Do not bow to your situation
It is unpleasant to go through tough situations, but one thing that we have to keep in mind is that they are good for our spiritual growth. In our daily lives, we need enemies who will persecute us, because when we are persecuted and in pain, we pray more and we get closer to God. Our enemies cause us to pray without ceasing and also to reach our full God-given destiny. Our enemies push us to becoming prayer warriors and cause us to rise into a higher spiritual levels.
In Daniel 3: 1-4, we learn of King Nebuchadnezzar who ordered that a huge gold statue should be erected in the city of Babylon where the people of Judah were kept captive. Everyone in the landwas ordered to bow down and worship the statue every time they heard the music played with various kinds of musical instruments. Anyone who refused to bow down and worship the statue would be tied up and thrown in a flaming furnace.
It’s like many of us here, we are also faced with various music, played by various kinds of situations like poverty, debts, sickness and diseases, marital problems. When this music plays, we are expected to change the way we live our lives. In other words, we are expected to bow down. I want to tell you that you don’t have to bow. The music of your situation should not dictate how you should live your life and how you should pray.
When you bow down to the music of your situation, your situation determines your prayer. Instead of focusing on God when you pray, you end up focusing on your situation. I want to encourage you to listen and dance to the music given by God through His Word and His Spirit. When you bow to the music of God, your life becomes ordered by God.
In Daniel 3, we also learn of the three Hebrew men who have proven that focusing on God even during a period of life and death, is rewarding. They refused to bow down to the erected statue because they knew that they serve a Living of God. These men refused to bow to the statue even when they were faced with death trough the flaming furnace.
King Nebuchadnezzar represents the demons or spirits which want you to bow to difficult situations. There are demons which will enter you and challenge your position at work, they will challenge your health, and they will even challenge your marriage. Therefore, the storms or situations in your lives, brought about by demons and spirits, are there to make you miss your destiny. This is why I’m saying you must refuse to bow to your situation. No matter how difficult it is, stand your ground and keep your focus on God.
The Bible says when the music played, the three Hebrew men, did not bow down and worship the statues as it was ordered by the king. They could not bow to statue because they knew their position. It is unfortunate to find Christians bowing down to their situations because they do not know their position. I am telling you that when you know what your position is in God, you will not bow to your situation.
When you know your position in God, and you are trusting God to see you through your situation, no demon will stand before you. Your situation can cause you to loose friends or your loved ones, you can be scorned and criticised for not engaging worldly ways to try to resolve your situation, but do not bow to that situation. Be like Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego who said they would rather lose their high positions in the land of Babylon, rather than bow to a statue.
The Bible says that the three Hebrew men were tied up by strong men and the furnace was increased to be seven times hot. Even at this point, they still did not bow to the statue, they said “we know that our God is able to rescue us from the flaming furnice, but even if He does not rescue us, we will not bow to the statue”, and they were thrown into the flaming furnace. But when they were inside the furnace, they were joined by the third person which the Bible says that “the fourth is like a god”.
I want to assure you today that in whatever situation you find yourself, you are not alone. God will send His Angels to protect you, you will come out of that situation unharmed. You must just refuse to bow to that situation. Just like the Bible declares in Isaiah 43:3 (When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze), it shall be so in your life. The fire that you are going through shall never set you ablaze, because you are not alone in that fire. You are going through that fire with Jesus Christ, who has promised to “never leave us nor forsake us”.
The Bible also tells us that the soldiers who threw the Hebrew men in the flaming furnace were consumed by the flames of the fire and they died. It’s like you, those who are plotting to kill you, will die. Not because you pray “back to sender prayers”, but the same death that they are plotting for you, when it fails to kill you because God is with you, it will kill them.
The 3 Hebrew men never defended themselves when they stood before the king. They never disrespected the king, but they stood their ground and refused to bow to the statue of the king. Some of you, when you refuse to bow to your situation, you also disrespect those in authority. I want to tell you that you do not have to disrespect authority in order to refuse to bow, but give the matter to God so that He can defend you.
The problem with us Christians today is that we want to defend ourselves, even when it’s not necessary. When people attack you, do not become disrespectful. You must still maintain your integrity and your respect to you accusers or persecutors even if you know that you did nothing wrong. Even in the middle of insults and curses towards you, treat people with the respect .
I am appealing to you my children. Do not bow to your situation. The attacks that you receive will result in your promotion. Look at Daniel, who was cast into the den of the lions. The angel of the Lord was also with him and it closed the mouths of the lions. And so it shall be in your lives as well. The lions which seeks to devour you, will not achieve their mission, because God has “given His angels charge over you, to protect you and keep you in all your ways” – Psalm 91:11-12.
Whatever situation you come across, however difficult it maybe, refuse to bow to that situation, keep your focus on God, and He will see you trough that situation.
May God bless His Word.