Daniel 4:25-27 (NIV 28-30)

Thanks to our God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ for this blog, which has become one year old on September 11! It is our wish and our prayer that the God of heaven will continue giving us through His Spirit of life, those words who will reach all the ones living without faith, without hope, and those words which shall strengthen the ones who have made a decision för Christ. Thanks God for all of you who follow us and bless us with your "LIKES" and even with your gifts. Remember, you are not sowing in vain!

Do you do everything to the glory of God? Take a look to king Nebuchadnezzar's words:

Daniel 4:25-27 (NIV 28-30)

"All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said,"

“Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”

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If you compared the translation of NIV with the Aramaic of the original, you have probably noticed that the rendering to English is an excellent one. You can also see that Nebuchadnezzar is proclaiming the source of his achievements - in his own words - and the reason that led him to conquer other nations and to make Babylonia greater.

One of the most prolific composers of Christian music lived in Germany by the times of the rise of the Protestant Church, most exactly between 1685-1750. If you study something about the history of music, it is very probable that you'll find his name, Johann Sebastian Bach. His influence in music is huge, and many well known composers as Beethoven or Mozart have recognized Bach's influence in their own work. His religious works are performed even nowadays, and he has been called "the 5th evangelist" because of his music based on Biblical stories, especially on the Gospels. In Bach original manuscripts we can find a phrase frequently, together with his signature, which shows us how far he was to seek the glory of a "must influential composer" or to seek that surname of "5th evangelist". The phrase is "Soli Deo Gloria" from Latin, which can be rendered as "glory to God alone". Bach composed more than one thousand musical works to the glory of God, in his own words.

Can you see the contrast with that declaration of Nebuchadnezzar? The king of Babylonia proclaimed that the reason of his undertakings to make the Empire greater - that were many and remarkable ones - was "the glory of his majesty".

In the book of Psalms we can find a call to praise God in many passages. Observe Psalms 148:11-13:

"kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens"

This commandment was very known by Daniel the prophet, who received that amazing interpretation of the king's dream in Daniel chapter two, and gave God the glory because of that (see Dn 2:20-23) :

"Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said:"

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever! Wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him"

"I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king"

God is Our Creator. He has created not only the heavens and the earth, but all creatures abiding in them, including us humans. If there's some wisdom revealed in us, it is God who has given it. Even talent, intelligence, strength, ability... Everything which enables us to perform greater things, is given to us by Him. And all these gifts work when He allows it. If God is not in that business of ours, it doesn't matter how many and how great our abilities are; there is no possible achievement without Him.

The builders of the spacecraft "Odyssey", which mission (Apollo 13) was to descend on the moon, were very intelligent and careful in their work, as much as every other ones who have made a spacecraft. But an explosion caused the expedition to abort mission, and the astronauts could miraculously come back to earth alive. The ocean liner "Titanic" was by that time a marvel of technology and shipbuilding. Nevertheless, in its first voyage it sank, because of a collision with an iceberg, and most of the passengers and crew died.

Back with king Nebuchadnezzar, we can see that he is not only proclaiming that his many achievements are to give him glory. He also said that he built Babylonia "by his mighty power". The examples above - and thousands more that we could add - show us huge undertakings, implying high levels of knowledge, technology and performance, and even so they failed. That great Babylonia, which had ruled Mesopotamia for centuries, and had so many nations under their dominion, fell some years later before Persia.

Do you do everything "Soli Deo Gloria"? We could add many more examples about the results of doing something without giving God the glory, but the Spirit of God will do it better in our lives, if we receive Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior, and if we let His Spirit fill our heart and lead us.

If you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior... remember! There is time yet! The time will come when it will not be possible, and our sins will carry us away to hell. But now is time to receive the Savior and escape that miserable fate. Receive Jesus, and eternal life with Him!

May the Lord bless you!

In the love of Christ, your brother

Israel Leonard

PS. Jesus is coming soon!

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