He is my Delight

Daniel 1:20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.

A consecrated life increases your ability to receive what God desires to give and multiplies your effectiveness in the kingdom.

Not only were Daniel and his friends superior to the other captives who had received the same training as them, they were superior to the wisemen of Babylon who had spent their lives being immersed in and studying Babylonian history, literature, wisdom, etc.

Daniel and his friends had three years of training in these things. And in three years their level of wisdom and understanding was not equal to the Babylonian wise men, but was 10 times greater. The difference is consecration. It doesn’t just make you a little better. It brings an anointing that results in multiples of exceeding greatness of God through your life.

If I consider how this practically plays out in my life, I think about the times that I set the word of God before me yet within arm’s reach is a cell phone, and YouTube, and Facebook. I haven’t really consecrated that time for the Lord because as soon as that notification sound goes off, I will reach for the phone. If it were only an occasional thing perhaps I could excuse it. But it has become a habitual way of life for me. So it isn’t merely that these certain times aren’t consecrated — the life isn’t consecrated. How can this possibly continue to be acceptable?? There are things He wants to speak to me and impart into my life, but my refusal to crucify a flesh that cries to be entertained has kept me among the multitudes of the unknown and ineffective instead of ascending with the few who push the plate away.

Regarding Daniel and his friends, God moved mightily in them during this season of preparation, but things may have turned out very differently for them if they also had indulged in the king’s delicacies. Their decision to live in such a way as to honor God rather than satisfy themselves swung open the door wide for the power of God to work in their lives.