"Purposed in his heart"

Daniel 1:8 "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." NKJV

The term "purposed in his heart" is translated as "made up his mind" in the NASB and NET bible (currently enjoying this translation), the NIV uses the synonym "resolved" for what Daniel decided to do. Daniel was able to stand tall and not compromise on what came because he had prepared his heart/mind to not compromise, and he wasn't caught off guard.

A few years back, after reading this passage, when I started serving as a Sunday School Pastor, I had "purposed" in my heart to give priority to the children above everything (tasks or even adults). This resolution in my mind focused my actions to show my love for the children to the best of my ability following the scriptures.

The first thing I did was to crouch when talking to the children to meet them at the same eye level instead of looking down on them. Second, when I would talk to an adult and a child would call my attention, instead of brushing the child off ("sorry kid, can't you see I'm talking to an adult?"), I purposed to give the child attention over the adult, and would answer them as well as possible without rushing. The adults were always understanding, if not inwardly, at least outwardly. Lastly, it was to drop ANYTHING I was doing to give attention to the child.

There was a time when we were painting the Sunday school room and a child wanted to talk with me. I brushed the child off telling her that I had to paint this wall before the paint dried off. She walked away, and as soon as she did, the Spirit made me realize I made a stupid WALL more important than a child of God. I dropped my brush, and walked over to the child, apologized and asked what she needed to talk to me about. The wall can be repainted, but this opportunity to spend just a short time with a child would be hard to make up.

And so, after noticing my impatience with my mother, I realized the problem was that I had not "purposed" in my heart on how to deal with my mom. So, recently I resolved and made up my mind that I would talk to her with more patience and understanding and would not get mad at her.

If God is testing you somehow--whether it be your anger, jealousy, pride, laziness, etc.--then I would recommend you "purpose" in yourself to stop doing it, and therefore instill a right attitude to be able to overcome the testing that God is giving you.