Dr. Elden Daniel - The Mystery of Godliness

Doctor Daniel has captured the essence of The Mystery of Godliness in this small volume. His background as an educator and a serious student of the Word over several decades has well prepared him to offer insights into this amazing topic that are both profound and yet simply stated. You will find this book both encouraging and challenging.

Robert Copley, Captain Colorado State Patrol (ret)

As a missionary to the poor, Im always looking for Christian literature that will cut through the literary fog and present God in a real and interesting way. The Mystery of Godliness is a great read, down-to-earth, and straight to the heart. The fresh perspective may be the catalyst that brings a lost soul to the kingdom!

Jack Dody from Equip International, author of Abundaculture

In the spring of 2018, I received a request from my brother, Dr. Daniel, to read a book that he had written. I had been teaching through Jerry Bridges excellent work, The Practice of Godliness, in our adult Sunday School class at Emmanuel Chapel and so considered it very timely to read through his efforts. I was blessed and challenged with the presentation of sound biblical truths concerning this subject. Since I could recall a number of the events my brother referenced in his writing, it presented an even more down-to-earth application of this very heavy subject. Having pastored for 47 years and read many books on the subject of godliness, I do not lightly recommend any works on this subject. However, I am honored to give The Mystery of Godliness my endorsement and believe any serious student of the Word will be blessed by its study.

Pastor David Daniel, South Fork, CO

The Mystery of Godliness opens with the acknowledgment that godliness is a mystery, meaning it is a puzzle to be solved in partnership with the Holy Spirit, rooted in growing understanding of biblical truth, and lived out in the community of others seeking to live godly lives. Dr. Daniel delivers the goods, using the construct belief drives practice. He provides personal, practical examples to explain his thinking and to make the principles behind belief drives practice accessible for everyday application.

John Hopkins, Director of Communications, Every Nation Church, Seattle

The Mystery of Godliness

by Elden Daniel

Copyright 2019, 2020 Elden Daniel

All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit.

Unless otherwise noted Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible. In public domain.

Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton IL 60189.

Scripture marked The Message is taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

ISBN 978-1-951561-47-5 (Print)

ISBN 978-1-951561-48-2 (Ebook)

For Worldwide Distribution

Printed in the U.S.A.

River Birch Press

P.O. Box 868 Daphne, AL 36526

I firmly believe that every believer has their own personal and mostly private journey toward godliness. We are each created uniquely different and travel our own private path through life. The Lord knows this and knows us. Since He is a personal Savior, each believer has a personal relationship with Him. It is a beautiful thing.

For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation (I Timothy 4:8-9).

This book is about the journey and adventure for the believer to explore the mystery of godliness in route to becoming godly. Although the book is not about my personal journey, my personal journey does provide some perspective of what I write. How could it not? My progress in my personal journey can only be evaluated by the Lord Himself. I am too biased to be objective. In spite of the value of the verse, By their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:20), no one really knows me well enough to accurately evaluate. The same is true for you. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (I Samuel 16:7).

However, there are patterns and principles clearly revealed in the scriptures that give guidance into the mystery of godliness. In this book I seek to gather these patterns and principles and present them in a way that I believe may be helpful to you.

The intended audience for this book is the believer who has a committed desire to please the Lord and a hunger to know and love Him better. You will discover several themes in the book that I will mention here without giving away the gist of the story. I believe that every person, believer and unbeliever, is involved in a lifelong search for answers to these two questions: Who am I? and How does the world work? I believe that everyones journey in life involves learning and that learning changes that person.

I believe in the accuracy and universal application of the principle: Beliefs drive practice. You will find that the book includes the quoting of many scriptures. Since the word of God is truth, how could I not include many scriptures? If these themes seem mysterious and capture your interest and curiosity, you are ready to read the book.

I can relate to what J. I. Packer said in the closing sentence of his forward in Knowing God: and if what is written here helps anyone in the way the meditations behind the writing has helped me, the work will have been abundantly worth while (p. 7).

Mystery means in the language of the New Testament, something that had long remained hidden but then came to be known for the first time. Dallas Willard (Divine Conspiracy)

Mysteries are intriguing and stimulate curiosity. Mysteries challenge us to seek a solution. When watching or reading a mystery, we often try to discover the solution as the story unfolds before it is revealed at the end. Often when reading or viewing a mystery, we as readers or viewers are given insight into the mystery by the author that the characters do not have. There is even a popular board game called Clue where players try to solve a mystery.

Clues are a key to solving a mystery. First we have to look for clues, then we have to recognize the clues, and finally we need to figure out how the clues relate to the solution. Sometimes there are clues within clues. Discovering a clue is rewarding and motivation for looking for the next one.

We are going to be looking at clues that will help discover the mystery of godliness. We will also discover how the clues relate to each other in finding solutions. Since you have selected this book and already read this far, I am assuming that you have a personal desire to become godly.

Let me encourage you that you are about to embark on a journey that will use clues to guide you into understanding the mystery of godliness and assist you in your quest for a godly life. Since you know the Lord Jesus and love and admire Him, dont you want to be like Him?

As I read about the mysteries in the scripture, I get the sense that the scriptures are revealing information about them that believers do not get. In the New Testament, we find that there are many mysteries. Lets look at some of them by category and end by focusing on the mystery of godliness. Then we will travel through the rest of this book, examining many clues as to the mystery of godliness.