Do Not Fear

Dan. 10:12 "Then he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words.'"

Here it is. This is exactly what I wrote about in my last post...Daniel's heart. Verse 11 once again reminds Daniel that he is "greatly loved" and here we are again with the assurance that God heard Daniel right from the beginning - from the first day that Daniel "set his heart to understand", from the first day that he "humbled himself before God", from the first day that he declared His dependence on God in prayer: "at the beginning of your supplication". God paid attention. Why? Because Daniel was so great? Because he had authority in Babylon? Because he was a leader of his people? No. Because he prayed. Because he wanted to understand what was going on . Because he humbled himself...God paid attention - from the first day.

The cool thing is the first thing Gabriel said to him: "Do not fear".

Wow. Powerful words for today. Powerful words for the church. Powerful words for me. If we are praying and going to God with an honest heart, with a heart that wants to consider what is going on, with a humble attitude realizing that we do not have any answers, with a humble heart that realizes who we are and who He is...with a heart that wants to understand in humilty, then we do not have to fear. All kinds of garbage may be swirling around us, but we do not have to be afraid of it.

Right now, people are afraid of losing their savings, losing their 401K, losing their retirement, afraid of their bank failing, Wall Street crashing, our financial institutions going down the tubes and God says to us: "Do not fear." If I have a seeking, humble heart, I do not have to fear because I know who is in charge...and He is listening.