Daniel 2:24-49

²⁴ Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”

²⁵ Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”

²⁶ The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”

²⁷ Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:

²⁹ “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen.

Understanding the true nature of God requires power.  One cannot comprehend the nature of God through the acquisition of knowledge.  One will never truly accept the existence of God through habitual attendance at a church or at a Bible study.  The one and only means to being transformed by the word of God is through the power of experience, and the only way to that experience is to allow the possibility of the power to be present.

One of the primary reasons why so few people ever experience this power is because, although they attend church, read their Bible or pray, they resist the truth of the message.  Regardless of how small that opening for truth is, God will always respond to it, and when he does it becomes pointless in resisting the presence of his power.  People believe they have uncontested control of their lives, the power to dictate our own direction as we see fit.  This faith will persist until it is met by a power that overpowers it.  When we experience God’s power, the only reaction in a heart hungry for truth is to fall prostrate at the feet of the God who makes himself known not through a message, a concept or a rule, but through an undeniable encounter.

Anything short of an experience with God cannot initiate the change of character required to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ.   And without a powerfully personal experience with the living God, we live without the joy and peace that come from the transformed character in this new life with God.  Any faith requires trust in things we don’t necessarily see, but is established in things that have truly been experienced.  Without the testimony of experience we would never live by that faith.  God’s message will never be real unless God’s presence has been truly experienced as real.