THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL
Dearest Brethren,
Daniel had an amazing life that was marked by success and favor at every turn. What made this possible?
Dan 5:12 Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel… NKJV
The kings of Babylon and the Medo-Persian empires realized that Daniel had a spirit of excellence. How did Daniel get it? It came from the Holy Spirit. Did you know the Holy Spirit inspires excellence? Daniel carried himself with excellence and that excellence elevated him. Excellence is not a financial status or level of resource, it’s a spirit. It’s an attitude and it determines your altitude or how high you can go. The English dictionary defines excellence as the quality of being outstanding. Someone said that excellence is the culture of heaven. Yet excellence is not necessarily having the best of everything but doing the best with everything that you have.
Dan 6:3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. NKJV
The NASB translation of this verse says that Daniel: “Possessed an extraordinary spirit.”
King Darius realized there was more to Daniel than mere intellect. Daniel interpreted dreams. Prayed with effectiveness. He understood visions. He flowed in prophecy. He experienced the Spirit of faith and the working of miracles that even shut hungry lions’ mouths from consuming him when he was thrown into a lions’ den. The Spirit of God made him so successful he was promoted to a chief government official while in captivity in a foreign land. He was the epitome of an overachiever; all by the Spirit of God who made him ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers of that realm. (See Daniel 1:20)
Think of how the Holy Spirit operates. He’s not the spirit of confusion but of peace. (1 Cor. 14:33) So He’s orderly and organized. He’s consistent and passionate. He’s punctual and effective. He’s focused and intentional. He speaks with eloquence, detail and strength. Think of how He’s given us God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation and still speaks to us individually in detail. He’s all wise and powerful. People who are spirit-filled have His nature and way of doing things. Colossians 2:3 states that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And we are in Him. We literally have a greater potential for excellence than Daniel did.
Unfortunately, not everyone yields to doing things His way. Brethren, are you yielding to the Excellent One within you? Are you organized? Do you keep time? Are your finances in order? Do you keep your commitments? Do you keep your word? Are you focused on the things of God or is your life up and down like a yo-yo? Are you clean and hygienic? Do you wear deodorant, or do you walk around expecting other people to smell your body odor? Do you make sure your breath is clean before you whisper to someone’s ear? Is your home clean? This may sound petty, but the Holy Spirit will inspire you to be clean and orderly because He is a clean Holy One.
If you’ve been wondering why it seems you’ve been serving the Lord so long and nothing has changed in your life, you might want to check out this area of excellence and may be start out next year with the Spirit of Excellence about you. You see faithfulness is not just consistency it’s consistency with excellence. If you’ll take your cues from the Holy Spirit, your life will attract favor and promotion. Promotion comes neither from the East or west but from above. (Ps 75:6 and Prov. 3:35)
2 Chron 16:9 says: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” KJV
The Spirit is still looking for those who are wholehearted towards Him so He can bring them promotion.
