Walk...

The basic human need is for the presence of God so that we can feel loved, cared for and secure. Most Christians seldom or never realize God's presence personally. Perhaps sometimes they do in a big meeting, but not on a personal basis. Some get ZAPPED with the Holy Spirit at youth camps, retreats or in special services, but then they experience dryness when they get back to everyday life.

In Daniel chapter 6, Daniel was thrown into the lionâs den for disobeying the world ruler King Darius. I donât think that Daniel overly courageous; he must have experienced a certain amount of anxiety.

If we can find out why Daniel was delivered from his enemies without being destroyed, we can learn something.

Chapter 6 verse 21-22 gives us the answer. The king came to the lionâs den the next morning and called out to see if Daniel had survived.

ãDaniel answered, ÎO king, live for ever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.âä (Daniel 6:21,22).

Daniel attributed his survival in the face of those hungry lions to a word called innocent.

Daniel was ãinnocentä which in Hebrew is Zakah. The definition of Zakah is, to be translucent, innocent, clean, clear, pure; transparent, clean and pure. Being real, who you really are. No masks, no hidden motives, no desire to manipulate others.

Most people donât see the value in being honest with themselves, others and even God. But total honesty will always deliver us from our enemies and into Godâs loving hands and care.

Honesty and transparency kept him safe from the lions, and destroyed his enemies.

We need light, but men prefer darkness.

Darkness in the Bible always refers to dishonesty; light always means truth.

John 3:19-21 says, ãAnd this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be made known, that they have been worked in God.ä

God is Light; God is Truth, so... Light = Truth.

John had a special revelation of Jesus and the fact that He was truth and life. I John Chapter 1:1-10 says, ãThat which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us (the same that we have). And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete (in seeing you included in this fellowship) This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.ä

The above passage was written about 50 years after Jesus was crucified, and John talks about having fellowship with the same One that they used to touch with their hands.

Living in the light means opening up the depth of our souls, which includes our emotions. I believe that Daniel spent the night in the lionâs den telling God exactly how he felt. He brought to Him all his fears, sin and faith, and whatever else he was feeling.

Confession brings us into the light, but not ordinary confession.

We need to confess our real feelings and emotions.

Confession brings The Cross

1. We were damaged by sin; confession opens our hurts to God.

2. We have an emptiness; confession fills us with God.

3. We try to control our lives; confession puts our trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Confession begins in trusting a God you cannot see.

Colossians 1:25-27 says He is in you.

John 14 says He, the Holy Spirit is here taking Jesusâ place.

How can we trust anyone with our honest feelings?

Ephesians 2:4 says, ãBut God so rich is He in His Mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our own sins, He made us alive...ä God loves us. He wants us to be real no matter how bad we are. He puts all the bad on the Cross when we tell Him.

The Word says that we are filled with many things that are not Godly (Mark 7:20-23). Who would love us? We canât believe that God will accept us with all our bad stuff.

God justifies the wicked. Romans 4:5 says ãHowever, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.ä

In Isaiah 6 1-8 Isaiah was convicted of his sins and cleansed when he got into God's presence.

God does not bring guilt and shame, but conviction, love and healing. He washes us.

God is not a teacher testing our behavior and thinking; you cannot think your way to God.

God is the lover of our souls!!

Confession opens our eyes and brings The Cross and God's presence on the scene.

Now go through this list of emotions on the next page and tell God how you are really feeling.

ISOB Discipleship Training Manual. Larry Chkoreff (WALK) ( Truth-Zakah) 1999

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