Like Daniel and his companions, we need to be victorious over the seduction of idol worship, realising that whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God; when we’re in the fire of suffering and persecution, the Lord is with us to make the fire a pleasant place to walk about.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we serve You! Amen, Lord, we choose to worship You and serve only You, the true God! We will not serve any other gods. Expose any idols in our being. Expose anything that takes Your place. We love You, Lord, and we want to be with You, even to worship You and serve You. Thank You for being with us all the time, even in our sufferings and trials, to make our fiery situations a pleasant place for us to be in! We love You, Lord! Amen!
In Daniel chapter 3 we see a very interesting story concerning the enemy attacking the young overcomers who were captives from Israel; Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, very tall – sixty cubits (ninety feet, approx. 27 metres) – and asked everyone to bow down to it. He put in a particular place, in the plain of Dura, and told everyone, from his officials to all commoners and slaves, to bow down to the image.
Whoever does not bow down to it will be thrown into a fiery furnace. Some Chaldeans who were jealous of Daniel and his three companions went to the king and told him that these three young overcomers did not worship the image.
The king ordered them to be brought before him and commanded them to worship the image or be thrown into the fire, and there’s no god who will deliver them out of his hand.
Their response was bold, for they said that the God whom they serve is able to deliver them from the blazing furnace of fire and will deliver them from the hand of the king, and if He does not, they will still not worship that idol.
Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and asked some of his mighty men to bind these three and throw them into the furnace; the flame of fire slew those carrying them, but the three of them were cast into the fire.
However, there was a fourth with them, and the four of them were walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth looked like a son of the gods.
Then the king asked them to come out, and the three of them came out, not even smelling like fire, and the king said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him and changed the king’s word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God.
Therefore the king made a decree that no one speak against their God. And God made them to prosper.
Being Victorious over the Seduction of Idol Worship by Exercising our Spirit in All Things
In reading chapter 3 of Daniel we learn so much from the pattern of Daniel and his companions, for they were victorious over the seduction of idol worship (see Matt. 4:9-10). We may say that today we don’t have outward idols we worship, but today the idols are in our heart, even part of our being.
We need to open to the Lord and see the seduction of idol worship; idols charm us, seduce us, and lure us into worshipping something else besides God. Whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God (1 John 5:21).
We need to beware of idols and not worship idols. Whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol, for the true God is mingled with our spirit, and apart from the true God, all things can be an idol.
The true God is the opposite of an idol; whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol. What is the true God? The true God is the Triune God experienced by us as our life in a practical way.
The true God is the God whom we experience as the divine life. We have the divine life as a seed within us, and this life overcomes the world, and Satan cannot touch us.
We need to learn to listen to the Lord’s leading within and follow the sense of life. Sometimes we may go shopping and we really like something or desire it; however, the Lord within us says no. If we insist on buying that thing, what we are bringing home is an idol. Oh Lord!
We may buy a good thing, even something that we think we need, but if the Lord within us says not to buy it, we obtain another idol.
People today don’t need to go to a heathen temple to have an idol; as long as you take something that God says no to, that is an idol.
So what should we do? How can we beware of idols and stay away from idol worship? How can we be victorious over the seduction of idol worship? We need to exercise our spirit in all things.
When we go shopping in a supermarket or in the many online shops today, we need to exercise our spirit and call on the name of the Lord. We need to pay attention to the sense of life and peace within us. We need to pay attention to the Lord’s move in our spirit.
We have accumulated a lot of idols simply because we did not listen to the Lord’s speaking within.
The most bothersome idol is the self; the enemy of the Body is the self, for the self replaces God with self-interest, self-exaltation, self-glory, self-beauty, and self-strength. Oh Lord Jesus!
We need to deny the self in the Body and for the Body, and we should not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord (Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:5).
May the Lord shine on us and expose any self-interest, and self-seeking and self-exaltation, and any self-glory and self-beauty. May we exercise our spirit and remain in contact with the Lord, following the inner sense of life and peace in all things.
And when we speak to others, may we still exercise our spirit so that we speak Christ to them, not imparting ourselves into them or expressing the self but Jesus Christ as Lord.
May we be those who are victorious over the seduction of idol worship.
We may not realise how idols charm us and draw us, but our natural being is attracted to things, for behind so many things today there are demons who lure us and seduce us.
We cannot withstand this seduction in ourselves; we are not strong enough to do it, no matter how much we try. We need to be in our spirit.
Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4); when we touch the Lord in our spirit and follow His inner leading, He makes us victorious over the seduction of idol worship.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we pursue You in love, for You are our Lord, our King, our Bridegroom, our Saviour, and our only God! Amen, Lord, may we beware of idols. May we realise that idols try to seduce us and lure us so that they may replace the Lord in us. May we see that whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God. Oh Lord, cause us to realise that whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol. We turn to our spirit right now. We love You and we worship You. We reject any idols. We are joined to You; we want to remain in this organic union so that You may save us from any idols. Shine on us, Lord, and expose any self-interest, self-exaltation, self-glory, self-beauty, and self-strength. May the self not be an idol in us. We choose to deny the self in the Body and for the Body. We want to preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and not preach ourselves. Amen, Jesus Christ is Lord! Praise the Lord Jesus! Jesus is Lord!
Having a True Spirit of Martyrdom and Having the Lord’s Presence with us in our Suffering to make it a Pleasant Situation
In Daniel 3 we see that some were jealous of Daniel’s three companions, and they told the king that they did not worship the idol he set up.
These three young overcomers from among the Israelite captives were bold to tell the king,
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace of fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image that you have set up (Daniel 3:17-18).
They were convinced that the Lord will deliver them from the furnace and were ready to even die for the Lord, should He not deliver them.
This is a true spirit of martyrdom; it is knowing the Lord, loving the Lord, and trusting in the Lord to such an extent that we are ready to die for the Lord.
Daniel’s companions had a true spirit of martyrdom; they stood for the Lord as the unique God and against idol worship at the cost of their lives, being thrown at the command of Nebuchadnezzar into a blazing furnace (Dan. 3:19-23).
On the one hand, we need to be victorious over the seduction of idol worship; on the other hand, we need to love and worship the Lord to such an extent that we are ready to lay down our life for Him, should He not deliver us from the fiery situation we will be in as a punishment for not worshipping idols.
In the case of Daniel’s three companions, the king was enraged and asked for the furnace to be made seven times stronger, and then ordered that these three young overcomers would be thrown into the fire.
The mighty men who took them and threw them in the fire perished by the flame, but the three young overcomers were thrown into the fire.
But something amazing happened: a fourth one was with them, and they were walking around in the fire; this fourth one had the appearance like a son of the gods (vv. 24-25).
God did not rescue Daniel’s companions from the fire; He came to be with them in that fiery situation, in the trial.
Our natural thought is that we want to be rescued from the fire of our circumstances.
We may be in a fiery situation at work, for our boss or a particular workmate is giving us a very hard time, so we ask the Lord to remove us from that situation or to remove that fire from us.
We may have a particularly troublesome husband or a rather bothersome wife, and we may pray to ask God to deliver us from such a situation.
This is our natural thought, and this is what Daniel’s companions also thought.
But what the Lord does is not rescue us from the fiery situation or from trial but He comes to be with us in the midst of it.
The excellent Christ as the Son of Man comes to be with us in our suffering; He wants to make us overcomers in the midst of sufferings, persecutions, and trials.
He may not rescue us from the fiery situations where we are because we worship God, but He will be with us to make the fire a pleasant place in which to walk about. How precious this is!
According to God’s thought, we don’t need to ask Him to deliver us from the furnace, even when the fire is intensified sevenfold.
God comes in Christ as the Son of Man to be with us. He is qualified and capable of sympathising with God’s people in everything (Heb. 4:15-16).
He understands us thoroughly, and there’s nothing that He does not know. He is with us where we are, in the fiery situation and in all our trials.
The Lord Jesus as the Son of Man comes to be our Companion and take care of us in our suffering. His presence with us makes the place of suffering a pleasant situation.
He told Paul that His grace is sufficient for him, for His power is perfected in weakness.
We may be in a situation of great suffering and we may want to be delivered from it, but the Lord keeps us there and comes to be with us.
He goes through that situation with us, and He makes our environment a pleasant place. Others may be amazed, for they clearly see us passing through a fiery trial, but they also notice there’s
Someone else there with us: the Son of Man, who sympathises with us and make us more than overcomers.
We may be in a difficult situation or in sickness, and we welcome the Lord into our situation.
His presence with us makes the place of suffering become a pleasant situation. Thank the Lord for this!
Lord Jesus, we love You and we worship You! You are our God, and we serve only You! Amen, Lord, we believe that You are with us. Thank You for Your presence with us in all our situations. We worship You, Lord, whether You deliver us from a fiery situation or not, for You are our God and we trust in You. Save us from trying to escape the trials, difficult situations, or fiery environments; may we welcome Your presence. Amen, Lord, You are the Son of Man, and You are qualified and capable of sympathising with us in all things. We have You as our High Priest who was tempted in all respects like us yet without sin. We take You as our Companion in our place of suffering. Oh Lord, we treasure Your presence with us. Your presence makes the place of suffering a pleasant situation. We love You, Lord, and we enjoy You as grace and as our everything even in our sufferings and difficulties. Thank You for being with us and for understanding us thoroughly. We love Your presence with us! We love You, Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msgs. 3-5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Noah, Daniel, and Job – Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God (2026 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 3, The Victory of the Overcomers Seen with Daniel and His Companions – day 3.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Idols once they won thee, charmed thee, / Lovely things of time and sense; / Gilded thus does sin disarm thee, / Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence. / Captivated by His beauty, / Worthy tribute haste to bring; / Let His peerless worth constrain thee, / Crown Him now unrivaled King. (Hymns #437 stanza 2 and chorus)
– He all my griefs has taken, and all my sorrows borne; / In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tower; / I’ve all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn / From my heart, and now He keeps me by His power. / Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore, / Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal: / He’s the Apple-tree of trees, the Bright and Morning Star, / He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul. (Hymns #210 stanza 2)
– In the secret of His presence / How my soul delights to hide! / Oh, how precious are the lessons / Which I learn at Jesus’ side! / Earthly cares can never vex me, / Neither trials lay me low; / For when Satan comes to tempt me, / To the secret place I go. / To the secret place I go. (Hymns #553 stanza 1)
About aGodMan
Life-study of Daniel, pp. 27-28, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, we need to be victorious over the seduction of idol worship, realising that whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God.
Our self-interest, self-exaltation, self-beauty, and self-strength are idols, for the self is the enemy of the Body.
When we stand for the Lord against idol worship, we will be persecuted, but God is with us.
Instead of delivering us from the blazing furnace, the Lord is there with us, making the suffering a pleasant place in which to walk about.
The enemy will always place “seducing idols” in our Christian way for us to lure us from the true God in our regenerated spirit.
May the Lord strengthen us to guard ourselves, deny self, so that God interest in Christ Jesus as Lord, reigns within and without always!
Even in our most difficult and tempting, fire-burning situations the enemy puts before us, may we like Daniel’s 3 overcoming companions, be resolute in our spirit to stand firm to the end for God.
Even when passing thru the burning furnace, the Son of Man will come to take care of us in our sufferings, making our situation a bearable, pleasant place! He’s done it before, and God will come thru for us!
Amen. Hallelujah! Jesus is Lord!