing the work that God has for you? Yep, me too! I feel like there are so many times when I look at the work that God has for me and I think it looks overwhelming. Then once I’ve gone through and done the work, then I am amazed at how God has picked me up and led me through and sustained me during the work. Then afterwards, I am always astounded at how exhausted I am! I had the opportunity to go on two different mission trips this summer and while I…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 50 A sneak peak. Read Daniel 8:17-25. Gabriel has promised to tell Daniel what the vision means. Daniel is nervous, worried, and scared and yet God has indicated that Daniel needs to know this information. Gabriel begins to share, but he gives him this verse first, so that way Daniel realizes these are about things that are going to come about in the future. These are not necessarily things that are going to happen soon. Most of us like getting a sneak peek into the future. We like that process of understanding all that is going to happen. We feel like it gives us a…

Leading Through Challenging Circumstances, Day 49 The dramatic reveal. Read Daniel 8:13-16. I’ve seen several types of shows where, during the course of the show, a massive change or update has been made to something. At the very end, there’s this big, dramatic reveal, where they show the people all the work that’s been done. Everyone gets really excited. It’s about the incredible transformation that has happened. For Daniel, this is a similar situation in that there’s going to be a big reveal. Daniel has been terrified by what he has seen. He doesn’t know what to make of the information that he has received, or the vision that he…

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…