Daniel - Man of Prayer

We all know the importance or prayer. We have heard/seen/witnessed the power of prayer. Some of us are comfortable praying openly, while others pray in silence. Some of us pray in the morning, at night, and even at meal times. We ask God heal people that are hurting, strengthen those that are weak, guide those that are lost, or to provide direction at life's crossroads. We know that the scriptures are filled with people who pray and seek God. So I want us to look at Daniel and how he prayed and then examine ourselves to see how it could apply to us.

Man of Prayer

• Daniel 6: 6-10
  • Daniel was a man a prayer.
  • He understood what would happen if he Prayed, but he was committed fully to God.
    • How often do we pray?
    • What kind of priority do we make prayer in our lives?
  • We see other scriptures that speak about prayer shows us it's importance.
    • Colossians 4: 2
      Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
    • Acts 2: 42
      They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
    • Romans 12: 12
      Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Answered Prayer

• Daniel 9: 1-5
  • Daniel starts his prayer with praise, and seeks forgiveness.
    • In fact much of his prayer is praising to God and confessing of sin and wrong doing.
  • Daniel 9: 17-19
    • His prayer ends with explicit requests.
      • Listen
      • Forgive
      • Act
    • Do we pray open ended, or do we play explicitly?
      • Do we pray for Dave to get better, or do we pray that Dave and his cancer would be healed, that it would happen quickly ….
• Daniel 9: 20-22
  • While he was still praying, Gabriel shows up.
  • He came to give Daniel insight and understanding.
• Daniel 9: 23
  • As soon as you began to pray, and answer was given.
  • How many things have we prayed for at the end, and not at the beginning? How different could things have been if we prayed at the beginning?

Delayed Answers

• Daniel 10: 1-3
  • Daniel was so deeply troubled, that he began fasting and mourning.
  • Being a man of prayer, he also most likely prayed about this as well.
• Daniel 10: 10-11
  • Again Daniel's prayer is being answered.
    • He is still in awe of what is happening even though Gabriel showed up to him in the past.
• Daniel 10: 12-14
  • Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come to respond to them.
  • There are things at work in the spiritual plane that we cannot see.
  • Just because we cannot see the action being done, does not mean the prayer was not heard.

Praying is important in our relationship with Christ. We should remember that repeating the same prayer over and over does not make for good conversation. That we should ask explicitly for the items we left to God in prayer. Our prayer should be consistent even when we do not see any results. God can be at work without us seeing any visible signs. So if you have not received an answer, don’t' assume that it is a no.