Lives That Inspire - Daniel

In this week’s episode, two of our young people, Christiana and Gabriel, shared how Daniel’s faith and courage continue to inspire us today. Daniel’s example shows us that real inspiration is not about feeling good but about living with unshakable trust in God, even in the face of trials. His story challenges us to live boldly, faithfully, and with complete submission to God, knowing He will never leave us.

Transcript

Good morning, church. Thank you all for having me and what a really nice welcome. I would like to start with a prayer, so if we can all just bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you all for the safe arrival. For everyone in this room, thank you for the opportunity to be on this stage this morning.

Just give me the wisdom and the strength and knowledge to give this preach. And anyone who's in need of inspiration, let this message reach out to them and inspire them. In Jesus name I've prayed. Amen.

So this series has been about lives that inspire. So the first thing that I want all of you guys to think about is who inspires you. Some may say their parents, their teachers, friends, music artists, or football players. At Fuse, some kids said the worship team, Catherine, Angie, and all the other Fuse leaders. But let's look at what the Bible says about inspiration.

In Job 32, verse 8, it says, but it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding. This verse is basically saying that true wisdom and inspiration comes from God breathing into us. If we look at another verse, 2 Peter 1, verse 2021 says, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will. But prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

This verse is saying how inspiration isn't just human creativity. It's the spirit of God working through people. The Bible is full of so many stories and people who inspire us all. And out of everything, the one story that I'll be sharing with you guys today is the story of Daniel. Hopefully, we all know the story of Daniel.

If not, that's fine because I will be telling it to you guys anyway. This story tells how Daniel, a young Jewish man, was taken into exile in Babylon after King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. Despite being far from home and pressured to abandon his faith, Daniel remained faithful to God. Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to eat the king's food or worship idols, such as a golden statue of the king. If we take a look at Daniel 3, 16, 18, it says how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, saying, king Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of God you have set up. This is the ultimate inspiration. Their faith was so strong that even the threat of fire couldn't shake them.

They remind us that inspiration isn't just about feeling good. It's about courage to live for God, no matter the cost. Moving on, Daniel became known for his ability to interpret dreams and mysteries. He explained King Nebuchadnezzar's troubling dream and read mysterious writing on the wall for King Belshazzar, warning that the kingdom would fall. And then it did.

When Darius became king, Daniel continued to rise in honour because of his honesty and wisdom, which made some officials jealous. And they tricked the king into signing a law that no one could pray to any God or person except the king. But Daniel continued to pray, just as he always had. Now think about this. Daniel could have prayed quietly in his head, he could have shut the windows, kept his faith hidden and nobody would have noticed.

It would have been easy to say, God knows my heart. I don't need to be so open about it. But Daniel didn't do that. He prayed openly three times a day. But the question is, why did Daniel do this?

That's because real faith doesn't hide. Real faith doesn't bend just to fit in or to avoid conflict. The jealous officials caught Daniel praying and snitched on Daniel to the king, which then got him thrown into the lion's den. And I don't know about you, but if I were thrown into a lion's den, I would not be sitting still and I would be freaking out. However, Daniel was quite the opposite.

He kept very calm and composed. And because of Daniel's strength and trust in faith, God sent his angels to shut the lion's mouth. And Daniel was kept safe all night. Life often places us in situations where our faith is tested. Sometimes it feels like we're in a fiery furnace of trials or surrounded by lions of fear, doubt or opposition.

The story of Daniel and his friends reminded us that when we stay faithful to God, he remains faithful to us. Daniel is indeed an inspiration. There were times where I was struggling in school which led me to doubt my own abilities and doubting if God was truly helping me or if he wanted me to fail. However, I prayed and continued to believe in him. I would pray before every exams and I would pray with my friends and even those who didn't believe and thought that there was no hope, that if God wanted to help.

If God didn't want to help before, why would he help now? But I ignored them and I continued to believe because I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And indeed, he did give me strength. Because of this, I was able to pass all my exams. And next week I will be going to study law in my firm university.

So, as Catherine said, last week was Fuse conference. And when I was doing all of this, I was reminded when Pastor Mark said something in his preacher on the first day that really stuck with me and quite a few others. He said that if you mess with God, he will mess with you. But if we remain faithful to God, he will remain faithful to us. So, guys, the last thing I want to leave with you is God honors those who honor him.

When you stand for God, you never stand alone. Because it's our time now. So let's start now. God can use one faithful person to change a whole nation. So let's be like Daniel with no fear.

Let him inspire you to be courageous and stand proud in your faith. Thank you.

And now to carry on my brother. Come on. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi everyone. I'm Gabriel. Like I said last time, I'm not going to uni. So I'll try my best with this.

To begin, I just like everyone to bow their heads in prayer. Lord, I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak to all these people today. Lord, I hope that what I talk about, they can take on and use it in their lives. I hope I inspire them and they also take something away and inspire others. Amen.

So to begin, I'd like to talk about. The definition of inspire is to fill someone with the urge or the ability to do or feel something, especially if it's creative. I say it's to lead without knowing. It's to guide without acknowledgment. So to start, I'd like you to look to your left.

Does the person on your left inspire you? If so, that's great. If not, it's still fine.

But what about them makes them inspiring? What characteristics do they hold? I'd like you to do the same on your right. Do they inspire you? What about them inspires you?

But for this service, going to look up and see how God inspires us. One of the ways he does this is through people. And one of those people was Daniel.

So Daniel's story was extremely inspiring. Through his hardships, the oppression he felt, and his obedience to God. It not only inspired the people of his time, but people today. He inspired me, so much so that I'm on the stage today.

But why? What about him made him inspiring? What characteristics did he hold? I believe one of them was his display of faith, his trust in God.

When he faced King Nebuchadnezzar, as Christiana said, already he faced pressures such as to relinquish his Jewish identity. He faced influence to praise the king like a God. But he didn't. None of the two things he did. This was only possible because of the faith that he had, the trust he had in the Lord.

Proverbs 3, 5 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

All of your heart needs to be for God. And that's what Daniel understood. He inspired people because he gave it all to God. And if you want to do the same, you have to do the same.

The second reason Daniel inspired was because of his submission.

He chose not to submit to the king by going into the lion's den, but he submit to God. He understood there was going to be obstacles in his path, and he took that upon himself.

If we look at the following verse, Proverbs 3, 6, it says, in all ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. Not clear, not easy, but straight to him. And Daniel knew this. He knew it would be difficult, but he still went for it. But how can we build this kind of relationship?

How can we replicate this? How can we inspire? Well, we need to do as Daniel did. We need to have faith and submit. We have to let go of the things of this world and trust in the Lord with our full heart.

We need to take on our armor and face the lions of this world.

To finish, I'd like to refer to my favorite verse of the Bible, Romans 8:18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that is yet to come.

Because of what Daniel faced, he knew what could happen to him. He knew persecution was an option. He knew pressure was an option. But he also knew that there was light at the end of the tunnel. He knew that God was still there for him.

And in his darkest hour, there would still be light through faith and submission. So to all those who are nervous to take this kind of step, just know that there is an end, and that end is with God. I'd like to end with a prayer. Lord, I thank youk for giving me the opportunity to speak to these people. I pray that you allow them to have that faith and you give them the way to submit to you.

Give them opportunities in life, no matter how hard, to show you that they love you and they have their trust in you.

Lead them to inspire others and be inspired by those around them, too. Amen. Thank you very much.