CTCI Monday Morning Devotions

Please join us today as we study these Scripture verses and this devotion written by Susan Pons:

But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up (Daniel 3:18).

And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods (Daniel 3:25)!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked out of the fire…not a hair singed, not a scorch mark on their clothes, not even the smell of fire on them! (Daniel 3: 26-27)

Daniel! What a model you are to us all!Your words ring true to us, even in today’s world. You refused to become an unclean young man in the sight of the Lord and He honored your faithfulness!

Inside the fiery furnace, a trinity of young men, walking freely around through a portrayal of hell, unscathed, and escorted by a fourth man. And the fourth man looks like a son of the gods! Who was this fourth man?It was Jesus! And they came out of that inferno with not even the scent of smoke on them!

God never promised us that we would not go through affliction, adversity, and sorrow.In this world you will have tribulation but, be of good cheer! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).In His overcoming presence, we will come out of our fiery circumstances, overcomers, without the smell of fire upon us!

In the midst of persecution

Stand by me;

When my foes in battle array

Undertake to stop my way

Thou who saved Paul and Silas

Stand by me.

In the midst of tribulation

Stand by me;

When the hosts of hell assail

And my strength begins to fail

Thou who never lost a battle

Stand by me.

In the midst of faults and failures

Stand by me;

When I do the best I can

And my friends misunderstand

Thou who knowest all about me

Stand by me.

—Charles Albert Tindley, 1905—

The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever (Daniel 2:46).

Instead of a gold statue, what are some of the gods we bow to in today’s world.  Explain how you or someone you know came through a fiery furnace without the scent of smoke?

We welcome your responses!