Religion and relationship are completely different. Religion is man's attempt to reach God. It is full of many rules that should be done. It is full of works so that you can move up the religious pecking order. But religion leaves the individual completely unprepared for whatever unexpected opportunities or problems the day has in store for him or her. Even if daily prayer and daily reading are part of the things which must be done, it is done with the thought of checking them off the "to -do" list. Relationship is the complete opposite. In a true relationship we don't have to, we actually get to. We get to spend time with the one we are in that relationship with. We continually think about and consider the object of our affection. We also read and pray, but that line of communication never stops. The prayer continues throughout the day. We continually seek opportunities for Him, and we are rarely caught off guard when trials and temptations come our way. We are not caught off guard, because we never left Him from the moment we got up.

Daniel had been retired from service to the king for around 20 years in chapter 5. He was around 88 years old at the time. So out of the picture was Daniel, that the current king, Belshazzar had to be reminded who he was. But the mother of the king when he was confronted with a situation that the other "wise men" could not solve says in Daniel 5:11, "There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father - your father the king - made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers." We read in 5:13, "Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?" Daniel first gives the king a history lesson of the spiritual rise and fall of his grandfather, King Nebuchadnezzar. He then does not hold back, before the king, and before reading the writing on the wall, states in 5:23, "And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified." We read in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." In Daniel 6:4, we move to the next king and Daniel is once again in a leadership role, and read, "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." It's not that Daniel was perfect, but his relationship with God, rather than being in a religion, meant he lived and breathed this relationship everywhere. He continually walked with God.

After Jesus' discussion concerning the End Times in Matthew 24, we read in 24:36-37, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." A little further in this section we read in 24:45-46, "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing." We are all in the middle of our respective mission fields with opportunities which abound. But these opportunities are largely missed or ignored because it is easier to follow a set of rules and be religious rather than being in a living and breathing relationship. If reaching out with the gospel message is not a box to check off that day, we simply look past these lost individuals. But when you are in a relationship you are always at the ready. Every day there are two lions who are seeking us. One is the Lion of Judah, who will continually seek us and fight for us if we keep this relationship open. The other is the devil who is compared to a roaring lion in 1 Peter 5:8, who seeks to devour us. Once born again, the battle for our souls is over. But every day there is a battle for our hearts. Each day we must decide if we will abide continually in a relationship with the Lion of Judah and always be prepared, or whether we will choose to carve a little time out for the Lion of Judah, and then forget about Him and leave ourselves open to the attacks of the other lion. The decision is ours: religion vs relationship.