Verse by verse teaching - Daniel 6:9-10 "When We Pray"

Now, the title of the message this morning is When We Pray. In our verses last week, we learned about the art of human influence. We learn how the world uses certain social pressures to affect the decisions we make. And we learn how to recognize and overcome those pressures so we don't make the destructive decisions that we shouldn't make. The politicians in the days of King Darius, they wanted the king, if you'll remember, to sign a law uh in in in enforcing that nobody could pray to anybody except for King Darius for thirty days. Now you couldn't pray to God, you couldn't pray to a an a false God, you couldn't pray to anybody but King Darius and the penalty if you didn't obey that law was to be cast into a den of lions. Now remember the king wanted Daniel. Daniel was a a wise and faithful prophet of God who he had already been promoted to a very high position in the kingdom. But the king wanted Daniel, the prophet of God, to be over all the province of the kingdom. So the politicians and politicians were no better back then than they are today. Just as sneaky, just as murderous, just as corrupt. Today as they were back then, it's no different. And those other politicians didn't want him to get that spot. So that's why they wanted the king to make this law, because they knew Daniel prayed three times every day to the one true God. So they thought, boy, if we can just get this, catch him praying, then we'll have him thrown in the den of lions, and man, maybe one of us will be up for that big promotion. So uh Darius not being a wise king, he fell to the social pressure. The Bible says, uh look now in uh chapter six, verse nine, wherefore That means on account of the pressure they put on him that we studied last week, King Darius signed the writing. He signed the written document that they put in front of him. And not only did he sign the writing, what does it say? And the decree. Now it's this the writing and the decree are the same thing But the writing is a decree. In that word decree, uh in the Chaldean language, it means a legal binding obligation. So the writing is a legal document that spelled out the uh the the the law that they wanted him to sign. And remember what we learned last week. This piece of legislation that the king signed could never be reversed once it was put into law. Not even by the king. That was the law back then, under the law of the Medes and the Persians. So whatever he did, whatever he signed into law, once it's signed into law, If he later had buyers regret uh or remorse, too bad, so sad. You just had to live or die with it. And eventually, uh word of this meeting and word of this being signed in the law made it back to Daniel. And I'm sure this was heartbreaking for Daniel to hear. Things had been going so well for Daniel. He had promoted so high in the kingdom. He was up for this big promotion. Things were going so well. The king loved him above everybody else in the kingdom. And now this had to happen. And you know, just when God seems to be blessing us And our lives seemed to be on track for what we had set out to do, the goals we had set out to accomplish for our lives. Maybe what we thought God intended for our lives and we're going the right track and then something like this always seems to pop up and ruin things, doesn't it? Happens all the time. Daniel was in line for this big promotion, and now this. And through Daniel's story We learn that in the wisdom and sovereignty of God, he often brings jubilation and tribulation into our lives at the same time. Jubilation. Things are going great in the kingdom. I'm the king's favorite. I'm up for a big promotion. Everything's going well. Tribulation, if I keep praying, I get cast into a den of lions. It happens in our lives. How many of you all ever seem like everything was going your way and then bam something happens just seems to destroy everything? That's it. Do you know why this story is written in the book of Daniel? For people just like us. It's everyday life For the people of God, it's everyday life. And so God gives us his word so we'll know how to live in a fallen world that we live in. We often have something to rejoice about and something to cry about at the same time, don't we? That's just the way it works. And if we're not careful, you know what will happen? If we're not careful, we will become troubled, and we will become bitter When we feel the tribulation that we're going through is threatening the jubilation That we're so excited about. Now Brother Shepherd has been teaching through the book of Job. And old Job, he had everything going for him He was a wise man. He was a wealthy man. He had lots of children, lots of property. Everything was going for him. He was very popular in the community, very well respected And then suddenly, bam, it hits them. And you know what? He was all heartbroken when he lost his cattle. He was all heartbroken when he lost his kids. He was all heartbroken when he lost his health. But you know something? Say he never had any children and that storm came. Say he never had any cattle and he was broke. He'd have never had anything to lose. Do you know what? He wouldn't have been near as heartbroken, would he? Brother Billy, I got something for you after church. Don't let me forget to give it to you. He wouldn't have been near as heartbroken. Had he never had those things to lose. But God gave, Job said And God took away, Job said. God's the one that gave, God's the one that took away. God gives you health. God takes it away. God gives you kids. God takes them away. God gives you substance. God takes it away. Jubilation and tribulation is the experience that we have living in a fallen world, a world that's been affected and corrupted due to sin. So sometimes it's easier on the mind to never have something than it is to have it, experience it, enjoy it, and then lose it. But we're going to see in our text this morning that Daniel's hope and joy wasn't found in his big promotion. Daniel's hope and joy was not found in his relationship to the king. Daniel's hope and joy was not found in any thing that Babylon had to offer. Daniel's hope and joy was not found in anything that the world gives or can take away. Daniel's hope and joy and purpose was centered on one thing: God. And God alone. And if your hope, joy, and purpose is centered on God, then you will never experience the tragedy of losing your hope, joy, and purpose Now you hear that? If your hope, joy, and purpose in life is centered on God then you will never experience losing your hope, joy, and purpose because you can't lose God. Watch what happened after Daniel learned the writing had been signed, which he knew would probably result in his arrest and in capital punishment. Look in verse 10 with me. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being opened 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 aforetime, or as he did before Nothing changed. Now there's five things about Daniel's prayer life that every Christian should put into practice, and we're going to be looking at those five things this morning. The first thing we see is this Daniel prayed consistently. Daniel prayed consistently. Look at the last part of verse 10 and underscore as he did aforetime. as he did aforetime, when threatened with the possibility of his discovery, arrest, and the death penalty Daniel continued to pray as he did before. Here's the kingdom truth for you this morning. Bad times should never affect good behavior. Bad times should never affect good behavior. Some people want to quit on God when they don't get what they want out of life Y'all ever known anyone like that? They just want to quit on God. They do quit on God when they don't get what they want out of life. Do you know one remedy to that? If all I really want out of life is God, I'll never have to worry about quitting on it. Because that's all I want. If all I want out of life is the pleasure of God, and then if God gives me children, thank God for it. If God gives me wealth, thank God for it. If God gives me health, thank God for it. But if God tak So way my health and my children And my wealth, I don't quit on God because God is all I want out of life. That's why Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these other things shall be added unto you. Seek him first. If someone quits on God because they didn't get what they wanted out of life, then they didn't want God. Or else they wouldn't have quit on him. Another reason Daniel didn't throw in the towel and start panicking was because his prayer life did not start when he was in trouble. He simply continued to pray as he did aforetime. Listen, if you want to rock solid life like Daniel Wouldn't you love it if something as bad as being threatened with being arrested and and thrown into a den of lines was you were faced with something like that? Wouldn't you love to just have that rock solid steady confidence in your faith in God and not let something like that shake you. Here's how. Don't start your prayer life when you get into trouble He prayed as he did before the trouble started. The time to have a wonderful prayer life with God is now Now, the reason so many people quit praying and quit serving God after their trouble was over It's because they didn't pray and serve God before their trouble began. And so when they start praying and serving God, it's only because they want their trouble to be over. And when it's over The trouble's over, so their faithfulness to God is over, which means they never were faithful at all. Daniel prayed consistently because Daniel was obedient to God Daniel didn't let the world deter his faithfulness to God. And as Christians, we must pray consistently. Second, not only did Daniel pray consistently, but Daniel prayed Continually. He prayed continually. Look in the middle of verse 10 underscore three times a day. Three times a day. Now Brother Shepard and I we pray four times a day, Abigail. I'm kidding. It's really five. The three times a day And we learn so much about prayer from this verse. Daniel apparently prayed, from what I gather from this verse, at the beginning of his day, in the middle of his day, and at the end of his day. Brother Doug said one time before, before his feet hit the floor, he prayed, he starts praying. Or the first thing when his feet hit the floor, he starts praying, starts his day off praying We pray for what we're about to face, Brother Doug. We pray for God's will to be done in our lives. And if you're not careful, you'll pray in the morning. And then after you do your morning prayers, you'll go throughout your day, you'll mind or get on something else, and next thing you know, you're laying in bed at night thinking about all the stuff you wish you wouldn't have said or done during that day. Daniel didn't have to worry about that. You know why? He'd pray in the morning. In the middle of that day, he'd go back, he'd seek God's face again. He'd pray again. And you know what? Then at the end of the day he'd close it off again with prayer. And this wasn't no now I lay me down to sleep. I pray my Lord the so my the Lord my soul to keep. I I was I was raised up in church and I remember going to kindergarten when I was a kid. And uh that's back when it wasn't ob uh obligatory. You you didn't have to send your kids to kindergarten or what the the the state didn't supplied anyway. And uh but but my mom and dad paid me to go to kindergarten and and uh my mom would always pick me up at lunchtime. It would be it was half a day and then I'd go home with her after that. And one day She had to leave me because she had some errand to do and she left me there with some of the other kids because the kindergarten also provided a little extended daycare And so I actually stayed after kindergarten was over and I ate lunch with the rest of the children and whatever we did, we sang and did different different things waiting on our parents to pick us up. And I remember the first time I'd ever seen this, we sat down to eat. And I remember Miss Collier, our kindergarten teacher, she said, okay. Y'all go ahead and pray now before you eat. Well I was about to bow my head and start thanking God for my food. Oh no, that's not how they did things there. Everybody said the same prayer out loud God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for this food. Amen. Not only did it not make sense, it didn't really rhyme. Food and good don't rhyme. You gotta mispronounce one of them to make it work. And I remember thinking, what was what just happened? This isn't a prayer You know how Daniel prayed? If you look back in the text, the Bible says he got down on his knees. Before God, He He bows. And the idea, y'all ever heard of the word supplication? Supplication in English, that the idea has the the uh of the word means to like to fold the knee, to bend. It's the idea of us stooping before God, recognizing God, you are above us. We can't always pray on our knees. It's not the knees that make the prayer. It's the heart that makes the prayer. That we stoop in our hearts before God, that we bring ourselves humbly before God. And three times a day, that's what Daniel did. He came before God. He humbled himself before God in the morning. God, this is your day. This is your time. I am your servant. You do with me as you see fit. And let this day be according to your will. Let me follow your word. Let me do your bidding. Let me tell other people about your son. Make that your objective when you first get up in the morning. And then as the day goes through, you don't have to say, okay, I'm going to be like Daniel. Now at at 1 p. m. It's my prayer time now. You don't have to be like that. But you know what you need to do? The Bible puts it this way: pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. And the idea is a continuity of prayer throughout the day. I pray and I don't forget, I've always thought of it this way. I always thought of it this way. When you're in love and you're talking on the phone to somebody when you're a young person. I wonder how many of y'all ever done this before. It's finally time, you know, to go. You go. Okay, I love you. I love you. Alright, bye, bye. And nobody hangs up Y'all ever done that before? You you gonna hang up? Well you you hang up. No, no, you hang up. I hung up last time. And I remember thinking about that when I was thinking about my prayer life as a young Christian. And you know what I discovered? Really our prayer life with God is when neither God nor I hang up. We keep God online all day long, Brother Doug. And you know what I do? Throughout the day I pray. I pray as I do things. I pray as I go. And you need to have a prayer life like that. That's really the way Daniel was. But Daniel set time aside So he wasn't affected by the busyness of the day. You see? And there's sometimes when you keep you keep the phone on the off you keep the phone open all the time, but at the same time You do need to have time when you're away, when it's just you and God, so you can pray, so you're not distracted by the things of this world. So pray Consistently. Pray continually. Three times a day, it says here. Now, Daniel prayed consistently Daniel prayed continually. Third, Daniel prayed consciously. He prayed consciously. Look again in verse 10. Underscore toward Jerusalem. Man, don't you love learning the Bible? This is so good. This is so good. Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem. The whole time Daniel was in Babylon, his heart was in Jerusalem, you see? And there's something about the direction of his prayer. He lived his life and thus he prayed his prayers Being forever conscious of the kingdom of God. Now, the reason he prayed with his window open toward Jerusalem, it wasn't so people could see him pray. He prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem because of a specific prayer of blessing that King Solomon prayed when he built the first temple. If you'll look in your Bible or look on the screen as we turn to 1 Kings chapter 8, 1 Kings chapter 8. And we're going to read verses 29 and 30. Solomon has just built the temple. Solomon is dedicating the temple. And Solomon asked God that thine eyes may be opened toward this house night and day. Now watch this now. The temple is called a house because it's the house of God. And Solomon, who is a picture of Jesus in the Bible, Isn't that good? Solomon's picture of Jesus who built the temple? Solomon did He prays God that your eyes may be opened toward this house. How often? Night and day? You know what? Do you know when God can hear your prayers? night and day. Even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer. You listen to that? Which thy servant shall make toward this place. And so what happens is What happens is the temple is built in Jerusalem. And Solomon says, God, may your eyes be on this temple night and day. And anybody who prays in the direction of this temple, toward this temple The idea is like this. This is the, here's God up here. He's looking down at that temple Here's somebody over here in Africa. Here's somebody over here in Europe. Here's somebody over here in the God blessed city of Maybank. And they're praying, and their prayers are aimed at that temple in Jerusalem. Now as their prayers are coming to the temple, shh, here they come. Where's God looking at? He's looking at that temple. And so God sees or hears. Prayers, all the prayers sent toward that temple. That's what Solomon's praying for, night and day. That you, may your your eyes be open toward this house night and day? Why? That thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place. Any servant of God that prays toward this place. That's why when Daniel Starts to pray. He has his windows open toward Jerusalem, toward that place So his prayers would be heard. He goes on to say in verse 30, if you'll move to verse 30 now, please. 1 Kings 8:30. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel when they shall pray toward this place. And hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling place. And when thou hearest, forgive. Not only do you get your prayer answered, you get your sins sent away. When you pray toward that place and God sees it, then your prayer and God's eyes meet up at that temple. That's why Daniel's praying consciously. He's praying conscientiously concerning that temple in Jerusalem. Solomon said, when people pray toward this place, hear thou in heaven. Isn't that good? When we pray toward the temple, God hears our prayers in heaven. Daniel was praying toward Jerusalem because that's where Solomon's temple was. And when Daniel prayed toward the temple, God heard in heaven. Now here is the key to answered prayer. We pray and God hears. We pray toward the temple. God hears in heaven. Now understand what this means. The temple was a picture of a greater temple to come. The temple was a picture of a greater work. The work of the temple was a picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Was teaching on it next door in our Genesis Jesus class today. In the temple, God dwelled in the temple. Outside the temple, the high priest offered a sacrifice for sin. That blood from that sacrifice was then taken and put in the most holy place on the mercy seat and through the blood of the substitute that died for the sins. of the people. The blood was then put there before God. God then saw the blood of the substitute that died for the sinner and mercy was given When Jesus came, Jesus was the substitute that died for the sins of the people. Jesus' blood is the blood that God sees shed and then grants mercy to us on account of him dying in our place. Jesus is the high priest. That offered the sacrifice. Jesus is the God that's right there in the mercy seat because he was God manifest in the flesh. Jesus is the the the manna or the showbread rather that was in the holy place. The bread because he's the bread of life. Jesus is the incense that that that that soothes things over and pleases God when he smells it. Jesus is the light from the candle that that shows man the way to eat and live and the way the entrance into the most holy place. Jesus is every Everything about that temple. Amen. Do you see then what this means? It means one day it's gonna be like this. The God in heaven Is going to have his eyes centered day and night on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And whoever prays to God on account of what Jesus has done God hears their prayers. Whoever comes to God and seeks forgiveness on account of what Jesus has done, God forgives their sins. That's why when Jesus came, he said, up to this point, you have not asked anything in my name Up to this point when they prayed, they prayed toward the temple. Their prayers were in it were they were conscious of the temple work. He said, but from now on, you're going to pray in my name. You're going to be conscious of me. And that's why we pray in Jesus' name today. Praying in Jesus' name doesn't mean we close our prayers by saying, in Jesus' name, amen. That's not praying in Jesus' name any more than if Daniel would have been in there on his knees faced away from the temple and saying, in the name of the temple, amen That's not praying in the direction of the temple. To pray in the name of Jesus Christ is to offer our prayers to God on the basis of what his son has done on our behalf. That we pray and gain forgiveness on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice. That we ask our petitions to God and we come to God on the basis of Jesus' death. burial and resurrection on our behalf. He prayed consciously. And the secret to our prayers being answered is to pray consciously as well. To pray intellectually. In faith, knowing that God will answer our prayers when they're given to Him on the basis of His Son There's no other way on the basis of Jesus Christ if those prayers are given in the will of God. Daniel prayed consistently. Daniel prayed continually. Daniel prayed consciously. And Daniel prayed covertly. Look back in verse 10 and underscore the words, in his chamber. In his chamber. Dana didn't pray out on the street. Dead it again on TV and pray. He didn't pray up in front of a bunch of people so he could be heard Daniel went in his chamber where he had privacy. And then he opened his window toward Jerusalem as if his prayers were flowing from his house to God's house. For God's eyes were forever. In Matthew 6, 5 through 6, Jesus said, And when thou prayest Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets. That they may be seen of men. Don't pray to be seen of men. Don't pray to be heard of people. Don't pray to say everyone wax so eloquent. Our Heavenly Father. That's not what praying's about. Don't pray to be saint of men. He said, Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. In other words, that's all they're going to get from me is to be seen of men. But thou, he says, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet or your closed area, and when thou hast shut thy door Pray to thy father which is in secret. And thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. That's how we should pray. There's there's a lot of times, you know, it's it's we don't have to tell people we're praying for them. It's encouraging to tell people you're praying for them. But you don't have to go out of your way and say, Well, I just want to let you know. I've been praying for you. Oh, that's such a thank you. Oh, you're welcome. You pray privately to God. God will hear your prayers. Don't ever pray to get credit for something in the eyes of men. You pray earnestly with your heart and you bring those petitions to God and you let God take care of the rest. And if honor or glory needs to be given to you, let God do it and not yourself. Because Daniel was so consistent in his prayers here, he goes in three times a day, he goes into his house, and then he goes into his chamber in his house. And by definition that word chamber means a second story. So he goes up. to his second story. And Daniel not only went into his house and not only went into his chamber, but he was so consistent with his prayers that apparently people knew his schedule because he was a big politician, remember He had servants under him, he had stuff to do, and he they people had to know, okay, it's time Daniel's about to go pray now Because there had to be instructions given to folks. Now, when I go into my room, I'm having my time with the Lord, and don't anyone bother me. Don't anyone bother me. That's the way it needs to be. Don't anyone bother me. Our prayers to God should never be performances for men. We shouldn't pray to impress others, but to petition God. He prayed consistently. He prayed continually. He prayed consciously. He prayed covertly. And lastly, he prayed courageously Daniel wasn't afraid of what men could do to him because he knew what God would do for him. You see He knew what God would do for him. Daniel didn't know that God would deliver him from the lions, but he knew that God had and would deliver him from the grave We don't know if God's going to answer our prayers about certain things the way we pray. Our prayers are not instructions to God, they're petitions to God. And he didn't know if he'd be delivered from the lions. But he knew God would deliver him from death ultimately. Daniel didn't know that God would spare his life, but he knew that God's will would be done in his life, whether it was through him living out his faith or through him dying on account of his faith. And whatever happened, Daniel knew that God was his helper. And he knew that through Jesus, he would be victorious in the end. Psalm 118, verse 6 says this, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? Look at that verse. That'd be a good memory verse one day, Brother Doug. The Lord is on my side I will not fear. What can man do unto me? See, Brother Richard, man could could hurt you. Man could kill you. Well, how long are you going to be dead? Be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord. What can man do unto me? Well man can call me a bad name and hurt my feelings. Well, I tell you what, that bad name, whatever man does to you to hurt your feelings, is that what God tells you? Can a man pronounce something on you that overcomes what God has pronounced for you? God has told me in His Word that I am His child, that I have everlasting life That I am blessed exceedingly abundantly through Jesus Christ, you let someone else tell me otherwise. What's that going to do? Is it going to override what God said? There's not a thing that a man can do to me that Christ won't undo through the death and resurrection. Not a thing You can bruise me at the rapture, my body will be fixed. You can hurt my feelings when Jesus comes again. Who's going to care? You can take my life away, cut my head off if you're a Muslim, and do whatever you want to do to me. It's all going to be fixed when Jesus comes back. Because of Jesus, the Lord is now on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? With that, we'll go ahead and close and remind everyone, consistent, continual, conscious, covert. Encourage. This is how we should be when we pray. Father, thank you so much, Lord, for your word. Thank you for all you've done. We love you so much, and we pray, dear Father God. For your perfect will for this church and for these people. And we pray, Father God, with our faces toward Jerusalem. We pray, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. On account of your great love, His great sacrifice and his great victory when he rose from the dead. In his name we pray. Amen.