THE MAN BELTESHAZZAR

It was in King Belshazzar’s reign that the famous hand wrote on the wall – ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin’. It spoke of Nebuchadnezzar’s beloved Babylon, and it meant ‘Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, Divided.’ That very night, Belshazzar was killed, and his kingdom taken by 62year old Darius who was from Media in Persia.

Darius decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, so he appointed a prince to rule over each province. Then he chose three people to supervise the princes who would rule and to watch out for his interests – Daniel, who the Chief Staff of King Nebuchadnezzar had given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, and two other men.

It wasn’t long before Daniel did what he does best. He began to stand out!

Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes [all 122 of them!]. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. – Daniel 6:3

Now, I in no way seek to downplay the influence of that spirit of excellence and wisdom God blessed Daniel with. But I just couldn’t help but notice as I read that chapter that not only was Daniel spiritual [he prayed throughout the day or had been blessed with wisdom and an excellent spirit], but also how blameless and responsible he was! These are not my words!‍🤷🏽‍♀️ The Scriptures say it for themselves!

The other administrators and princes began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize. He was faithful and honest and always responsible. – Daniel 6:4

ALWAYS, guys! ALWAYS. Daniel was always responsible! Look how our dramatic [😁] MSG version puts it:

The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel’s life that they could use against him, but they couldn’t dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct.

As if exemplary and trustworthy are not enough, scripture added TOTALLY to the description. Daniel hardly sounds like a human being!!

There was a time, and I daresay we are still experiencing the remnants of that season, when the Church only exercised their faith by declarations and confessions. We declared wealth, we declared promotions, we declared appointments, we declared contracts, success, connections… We declared all there was that could be declared. If the Church could declare the devil’s repentance, we would!

Yet little was said about integrity. Or efficiency. Or work ethic. Or poise. Or efficacy. Or character. Or uprightness. Or truthfulness. Or service in humility. Or trustworthiness. Or dedication. Or discipline. Or anything closely related to what it means for each of us to be wearing this Ambassadorial Cloak bearing the name of the One to whom we scream our Amen’s to in dire hope that His ears are wide enough to hear them.

Daniel did not only carry within him an excellent spirit; he carried within his choices an excellent mindset; the kind that enabled him not only to be excellent on the inside, but to live excellently on the outside through his actions! The original Hebrew word for ‘spirit’ in ‘excellent spirit’ means both the spirit of a man [as in your spirit man itself] and the soul of a man [his ‘I want’, ‘I feel’, ‘I think’ – will, emotions, intellect]. Daniel did not only have it, he chose it, and lived it! Every single day – totally exemplary and trustworthy, completely faithful, honest and always responsible!

If we stand any chance at the things we scream Amen’s to, it’d be a function of both the words we release into our lives, and the integrity and ethic that accompany the choices that follow. I’m sure you recognize that I have no reservations with declarations. The tongue, the wise king, Solomon tells us, carries the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit thereof – Proverbs 18:21. But we can shout all we want, brethren; without integrity and ethos, we would merely be tickling the angels on duty. But we have no excuse, because

‘it is God who works in you – both in your will and in your works – according to His good pleasure’ – Philippians 2:13

Love,

Rad!❤