Part 1
“Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province. The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the high officers and protect the king’s interests. Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and high officers. Because of Daniel’s great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.” So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” So King Darius signed the law. But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.”-Daniel 6:1-10
The beauty of this passage is that the only grounds that these men could find to accuse Daniel was centered on the consistency of his prayer life! That single take away from this story challenged me in so many ways. It caused me to ask myself several question?
Am I living a life that the only grounds by which to accuse me would be centered on the consistency of my prayer life? Is my prayer life so consistent that people would assume that if they were to search for me, at a given time, they would look for me in my prayer closet?
Is my prayer life fueled by opposition or was it already an established pattern in my life. (Sometimes people only pray when they get pressed.)
As we read these passages, we don’t get the impression that Daniel, upon hearing the decree, took on a militant tone. He didn’t organize a demonstration outside of the citadel or start a social media campaign blasting the administration. Instead, Daniel went home, knelt down as usual, and prayed as he always had done. Why?
Because courageous prayer is consistent prayer. The time to develop a solid prayer life is not at the onset of trouble. We need to begin now laying a foundation of consistent prayer that will carry us through those difficult moments. Did you notice it wasn’t the signing of the law that caused Daniel to go and pray! He was on his way to pray already.
The biggest opposition that we face when it comes to prayer, is not external, it is ourselves. We make all kinds of excuses because we undervalue and underestimate the power of prayer. If we truly believed that prayer could shut the mouths of lions, we would be beating down the door of every prayer meeting we could find. But instead, we are either too tired, too busy, or too distracted to bother.
It takes courage to be consistent.
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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