Daniel?s success lay in the fact that he knew God was able. God?s ability goes further than our own. Every believer has to ask this question that the king asked Daniel: ?Is your God whom you continually serve able to save you?? Is your God able?
2003/02/07 Apostle Andre Pelser
Daniel?s success lay in the fact that he knew God was able. God?s ability goes further than our own. Every believer has to ask this question that the king asked Daniel: ?Is your God whom you continually serve able to save you?? Paul also came to the point in his life as an apostle where he had to face this question during a terrible storm.
God promoted Daniel into a top accountant?s job in king Darius?s kingdom. He had to give account so that the king would suffer no loss. Daniel distinguished himself in this because an excellent spirit was in him.
The Hebrew word for excellent spirit is: bubbly!
The king favoured him above 120 satraps or governors in his realm and they obviously became jealous and wanted to get him out of the way. The number 120 is significant: remember on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out? There were 120 present in the upper room waiting for the promise.
Daniel was waiting for the promise that his people would return to their homeland and leave the Babylonian captivity. He studied the books of prophets and discovered in Jeremiah?s prophecy that the time of punishment and exile would be seventy years or ?seven weeks? and realised that this time was almost up. But someone had to earth the prophecies and bring them to pass. He acted apostolically to bring a prophecy out of the cupboard and into the living room. He stood proxy for a nation to fulfil the purposes of God in his generation.
He did not only know what God was doing in his own time but had a glimpse of the eternal purposes of God! This is apostolic perspective that God is restoring in the church today. Daniel is a good role model and example of an apostolic company of people.
Daniel 6:20-23
20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, ?Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions??21 Then Daniel said to the king, ?O king, live forever!22 ?My God sent His angel and shut the lions? mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.?23 Then the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.

Deliver comes from the root word ?azab? that means to leave, abandon, forsake, neglect, apostatise as well as to let loose, set free, let go, free .
Belteshazzar means ?lord of the straitened?s treasure?.

14I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.

Daniel 6:3-5
3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.5 Then these men said, ?We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.?

establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

0Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
11Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
16Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. 17And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
18Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

The way Daniel served his God continually was to ?pelach tediyra?: he sliced through all the circumstances preventing him from seeking God and broke through like a plough breaks through hard soil, into the spiritual realm to communicate with God and chose to dwell in that new realm as if it was his permanent abode. By doing so he cleaved unto the Lord at all times and brought forth or produced astonishing results! Habakkuk?s name means ?one who cleaves!? Daniel?s secret of success and promotion was that he could pelach tediyra! Notice that it was his custom to pray like that since childhood. Someone must have taught him to pray like that. Someone must have impressed his impressionable mind at an early age that prayer actually changes things:

Daniel 6:10
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
Someone obviously taught and demonstrated to him that God?s ability is available for those who frequent His presence through prayer! Daniel knew how to contact God, how to address Him and how to get results in prayer! He knew how to unleash the ability of God on the earth for the benefit of others. For this cause he was willing to risk his life and faced a death sentence.

The ability of God is yekel or yakol: the ability to endure until you accomplish what has to be accomplished! It speaks of power to prevail and might to be victorious in the end! Daniel?s God was able to give him the victory ? over the lions!

No notice how God did it: He shelached his messenger: shelach refers to the shooting out of a branch that is still attached to the trunk. The trunk directs and guides the branch where he sends it to. He extends Himself through his ambassador or deputy to assist the one who pelachs tediyra! (Serves continually)

He ?segar? the mouth of the lions. We heard that God will startle nations and sprinkle nations with what He is going to do through you so that they will be astonished and he will shut the mouths of those who despised you and said you would amount to nothing because He will show them things they have not been told about you and reveal things they have not yet seen. He segars them: he puts a boundary and encloses them and tightens their lip and commands them not to speak against his anointed. He shoves a cigar into their mouths! (That is the image by which I remember the Hebrew term ?segar?)

Lions can also refer to pictures or images of lions: ?aryeh?. The devil goes around promoting and parading himself as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour, according to Peter. A lion attacks those who stray from the flock. Sometimes the devil tries to frighten us through projecting images of fear onto the screens of our minds. He is a liar and tries to deceive people into submitting to him because of fear.

King Darius was tricked into casting Daniel into the lions den and he set his heart on delivering him. B