Be A NeighborSample

FAITH OVER FEAR

Because of his obvious faith in God, Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den. Miraculously, God kept the lions’ mouths shut until the king realized God was with Daniel.

When you take steps to engage with your neighbors and advance God’s Kingdom, you’ll often find yourself surrounded by lions. Not real-life lions, but the lions of accusation, fear, defeat, lack, loneliness, shame, offense, apathy, and political correctness. These 9 lions are tools in the hands of unseen trolls and haters online, as well as many who may wish to discourage you from speaking out about your faith.

But like Daniel, you don’t have to panic. You can stand strong knowing God has your back. When you obey God, he won’t always prevent trouble from coming your way, but it’s often because he wants to give trouble a front row seat to His faithfulness toward you. 

The king didn’t realize how powerful God was until he heard Daniel’s voice on the other end of a long night with nothing but hungry lions to sleep on. 

As we near the end of our “Be A Neighbor” 5-Day Devotional, I challenge you to imagine who may be on the other side of your obedience to God. When you’re thrown into conversations or confrontations that seem like a den of lions, remind yourself: these are simply the people God has given a front row seat of his faithfulness toward me.

ACTION STEP

Pray for your neighbors by name. Check in with them regularly, asking them how you can pray for them and their children. If you see a need, begin to meet it. If the need is too big, ask your church to help.