Daniel: The Pay-off of Prayer
Daniel 6:1-6:28
In his book Deep Thoughts, Jack Handey writes: There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully. Too many people feel it is easier just to pay the bully than it is to learn how to defeat him.
We live in a society that wants to bully us around and wants us to conform to its ways, but we are called by Christ to be different. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to not conform but be transformed. To be different than the world and I’ve noticed that even if you’re not a Christian, there’s a sense in which life is a struggle to conform. That’s because you and I were never meant to live in a world like the one we find ourselves in. You and I were not created to live in a world that has the presence of sin, injustice, wrongdoing and evil. That was never God’s intention for you or me. And so we feel this pressure to conform to the world around us.
So, whether you are a Christian or not, Daniel has some great advice on how to rise above the ordinary in this world, how to live the life for God in a secular society.
Tonight we come to a message in our study and series of “Prayers that made a difference”, about a great man of prayer. Daniel is most recognized as the one who was thrown into the lion’s den but escaped unharmed because of God’s protection.
Let’s look at Daniel’s life but most importantly his prayer life.
I. The Person of Prayer. V.1-9
The story of Daniel in the lions’ den has to rank, I would imagine, in the top ten of the most familiar and beloved passages of scripture. Daniel was brought as a teenager-captive, to Babylon. At the setting of this text Daniel is nearly 90 years old. A whole lot of changes have taken places. They have changed his name. They have changed his language. They’ve changed his homeland. However, they could not change his heart. With all of the changes that have taken place, Daniel is the same man at 90 that he was at 19 and he honored God at 90 just like he honored him at 19. For when we read the book of Daniel, we read that Daniel honored God. And because he honored God, God exalted Daniel; even in the midst of captivity.
Daniel chapter 6 says that King Darius has placed a120 princes over the providence of Babylon. He has made three men president over all the princes. And one of the three was the prophet, Daniel. In fact, the Bible says that he was preferred over the other two presidents. And the king had given thought to placing Daniel over all of the others. In the midst of that, those other princes and presidents began to look at Daniel with eyes of envy. And so they tried to find some fault in Daniel as it related to the kingdom. But they could find nothing against Daniel as it related to the kingdom. And they decided that if we’re going to find some fault in Daniel...if there is anything that we’re going to be able to get after him about, it must be concerning the law of his God.
Now for as obedient and as loyal as Daniel was to the king and the kingdom of Babylon, we know that he was even more loyal to the God that he served!
So these men conspired together and they come up with this plan and they went to the king and they said to the king, “For the next 30 days, king we want you to sign a decree that no one shall pray to any other god or man except you. And if anyone is found praying to any other god or man except you for the next 30 days, let that man be thrown to a den of lions.” The king liked the sound of that, it sounded pretty good to him. The decree was written and the king signed it and it was put into effect. And the word says, “Daniel, knowing that the decree had been signed, went into his house, went up into his chamber, opened his window towards Jerusalem kneeled down and prayed three times a day. You see folks it was business as usual for Daniel.
II. The Place of Prayer. V. 10-13
The decree was sent out that no one would worship or pray to a god other than the king of Babylon. Therefore, the scheming officers lost no time in proclaiming the king’s decree. So Daniel’s enemies were watching and waiting to trap him and they knew this was the only way to catch him because they had seen him praying there many times before. The reason they had seen him praying there is because Daniel prayed morning, noon, and evening. So his enemies wanted to catch Daniel as soon as possible because the sooner Daniel was out of the way, the sooner they could start running the country for their own profit.
If you will recall there were no temples of worship in Babylon at this time because it was a pagan land. So because there was no temple Daniel made himself a place of prayer, a private place. It was an opened window facing Jerusalem. To pray towards Jerusalem was natural to an exile Hebrew in prayer, because the temple of God had stood at Jerusalem, and that was the place where he dwelled by a visible symbol, being the temple. It is probable that the Jews in their own country always in their prayers turned their face toward Jerusalem, and it was anticipated when the temple was dedicated, that this would be the case in whatever lands they might be.
Daniel’s prayer was first a prayer of thanksgiving (Dan 6:10) as he acknowledged God’s goodness to him. His prayer was also a prayer for guidance and help (v. 11). There is no doubt that the high office rested heavily on Daniel and he sought God’s wisdom in the decisions he had to make. The thing we need to notice is that Daniel made no attempt to hide his devotion to or his dependence on God, even though it now meant disobeying a governmental decree (cf. Acts 5:29). Daniel would not and could not look to Darius for the guidance and strength he knew God alone could supply.
Do you think Daniel thought about closing the window? Absolutely not!!! I have to ask this question, if someone wanted to catch us in a Godly act, or at least in prayer would they know where to go? Or maybe a better question would be do you even have that place where you go to pray? Each and every one of us should have a place that we can go to and pray. You see this opened window was a witness to Daniel’s faith it was a testimony to his prayer life.
III. The Principle of Prayer. V.10
Daniel had a powerful prayer life and maybe the secret of his prayer life can be found in verse 10, where it says, “just as he had done before.” Church that tells us that Daniel knew his enemies were going to be there watching, and he knew he would be turned in, but yet he still prayed. He didn’t shut his window. Why? It’s because he was not ashamed of the one true God that he was praying to. He wanted people know who he believed in and some stupid silly little decree sent out by the King was going to stop him from going to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Another great example of who we are to turn to when faced with trials, struggles, worries and temptations that life has to throw at us.
Daniel had been doing what was right for so long he probably didn’t even think of changing his ways. Prayer had become the standard with him. It was a part of his everyday life and nothing was going to change that. It was a priority to Daniel. Daniel went to his open window to pray everyday because he had learned that the window in heaven was open and available to him. He had learned that the power of God was available to him and all he had to do was to tap into that power, but in order to tap into that power he had to pray.
The same power that was made available to Daniel is the same power that is made available to us as Christians today, because we serve the same God that Daniel served. But for you and I to get to see the mighty power of God we as a church and as Christians need to be on our knees facing God in prayer everyday. It needs to become a priority in our lives.
IV. The Pay-off of prayer. V. 14-28
Daniel could have put his prayer life on hold – it was only one month – what could it hurt. But, Daniel knew that he couldn’t put God on hold. Now I haven’t heard about any law in this country prohibiting us from praying however it seems like people think it is according to these figures, when the Christian Reader asked visitors to go to their website to answer the question when they most often pray. Here’s what they said:
45 percent—whenever the Spirit prompts me
23 percent—at bedtime
18 percent—in the morning
11 percent—during my commute
1 percent—before meals
You see, we have an enemy that’s wants us to put our prayer life on hold, his name is Satan and when we don’t pray we are obeying the enemy’s desires to abandon God?
As we look at the prayer life of Daniel, we must ask this question; is there a cost to prayer. The answer is yes. But I can truly testify to you that prayer also pays off. Look at how God answered Daniel’s Prayers. Read V.14-28. The pay-off was that the King as well as the whole kingdom worshiped God. If Daniel had put God on hold for a month that would have never happened, but because he was not ashamed to stand up for what he believed in a king came to know God and the whole kingdom got to see the power of God. That would have never happened if Daniel had listened to the decree.
Your needs and reasons to give God praise may be smaller or larger than Daniel’s but to God all prayer is important. That’s why we are told in;
Matthew 7:7 “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.”
So through the events of Daniel we see that God’s command to us is to pray – Why Pray? Because, like Daniel, we are constantly being pulled in directions away from God. Because, like Daniel, we need His strength, wisdom, encouragement and love every day. Because, like Daniel, we walk into Lion’s dens everyday. Because, like Daniel, in prayer you draw closer to God than any other way. When you pray you become sensitive to God and His working around you. Remember Ephesians 6:18 – “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.”
How can anyone pray on all occasions? One way is to make quick, brief prayers your habit. Make prayer your response to every situation you meet throughout the day. Another way is to order your life around God’s desires and teachings so that your very life becomes a prayer.
You don’t have to isolate yourself from other people and from daily work in order to pray constantly. You can make prayer your life and your life a prayer while living in a world that needs God’s powerful influence and eventually if we make prayer our priority we as Christians and as a church will begin to see the pay-off. We will begin to see God do great and mighty things.
