An Excellent Spirit (Part Two)
Click here to watch the video version of this message taught at Liberty Church in New York City.
I believe excellence starts in your spirit.
As valuable as gifts and talents are, they don’t lead to excellence without an excellent spirit. It’s when those gifts and talents are stewarded faithfully by a person determined to live with an excellent spirit that those raw materials have their greatest impact.
And the opposite is also true. If you allow a mediocre spirit, or an apathetic spirit, that will also be expressed in your life but the result will not be excellence, no matter how gifted you are.
The scripture tells us that Daniel had “excellent spirit” in him (Dan6:3) and in the chapter that follows we see incredible favor on his life. I believe without a doubt that an excellent spirit was his secret sauce. And as a result a young Hebrew boy rises from virtual slavery to become one of the most powerful leaders of his day against all odds.
So what did an excellent spirit produce in Daniel’s life?
I see four things in this passage-
1. Distinction
Dan6:3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him.
Daniel stood out from the crowd because he cultivated a spirit of excellence in himself even when the world around him did not share his faith in God. I believe that an excellent spirit will produce that in your life… favor, distinction, attention, the x factor.
In Lk2:52 we get a tiny glimpse into Jesus’ younger years, when the scriptures tell us that, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” If we are following Jesus then we ought to believe for the same thing in our life. Notice that it was not only favor with God, but also with man. As sons or daughters of the Most High God we are to live in such a way as to distinguish ourselves, for his glory.
2. Persecution
I wouldn’t be sharing his story faithfully if I didn’t acknowledge that this favor on Daniel also attracted persecution to his life. If you read on in Daniel 6 you’ll see that the other leaders in Babylon conspired against him, jealous of the favor he’d gained with the King. In one of the most famous stories in the bible they trick the King into passing a law that makes Daniel’s worship of God illegal. Daniel is thrown into a lion’s den but God spares his life and vindicates him.
We shouldn’t be surprised if we face persecution from time to time. It’s a compliment, and a test of our spirits. In fact Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness”.
3. Promotion
Pr22:29 NKJV Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.
If you live with an excellent spirit you’ll rise no matter where your life goes. Daniel becomes one of the powerful men in the most powerful empire of his day. Joseph was wrongfully imprisoned but because of his excellent spirit, even in prison he was promoted and eventually rose to rule the Egyptian empire alongside the Pharaoh.
And let’s remember Daniel’s promotion didn’t happen within the “church”, it happened in the world. To me that’s a picture of the influence that followers of Jesus should have in the marketplace today. By all means use your spiritual gifts on Sunday to build your local church, but don’t forget them on Monday. For most of us our primary ministry is not what happens on Sunday.
4. Transformation
I nearly missed the real point of this story. It was never just about Daniel. God was preparing to do something big, and Daniel’s excellent spirit put him in just the right place, at just the right time, with influence and authority to shift the course of a nation!
His enemies find themselves tragically trapped by their own scheme, and they’re the ones who eaten by the lions in the end. Then the King makes a decree across his whole empire that commanded everyone to, “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel”. While I was focused on the miracle in Daniel’s life, I didn’t see that God was preparing something much bigger than any one person.
Daniel’s faithfulness to cultivate an excellent spirit not only spares his life, and gains him favor and promotion, but it ultimately transforms the course of an empire.
Let’s never underestimate the power of an excellent spirit in our lives!
I’d love your comments on how you are cultivating an excellent spirit…
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