Your Prayer Life Will Never Be The Same After Reading This Message Through. Sure
INTRODUCTION
The life of Daniel the prophet has been an inspiration to many before and after Christ. Of special interest to the millions who have admired the life of the humble prophet is his child-like faith in God and fervent prayer life.
In Daniel was the admonition of Apostle Paul in Romans 12:12 truly fulfilled. Daniel “continued instant in prayer”. He prayed in season and out of season. Daniel prayed when prayer was boring and when it was flowing. He prayed when prayer made sense and when it looked like the most stupid thing to do.
Daniel prayed when prayer assured him of an answer and when it looked like it was too late to pray as all seemed lost. Daniel understood prayer in various ways.
BEFORE, DURING, AFTER THE DEN
In Daniel chapter six we are introduced to a new king and the same old Daniel we have known from the time he led his three friends in respectfully rejecting the no nonsense King Nebuchadnezzar’s delicacies (that were first offered to the king’s idols before they were presented to them), and instead choosing to live modestly on greens and water. Daniel 1:8.
In Daniel chapter two we meet Daniel who believed that all things were and are possible through prayer. When the king had dreamt a strange dream and made ridiculous and impossible demands of one who would first recall for him the dream he himself dreamt and forgot, we find Daniel leading his comrades in prayer to get the revelation from God.
Soon the mystery is unraveled and heads saved from the wrath of the peremptory king who had now become convinced that all of the so called wise men in his kingdom had been gobbling the taxpayers money for nothing, now good only for the hangman’s noose or the executioner’s sword.
In Daniel chapter three, about 20 years after their captivity into Babylon, when his friends Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego faced their worst trial ever, we are not told where Daniel, who was now a great man in the kingdom, was, and why he did not feature in the latest developments.
But we can be sure that a man who had made prayer a lifestyle, Daniel was somewhere interceding for his friends. And who knows if it was Daniel’s prayers in secret that saved his friends in public from the fiery furnace?
In chapter four King Nebuchadnezzar the dreamer dreamt yet another dream which only Daniel was able to interpret. For one hour Daniel prayerfully meditated his way through the dream and delivered the interpretation thereof faithfully to the unpredictable, imperious monarch.
In chapter five we meet the Prophet standing before king Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar. After reigning for 18 years, the pride of the son of Nebuchadnezzar had reached sky limit when he impiously ordered for the use of the holy golden vessels from the temple at Jerusalem for the revelry of the king and his lords, and thereby incurring God’s wrath leading to the fall of his kingdom.
It has been said that he who kneels before the Almighty God of Heaven will stand before the great men of this world. That was Daniel the prophet in his time then. That can be YOU and Luke in our times today
But what is of special interest to us in this article is Daniel’s defiant prayers in the face of a death penalty. King Darius the Mede who had overthrown Belshazzar had quickly recognized in Daniel the same intellectual superiority and divine favour that the previous kings had discovered and exploited for their gain and stability of the state. Daniel must obviously have been recommended to the king by others who had known of his exceptional skills in running state affairs.
Besides that, I am persuaded to believe that Darius who was the son of King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther’s husband after his divorce with Queen Vashti, must have had a liking for and trust in the Jews. I suppose Darius must have watched Mordecai serve his father so faithfully until Mordecai became the second in command. He must have observed in Esther his step mother and Mordecai, a lifestyle of prayer and the resultant administrative astuteness in the palace and political matters of the kingdom.
After making all necessary appointments that made his throne firm and kingdom sure in the very first year of his reign, King Darius planed to make Daniel his prime minister, above the other presidents and second only to himself. This, however, did not go down well with Daniel’s colleagues who hated his foreign religion and envied his divine and royal favors. A scheme was hatched by his haters to eliminate him.
Daniel 6:10, “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.”
The enemies of Prophet Daniel had tricked King Darius into signing into law a malicious proposal that would see Daniel eliminated by the Constitution of the land. The laws of the Medes were unalterable. Once a bill had been signed into law, under no circumstance could it be repealed. Daniel’s fate was sealed.
God could have stopped the law by making Darius become suspicious prior to his signing the bill into law, investigate the intent, or just fear God and reject a bill that signed into law would only satisfy his ego and make him to be prayed to in the place of God. But apparently God decided to let the bill sail through in the Median parliament, signed, and sealed.
The King, realizing when Daniel became the accused that he had been tricked and unwittingly sealed the fate of his best administrator, tried every trick in the book to save Daniel. He labored till evening, both by lobbying and by his authority, but all in vain. He finally reluctantly handed Daniel into their hands. Daniel was mercilessly cast into the den of fierce lions.
According to Daniel’s own words to King Darius the following morning regarding his deliverance, God had sent an angel who took charge of the den and stopped the lions from devouring the man of God.
Through this divine intervention Daniel had both light and company throughout the night in a den that would otherwise have been dark and scary.
But somehow, it might appear that the prayers of Daniel prior to being cast into the den needed some supplementation to keep the angel at work. And this time God chose the heathen king himself to pass the night fasting for Daniel. God moved and preserved Daniel from being devoured by the lions.
Daniel’s Prayer Life After The Den
After his mighty salvation from the den of lions, Daniel continued with his practice of prayer, and God continued to honor his prayers with mighty visions and apocalyptic revelations that have baffled the world and puzzled Bible scholars for years as they try to interpret his visions.
One of the post den prayers of Daniel was when he prayed and fasted for three weeks as recorded in Daniel chapter 9. Since the casting of Daniel into the den in chapter 6 and the prayer as recorded in chapter 9 both happened in the first year of the reign of King Darius, it is very hard for me or any other scholar to speak with certainty as to which one came first – the den or the prayer?
However, as a village Bible scholar too, Luke would wish to argue that the prayer in chapter nine came after the events in chapter six, though both within the first year of the Darius reign. Otherwise, if the prayer in chapter nine had preceded the den incidence, the inspired penman would have recorded it prior to the events in chapter six.
Be that as it might, Daniel continued on with his prayer lifestyle. The answer to the prayers of his people had been released from the throne of God on the very first day of his intercession, but it had been withheld in the heavenlies by a satanic principality in charge of the Persian empire.
Through persistence in prayer by Daniel, God finally dispatched the mightiest of His angels to help the junior angel charged with Conveying the answer.
It is significant to note that Daniel most probably had not planned to fast and pray for three weeks. But he refused to stop until the answer came. And as I said above, at last God dispatched Michael the Arch Angel to bring reinforcement to the first angel held captive in the outer space with the answer. That is the power of importunity in prayer. Praying without ceasing, until the answer comes.
IN OUR VARIOUS SITUATIONS TODAY
There are times in your life when, like in Daniel’s case, God will allow your enemies to close in on you in ways that are naturally impossible and impassable. God may permit people practicing witchcraft to hold you or keep your progress in check for a period of time.
It becomes even more frustrating as you hear people testify of what God has done for them, as you remain static, your situation deteriorating Luke Divines has been there, not once, not twice. I know too well how to be in a situation where your own prayers seem not to make sense. I know how frustrating, desperate it can be.
(You can get a glimpse of this in my book The Answers To Your Prayers Have Come on Amazon or, if you are in Kenya, by ordering a copy from me via email).
In the face of seemingly impossible situations like Daniel’s, you must choose what is best, and what will bring divine results. On the one hand, you can allow yourself to become a captive of fear by dwelling and mentally focusing on the impossibility side of the situation. You can become despondent, question, or doubt and curse God for failing you in your darkest hour when you needed Him most.
The above option has sad consequences. It will not help you become better but rather make you bitter with life, people and God.
On the other hand, like the man of God Daniel, you can choose to resort to prayer no matter what the Devil, people and common sense will say. This is what Daniel chose, to pray at a time when prayer not only made no sense, but worse, carried with it dire consequences, a death penalty to be exact.
Praying in spite of the contrariness of circumstances worked for Daniel when all natural hope was gone. Praying when praying means exerting physical strength that only seems to aggravate your physical condition, will still work for you. Prayer worked, is working, and will always work no matter what we feel in our bodies, see with our eyes or hear with our ears. Prayer listens only to the sixth sense, faith.
Faith and God never fail. Daniel’s faith in God didn’t fail him. In the end, the God in whom he had faith didn’t fail him either. Faith in God and the God of faith will never let you down. Pray to God in faith & trust unswervingly in His omnipotent ability to deliver you from whatever situation you are facing today or now. God has SWORN NEVER TO FAIL YOU.
Hebrews 13:5,6, “Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]
“So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?”
We have wondered how Daniel was able to survive in the same den with ferocious beasts. It was not the prayers that Daniel prayed in the den that saved him. Humanly, praying in the den was not easy if not impossible. It was the prayers that Daniel had prayed in his house in defiance to the verdict, that God responded to, sent His angel, and stopped the mouth of lions.
But again, as I said before, when God sees that more prayer is needed than your prayer bank as it were can afford, he will employ someone or some people to supply the deficit. He is an organised God Who knows the end from the beginning; He knows when you will need who or what.
When My Own Prayers Seemed To Fail.
Somewhere in late 2016 or thereabouts, I found myself bombarded by inexplicable, vicious demonic attacks. I was sick but I could not explain it. I found it absurd to see a doctor and try to explain to him what I could not explain even to myself.
I have suffered from malaria, typhoid, amoeba, and I can easily tell when I am sick of a condition whose symptoms I can or cannot explain. And here I was, feeling sick but I could not explain it.
As usual, if I cannot explain it, before I desperately surrender to a doctor, I treat the situation as DEMONIC. Doctors don’t treat demonic cases. Conditions actuated by diabolic forces are effectively handled through prayer. That is what I know and believe.
I was praying personally, we were praying with family members, and I sent a prayer request to our Prayer Network called Powerhouse. Yet There was no change as I felt sick but couldn’t explain. I lost appetite drastically, with terrifying dreams at night. It was close to one week, no improvement.
Interestingly, I was not as bad during day time. But nights were as terrible as they were terrifying. I kept praying and fasting but my prayer seemed weak and seemed to yield no tangible results. But by the next morning there was quite some change, and I became progressively better during the day.
That day as I read my WhatsApp messages I came across a message by a preacher friend. I had only chanced upon him on the streets of Nairobi after several years of not seeing each other with all our contacts lost.
His message was coming several weeks after that five-minute serendipitous meeting of ours along Tom Mboya Street. My friend enquired how I was doing. I told him I had been unwell, but that by then I was feeling better, stressing to him how bad my previous night had been.
My friend was surprised. It was that very night when he felt unusually and extremely uneasy about me. He couldn’t sleep. So he resorted to prayer much of the night. And with that reinforcement that I didn’t even call for, I was healed from that day, completely healed.
(NOTE: In the case of sickness, I advise that you see a doctor as soon as possible. Faith is not foolishness. If I had not received my healing in time, I would have seen a doctor even if he was not going to find any sickness. God uses doctors too. But I praise God Who heard my prayers and others praying for me, and when reinforcement was needed, made a very unlikely friend to fast his sleep on my behalf.)
GOD HAS NOT CHANGED; HE’S GOT MILLION ANGELS DOING HIS BIDDING
God’s angels are still His ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation.
Hebrews 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
God sent His angel to save Daniel in the den in answer to his defiant prayers. God sent His angel to convey Daniel’s answer in response to his intercession for his people. God sent the mightiest arch angel to help an angel to deliver Daniel’s answer held with him above the skies.
You and I are heirs of salvation and you, like Daniel, are in God’s core plan. He will send an angel for your rescue. He knows when to send one to accomplish His will.
After praying and fasting for forty days on the Mountain of Temptation, Jesus was naturally exhausted. God sent His angel to minister to him. “Then the Devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him,” Mathew 4:11.
When Jesus had prayed out His bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane, God sent an angel to encourage Him. Luke 22:43 says, “And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening him.”
Going by Satan telling Jesus on the Mount of Temptation that God would send His angels to take care of Him, it is interesting that even the Devil believes that God keeps His promise to send angels to rescue His own from danger. But never take your orders from the Devil, because he, like the likes of “The Mightiest Prophet of Eastern Africa”, Dr Arch Deceiver, quotes and twists some mischievously selected scriptures to deceive and achieve his own ends.
Peter And The Impending Execution
In Acts 12, the Apostle Peter was waiting in prison for his execution by King Herod the following day when an angel broke through the darkness of his prison with dazzling light and did what only God could do. The angel supernaturally induced a deep sleep on the soldiers guarding Peter. He then broke chains off Peter’s hands & ordered him to walk with him out of the prison. It was like a dream. Ilikuwa kama findio, ni kama ndrama. Let’s see.
(You may skip the long passage of scripture, or better still, just read.)
ACTS 12:1-12
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
“And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. And he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, ‘Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
“And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
“When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leads unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
“And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord has sent his angel, and has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.”
Saints’ Prayers Supplemented Peter’s Previous Prayers To Effect Deliverance
Peter was a man of prayer. The Apostle was in the upper room with 120 more praying when the Holy Ghost cape upon them and they spoke in tongues (Acts chapters 1 and 2).
Acts 1:14-15, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren … (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty).”
Peter and John kept the DAILY hour of prayer, the ninth hour. “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,” Acts 3:1
Together with the other Apostles, Peter had held prayers with the saints, Acts 2:42. After being released from prison, Peter, the other apostles and the believers gathered in an impromptu prayer meeting and made inspired prayers that shook the earth (Acts 4:24-31). Have your prayers shaken even your own house, or body?
Nevertheless, on this particular night, we are not told of Peter praying in prison. Unlike Paul and Silas who prayed, sang and praised God in prison (Acts 16), Peter found himself under an extremely guarded state. Peter was regarded an enemy of the State, and was in prison under royal edict.
The Apostle was sandwiched between two mean looking soldiers. There were several soldiers manning the doors and gates. It was impossible to pray between mean faced prison warders, his feet fettered and hands possibly cuffed. Peter chose to sleep and to doze his stress off awaiting his fate.
Otherwise, what else could Peter or you do under such circumstances? Faith sleeps and snores in the middle of danger where fear curses and regrets. Interesting indeed.
It is most encouraging that when we are probably too sick or too stressed – when we cannot generate enough drive from within us to pray for ourselves – God provides help from without. In the house of Mary the mother of John Mark, the church gathered and prayed without ceasing for Peter. They had become Peter’s trained intercessors who believed in the power of prayer.
It was this fervent prayer that dispatched an angel from the Throne above to save Peter from the impending death. James says, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” James 5:17. And when it is many righteous people praying, the results will be enormous
IN CONCLUSION
The Book of Hebrews ends on an encouraging note. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever,” Heb 13:8. God has not changed. He delivered Daniel. He will not fail in YOUR situation.
God has millions of angels at His disposal. He will send His angel into your situation, if you like Daniel will defy Satan’s threats, the doctor’s verdict over your health, or any kind of human judgement over your life or future. No one but God holds your future in the palm of His hands.
God will send His angel for your strengthening if you like Jesus Christ will pray and fast in the face of fiery, severe trials deemed beyond human control. You may lose control of your situation, but God has never lost control of anything and anyone under His tender care. God is ever merciful, watching and monitoring your every step.
God’s angels will manipulate natural situations on your behalf. He will stop the mouths of your lions, and preserve you from their wrath. Live a life of prayer. But like Peter, should you find yourself in situations where you cannot even pray, God will organize prayer forums for you unawares.
God will deliver you. Whether you are aware of it or not, angels are ever at work on your behalf. You will enjoy angelic escort in the maze of life and out of your prison of whatever sort it is. He is still the God of Daniel, the God of Jesus, the God of Simon Peter. He is YOUR God. Pray, pray.
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