Introduction
The Bible tells us that we are to give all our problems to God. Small problems, medium size problems, and those horribly large problems we face are to be turned over to God. 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. But the truth is, we think many times we can handle our problems on our own. And without giving our small and medium problems over to God then we are at a lost as to what to do when those big problems occur.
Daniel, in our story today is not having a small or medium size problem. It is a life-or-death problem. It is a horribly large problem. If Daniel is unable to tell King Nebuchadnezzar the dream that he had along with its interpretation, the king was going to have him killed. I would suggest that Daniel didn’t freak out at the size of his problem, He didn’t throw a pity party- why is this happening to me, God. He didn’t go drown his troubles with wine. Nor did he get angry at God.
I believe that none of those things happened because Daniel learned how to give smaller problems over to God. In Daniel Chapter 1, Daniel faced a dietary problem. A dietary problem might be big, but I can assure you it is not as big as a life-or-death problem. The King wanted Daniel and his friends to eat the king’s diet but to do so would break Daniel’ dietary laws as a Jew. So, he tells the chief eunuch give me ten days of my food and see what my God can do (that is where he turned it over to God). And the eunuch saw that Daniel’s God shined.
There is a lesson there. Daniel learned to give smaller problems to God which made it easier to give the larger problems to God. If you don’t practice giving your smaller and medium size problems to God, you will never be able to give Him your larger problems.
Daniel did give His larger problem to God and let’s see what we can learn from it because one day we too might be facing a large problem. And we must be able to turn that over to God.
Turn in your Bibles to Daniel 2: 17-23.
Today's ScriptureDaniel 2:17–23 (NKJV)
17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
22 He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.
23 “I thank You and praise You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and might,
And have now made known to me what we asked of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”
Daniel shined because He Knew that when Facing a Problem, The First Line of Offense was Prayer; and Daniel had His Prayer Team in Place.
Daniel 2:17–18 (NKJV)
17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret...
Daniel arrives back home from his audience with the king having been granted some time to be able to discern the king's dream and its interpretation. His first action is not to go looking for some self- help in any type of book discussing how to know and interpret dreams.
Instead, the Scripture says that he made known to his companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah the king's decision. So, in verse 17, these three young men are referred to as his companions. But in verse 18 we discover that they are more than just his companions because it says that they went to the Lord to seek His mercies. They are more than companions; I am telling you they are his prayer team.
Daniel did not round up a prayer team after he found out that he had a problem. Nowhere do I see Daniel say: would you join me in praying on this. After telling the king's decision, they immediately went to pray. Obviously, they had done that before. They had prayed with each other; they had each other's back. They were a prayer team.
Let me ask you a question. Do you have a prayer team lined up? In life, you are going to have those small, medium, and large problems come against you and you need to have your prayer team already in place ahead of those problems. Daniel didn't have to go looking for who would join him in prayer on this matter; they went straight to prayer.
You may be thinking, during the prayer request time in church, I make my prayer request known. That's my prayer team. And certainly, after the prayer requests are mentioned, a prayer is offered up. But I don't see people noting your prayer request on a piece of paper, and I know life outside of church is busy and it is easy to forget the requests mentioned on Sunday morning. The church collectively is usually a one and done type of prayer. Some problems require more than one and done and the prayer team is needed.
So, you need more, you need that prayer team. Those few people that you got their back, and they got your back. And they continue to lift that request to God until an answer is given. Daniel and his prayer team were not going to stop until they got an answer.
I am going to tell you, if you don't see the urgency of setting up a prayer team, especially in this day and time, you don't understand the importance of prayer. Danel did and so he shined.
Let me share with you this Scripture: Matthew 18:19–20 (NKJV)
19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Daniel shined because He knew if he allowed the Babylonians to water down his relationship with God, it would water down his prayer life. And Daniel would not stand for that to occur.
17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Early in Chapter 1, one of the first things that the Babylonians did after Daniel and these young men arrived was changed their names. And these new names were reflective of the Babylonian gods. If you remember they changed Daniel's name from Daniel to Belteshazzar, and they also changed his three companions' names. What was the purpose of that? To water down their relationship with God of the Hebrews.
The Babylonians also enrolled Daniel and his friends in a three- year Babylonian program to indoctrinate them into the Babylonian ways and lose their right standing before God. What was the purpose of that? To water down their relationship with God.
And guess what? The world does that same thing today. The world makes a conscious effort to water- down your Christianity. The world does not mind you being a Christian just be a watered-down Christian who is not effective in your Christian walk.
The problem is if you water down your Christian life; you are watering down your prayer life. And Daniel did not allow that to happen. Look at verse 17, the Babylonians assigned them new names, but Daniel and his three companions chose to be called by their God given names. They were not going to let the Babylonians water down their relationship with God.
James, the brother of Jesus, picks up that point in his epistle. He says in: James 5:16 (NKJV)
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
So, let me give you some good advice: when you are picking your prayer team, don't pick some watered-down Christian to be on your team.
Daniel shined because after he received his answer from God; He did not stop there; He went on to praise God for what He had done.
19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
If you developed your prayer team, prayed for something specific and God answered your request, your work is not over yet. Most people would have thought we got what we asked for. God has revealed to us the dream and its interpretation. Now the next thing is to schedule a meeting with the king at once. No, Daniel did not do that. The next thing after getting the answer is to praise God for what He has done.
Let's look at that in verse 19 the dream and the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar was given to Daniel. So, immediately his thought is not how I am going to get to the king. His thought is that I must praise the King of Kings.
Be honest with yourself. How often God has come through for you and you neglected to praise the Lord for He has done great things?
Application
I need to get busy developing my prayer team. Those two or three people that I can share my prayer concerns with and know that they have my back and I have their back.
