The Care and Feeding of Friends and Loved Ones
Daniel 7:1
Introduction: There is probably no one we take for granted anymore than those we love and value. We do not mean to do this. In fact, we strive to provide for those we love and keep in touch with friends. However, in the course of a day, we assume because we love them, they will be there. Because we love them or respect them the relationship, we have will somehow “just be there."
We live fast, think fast and eat fast, drive fast and read too fast. Our relationships though valuable to us, are troubled and complex. There are so many distractions now. We are exposed to so much so soon, so fast. I once helped my son, for a school project, research Bambi on the internet. Bambi was not the “deer” I was looking for….not in leather and heels!
We do not understand each other at times even though we love and or value each other. God, through His example can teach us how to have better relationships.
I became aware of God’s guide to taking care of relationships while study prophecy for a class I was teaching. Amazing how God buries little diamonds in the scripture for us to find!
Disengage from the World and what’s around us. Tumultuous Times Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
Daniel became great friends with the king as well as his own people. How did he have friends of this world yet maintained Christian friends AND a relationship to God? He had a relationship with God first.
If we’re going to have a good relationship with people, we must first have a good relationship with God. Daniel was known for his prayers and devotion to God in all that he did.
By staying in the word Danial was given wisdom to handle the relationships.
God let him know where the lines were drawn, where the dangers were.
This was a time when people killed each other for power, yet Daniel not only survived, but became very popular with Jews and pagans alike yet remained true to God.
Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzars dream and now had one of his own. Visions while on his bed, asleep, disconnected from the world NOTE: We are closer to God when we are furthest from the world and its issues. We are then fit for communion with God. (Fasting is no longer prevalent and we wonder why we feel far from God)
When he was awake, he wrote the dream down so he could communicate it from a distance to others and bring it into remembrance when it happened later. He made a record of it that he could give to those who needed to know.
Note: We should learn to write more, especially to people we love and care about. Writing is a gift to us from God. God demonstrated how to use it when he had his apostles write the scriptures by hand.
Make Time---not hope to have time, for each other. Gen. 3: 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day……
God came down during a certain part of the day to talk and to Adam and Eve. God who runs the universe took time out each day at a specific time to talk
You must decide your real values, who and what is most important
God showed us about relationships, they have to be nurtured
We Have to Talk- God spoke to Moses, to Abraham, to those he loved.
Love without communication becomes nothing, God loved Adam and because of that made time to talk with him each day.
God could have told Moses to lead the children out of Egypt and felt that was enough. No need to talk more. But God didn’t. He continually talked to Moses.
IF we talk, we help each other recognize and avoid temptations. NOTE: Evil knows your weakness, emotionally and physically and will use it against you. You need others for strength.
Conclusion: My wife and I learned to talk to each other during the hectic days of our marriage. At first, it was about our day. Our jobs. Then as time went on, it changed. It got to be about us, each other. Now, so little is about our jobs and it’s mostly about our plans, our life, and our family.
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