Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar,

"Seven times will pass by for you until you
acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign
over the kingdoms of men and
gives them to anyone he wishes."
Daniel 4:32 NIV

Nebuchadnezzar said (after his season of
the insanity of pride),
"At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar
raised my eyes toward heaven,
and my sanity was restored.
Then I praised the Most High;
I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion
is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures
from generation to generation.

All the peoples of the earth are
regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with
the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.--
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: 'What have you done?'"

Daniel knew God.
He named Him "Most High" -
The God of Daniel was above
the highest power that dwelled on earth
and nothing had control of Him and
nothing could stop Him.

For Daniel, God was sovereign.
And because his God was sovereign,
that Divine Sovereignty began to appear in
Daniel's heathen world.
And amazingly . . . Daniel himself began to reign.

You the Bride- who are destined to rule -
will never reign with your Husband
unless you know the
God who is over all, controlling all.

A Sovereign God imparts a ruling life
to the one who will BE ruled.
And only to one who will be personally ruled.

Daniel was a young man in Israel when
God's judgment sent for Babylonian capture.
He was taken to Persia and began
his destiny as a slave in the king's palace.
Daniel's assessment: "The Lord delivered
(the king of Judah) in his (Nebuchadnezzar)
hand . . . ."

The Lord was above Daniel's circumstance.
The Lord was using a heathen tyrant for His
own just purpose.
And that God! Daniel knew.

Daniel began to rise in favor by the marvel
of his exceptional insight.
Wisdom is this: knowing that God is God.
He does as He pleases
despite humanity's disapproval.

        
Daniel came eventually to rule over
the kingdom of his Evil Captor!
By prayer, he gained the interpretation of the
king's troubled dream -
doing so, he gave ultimate credit to his God
keeping no honor to himself.

Daniel's God was the Only Real God
and he saw himself merely as a low instrument
under His imperial rule
in every,
in any
situation.

Humility is not a character quality
buried in humanity waiting to be awakened.
Humility issues from seeing Sovereignty,
from knowing who is God and
just how much
He is . . . God!
And who I am in contrast to that . . . .

When you know God as Ultimate Authority,
you automatically resign as pseudo-god
and bend your stiff neck to the Only King.
That alone is humility.
And Daniel had it: peculiar meekness
meshed with utter fearlessness.

Daniel lived under the specter of a Fearsome God
who could and did judge His own chosen people.
A God before whom to tremble.
Under such a Sovereign,
Daniel feared no little demigods.

Nebuchadnezzar had never seen such
wisdom into secrets, such "illumination"
and because Daniel acknowledged
his source as "God of heaven,"
Nebuchadnezzar bowed to Daniel's God.

When your God is as sovereign as His truly is,
you bring even heathens into the your living
knowledge of Him as sovereign.

Then Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel
and paid him honor and ordered that an offering
and incense be presented to him.

The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is
the God of gods and the Lord of kings
and a revealer of mysteries,
for you were able to reveal this mystery.
Daniel 2:46,47 NIV

Daniel's promotion began and continued.
Based on his knowing that
God governed despots,
enthroned Above and Over all the earth and
its pompous rulers.
Daniel's Real God was the Only King, and
he never ever bowed to nor feared
any lower monarch.

He was not defiant nor did he ever undermine
kings whose position and power
Daniel saw as directly ordained from God.
To cruel pagans Daniel gave
undeserved deference and
remarkable respect.

His courtesy and service were the fruit
of his concept of God as "Most High."

You can only accept your living injustice and
conquer its tyranny over you
when your personal God is "Most High."

Through two kings and
even in the reign of their enemy,
Daniel ruled.
He reigned as one of 200 wise men,
then he ruled as one of three
over the Babylonian kingdom,
empire that was his enemy!

Finally he held the sole position of
absolute authority in Babylon,
second only to Darius.

You will only rule and reign as you
are ruled and reigned-over by
the Only Sovereign,
the God that Daniel knew.

Daniel's dominion came from
his bowed knee three times a day,
every day, year after year,
surrendering his life and rights
to the God of All.

In the end, Daniel saw the Ancient of Days
and the Son of Man on the
Throne of Sovereignty in which he had believed
for so long without earth's evidence.

And to Daniel, this Absolute God shared
secrets of a distant future,
Sovereign Plans overriding
human thrones and garish schemes.
These wonders appeared to the trembling Daniel.

The Sovereign Lord delighted to capture
Daniel into His ultimate intimacy.
And He revealed to this
one who knew His Present Reign,
the Final Victory of His throne,
A vision which was hidden even from most
who bore His name but
vivid and actual to Daniel whose God was God!

Your own opportunity to sit with your Lord,
for eternal significance
as a vessel of His dominion,
all rests on your
concept of how much God really is . . . God.

And whether - as Daniel - you let Him
reign supremely and practically over you!

Then the sovereignty, the dominion and greatness
of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven
will be given to the people of the saints of
the Highest One; His kingdom will be
an everlasting kingdom, and
all the dominions will serve and obey Him.
Daniel 7:27 NASB
 

The saints who will be utterly ruled, will one day
reign by Him, in Him whose kingdom is
permanent and absolute.

Sovereignty is the test of life and
the invisible position of God.
His reign is at this time, in question as it
was in Daniel's day of pagan dominion.
It is for you to settle the issue.
How much is your God, God?

How you understand and serve
God's Ruling Throne now,
will set the permanent bounds of
your unending future.

You rule by being ruled.

Copyright © 2002 Martha Kilpatrick