Surrender is the foundation of forgiveness.
and surrender is . . . worship

Unless the life is bowed to God in utter abandon,
forgiving will be a nightmare and a near impossibility.

The life of Daniel is a wonder and a phenomenon.
Captured as a teenager, taken to a heathen land, and forced
to serve, his quiet submission is shocking.

Man of dreams and visions, even visions of God enthroned.
Open and living scene of the Son!
Rare glimpses into the heavens.

Gifted with an "extraordinary spirit." Daniel 6:3
Exalted to honor by a succession of kings,
enemies of each other but friend to Daniel.

To Daniel were entrusted the secrets of history
down to the end of the age.

He is utterly unique in the annals of the heroes of God.

The secret of his life was not prayer though he prayed.
Forgiveness was not his centrality and
is a word mentioned but once in his story.
Yet forgiveness is constantly evident by his gracious
and respectful service of his enemy.
Forgiveness was a result of his focus,
not the goal.

Worship was Daniel's life core, the axis of his being.

Under threat of death if he would not worship the king he served fully with his life's energy,
"he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day,
praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously."
Daniel 6:10 NAS

 
Kneeling, bowing and looking to God, this is worship.

Daniel prayed and Daniel gave thanksgiving
but first he knelt in surrender . . .
Surrender is worship.
 
Prayer is a result, not a beginning. Prayer is secondary.
Worship is the first issue.
Prayer is heard without worship
but prayer is answered in the realm of worship.

Angels rushed to fight heavenly wars for Daniel's requests,
and they were the highest angels,
those who stood in the very councils of God.

"Michael, one of the archangels" was sent to intervene.
An angel addressed Daniel as "greatly loved of God."
Daniel 10:11, 13 NLT
(It means literally: desirability or preciousness.)

Worship makes you "desirable and precious" to God!

His worship, his lifestyle of worship engaged God's heart
with a special favor that made his prayers
instantly caught up in the heavens.

"from the first day . . . your words were heard"

Daniel's secret, the source of all his brilliance, the power of
his character, was his daily, constant worship.

Resistance is solved "on your knees."
by the bowed heart of
surrender and devotion to God.

Wisdom is given to the worshiper.
Obedience rises from worship.
Forgiveness flows through worship.
God's deepest secrets are whispered to
the one who "lives kneeling" . . . .

Daniel's amazing reverence for the cruel kings of his imprisonment,
his constant service without compromise of his faith,
these are humanly impossible!

God's own sterling character, His power of endurance,
these flow with richness into the spirit of
the one who worships,
who kneels at a daily altar.

We know the story of the lion's den but we have overlooked
that the issue at stake was worship.

Daniel valued worship more than his own life . . . .

Knowing the consequences of the king's edict of death to all
who "petitioned any other god or man" than himself,
Daniel didn't waiver from that which was his habit, his life focus.

With deliberate abandon,
he threw open the windows of his roof chamber to kneel and pray,
knowing his enemies waited and watched for just such a defiance.

King Darius had been duped into the decree by Daniel's enemies
but such was his esteem and understanding of Daniel,
that he pronounced this prophecy:
"Your God whom you constantly serve
will Himself deliver you."

His was a peculiar grief over Daniel, being the king supposedly offended.

After the cave was sealed shut with Daniel and the lions inside,
the king sealed it with "his own signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles."

In an unheard of compassion among tyrants,

"Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting,
and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.
 Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions' den."

Daniel 6:16-19 NAS

No bitterness alienated Daniel from his authority.
No ill will - always smelled by kings - made Daniel an offense.
And no rebellion toward his plight offended the Father
and prevented the Holy Spirit from executing
His highest will,
which is always to preserve His children
from the danger of the world.
and even more . . . 
to vindicate them in the eyes of their enemies.
 
The one who gives away his life on the knees of private worship
has an immunity and protection, miraculous in nature, full of
angelic shields and that one is safe from devouring lions of the Enemy.
 
Forgiveness, flowing out of a life devoted to worship!
This is powerful immunity from
the evil of your adversary,
whether man, lion or Satan.
 
Worship of the "Highest One" . . . the only safety.

Daniel's focus was on God. Simple and single.
He was not obsessed with his poor situation
nor his selfish wants.
He was not occupied with the evil of the kings he served.
He was not embroiled with fighting his deadly enemies.

He set his soul's compass three times a day on
the "Most High God"
who ruled on high over all of it.

And the power to endure, insight into the unknown,
the wisdom of eternity,
all were infused into Daniel through that
constant stream of adoring worship . . .
rising three times a day to God.
Daniel's "Most High God" initiating and responding,
flowing back into Daniel's being with
His Very Self.
 
Kneeling to God!
A practice Daniel would not abandon by fear of any
mere political power of earthly insignificance.
And certainly not by fear of
his own suffering or death.
Such was his commitment to worship
through his exquisite experience of it.
 
He was placed in the strange position of choosing
between his life and his worship.

Daniel could easily choose and readily die,
for he could not live without worship.


Worship is the source of the power to forgive,
a power which must be Divine . . .
for it is not
humanly possible.

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Copyright © 2001 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick