Our preacher this morning was talking about Daniel in the Bible, and he had five “R”s to hang his talk on.

     Daniel was a young teenager who had been taken captive by the enemy and found himself along with three friends, in a strange country with a language they didn’t understand. Not only that, but there were strange customs to get used to, on top of being homesick for where they had come from.      These four teenagers were part of a group that had been specially chosen to become part of the king’s  court, and were to be trained up in the ways of the land. So they found themselves back in school to learn this new language and new ways so they could stand before the king.       But these were four young fellows who had strong convictions of what was right and what was wrong, and  we can learn many lessons from them.

     These four boys Resolved that they would not follow the heathen ways of this new land….after all, they knew the One True God, and believed that He would look after them.      They found that the food they were given to eat was of the very best, but Daniel was suspicious about where it had come from. When he found out it had been offered to the foreign idols first, he was horrified! He Resisted eating this food that he was being given  and went to the official in charge of their group and asked if it couldn’t be Removed from his diet. He asked that he be given just vegetables to eat and water to drink, instead of the rich food and wine that they were now being given.

    Then it was the official’s reaction to be horrified! If they didn’t look as healthy as their companions the next time they went before the king, he could lose his job or worse still, his head! But he agreed to do it for a week and then check them out.     His mates saw what he was doing and asked about it. So Daniel was able to Recruit them to do as he was doing, and when the four of them finally came before the king, the Result was that the king found that they were ten times better than all the rest of the group still eating the king’s food. They were more alert, fitter and trimmer of figure than any of the others, so they were allowed to stay on their diet.

    So this story from the Bible shows us many lessons that we can learn…. first of all we must RESOLVE to do what is right, then RESIST what is holding us back, and REMOVE ourselves from temptation. We can then RECRUIT others to follow our way, and the RESULT will be an eternal one for God’s glory.

     True, there may be bumps along the way, and times of testing, but it will all be worth it in the end . So never give up, and keep looking up!!