Good Morning! - Daniel 6:10 - Daniel the Faithful Prayer Warrior - 2009.11.04

Good Morning!

 

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 formerly (Daniel 6:10).

 

Daniel did not put on a show to draw attention to himself. Once in a while in a restaurant somebody will pray like they were on a street corner. I have never been induced to prayer by that kind of display nor have I been persuaded that the prayer was intended for the God of Heaven.  The text above does not indicate that Daniel yelled at God and made a great deal of noise.

 

Elijah and Elisha are two of my favorite characters in the Bible. Elisha told a destitute woman:

 

And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out (2Kings 4:4-5).

 

Here as well as in the case of Daniel, God met with His own in secret, away from the eyes of the public. There is a place for praying in public and praying loud enough for everyone to be directed and encouraged to pray. But public prayer is not the place to have one's private devotions or to show off a peculiar talent for addressing Heaven.

 

We love the old hymn by Fannie Crosby: I Am Thine O Lord. Verse three says: Oh, the pure delight of a single hour That before Thy throne I spend, When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend.  If I had been privileged to attend the funeral of Fannie Crosby, I think I would have been asking myself "Who is going to take her place in the prayer closet? The prayers of Fannie Crosby are going to be sorely missed."

 

It has been my privilege to pray privately with some saints of God who I believe, were anchored in the word of God and experienced in the furnace of life's trials. Rex Crawford supposedly died in the Bristol Hospital but someone raised the sheet for a last look on the elevator and Rex twitched his eyelids. Within an hour Rex was sitting up in his hospital bed easting a bowl of soup. When he was called on to pray in church, I almost held my breath so as not to miss a word he said. He must have prayed like Daniel the Prophet and like Elijah and Elisha.

 

Daniel was in a tight spot and it is worth noting that he did not  have to invent a new way of going about his prayer time. He just prayed like he always did. And when his enemies were able to use the power of King Darius to sentence him to death for praying to his God, Daniel's well established prayer habits took over.

 

We note that Daniel kneeled before God three times a day. Ninety years old and he is still kneeling before God three times a day. My damaged legs will not allow me to do much kneeling but sometimes I go ahead and kneel until the thigh muscles go into a spasm and the pain forces me up. A lot of people in church cannot kneel.  The Bible does not require us to kneel in prayer but it does say: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God (Romans 14:11).

 

"Victor Hugo said that the soul is on its knees many times regardless of the position of the body. The posture of the spirit of the man is what is important. However, if you want to select a posture for prayer, it is kneeling, and that is set before us here (McGee).

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John_4:24).

 

Memory Verse for this week:

 

Let the word of Christ dwell in richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in

 

Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

 

(Colossians 3:16)

 

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