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“So this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some strength of iron in it…partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle…so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united any more than iron mixes with clay”   (Daniel 2:41-43).

Daniel was interpreting the King’s dream of a statue that was gold at the top, then silver, bronze and finally iron and clay. One well placed rock broke it and it crumbled. He was prophesying about Babylon, but it seems the description fits our country, doesn’t it? We were founded one nation under God, but no longer.

It was once a golden nation. A nation founded on the God-given rights of all men created equal in the sight of the Creator, each of value and worth.  Of course, that was the ideal- slavery, indentured servitude, the east coast work houses, the mistreatment of the native Indians, the lawlessness of the Wild West was the reality. Still our country remained a beacon. Churches were the center of town life. Freedom rang.

Now as our legislature has made God unpopular and banned Him from our schools and His principles are no longer taught, we are a nation divided.  We are partly strong, yet our morals, our economy and our  ethics are crumbling like clay. God’s remnant is the iron. We hold these truths to be self evident – in God we will continue to trust. Our God will provide and protect His people:

- If we pray and return to Him.

-  If we continue in our homes to teach our children of His power and promises, of His grace and our sinfulness.

-  If we continue to treat people with love and dignity and reach out to be His hands and feet and teach our kids to do so also.

-  If we teach them that honesty is the best policy and confession is good for the soul.

Then, they receive Christ as their Savior.

Jesus said He was not interceding for the world, only those the Father had given to His care. (John 17:9) As believers, we are the children of the King destined for the streets of gold. Our children will see the path we are headed down and eventually make the decision to follow long after they demand we let go of their hand and claim independence. Proverbs promises if we teach them God’s way when they are young, they will return to Him.

Mothers, as the old song from Crosby Stills and Nash says, remember to teach your children well. Grandmothers, aunts, bigger sisters- you are not exempt. If you are not teaching the children you know about Jesus, who is going to?

One home school mother I know bought wallets from the dollar store. She and her kids put religious tracks  and numbers to call for financial assistance in them, then dropped them in parking lots near stores and watched  to see if people would snatch them up, or turn them in. What did her kids learn? One, some people are not honest. They are greedy. Two, Jesus loves them, too and we need to help them discover who He is. Great lessons, right?

Question: What children in your life could use a lesson about Jesus’ love? How can you demonstrate that to them?

Feeling pressure to be perfect? We can pray for you.

As a mom, I sometimes wish for simpler days when I had one thing to do. The multiple duties of motherhood constantly fragment my attention. There is the need to teach, to discipline and encourage my children; to organize schedules, to drive and volunteer; to cook and clean; to study, to write and lead. In the midst of the urgent, it is easy to lose sight of what is important.

It isn’t just my problem. We all get distracted; we all forget what matters most.

That is why I love God’s promise to Jeremiah:

“They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:38, 39).

Because the people of Judah had forgotten God’s commands and followed other gods, God sent Babylon to destroy their nation and take the people into exile. God stripped away the outside stuff of their lives, so that they would be able to focus on Him alone.

But in the middle of their trouble, God promised to give them singleness of heart and action. He promised to be their God. God Himself would give them the ability to fix their attention solely on Him.

He will do the same for us if we ask Him.

Great and Awesome God, give me a singleness of heart and action so that I will always fear You. Teach me to walk in Your ways and focus on You alone.

Questions: Is it difficult for you to focus on God alone? Why? How does it help to know that God is the one who gives us singleness of heart and action?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”  (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV)

I love meeting people who are not highly educated, but have found a wisdom higher than the world’s wisdom.  You know in meeting them that somehow they have found a sort of hideout with God where He reveals to them His secrets.  Somehow, they have understood that God’s ways and His thoughts are higher and so much better, able to overshadow any wisdom of the world.  The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.

Daniel acknowledged God as the revealer of deep and secret things.  He sought mercies from the God of heaven and King Nebuchadnezzar ‘s dream was revealed to Daniel in a vision.  I love how he acknowledged that the secret was not revealed to him because he had more wisdom than anyone living!

What’s amazing is that when Daniel revealed this secret, it persuaded King Nebuchadnezzar, and caused him to fall prostate declaring that Daniel’s God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.  He then promoted Daniel, gave him gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

I can only imagine how those that didn’t worship the God of Daniel must have thought about him being their overseer.  The magicians, sorcerers and astrologers couldn’t tell the King a thing.  They had nothing to offer, but Daniel could.   It wasn’t because Daniel had more knowledge, or more education that he was promoted.  It was because he acknowledged God as merciful and went to Him for the answers.

I believe this is a perfect picture of what God is doing throughout the earth.  He is raising up those that have spent time in the secret place with Himself; those that have humbled themselves before Him, knowing that it is only by God and through placing their hearts before Him that they have anything of value to offer.  It is in spending time with Him in His chambers, in His presence that He will share with us things that have not yet been revealed; ideas, cures of diseases and ways to even transform nations.

It is encouraging to me to know that “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-28, NIV).

Know that as you spend time with Him, He will share with you His secrets and reveal to you deep things.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for Your mercies and Your grace upon my life.  Thank you that it is You that I can come to for the answers and You alone that will bring me true fulfillment and satisfaction.  I want to know You more and spend more time with You in Your Presence.  Come and dwell deeper within me.  I love You Lord.

Questions: Are you spending time with the Lord and drawing closer to Him?

About the Author Brigitte Straub

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

I often look back on my university days with fond memories. Although the workload was heavy, I didn’t mind final exams. No more classes or assignments, no expectations placed on me but one alone – to study. I reveled in the singular focus.

As a mom, I sometimes wish for simpler days when I had one thing to do. The multiple duties of motherhood constantly fragment my attention. There is the need to teach, to discipline and encourage my children; to organize schedules, to drive and volunteer; to cook and clean; to study, to write and lead. In the midst of the urgent, it is easy to lose sight of what is important.

It isn’t just my problem. We all get distracted; we all forget what matters most.

That is why I love God’s promise to Jeremiah:

“They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:38, 39).

Because the people of Judah had forgotten God’s commands and followed other gods, God sent Babylon to destroy their nation and take the people into exile. God stripped away the outside stuff of their lives, so that they would be able to focus on Him alone.

But in the middle of their trouble, God promised to give them singleness of heart and action. He promised to be their God. God Himself would give them the ability to fix their attention solely on Him.

He will do the same for us if we ask Him.

Great and Awesome God, give me a singleness of heart and action so that I will always fear You. Teach me to walk in Your ways and focus on You alone.

Questions: Is it difficult for you to focus on God alone? Why? How does it help to know that God is the one who gives us singleness of heart and action?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

Daily audio podcast: Today’s daily devotional, Singleness of Heart and Action, read aloud on the Men’s Devotional Blog

Have you ever stopped to realize how many of God’s special people had lowly backgrounds?  Consider the following:
Joseph was a slave and prisoner.
Moses and David were shepherds.
Esther and Daniel were displaced persons of a despised race.
Joseph was a carpenter, and Mary a small-town girl.
Simeon and Anna were little-known prophets.
Peter, James, and John were fishermen.
Dorcas was a seamstress.

Because these people put God first in their lives, consider how God raised them up and used them:
Joseph became second to the Pharoah in ruling Egypt (Genesis 41:40-41).
Moses and David became rulers of Israel (Exodus 3:9-11; 1 Samuel 16:1, 11-13).
Daniel became prime minister of Babylon (Daniel 2:47-49).
Esther became queen of Persia and saved God’s people from extermination (Esther 8).
Joseph the carpenter was chosen to be the “stepfather” of the Son of God;     Mary was His mother (Luke 1:26-35).

Simeon and Anna were used of God to prophesy over the baby Jesus and proclaim who He was and what He came to earth to do (Luke 2:25-38).

Peter, James, and John became Jesus’ foremost disciples and intimate friends.  Peter and John wrote books of the Bible by inspiration of God (Matthew 17:1-3).

Dorcas was raised from the dead; many came to Christ because of this (Acts 9:36-42).

And then there was Jesus.  Although He was the Son of God, He was born in the lowliest of circumstances, in a manger, to a couple with little money.  There was neither fine hospital nor worldly acclaim such as given when a prince is born in England.  Only humble shepherds knelt by His manger to give Him homage.

Philippians 2:5-7 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

When God came as a man, He lived in no great palace as other kings do.  Instead, He said the foxes have holes and the birds nests, but He had no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20).

Then He gave Himself into the hands of His enemies to be viciously lashed, mocked, and spit upon.  He let them nail Him on a cross.  He, the Almighty God (Isaiah 9:6), humbly allowed this because He loved us and came to save us.

He is coming again to earth–as King of kings and Lord of lords.  And those who have humbly followed in His footsteps shall reign with Him!

Fill my heart with humble gratitude today, Lord. Thank you that You use the ordinary and the un-spectacular. Fill me with Your amazing Holy Spirit today and use me to accomplish Your will. In Jesus’ name I ask this, amen.

Questions: Why do you suppose God used so many “lowly” people to help fulfill his wishes here on earth?

About the Author Muriel Larson

Daily audio podcast: Hear today’s daily devotional, God’s Lowly People, read aloud on the Men’s Devotional Blog