TPJ14 | Giving Up Lesser For Greater | 1.22.23

What lesser things do you need to give up in order to receive something greater from God?

We need to be creating space in our lives for God to do his work.

Welcome to the Prodigal Journey, where we celebrate Christ's power through our weakness.

And thank you for joining us on this episode.

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All right, on this episode, I want to talk about some things from Daniel chapter 10.

We are currently going through Daniel at our church.

So this is a shorter episode about some things that stood out to me in this teaching.

I'll do this type of episode from time to time, just on some things from maybe a recent message or I've heard on Scripture that God is revealing, using to reveal more of himself to me.

So the first verse I want to read in Daniel is Daniel 10, verse 3.

And it says, at that time I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine, crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

The question I want to ask you from this verse, and one thing that was challenged to us during the message a couple weeks ago from this passage was, what lesser things do you need to give up in order to receive something greater from God?

Let me ask that again.

What lesser things do you need to give up in order to receive something greater from God?

Now, the things that Daniel gives up in this passage are not things that are sinful in themselves, or there's no indication that those things had taken a place of idolatry in his life.

He just chooses to give up some lesser things in his life to receive something greater from God.

Now, this for me is very hard.

My wife and I were talking about this the other day, and the things that we are involved in currently are all church things.

But we are only, you know, serving in two main things.

And we're not involved more than really two nights a week.

So we're not really overextending ourselves.

So for me, I have a hard time figuring out what it is that I need to give up or forgo in order to receive something greater from God.

And maybe it's not something that I'm doing that I need to give up.

It could be an attitude or a posture of my heart that I need to give up in order to receive something greater.

That is also something I could pray about because I have been learning to say no more often to opportunities to serve just to make sure I'm not over committing to things because I do have a hard time telling people no, because I do want to serve in any way I can.

But that can become unhealthy if you're not careful.

So I have been praying about what it would look like for me to give up something lesser in order to receive something greater from God.

Now this doesn't necessarily necessarily mean receiving something physical from God, as in he will give us something material.

It could be focusing more on receiving something spiritual from God.

And we need to be creating space in our lives for God to do his work.

So the question again, is there something you can identify in your life that you need to give up for a season in order to make space for God to work?

Couple other verses I want to look at first verses 10 and 11 say, just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.

And the man said to me, daniel, you are very precious to God.

So listen carefully to what I have to say to you.

Stand up, for I have been sent to you.

When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

And then verse 19 says, don't be afraid.

He said, for you are very precious to God.

Peace be encouraged, be strong.

And he spoke these words to me.

As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, please speak to me my Lord, for you have strengthened me.

Now here Daniel is told several times, you are very precious to God.

So listen carefully.

He is told, don't be afraid, for you are precious to God.

Peace, be encouraged, be strong.

So my question to us today is, are you doing things to receive affirmation from others?

Or are you doing things because you are resting in the affirmation that God has given you as his child?

Sometimes our motivation for doing things or serving in certain ways can be in order to receive affirmation from other people.

Because we all want to know that we are doing a good job.

And many times we place our value in how others respond to us.

But what if we started using the affirmation that God gives us as his children in order to motivate us on to do greater things for the kingdom what if we find our value from God's affirmation as his children?

That's something to think about.

And one thing that was challenged in the message.

The speaker said affirmation should be the beginning of our work, not the end.

Affirmation should give us the motivation and the strength we need to move forward.

So just a couple questions to close out this challenge from these verses.

In what ways are you seeking affirmation from others to find your value?

And the other question what needs to change in your thinking and behavior to show that you are finding your value in God's affirmation of you as his child?

Now, if you missed those questions or didn't get a chance to write them down, you can go back and listen to those questions.

We will also include those in the show notes as well for you to be able to see them visually.

So I would love to hear from you.

I would love to hear how would you answer some of these questions or how has this episode or these verses been helpful for you?

Correct?

Go ahead and send me an email.

Bentheprodigaljourney.com that's Benheprodigaljourney.Com thanks for tuning in to the Prodigal Journey where we celebrate Christ's power through our weakness.

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Also, if you'd like to reach out, you can reach me ben@theprodigaljourney.com that's Ben@theprodigaljourney dot com Tune in next time to the Prodigal Journey.

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