Daniel 3:26 | Do You Have a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were more than friends—they were covenant partners united by their devotion to God. They prayed together, fasted together, stood together, and refused to compromise when obedience became costly.

In this episode of The Warrior Bun Podcast, Codie explores what it means to build an inner circle with people who truly fear God, honor covenant, and remain faithful in the fire. Many people will celebrate your calling when things are exciting, but who will stand beside you when persecution comes? Who will remind you not to bow, not to retreat, and not to leave the refining process too soon?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not simply step into the fire—they stayed long enough to encounter God within it. They entered bound, but they came out free, unharmed, and without even the smell of smoke.

This episode will challenge you to evaluate your relationships, your level of surrender, and your willingness to endure when following God becomes uncomfortable or costly.

Do you have people in your circle who will stay in the fire with you? More importantly, are you willing to stay?

Follow for Depth. Stay for Transformation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys. Alright, let's talk about the book of Daniel today. I know that we have been talking about circles and influence and how Jesus had biblical barriers and things like that. Today I want to go a little bit deeper into that through the book of Daniel in uh chapter two, which obviously most of you should know. The end of that chapter is the beginning of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. And my question for you today is do you have a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo in your inner circle? So we've been talking about building circles, you know, um, who to put in the circle, who to remove out of the circles, how we rearrange circles, um, the different types of circles that Jesus had. And we talked about that. If you haven't listened to last week's podcast, I would encourage you to do that so that you would be able to really uh take the fullness of this podcast in because you need last week's podcast, and then you can um use this week's to build off of that. So in the book of Daniel, um, in chapter two, towards the very end, it talks about how Daniel is promoted. This is after he had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream that no one else could interpret. Um, Nebuchadnezzar went to the um, if you want to use today's terms, witches and warlocks and um, you know, false prophets and things like that. He went to them for answers and they couldn't do it. And then Daniel is the one that was able to interpret his dream, and he literally says that um your God is God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery, speaking of his dream. So it's really interesting to me that Nebuchadnezzar is truly encountered by God and knows that God is real, yet in the next chapter, he literally is just literally like it's almost like he forgot all of that, and here he is again, uh challenging Shadrach, Meshach, and Abinago about who they serve. And clearly he knows that they are friends of Daniel because in chapter 2, verse 49, it says, Daniel made a request of the king. This was after Daniel was promoted. Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king's court. So really, I want to take this from a place of who are your friends? Um, who do you actually pray with? Who are you walking and following Jesus alongside? Because this is very important. And as most of you know who um who are in the word on a daily basis and have studied the word of God, you know what it um it says about your influence, who you hang around. You know, Paul clearly states um that we should take that very seriously in our walk with Christ. So I want to take this from a place of understanding that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo actually were an inner circle. Like they were a four-man inner circle. Um, they had a covenant, you know, they had a a loyalty to each other, they all believed the same things, you know, they had their mindset that they would worship God and God alone and no other gods. And so as they built that relationship together and came into such a powerful um unity, I really believe that that this is one of the most beautiful and strongest um examples of unity um in our belief and in the body of Christ and how we respond and what we do and what we don't do. And the four of them had such a unity um for for their beliefs and and what they stood for and who they were and their identity in Christ that really was just just so unmovable. Um, and so I really believe that this is such a good example of how we need to have our inner circles built as believers. Um, we should have a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo in our circle. We should have a Daniel in our circle. You know, maybe you're a Shadrach, maybe you're a Daniel, maybe you're an Abendigo or a Meshach, you know, whichever one you are, you should have the other three in your circle. So last week we talked about boundaries. We established that forgiveness does not equal access. And we looked at how Jesus intentionally stewarded different circles of influence. But today I want to ask a different question. Once you've identified who has access to your life, who have you actually built with? Because not everyone has access, not everyone who has access is meant to become a covenant partner. Again, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. This is a beautiful example, example of covenant partnership. That's different than just a friend circle, that's different than just the crowd, you know, or the 170, or you know, even the 12. This is a more inner circle. This is like Jesus, um, you know, and his and his three, Peter, James, and John. This is this is that. And so I want to ask who in your life has proven that they can stay in the fire? Not just celebrate your vision, not just applaud your calling, not just support you when ministry is exciting, but who can remain faithful when obedience becomes costly? Because we see that in this story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. We see that there was a time where Daniel actually, it says in verse 49, chapter 2, but Daniel remained at the king's court. So Daniel was like an advisor, a personal advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar. It reminds me of, you know, David. He had his own personal prophet, he had his own personal um advisor, you know, that that came and convicted him really of his sin. And so here it is again. We see this same pattern in the Bible. Guys, if I could tell you anything, pay attention to patterns, not just um, you know, a lot of times we teach that in deliverance. Like, guys, pay attention to patterns. You know that there's a demonic influence. Um, if you continue to see a negative pattern, but guys, we need to be looking at the Bible as well and paying attention to the patterns across the word of God so that we know how to actually build. Okay, so Daniel, here he was. Um, you had Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had already had this prayer group, they were already friends, they had already fasted together, you know, they had done all these things together. And here Daniel ends up interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream. So he gets promoted and he gets a position that the other three don't get yet. Daniel says, Hey, if you're gonna have me, then you're gonna have them because they're actually part of my circle. Like, I can't break up my inner circle. So if you want me to be at this position um in your, you know, well, really in the in the kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar was over, if you want me, then you know, I'm gonna ask that they be appointed as well over the affairs of the province of Babylon. So basically, you have, if you could imagine, a king. Here's this, there's a king, and he has his personal advisor, that's Daniel. Well, then the king that is over all of the, let's say his leaders, his guards, um, let's say like police officers, okay, like more people in authority. Then he says, actually, I want you to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo to be over your authority leaders. And so the king was like, Okay, so we see this story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and I don't think we really take time to understand what their actual position was. Um, you know, they were the ones who were actually supposed to make sure that all the king's rules were obeyed correctly and that the other leaders that they were over were doing their job correctly. So it's really funny to me this actual story um when they actually get thrown into the furnace because it tells me that I just I just saw when I was reading this, I saw this image of like this big, you know, golden image that everybody was supposed to bow when they heard the horns and the music and all the things. And I and I just literally see like Shadrap, Meshach, and Abendigo, you know, they're standing all out there like very proper, you know, with their shoulders back and their heads up, and they're you know, managing the authorities and the people, and um, and here, you know, the horn goes off, the music goes off, you know, and they're just standing there, you know, with their hands uh by their side, you know, kind of like you would see um a soldier, you know, standing, and and I just see like the music going off, and all these people start bowing and they start, you know, worshiping this golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had actually made a decree that when the music went off and the horn blew, that everyone had to worship it and uh and honor his gods. And so here you've got literally the leaders, three leaders, even above the authorities, and they're they're just standing, and everybody else is bowing. And I can imagine like somebody just kind of like peeking you know out of the peripheral of their vision, and they're like, wait a minute, what why aren't they bowing? You know what I mean? And so that's what started this ruckus because some of the leaders ended up going and into King Nebuchadnezzar, and they were like, uh, wait a minute, Shadowrack, Meshach, and Abinego, they're not doing what you say, yet they're actually commanding us to do the very thing that they refuse to do. So if you think about it, you're like, wow, that would definitely bring on persecution. It's not like somebody just, you know, um, you know, saw them in their own personal time or whatever. Literally, they were publicly defying the the worship of the other gods publicly. And so, of course, they would get persecuted. Like, but my thing is, is like God, God is really funny. I laugh all the time, and I'm like, God, you're so funny. Because literally, Daniel put them in this place where they would have to choose, where their faith would be tested, where their integrity, where the where um where their loyalty to God would actually be tested. God knew that when he prompted Daniel to bring them in with him. Now, yes, Daniel obviously probably needed the support of you know, the spiritual support of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo to be with him because when we are, when we do have an inner circle like that, it is very um important that you have, you know, um, the people that God has um given you as covenant partners, a part of the mission, a part of the assignment. You know, it's not for us to just depart. Daniel could have just departed from the three and gone on and you know, been with Nebuchadnezzar and been like, oh, hey guys, I got promoted, you didn't, so uh see you later, you know. But he didn't do that. Why? Because he actually honored covenant, he understood what a covenant partnership looked like, and so he honored that. Um, most people these days would have just departed and said, Oh, well, I got promoted to this, so see you later. You know, they wouldn't have, um, they wouldn't have tried to bring, you know, be the actual vessel to promote their their entire circle. So here you've got Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo who literally are commanding and and overseers of everybody doing the king's orders and decrees, yet they are publicly defying the king. Like, surely they had to have known. Like, they had to know we're probably gonna get in trouble for this. Like, this is probably gonna be a test, and we're yeah, it won't probably last long because we're not bowing, but we're telling everybody else they should bow. And so it's really funny to me, um, just when I look at it from that perspective, and I'm like, wow, Lord, um, they actually willingly, this is such a beautiful picture of later when they actually got thrown into the fire, because it they willingly walked into the fire, you know, they willingly um they willingly surrendered, they willingly said yes to God. And I believe even when they agreed to be um over the affairs of the province of Babylon, you know, at Daniel's request, I believe that even in that moment, because they had a relationship with Jesus and God, you know, they knew the cost, they knew what it would cost them because they knew they were literally stepping into an atmosphere that went against everything they believed. And you know, um, I tell a lot of people this because I want people to understand that we need more Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo's and Daniels in this time because we have so many people, um, let's just say Christians, okay, believers. Um, and I see this a lot because they're like, oh, well, I don't want to go to that place because I don't bel I don't agree with them. Like, I don't know, I don't believe in what they believe, or they worship certain gods, or no, I'm not going to that, you know, country because whatever, basically because it's against what you believe. Um, but the thing is, is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo willingly went to a place where they knew they would be persecuted. Like, this wasn't a shock to them when the king was like, you haven't bowed, and so now you're going to be thrown into the furnace. Like, when they actually knew, they, to be honest, they probably enforced the decree um at some point, you know, and and knew the decree, they weren't oblivious to the king's rules because they actually were the ones who enforced them. And so they willingly knew that they would be persecuted for their beliefs. Like, I just wish we could get this in our mind that sometimes God will test you to see if you will willingly walk into persecution. Like, walk into a place where you know I'm gonna be persecuted for this. Do you still go? Or do you not go and and blame it on, oh well, they believe something different, and I'm not gonna be in partnership with that because they don't believe, you know, in the word of what what the word of God says, you know, blah blah blah, whatever. Um, I love some of these ministers who, you know, they go to the the um the pride events, they go to you know, different countries where they serve multiple gods, uh thousands, millions of gods, and it's like um we have to realize that how can we shine the light in the darkness if we never walk into the darkness? If we're so scared of the dark spiritually, um, you know, a lot of people are scared of the dark naturally, but are you scared of the dark spiritually? Are you afraid to walk into a place that is consumed and overflowing with darkness because it might cost you something, because it might challenge your insecurities, because it might challenge your fears. I remember many times when the Lord sent us to Africa and I before every trip, I mean it was like clockwork before every single trip, months, I would be tormented in my dreams, I would be tormented in my thoughts that you know, oh I was gonna get kidnapped, and oh I was gonna get, you know, I was gonna die. Like I was gonna, you know, because you know, you have all these stories about the martyrs and all this stuff. And it was like all those things were like going through my head and tormenting me. And I had to make a decision. I had to make a decision. Am I really willing to be persecuted for the gospel? Am I really willing to serve God at that cost? Like, what if it cost me my life? What if it cost my kids never seeing me again? What if it cost my husband being a widow? What if it cost me that? Would I still go? What if I died? That's what I'm talking about when I say do you have people in your circle that endure the fire? Do you endure the fire? Because the thing is, is many people actually say yes to the fire. Many people actually step into the fire. But the question I want to ask you today is do you stay in the fire? Can you endure in the fire? Can you really get to a place like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where you knew you were gonna be persecuted, you willingly defied the gods that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped, you willingly defied the king himself, and you knew you were gonna be persecuted. I guarantee you that within that time that they weren't persecuted, God was God was actually building them up, he was actually ministering to them and telling them, Hey, I got you, I'm gonna be with you, I'm gonna meet you there. I almost could guarantee that they actually knew and God had promised that he would show up. And actually, it does say that because in chapter three, um, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, this is verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand. O King, but if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Now for them to proclaim in verse 17, He will deliver us. That's a very bold statement. They didn't have unbelief. There was no doubt. They knew for a fact either we go. Into the furnace, and he meets us there like he's already promised us in prayer, like he's already promised us in his word that he would never leave us nor forsake us. Like we actually trust what God says. How many of us Christians and believers, we proclaim the word of God, but we actually don't trust it ourselves. We tell other people to trust it, we tell other people to endure, we tell other people what they need to do and how they need to do it. But then again, when we get tested, we can't even endure ourselves. That's unbelief. And that's not trusting the word of God. And actually, that's lack of faith. Jesus said so many times to his disciples, where is your faith? How long do I have to deal with your unbelief? Why? Because they actually didn't believe the promises of God, they didn't believe that God could not lie, they didn't believe that, and we can say, Oh, well, you know, God hasn't told me specifically. I haven't heard the audible voice of God who told me to do this thing. No, but have you actually read the Bible? Because he shouldn't have to tell you things that he already told you in his word. He shouldn't have to repeat himself. He's not a parrot, he shouldn't have to. So don't make an excuse and say, Oh, well, I haven't got a confirmation, or I haven't, you know, heard God say that. No, but you've read it 40 million times. And if you haven't read it yourself, your pastor has preached it to you 40 million times, and so you don't need a confirmation. He says, pick up your cross and die daily. So you have to endure the and endure the fire. Endure. Not step in and step out. The problem and the reason why most people don't actually transform, why they don't actually become a walking Jesus. They don't actually become the image of Christ walking on the earth, taking dominion and walking in their authority. They're not actually ever transformed into the new creation. Yes, it says that we all become a new creation. Become. Yeah, that is very important because we have to understand it's a process. But if you keep saying yes to the fire, you step in the fire, and then as soon as it gets a little hot, you jump out and you save your own self, you become your own savior. You're not accomplishing anything. You're going around the mountain again and again and again, just like the Israelites did. And you're never actually enduring anything. The word of God says, those who endure to the end. That doesn't mean sitting on the sideline in your comfort zone, enduring, just waiting for Jesus to come back, waiting on Jesus to come back and not doing anything, not actually getting refined, not actually repenting and turning away from your sins, not actually being uh made new, not actually transforming, not actually ever fully surrendering. Problem is a lot of people surrender, but they don't ever endure the fire. And the thing is with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, they knew because God had told them, this is not in the Word of God, but I can guarantee you because I know when I have been in the fire, God has warned me, He has told me. The Holy Spirit, he's not just gonna throw you in there and just like hope you figure it out. He will tell you, hey, this is gonna happen. Hey, watch out for this, hey, you know, check this. Hey, you know, he'll tap you on the shoulder. He might not even say anything, but he'll tap you on the shoulder and in your spirit, you'll know, hey, I need to pay attention. Hey, I need to keep my eyes up. Hey, I need to get in the word more. Hey, you know, because something's coming. He may not always tell you exactly what's coming, but he will warn you and tell you. Um, you know, my son had a there was one morning that I woke up uh when he was going to school, and the Lord told me, He said, plead the blood of Jesus over him before he walks out the door today. And so as he left and I hugged him, I said, I just, you know, I plead the blood of Jesus over you today. Um, after school, he had a baseball game. And um that night at the base, I had forgotten that I even did that um that morning. That baseball game, that night, he actually had his um, he was batting and his kneecap popped out of socket. And it was, we were like, oh my gosh, like it was crazy. He was literally crawling on the ground because his whole leg was like not working. And he stood up and his knee popped back into socket all by itself. He literally walked off the field as if nothing ever happened to him. We put some ice on it the next day. He literally was jogging. We were like, wow. On the way home, the Holy Spirit reminded me, he said, Thank you for your obedience. And I was like, What? And he reminded me that he instructed me to plead the blood of Jesus over him that day, and that that was the reason why he recovered so quickly because of my obedience to the word of God. So that happened, and then um a couple actually a little while later, he was batting again, and it happened a second time. Now, um, within these months in between this, the Lord had told me, um, normally with our ministry, we always do a summer trip to Africa or wherever God tells us to go. And this year, um, the Lord told me, He said, You will not travel this summer. And I was like, Okay. And he was like, I want you to stay home. Um, you're gonna spend time with your family. You know, I'm gonna have you doing other things during this time. Basically, like kind of like a little, I felt like, okay, well, maybe he just needs me to have a season of rest or whatever. So we didn't plan anything for the summer because he specifically said you're not traveling this summer. Um, and so I didn't. So then um I believe it was July. No, June, okay, because it's July now. So June, my br my um my son was trying out for the baseball team. And during tryouts, his knee popped out of socket. And we ended up saying, okay, like let's just go to the doctor and like see how this works or whatever. Well, they were like, one time is all we give you. Basically, it pops out of socket once. After that, you pretty much need to have surgery. And I'm thinking, What? Like, surgery? This kid is 14 years old, like, what in the world? But I had such a piece about it, and when me and my husband prayed and we sought the Lord and we asked him what he wanted him to do, the Lord said, I want him to have the surgery, I want to strengthen his kneecap. And I was like, Okay. So literally, we literally that week, I think it was like two days later, they were like, Oh, we actually can do surgery in two days. And I was like, Wow, okay. So we got that done, and God just reminded me that he told me I wouldn't go anywhere this summer. And the thing is, is here's my son who had to have a total kneecap reconstruction surgery. He is in a brace, you know. I'm I'm his mom, right? So I have had the honor of being here over the summer, taking care of him, serving him, you know, um, helping him wrap it and unwrap it, and you know, um, do all the shower stuff and like go to physical therapy with him. Like, I've been in that place, but what if I'd have traveled and been gone? Like a child needs their mother during a time like that. Like, that's a foundation that it needs to be built in a child that their mother is there when they are hurt, when they are wounded, you know. Um, and so it was just such a blessing for God to tell me, hey, you're not gonna travel this summer. And then come to find out my son has to have surgery. And it was just like, I was so thankful and I was so honored that God gave me the heads up. I had peace about the whole surgery, I've had peace about the whole process. Why? Because God actually told me in my personal prayer time with him and my time where I spend time talking to him, and he he tells me what's coming up and he tells me what's gonna happen. And you know, he may not have told me the full story of what was gonna happen, but he he made it an assurance inside of me that I was okay with being home this summer with my children, and so it was just such a beautiful thing. So I say that, and with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I truly don't believe that they weren't prepared to face this. I don't truly believe that they weren't prepared to walk into the fire and meet God there. Because I guarantee you, God had already told them in their prayer time, in their time of actually worshiping their God, because the Bible says that when you go to meet Jesus and you go to spend time with the Lord, you should close the door behind you. So this was a, and it's funny because these other gods that you know Nebuchadnezzar worshiped, and and people these to this day they still worship, it's such a public um act. Um, they do it where everybody can see it, they do it where you know everybody can see them being obedient, everybody can see them bowing, and you know, everybody can see their their quote-unquote sacrifice, you know, and all this stuff. It's very, it's a very public act when it's a false god. But it even even with Elijah, you know, um the prophets, they they publicly worshiped Bel. Okay, it was a public event thing. So, but here you have Jesus and he tells his people, do it in private. Don't tell everybody that you're fasting, don't tell everybody that you are um, you know, praying. Don't tell everybody everything. He's saying this is this is your intimacy with me. You don't have to you don't have to broad your intimacy, you know, all over the public place for everyone to see, like the false gods do or require. I mean, they don't require it because they're not even real, but you know what I'm saying? Like the the demons behind those false gods encourage people to do it publicly so that they are seen, they are accepted, they are, you know, all these things. And God's like, hey, hey, actually go into a room and shut the door behind you where no one knows that you're actually ministering to me and I'm ministering to you. So we can always tell and we can always discern if something is of God based on is it public or not. And so here you have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. They get tattled on. Well, they knew they knew they were going to because here they were literally publicly not doing what everybody else was doing. So here comes the authorities. They go to King Nebuchadnezzar and they're like, uh, hey, you're your high, your hierarchy people that you've you know given these positions to, they don't even do what you say. Like they require us to do what we're supposed to do according to your decrees and your laws, yet they don't even do them do them themselves. And so King Nebuchadnezzar, you know, gets furious, and he commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo be brought, so that they brought um, this is verse 13, okay. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, that's funny, now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And this is the part that I truly believe Nebuchadnezzar activated the spiritual realm because the next part he says, and who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? He asked a question, and I believe that in that question, that angel of the Lord that rescued them from the fiery furnace was sent out from heaven by the hand of God because Nebuchadnezzar challenges God, he sends a challenge, and if you remember with Pharaoh, every plague was a challenge to each God that they served. Okay, God literally likes a challenge, and so here Nebuchadnezzar is saying, and who is the God who will deliver you out of my hand? And I truly believe in that moment, um, God said, Challenge accepted. And so he was like, Okay, let's show him who I really am, because he actually encountered me a little bit when I had David interpret his dream, and he truly proclaimed um in chapter two, verse 47, the king answered and said to Daniel, Truly your God is God of gods, and lord of kings, and revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery. He calls him the God of gods and the lord of kings, and that's a small king, okay, a small K. So he's basically saying that he's the God of all his gods, and he's actually the Lord of him because he's a king, King Nebuchadnezzar. So it's funny to me that Nebuchadnezzar says, Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? It's a question, it's a challenge, and so then this is when Nebuchadnezzar, I mean uh Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, they answer as one. Pay attention to this. They are a a circle bound together in unity, okay? Because they all have been praying, they all know what's coming, they know this is a challenge, and this is um, you know, how loyal and how um how do you honor God? It's not that God was was trying to challenge them, but when you are set apart, when you are anointed, when you carry that level of identity in Christ, you're going to you're gonna go against the grain. You're gonna get persecuted. Like it's actually part of your process. Like persecution is a part of how you get the oil. Like, many people don't have oil because they've never endured the fire. They they just don't have it. There's they don't they preach the gospel and they you know they might even do miracles, signs, and wonders, and you know, all of the things, but when they get to heaven, God's gonna say, Depart from me, I never knew you. Why? Because they never endured the refining fire of God and that requires persecution. Um Abigail sometimes she preaches on um what actually the oil uh consisted of and the different parts and what the different spices and the different things that you know were in there. And I remember her teaching that you know the foundation of the oil is suffering, it represents suffering. That's the base oil. So if we don't have suffering and persecution, and now this is not sickness, okay? Don't tell me you're suffering for Christ and and you it's you have a sickness, okay. Um I'm not going into that because that's a whole nother thing. But suffering for Christ is is persecution, okay? Persecution of man, all right. Shadmach, Meshach, and Abendigo, they were persecuted by the kings by man, all right. But they basically said, We're not gonna worship, we're not gonna worship. And so um, because they rejected Nebuchadnezzar, he was filled with fury, and the expression on his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and to cast them into the burning furnace. The men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent, guys, please pay attention to that word urgent, okay? If something is urgent and pushy and you gotta do it right now, and you can't wait, and you know it's just pushy, pushy, pushy. That's usually not Jesus, okay. Now there are times where the Holy Spirit says, Hey, you have to do this right now, you're gonna miss the opportunity. You need to be able to discern that, okay. Really pay attention to what you're responding to that you think is is God, but actually isn't, it's a pushiness from the devil, and um, it has to be done right now. You know, it says because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, it's urgent. Um, that that God wasn't telling him to do that, which he wasn't seeking God in the first place. But I just wanted to say that pay attention as Christians and believers to things that are very urgent and they have to be done right this moment. Um, usually you just take a step back and you wait, um, because the very thing that you don't want to do is wait when something is urgent, and that will always bring truth to it, that will always bring bring clarity to if it's something God is asking you to do, or if it is something the devil is trying to push you into that God is not calling you to, and it actually could even be something that looks good or sounds good, okay? Because I I saw this um post the other day that said, if the devil can't get you with sin, he'll get you with good. Basically, that's the same thing for ministers and leaders, you know, um, Satan will actually try to get you to do something that has Jesus all over it that says good, that says freedom, you know, that says um, you know, it's biblical, but but it wasn't ordained by God, it wasn't ordained by heaven. It was something Satan used and it was a distraction, it was something that God wasn't even asking you to do right now. I know sometimes people come to us and they're like, I need delivered from so and so, and I'll I'll go seek the Lord, and he's like, No. And I'm like, what? I'm like, that doesn't make any sense because the Bible says, like, we're called to you know, cast out demons and get delivered and all of that. And he's like, Yeah, but I'm trying to take them through a process, you know. I'm trying to teach them, I'm trying to give them the oil of discernment, and and I'm trying to um, you know, walk them into a place of a deliverance uh mantle and you know, build. Them up in deliverance and yet they just want a quick fix. And he's like, That's not how it works. So there are um areas where you you don't need to be urgent, okay? You need to seek God and make sure you can discern that. Um, it's funny though, it says the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The fire was so hot that the men that threw them in died instead of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. Like, what? That is crazy. Um, I just think of that verse, touch not my anointed, um, that God spoke. And it says, and these three men men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning furnace. Verse 24 in chapter 3. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. Okay, so in verse 19, it says he was filled with fury. Now he has shifted. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. Okay, again, he's he's he's hasty. Um he declared to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? And they answered and said to the king, This is true, O king. He answered and said, But I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the forest is like a son of the gods. Okay, he's talking about um an angel, okay. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fury, fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, servants of the most high God. Okay, don't forget, over in verse 15, he challenges God with, and who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? No one had to tell him who God was. God told him who he was, because in verse 26 he says, servants of the most high God, come out and come here. Wow, like what what a way to address. Can you imagine if literally somebody was persecuting you and they were like, you know, oh, you're gonna die, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and then and then they call you Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, servants of the most high God. Like what an honor to be like your title shifted to that. That that's powerful. Like, are you called a servant of the most high God? Many would say yes, but you don't go back and read what they just went through. Go back and read that they actually surrendered to the fire in prayer, they surrendered to the process, they surrendered to refinement, they surrendered to their loyalty and faith to God. They continually multiple times surrendered. Then they even surrendered to man, it's persecution, and they said, fine, throw us in there. They said either he'll deliver us or we'll die for the kingdom of God. Either way, he'll deliver us, whether he delivers delivers us from the fire, and we walk out still alive here on earth, or he will deliver us from the fire, and we will be with him in glory. Either way, we win and you lose. Either way, we get delivered. Either way, we will serve only the most high God. Are you considered a servant of the Most High God? It's not what you do at your church, it's not how you feed the homeless, it's not how often you read your Bible or how you pray. It's all about who you worship, who you bow down to. Do you fear God or do you fear man? Because only those who fear God are truly considered servant of the Most High God. So here they are, walking out of the fiery furnace. And it says, the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The natural fire had no power over the fire of God. Those fires are two totally different things. One's natural and one is supernatural. They were untouched by the natural fire, yet they were completely transformed by the fire, refining fire of God. The hair of their heads was not singed. Guys, have you ever taken a lighter and just quickly brushed it across maybe your arm here or something? I'm not please don't go burning yourself. Okay, maybe I shouldn't say that. But I'm just saying, like, most of you have, you know, I don't know if as you were a kid, you know, you thought it was cool to like, you know, there was a fire outside and you were just like, Mom, watch this, you know, and you push it, you go your hand through it really quickly. I've seen people do that. Um, Lord, I rebuke any self-harm for for burning with fire. Like, oh my gosh, like, please don't don't do that and go into that. Maybe I should have said that. Um, but the point I'm trying to get across is when you do that, your hair, I mean, just a barely quick little thing, like singes your hair on your skin. And literally it says here, their head, the hairs of their head was not singed. Guys, they were completely in the fire, and one of their hairs wasn't singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and this is the craziest part. And no smell of the fire had come upon them. Have you ever been to a bonfire and you literally, I mean, you have to take a bath, your hair smells like it, your arms smell like it, your clothes smell like it. You bring it into your house, and everything smells like it. You can't even wash it in the same uh load of laundry as other stuff because it's just so strong. Okay, they didn't even smell like fire when they came out. In verse 28, it says, Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebendigo, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. I want you to highlight that in your Bible, who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielding up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. And then this is even crazy. God, God is yes, God is funny. Therefore, I make a decree. So he even God literally tells Nebuchadnezzar says, Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hand? God says, I'm gonna tell you who I am. And then he says, Then you're gonna get into alignment and you're gonna rearrange. Not only are they gonna be transformed because they chose to stay in the fire and encounter me, but I'm actually gonna bring Yobat into alignment as king. And he says, Therefore, I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins. For there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Literally, he shuts the mouths of lions, he silences every demon, every fleshly desire that would curse God or speak against God. He literally makes a decree with a foundation of the fear of God. Because now these people, they're not gonna do that stuff because they don't want their limbs torn, torn limb from limb, or their houses laid ruins. So now there is a fear of God over this land. That is the purpose of you enduring the fire. You don't you think it's just for you, you think it's just for you to get transformed and you to grow and you to go from glory to glory and you to go from faith to faith and you to increase and and you to you you you. It is, but it's so much more than that. There's so many more reasons why you should fear God and not man. There's so many reasons why you should not just say yes to the fire, step into the fire, but you should actually endure the fire. One, your personal gain is that you are going to encounter God in the fire. But if you just say yes to the fire and step into the fire and then step back out, you miss the encounter. But if you actually stay and endure, you're gonna encounter God on levels that you have never encountered him before and that you can't ever encounter him unless you stay in the fire. Guys, there's some encounters and there's some levels of intimacy and building your relationship with God that you will never, you will never accomplish until you learn to endure the refining fire of God through the persecution of man, through the persecution of the world. Let Satan refine you. He is only a tool in the hand of God to refine you and bring you closer to God, to bring you into a deeper relationship with God, let him refine you. So I want to ask you this. First of all, do you have a Shadrach, Meshach, and a Bindigo in your circle? Do you have people that are willing to stay in the fire? Do you have people in your circle that they don't they don't get scared and run out of the fire when it gets hot? If you're around people like that, you need to rem you need to rearrange your friend group. You need to rearrange your ministry partners. You need to, I've had many ministry partners, I've had many people that when it got hot or their correction came or somebody said something that you know they didn't like, or maybe even I said something that I didn't agree with. Oh my gosh, they got offended and they began to retreat and they weren't willing to stay in the fire and endure. They ran, they got cold feet. Can you endure? Even if you have to endure by yourself, endure the fire, stay in the place that is hard, stay in the church that is persecuting you, stay in the place, um, the job that you don't like so much, that you're trying to get a new job because you're you know, your your boss is not treating you right. Like, what if that is your fire? What if that is your place of refinement and you're actually running? You're actually leaving, you're actually abandoning God. He never abandoned you, but we very often abandon him and what he is trying to do in us and through us and with us. Do you have people that when you call them and you're telling them all the things that are going wrong, and they're like, girl, you leveling up? You leveling up. This is the fire, this is the refinement. Stay, stay, stay, stay, endure. Don't give up. It's about to break. You're about to see breakthrough. If you'll stay, don't run. Stay. So many people, I would probably say nine out of ten people run from the fire. They say yes to it and they actually step into it, but they never get both feet and they don't ever endure. And they end up going around the mountain again and again, and it's a continual cycle, and it breaks my heart every time I see that happen to somebody because I'm like, I'm sorry, God. And I literally all I can do is apologize to Jesus for what he paid for on the cross for them to transform, and they never fully embrace the fullness of the cross. And I just continually, every person after person after person, I say, God, I'm sorry. They're not ready yet. But they'll be back. Give them another chance. Give them time. Or don't let them go to hell. Or help them to endure, help them to stay in the fire. And that's what we've got to do. We've got to make sure that we have a Daniel, that we have a Shadrach, Meshach, and a Bendigo that's gonna say, Hey, you're gonna make it. I promise Jesus had to suffer so much more. I remember a friend told me one time, I, you know, called her and I was just like, I can't endure this, you know, negativity from my friend. Like, I just can't endure it anymore. And she's like, Why not? And that hit me so hard. She's like, Why can't you? Jesus did. And it was just like this friend who constantly tore me down, constantly tore me down. And I was like, I just can't endure the emotional um abuse anymore. And she was like, Why not? And that hit me so hard. And I remember that that just that one question shifted me, why not? She said, Jesus did it for you. And I was broken in that in that time, and I surrendered, and I actually endured the fire longer. And I remember thinking, those are the kind of friends that we need. We need friends that are like, okay, you're suffering, but you'll be okay. Like you're gonna make it, it's gonna break, but just stay, just stay in it, don't leave too early. We need friends like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We need unity in our circles. We need a we need such a fear of God in our circles, and we need to evaluate those people that we have in our circles that we think, I mean, they're probably from your church, like they're probably in your Bible study group, and you're thinking, Oh, this is my inner circle people. But ask God to reveal to you if they are truly servants of the most high God. Like in verse 26, chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego servants of the Most High God because they had endured the fire. Build your circle with a people who fear God. If you don't truly understand what it means to fear God, fearing God is immediate obedience, surrender to persecution, enduring the fire, not running, not hiding, not leaving the fire early, staying in the place that actually you don't want to be, the place that you hate, the place that is mean to you, the place that is hurting you, the place that is persecuting you, stay in that place. Because that is the fire, the refining fire of God. It will refine your fears, it will refine your insecurities, it will refine your identity in Christ. If you truly know who you are, do you worship man or do you worship God? It will tear down every single thing if you refuse to take on bitterness and offense, and you continually allow God to give you opportunities to forgive, to give you, how are you ever going to learn how to truly forgive the way Jesus did if you never get offended, if you never get hurt, if you never get persecuted, if you never have anybody do anything wrong, or you're just so perfect, and everything is so perfect, and everyone is so nice to you, and no one's ever mean to you. How are you actually gonna practice? Paul says, practice your obedience to God, practice the the commands that He gives you in the Bible, practice them, practice your faith. That means actually having somebody be ugly to you, so you can actually practice forgiveness, so you can actually practice blessing your enemies. If everyone's so nice to you and everything is always just so perfect, you can't even apply the things that you need to apply from the word of God um in your life because you you don't have any you don't have any persecution, you don't have any fire. So, how are you even gonna learn to endure? So I encourage you evaluate your circles. Do you have a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo in your circle? Do you have people this loyal to the word of God? If you got people in your circle and they're dropping f-bombs and they're cussing and they're saying the Lord's name in vain, or even they're watching a video, they may not even say the Lord's name in vain, but if they watch a video that uses the Lord's name in vain and they don't immediately turn it off and they don't immediately skip by it, boom, out of my circle. You don't fear God. You don't fear God. And some of you need to be convicted in that. I hear the Holy Spirit saying, if you're watching videos and TikToks and all these things, and they got this um crazy, you know, um humping and bumping, you know, music in the background, and you got people, you know, cussing. I don't care if it is your favorite um, you know, dinner meal plan that that they're cooking, and you're just like, oh, I well, I want to cook this as a meal, but they they're cussing and stuff in the video. You better not cook that meal. You better move on, get the fear of God, and actually do what you're supposed to do. Don't be watching stuff that you're not supposed to be watching, don't be partnering with things that you're not supposed to be partnering with. Don't be shopping at that place that has all these, you know, trinkets that have cuss words all over them. If you if you got a shop that you love so much, but they got you know coffee cups that you know have F words and you know all this weird stuff on it, you better never shop there again. You better have the fear of God in your life and do what you're supposed to do and get into a line. And don't be calling yourself a Christian and you know a believer and you know praying for people in the altar at church and then here you go watching all these videos with F bombs and you know you cussing yourself. You better you better quit quit that right now in the name of Jesus. The Holy Ghost is calling for true, true worshipers and people who truly honor Him. Don't call yourself a servant of the Most High God when you're doing all that trash. Don't do all that. You better get holy now. Get holy and and get rid of all that stuff in your life. Get rid of those shows. But I don't care. Put your I know the Pentecostals and all these, you know, legalism and stuff, people like put the TV out the door, but some of y'all might need to do that for a little while. Just to like just to like get off these shows and these this music and all this stuff that you put into your house and and let come into the atmosphere of your house. And good gracious. Alright. Um, the Holy Spirit is asking, are you truly a servant of the Most High God? Go back, read Daniel 2, verse 46, and read all the way into chapter 3, and you will be able to evaluate would you have responded like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo? Many people say yes, but I guarantee you the Lord will test you this week and show you the areas that you are not surrendering to the fire. He's gonna do it to me too, because every time I say something, he's like, mm-hmm, you too. And that's fine. I want him to. I want him to show us, God, where we can endure the fire better, where we're not enduring the fire, and help us, Holy Spirit, with your spirit, because without the Holy Spirit, you can't do it. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you better pray right now. Holy Spirit, I need you. I need you to help me. Come upon me, be with me, walk with me. I give you a place in my heart. Holy Spirit, come because I can't do it without you. And this week you will be challenged. Are you a servant of the most high God? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and the Pendigo were. Do you truly serve God and God alone? Lord, show us any false gods in our lives that we serve. He's a jealous God. You cannot serve him and other gods too. Show us what our many little gods are that are in your way and hindering us from being a true servant of the Most High God. I love you guys. If you need me, if you need prayer, if you need help discerning, if you need clarity, if you need understanding on something that you but remember, don't come to me if you haven't already been to God, okay? I don't mind helping, but I want most of you who listen to this podcast, you are very well capable of hearing God for yourself. You're very capable of knowing what He wants you to do. If you need clarity, that's fine. But come to me needing clarity on something that you have already spent time with the Lord and asked him yourself. I love you guys, and we will chat next week.