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Some struggles and hardships I know are from God, for discipline and training, other struggles I create myself instead of being patient and waiting on the Lord. The benefits of discipline to Christians is to help them in struggles, when we are disciplined we become a little more sactified moving closer to eternal life and a life of peace.

Spiritual warfare can weary us down because the devil keeps tempting us to sin or by opposing us. We must learn to resist the devil and he will flee from us, for greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Satan and his schemes even today continue to oppress me by causing things to go against my belief and me not to claim the promises of God. He clutters my mind with worries that keep my mental state away from the things of God.

Daniel 2:44 teaches us that the kingdom God will set up will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to other people. His kingdom will crush all kingdoms of the earth and bring them to an end. Verse 44 tells us the kingdom of God will be the last kingdom and will last forever. We don't exactly know when the kingdom of God will come, but when it comes the people of the earth the people will be totally immersed in evil, murders, robbery and sexual perversion. The Lord will come unexpectedly, there will will be marriages and all sorts of evil taking place, no one will be worried about the coming of the Lord. When the Lord return's he will place all nations, countries and enemies under his feet. All kingdoms refusing to come under the Lord's rule will be destroyed.

Daniel shows humility in his situation to ask the king for time so he can interpret the kings dream. He also uses humility before interpreting the dream by telling the king only God can give the ability to show him the king's dream. He uses the opportunity of reveling the dream, by telling the king only the God of Heaven can give us dreams of the future and only God can give the interpretation. According to 1 Peter 5:5-6 states we should not exalt ourselves before God, we are to be humble, fore the Lord gives grace to the humble. God himself opposes the proud and are detestable before him.

Daniel ask his friends for intercessory prayer to God so that the Lord would have mercy upon them by revealing to him the King's dream and it's interpretation. According to scripture intercessory prayer is important because it helps to have others praying for the Lord's help in some desperate situations. Indeed intercessory is important, even if we prayer for healing or an answer to a dilemma in our life. Sometimes the more people we have praying in our behalf sends up perhaps a louder cry to heaven. Even in the old testament Jesus tells us where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there. We have intercessory prayer in our church and use this prayer for those in situations of healing's, financial purposes, marriage, church decisions and many other situation's that require an almost immediate answer from the Lord. For these prayer's we normally use a prayer team, elders of the church and some who have a special gift for this mediator type intercessory prayer.

Daniels first approach to not eat the king's food and wine was that if they did it would defile their belief's . Daniels second approach to not eat the king's food was to eat a different diet than that which was set before them was to get the guard to agree to test their choice of a vegetable diet instead of meat for 10 days. The demeanor of the guard over Daniel was that God caused the guard to show favor and sympathy toward him. God's affects the outcome of Daniels's request to not eat the food or drink the wine set before them by first causing the guard to show favor and sympathy toward Daniel, then after their 10 day day test of eating only vegetables and drinking water, their bodies were better fit than the other people involved in the deportation to Babylon.

Daniel took a stand when ordered to eat and drink the food from the king of Babylon's table because he did not want to defile the Jewish diet he kept, because of his belief's in the Mosaic law's, their food was to be of kosher preparation. Eating the king's food would cause him to defile his conscience and belief in the law's handed down from Moses. These laws were received from the Lord. By doing and obeying the laws of Leviticus 3:17, 11:1-47, 17:10-14, Daniel displays his love for the Lord his God and refuses to break the laws set down for food and preparation.

The changes that Daniel and his friends experienced was a complete cultural change. The ways of society, religious beliefs, language and laws. The practice of their former religion was a threat to their very life if caught worshiping their God instead of the Babylonian gods and king. Their status of Daniel and his friends when back in Jerusalem was that of nobility. Their parents or perhaps themselves were probably of the Jerusalem King's court. Because of their nobility in Jerusalem they were trusted to a better life in Babylon being given 3 years to learn the culture of their new home. They were in great physical health, quick to learn, young, handsome and could function in the king's court. Changing their names from the ancestral type names of Israel where their names usually connected to the deity of the One True God. Now being in Babylon they were given names that would refer to the gods of their new home. This must have been a disgrace and embarrassment for them. Being made eunuchs and placed in the kings court was definitely a loss of manhood, now having no family, their only loyalty left was to the king. If they made compromises it would probably be to serve the king their entire life if they were not made into eunuchs.

The great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 would be all the past multitudes of judges, prophets and believers who look forward to the promises of the Lord, but never received them. The analogy to the life of faith that is offered in 12:1 is to run the race in our life of faith, this is our destiny. Our struggles have been set before us and we must run the race in spite of them. Jesus is the author of our faith because knowing what he had to endure for the joy that was set before him is now seated at the right hand of the father. Thus by his faith as an example we are to endure the obstacles set before us, for the joy of eternal life in Heaven with the Lord. Jesus lived by faith because he knew if he endured all trails and temptations set before him, obeying the will of the father, his joy would remain ahead of him. Jesus our perfecter and finisher of our faith, teaches us that if we endure the trails and temptations set before us as they with Christ our perfection of living a similar life, a great reward of eternal life awaits us.

The only time I have been in a different country with culture different than that of the U.S., is Turkey, here we not in any way to disgrace their flag, or not to take any photo's of their women. This culture was indeed radically different, it felt strange because living in a free country mixing with society is not problem. My faith was not changed due to the circumstances, but neither did try to witness to anyone, being I was in the U.S. service.

The power motivating factor behind the actions taken by people mentioned in verses 8-31, is their faith in God. Their faith was based on their belief in the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the one true God. At the Red Sea the Israelite's faith in their Lord God is what saved them from Egyptian slavery and crossing the Red Sea. The Egyptian army believed only in their man made idols, which could neither hear, see or speak. Their faith was false, based on idolatry, the Israelite's believed in the God creator of all things. Rahab more than likely had real faith as opposed to an opportunist who was looking out for herself and family. She knew that the God of Israel was God and that Jericho was going to be destroyed by the Israelite's and their God. Knowing what she was doing, she probability figured she would take advantage of the situation and save herself and family

The role of finding a wandering sheep (Christian) back to the faith is important because it will bring him back to the Lord, where he can confess and repent from his sins. Also, bring one lost sheep back could also help save him from physical and psychological sickness. It will help him from the error of his ways and cover a multitude of sins.

In Hebrews 11:23-28 Moses faith affected his willingness to suffer with his people, because he refused to be associated with Pharaoh and the riches of the pleasures of sin. He would rather be disgraced than have the treasures of Egypt, he would suffer as his country men suffered. Faith created in Moses a future reward, he saw Him (God) who is invisible but yet believed in Him. Because of Christ death and resurrection, faith has created in us a hope, looking forward to our eternal life with God.

In practical terms the characteristics of a believer who lived his life as an alien and stranger here on earth is basically in exile. The balance between "in" the world but not "of" the world is, as a believer we must live in the world with all of it's materialistic desires, but we believers know we are not of the world and do not live in it's desires, we look forward to our Heavenly Country of the Kingdom of God. We do not allow ourselves to be involved with it's worldly desires. We know we are hated by the world just as Christ was hated by the world. We belong to Christ and try to live a life worthy of his holiness.

Abraham's journey looking for a city and a country encourages our faith journey because though we live in this world we look forward to the great city God has prepared for us in the country of Heaven. The final city we see is Mt. Zion, the city of the living God, Heavenly Jerusalem, that will come down from heaven and God will dwell there with us. The final country we will be citizens of is the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the healing prayer anointing oil represents the presence of the Holy Spirit and his healing power. The prayer of faith is the fact that the sick person has faith God will heal him. The elder praying also has faith God will heal the person being prayed for. The role of faith is that a person believes God will heal them and without faith there can be no healing. The role of confession is that a person is sorrowful for his sins against God and man. Confessing his sin to a trusted believer will pierce the sin he is harboring and along with a prayer of faith he is forgiven.

James 5:14, the role of the elders is prayer for the sick and they should be mature elders that know the Lord and aren't afraid to ask God of the impossible to do the impossible. The spiritual gratification for the ministry of prayer must have a mature faith, not afraid to pray for the healing of others, it is a faith that knows the Lord.

According to James 5:14 the person who is to initiate the prayer for healing is the person who is ill. This is important because they should have the belief and want to be healed. Their faith may be weak so they should call on the elders to pray for their healing.

The part of Abraham's faith that is related to the depth of that faith is that he believed God and by this faith it was considered as righteousness. The part of faith that related to the real existence of God was the fulfilling of the promise that Abraham would have an offspring by Sarah in their old age and their descendants would be as the stars of heaven. Faith that lacks the elements of belief and that God rewards those who seek him is not a faith at all. They may have heard of a God but refuse to change their life style or give up their worldly desires. Faith to me is that God does exist, because of his handiwork in creation. I know God the Father has provided a means by which we can approach him through his Son Jesus. On this belief I put my whole personality on God, in complete trust and confidence, assurance and confirmation on and in him.

With all the religions on the earth Judeo-Christian type of faith sets it apart from all of them. Faith is the remarkable key that we must have to believe in God, his promises and his trust worthiness. Other religions have to work for a reward to get into heaven. Judeo-Christians know that God is a holy God, we can never work our way to him or get into heaven. He has provided a way for us to approach him and come into his presence, this is the work of his only begotten Son, Jesus who is the Christ. Noah's faith was that he believed God when told to build an arch, because the world was to be destroyed by water. Only Noah and his family were saved because of their faith and trust in God. Our faith is similar to Noah's, by faith we know God exist, by his Son and God's truth that he taught and by his death and resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven we are saved. Our faith continues to grow because of the work of the Holy Spirit, who fills us with God's presence. By this indwelling spirit our spirit bears witness of the presence of God. By his gifts and promises we grow, by our answered prayers we are convinced God knows us.

Grumbling and complaining tells everyone we have no patience to wait on God to solve our problems in life. We are losing our faith in God and blaming him for our problems. We should pray, wait and be patient on the Lord. This is our faith that we trust in him.

Christians who lack patience and eagerly expect Christ return can get worn out by the fact we know not when Christ will return, we should be patient and most of all be ready, we know not the time or day or night of his coming. Patience is vital because we always want things our way, right now if not sooner. Living by Gods word and knowing he hears our prayers, we should also know that by faith we are strengthened, being patient will teach us God will and to stand firm.

Hebrews 11:6, the first element of faith, that God exist, the second element is also necessary, to seek God out, to approach him. To seek God means we not only know that God exist, but we want to know him and his righteousness, we want to come into his presence. Whether we believe that God rewards those who seek him, is a promise that he will answer those that knock and the door will be opened to them. We know through faith that God will reward those who seek him and his promises.

Using Hebrews 11:1-3 faith is the trust, confidence and reliance on God for the promises and hope of eternal life with the Lord. It is the assurance and confirmation of the things I hope for, the proof of things I do not see but the conviction of their reality.

The spiritual danger of our demand for comfort and luxury can lead us away from Christ and fellowship from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our demands for quality low priced goods has driven this countries labor force abroad where there is cheap underpaid employee's, in retrospect, it has caused labor in this country to be unemployed. All of this because of our greed to want more and more. Instead of wanting everything new, which is the norm for the present day, we have no patience to wait on the Lord and his will for us.