“In the third year of Darius the king of Persia a thing (message) was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar( the name his captor’s gave him); and the thing was true but the time, but the time appointed was long (of a great conflict): and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.

In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until the three weeks were fulfilled (fasted for three weeks).

And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel (The Tigris):

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and beheld a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins (waist) was girded with fine gold of Uphaz; His body also was like beryl, and his face the appearance of lightning, and his eyes lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice(sound) of a multitude.

And I Daniel alone saw the vision; for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking (terror) fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.

Therefore was I left alone, and saw the great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness (vigour)was turned in me into corruption (frailty),and I retained no strength.

YET heard I the voice (sound) of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground.

And behold, an hand touched me, which set me (trembling) upon my knees, and upon the palms of my hands (helped him set up).

And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man GREATLY beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: For unto thee am I NOW SENT. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; For from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten (humble) thyself before thy God, thy words WERE heard, and I am come for thy words. ” Daniel 10: 1-12

You may recognize that as being the account of Daniel’s fasting and praying for twenty-one days to understand the end time vision that had been given him, and the next verses explain that even though the answer had been on the way, the forces of hell where doing their best to prevent Daniel from receiving his answer so they literally had to be fought through in order to reach Daniel.

And to really grasp what a battle this was, think about this, it was the Lord and Michael the archangel fighting those powers that did not want Daniel to receive that answer.

And right about now you may be asking, What does all this have to do with sparrows? So glad you asked 🙂 It has everything to do with them!

Daniel was horrified and the vision had left him completely shaken, I have said this before and will probably say it again, but I really can’t imagine what it would have been like for Daniel, not only seeing all the end time destruction but to see the depravity of mankind, that he could not have possibly imagined in his time period.

But this is not about all that, this is about what was told to him,  the conversation starts off with him being lifted up, reassured by name, that he is loved, not just loved, greatly loved, and  to not be afraid, and that he had not been left abandoned alone to understand this vision, but from day one he had been heard.

So why do you think Jesus would care so much to expressly say all of these things to Daniel? Because he loves him, and when you love someone and you know that they are scared and hurting, you want to reassure them and let them know that they are not alone and Jesus feels that same way about all his children, he feels that same way about you. That is just another beautiful aspect to the innumerable beautiful attributes that make Jesus who he is

Sometimes when we go through a dark place and we feel like we have prayed endlessly, it does not mean that he is not there, nor does it mean that he does not care.

Quite the opposite. he loves us enough to have came to this earth and died for us

And then going on to give us this blessed promise after he resurrected, …and, lo, I AM with you alway, even the end of the world.” 

Romans 5:8:”But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

I’m part of the crew that loves to point out the fact that God created everything, and created us and simply because he wanted to, and when the fall came he could have very well decided to destroy us all and even create something completely different, not even put humans back into the equation, but he didn’t do that, and he didn’t do that because he loves us!

He loves us not because of who we are, what we do, or don’t do but because we are his creation, just as parents love their children, but God even more so because humans do not even possess the level of love that Jesus has toward us.

So I wanted to remind you of that today, that your Father loves you, and he loves you more than you could ever, ever imagine and when life or people or circumstance starts kicking you down, think about Daniel, think about the moment he lifted up his head, and lift your head and look up toward your Father and rest in these verses.

Before you read these bear in mind that today a farthing would be one tenth of an american cent.

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing (1/16th of a denarius) and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father. But the very hairs on your head are numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye ARE of more value than many sparrows.”Matthew 10:29-31

Luke words it like this:

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Fear ye not therefore: Ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6,7

God knows every single bird on the earth at any given time, every single member of every species on earth and knows the exact moment one falls and never forgets even one of them and that is what he is conveying to us, that in all, how could we ever believe that he could forget one of his children?

He will never forget you, he knows your name, where you have been, where you are right now, and where you are going, He knew your birth before your birth and he knows the moment he will take you home and that is our comfort, he is always there, and I just want you to know that he will not let you fall and will not let you suffer alone.

We’ll end it here, Luke 11:9-13: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he taht seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Ask him for his presence and his comfort and rest in him and he will see you through!

Love & Peace to you till next time! Thank you for sharing a moment with me and thank you for reading!

Φλογιζω 2021/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

If you have never heard this song check it out, I think it will uplift you!