The Power of a Prayerful Life (Part 3)
Notes
Transcript
Prayer
Recap:
Daniel 6- The Power of a Prayerful Life.
Part 1- Disciplined Prayer Life…
Part 2- Distinguished Prayer Life…
Today we are looking at a Defiant Prayer Life.
1 It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. 5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” 6 So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing. 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Mother’s Day gives many of us the opportunity to understand the idea that we do not understand the value of something until it’s gone.
Dr. Suess wrote it this way,
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
It’s moments like today when we need to take time and reflect upon the relationships that we still do have, and if they are no more then hopefully each and every one of us will take this to heart today as we reflect upon the women in our lives that we can say Happy Mother’s Day to, because there are some who cannot. There are some who would love to be able to pick up the phone, call and say, Happy Mother’s Day Mom and hear her answer right back.
And this got me thinking about today’s text in Daniel. Because at first glance Mother’s Day and Daniel’s defiance of the King’s edict here in Daniel Chapter 6 don’t go to well together. But the more I reflected and prayed over this passage this week, I heard this still small voice of God whisper into my ear…You don’t appreciate the value of something until you cannot do it anymore.
“Youth is wasted on the young.” RIGHT…
There very well could be a day in the future where even our government makes an edict that would prohibit our worship of God. And how will we react? I know our constitution is set up in such a way that many don’t believe that is possible, but for a moment here let’s reflect upon the trial run that happened just 4 short years ago. We were contantly told over and over again all the things we could no longer do, and if we did them then we were the problem.
Do not gather together.
If you do, no more than 10 people.
If you do, then stay 6 feet apart and wear masks.
Stay Home, Stay Safe.
We are all in this together.
These are unprecedented times…
And the churches that dared to meet together were ostricised and ridiculed.
All the anti-bullying campaigns were thrown out the door and you were shamed if you didn’t adhere to the government mandates. The governments edicts…
There was no room for personal autonomy and freedom.
So no, I do not believe for one second that our country couldn’t fall prey to such government mandates that would prohibit our worship like happened when Darius was tricked into creating an edict that banned the worship of Daniel.
But even though worship was banned, that couldn’t stop Daniel from praying.
Daniel was Defiant in Prayer
Daniel was Defiant in Prayer
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” 14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him. 15 Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, “Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.” 16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
Prayer is an act of defiance against this world. That’s why I believe the enemy will do everything in his power to distract you and discourage you from praying, especially corporately.
It’s no wonder to me that prayer meetings are the least attended service of each week…But I have to say, there is no better way for the people of God to gather and spend their time.
The enemy truly hates it when God’s people gather together. He flees…and so if he can distract you, deter you and interfere with you before you come together and submit yourselves to God, he is going to do that.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Daniel didn’t care that there was a new law in the land…he knew the power of prayer.
30 days Daniel was told he could not pray to God, the True living King.
30 days Daniel was told he was to pray only to king Darius and no one else.
30 days Daniel was to bend his knee to someone else.
So what did Daniel do?
10Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (emphasis added)
Daniel could have prayed in his heart.
He could have prayed in secret.
He could have kept his lips from proclaiming God’s goodness through his prayers.
He could have closed the windows and hid his prayers to God from others.
But he didn’t.
Instead -
He kept the windows open, not hiding his devotion to God.
He opened his mouth and verbally and vocally prayed to the living King. He bent his knee ONLY to the True King.
He prayed, JUST AS HE HAD DONE BEFORE.
Daniel chose not to bend to what the officials and authorities had asked of him for just 30 days. He didn’t go to his room in defiance to “show them.” He prayed in obedience to God. He also knew what that meant for him: death.
He didn’t have to wait until it was threatened or taken away to know the power of prayer, because he had such a deep relationship with his Father in heaven that he couldn’t help himself but continue to worship and praise him. He couldn’t help but pray to no one else but his God. He knew the very first command was that
There should be no other God but his God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And he was going to keep God as his number 1, and he was not going to disobey the second commandment either. He was not going to bow down and worship King Darius. Darius isn’t worthy of my worship.
So where is the line?
When do we say, enough is enough?
Daniel knew the line was sin.
If the governments edict was going to lead him into sin, into breaking one of God’s commands then he was going to break man’s laws and not Gods.
Exodus 20:1–6 (NIV)
1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
The problem is that sometimes that line gets a little blurry. Did the masking mandates lead us into sin? How about the social distancing or the restrictions on gathering together?
Most would say no, but for some people and for some churches, they decided to open back up and worship the way they knew how because they would rather please God than man. And that is not for us to judge.
But there comes a time in the churches life where they must take a stand and say no more.
This is the line, this is where your God given power and authority stops and even if you punish me according to your laws, I know that I am honoring God with my decisions.
This week I came across a new song and music video from one of my favorite worship leaders, Kim Walker-Smith
It’s called Mama. And though she released it on Friday as a single, it will be going on her next worship album and for that I am grateful. Even though she doesn’t consider it to be in the category of worship music, I would argue that it is a song of worship.
It’s called “Mama” and I want to play it for you this morning.
Prayer and worship are acts of defiance, not only when someone tries to stop you or deter you from doing it but it is a defiant act towards this world and it’s systems…Prayer is a defiant act against your current situation.
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
Daniels prayer was a request to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that he would fulfill a promise that he had made to His people back in Deuteronomy 30
1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8 You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9 Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Daniel’s prayer was a prayer of defiance because he saw his current situation and saw the promise of God and said…these do not line up. There is a gap here between what God has spoken and where we are at.
Daniel was also in the scriptures of Jeremiah and noticed that the exile was coming to an end…
1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
Daniel noticed a gap between the promises of God and his current situation and so his prayer was a prayer of defiance against their current situation and what God was calling them to.
Likewise Jesus calls us to pray into the gaps of our lives. Where we see a gap between the will of God in our lives and where we find ourselves.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
But in order to pray these prayers of defiance, we need to know the promises of God. We need to be in the word of God.
Lord you have called me by your name.
Lord you have promised me that I am a new creation in Christ.
Lord you promised that I wouldn’t live this life alone, that I would have direct access to you through the spirit of Christ.
Lord you promised that you would never leave me or forsake me.
You are speaking out the promises that God has spoken.
And the Lord honors his promises because Great is His Name and Greatly to Be Praised!
I cannot wait until next week, when we finish this 4 part message about the power of a prayerful life. We get to see how God shows up in power and deliverance, not only for Daniel and the situation he finds himself in, but for all of Israel…
Until then church let us pray that we are willing to stand upon the Word of God and worship God alone. That we would bow our knees to no other God and that before our freedom is taken from us, we would find ourselves taking our faith seriously. That we would have those disciplines in our lives, that we would recognize the distinguishing characteristics of what a prayerful life looks like and that we would defiantly protest this world and what it offers so that we may see the kingdom of heaven all around us.