Making An Impact For God Sermon Ii: The Awesome Power Of Prayer Series

MAKING AN IMPACT FOR GOD: THE AWESOME POWER OF PRAYER

On the morning of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln met with his cabinet as the War neared its end. Lincoln said to them, “I’ve been having a strange dream the last few nights. In this dream, I picture a ship sailing toward some indefinite shore. I keep having that dream. I don’t know what it means.”

That very night he and Mrs. Lincoln were attending a show at Ford’s theater when John Wilkes Booth shot the president in the back of the head, inflicting a mortal wound. The next day, the ship which represented the life of Abraham Lincoln reached the shore of eternity. President Lincoln's dream had personal, national, and eternal significance.

In this sermon, we focus on a dream a king had 2,600 years ago. And that dream also had personal, national and eternal significance – Daniel 2:1-11 . . .

Have you ever had a dream that left you feeling frustrated? (In the dream, you were trying to get something done or get somewhere, but you could not quite make it due to all kinds of weird stuff that just kept on thwarting your efforts.)

If you are familiar with Sigmund Freud’s dream analysis, perhaps you recall Freud's conclusion: Our dreams represent repressed negative feelings associated with fears, worries, and anxieties.

In ancient times dreams were considered to be predictors of things to come; throughout the Old Testament dreams appear quite frequently as a way thru which the Lord communicated with His people . . . whereas, in the New Testament, except for two specific dreams, such use of dreams disappeared inasmuch as God gave us the Holy Spirit came to guide us and interpret the Word of God to us.

Nebuchadnezzar had his doubts about “wise men” who depended upon astrology and magical thinking to advise him, so it is not surprising that, due to the seriousness with which he took this troublesome dream, he decided to put his advisors to the supreme test of wisdom with an absurd demand that they, first of all, tell him what he dreamed, then interpret it.

Taken aback by the king’s apparent insanity, the only argument these guys could come up with was an exclamation of desperation: “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing (you dim wit)!”

This much they got right: No MAN could do it - “And the gods don’t have anything to do with man!” Oh yeah? Time for the stage to be set for the GOD who has everything to do with His people to be consulted, magnified and glorified – Daniel 2:12-16 . . .

What was it about Daniel that made him God’s appointed spokesman? “Daniel spoke to the commander with wisdom and tact”! He did not rave or rant; he did not panic or pout. He responded with prudence and discretion.

Someone has said, “Wisdom is the ability to say the right thing, and tact is the ability to say it the right way.”

Why did Daniel ask for time to show the king the interpretation of a dream that had stymied his own wise men? Daniel needed time to pray! How could he be so confident? He firmly believed in the power of prayer – Daniel 2:17-21 . . .

Daniel’s meeting with his friends was more than informational . . . It was a praying meeting - in which all of them together were to plead for God’s mercy on the basis of God’s deep love for them and their deep love for God . . . They were praying to “the God of heaven”.

There comes a time in our own journey when we feel so inadequate that we must declare our dependence on a power greater than ourselves and greater than all the forces of our world combined.

“The God of heaven” is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble! He and He alone solves mysteries that are beyond the understanding of the philosophers, theologians and scientists of this world.

Daniel’s genuine faith in God prompted him to praise God even before the answer came, but when it was received and there was no doubt about it, PRAISE “burst forth”! Daniel could not get enough of “bragging on God to God”!

Then it was time to “brag on God” to the king – Daniel 2:24-28 . . . The theme of the entire Book of Daniel is stated in Daniel’s response to the king - verse 28a: “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” Picture this:

Daniel – just a teenager- strides into the presence of a king, stands before him, and says, “I’ve got the answer to your problem.” You know what this tells me?