The Quest To Find The 10 Most Effective Prayers- Prayer #3

Daniel was a man who asked God to give him a vision. He was desperate to know God as deeply as possible and desired to hear from the Lord and to see Him. Often we communicate our desire to know God (because that is the very core of who we are and who we are supposed to be), but, for the most part we fall short. Today I believe if we truly want vision-if we truly want to know Him-then we must become more like Daniel.

In Daniel chapter 8, the Lord gave him a vision regarding the end of times. The experience was so powerful that Daniel fainted and was sick for days. Yet he desired more. Daniel pleaded with the Lord, and got on his face before the Creator. With fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, he cried out to God and confessed his sins and that of the people. Read Daniel 9:1-19

Daniel 9:4-7

“Oh Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep his commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgements. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face...”

In my quest for the top ten most powerful prayers in the Bible I am already seeing a very consistent pattern that I think requires our attention. The very first thing that Daniel does in this prayer is he exalts the Lord. “Oh Lord, great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love him...” He comes to the Lord humbly, in sackcloth and ashes. He is fasting and pleading for the Lord to answer him. This is a serious prayer that gets the Lord's attention!

This is no casual prayer. Daniel is pleading on behalf of himself and the people. He is desperate to hear from God! Then Daniel points out something that is, in my opinion, one of the most overlooked details in our Christian lives.

Daniel 9:13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth.

We are constantly sharing our problems, our needs, and our battles with everyone BUT the One who can actually help us through them, and that is the Lord Himself! It is no wonder we suffer long drawn out disasters! Because we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Gods truth, disaster has come upon us.

Bringing glory to God, as all great effective prayers do, Daniel called out to the Lord, (verse 17) “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.” In verse 19 he cries, “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” I LOVE this prayer! There is no sweet quiet voice here saying, “Well, hi Lord....eh hem, I was hoping, well, if You like, or if you want to, Lord, that You could or would do this small favor for me.....” Daniel is shouting!! O Lord, hear! (exclamation!) O Lord, forgive! (exclamation!) O Lord, listen and act! (exclamation!)

Here is the part I get so excited about! Daniel 9:20-21 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

God sent an angel to give wisdom and skill to understand WHILE HE WAS STILL PRAYING! I think God must have said, “FINALLY! You came to me and asked ME to solve your problems!” Daniel's fervent prayer, with emotion, feeling, sincerity and humbleness, that exalted the Lord, caused an answer to come before he could say, “lickety split!”

The angel had this to say, (Daniel 9:23) At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision: Notice the words 'At the beginning of your supplications the command went out...” God heard Daniel, and responded immediately.

Daniel continued to seek the Lord for more understanding and wisdom. In his deepest times of prayer he always fasted. Daniel 10:3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Daniels prayers were effective because he was persistent, consistent, and sincere. His prayers were not only effective-the were heard and responded to by the Lord in extraordinary visits from the angels!

Do you want your prayers to be heard today? Consider Daniel. Study his life, study his motivation, and study how he came before the Lord. If you are in need of rescuing today-if life is consuming you and you are not sure how you will make it through the day, remember to tell your needs to the most important person of all-the One who can actually rescue you! He is waiting to hear from you.......

Daniel 10:12

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel (Insert YOUR NAME HERE), for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

Have a great day!

Rhonda

THE FIRE-Would You Go There Again?

There is no doubt that God loved Daniel.  Daniel never backed down when it came to doing what was right in God's eyes.  Refusing to bow down before any other gods, Daniel's life was put on the line more than once.  

I feel the need to throw out this question today-if you stood for everything that was right in God's eyes-and because of it you were ordered to be put to death-AND, if our Lord God who you stood for therefore RESCUED you from the perils of death-yes, you walked out of the jaws of the enemy, unharmed- would you do it again?

Read it again, as you may be reeling over what you just read.  Okay, if you won't re-read it-let me ask you again (because I'm pushy that way).  IF you stood for everything that was right in God's eyes-AND because of it you were ordered to be put to DEATH-AND, if our LORD OUR GOD who you stood for therefore RESCUED you from the perils of death-yes, you WALKED OUT OF THE JAWS OF THE ENEMY, unharmed...........would you do it again?

Some of you will say it depends on the circumstance, while some will say I don't know.  Others will immediately shout ABSOLUTELY.  And others will simply say no. 

I started out writing to you today wanting to continue my quest for the top ten most effective prayers....and this is leading into that I promise.  However, I think instead God wants me to write to those of you today who are tired; those who have recently been hurt so bad that they can't get up.  You will know who you are because you are the ones that just answered my question by saying “I don't know if I could do it again.” And, I'm definitely speaking to you who just said quickly, without having to think, “No, I cannot do it again.” 

Today you feel trapped in the desert. You are crying out to God and are fairly certain that He does not hear you.  Matter of fact, you are nearly convinced that He really doesn't even care about you, or any of your issues.  You have prayed, you have done what you thought was right, you tried to stay positive, but enough is enough.  As if losing everything you ever wanted was not enough, you stand here now thinking, I've got nothing else to give.  You might even be questioning if God is even real. 

You're not alone.  So many people are tired.  They feel they have been in the fire for so long, that they have nearly burned to nothing.  Life is hard, and is only getting harder.  WHY is that? 

Here is what I feel God speaking to me today.  And, you can take it or leave it.  But I hope you take it-even though you may leave it-and in that case, it will be waiting for you when you are ready.  Daniel stood for God NO MATTER THE COST.  The Bible teaches us that in the face of even DEATH Daniel stood in front of the earthly leaders and shook his head.  If I had to visualize Daniel-I would say he was so polite that it made the leaders MAD!  I am sure that when demands were put on him to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar he politely said, “This I cannot do. This I will not do. I am sorry.” 

You cannot tell me that these rulers weren't a little afraid of Daniel.  I mean, he could interpret the dreams that NO ONE-NO ONE could! He heard from GOD!  It is interesting how the people asked for truth.  And, when they got it, they despised it.  Here is a man who refused to bow down to other gods, who refused to eat any foods that were unclean, who never compromised his friends, and daily sat at the feet of God to gain understanding and knowledge.  Yet, even Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, and in the fiery pit. 

Have you read Daniel?  It says in Daniel 3:22 Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.  The fire that these men were being sent into was so extremely hot, that the guards that walked them to the door of the furnace burned to DEATH as they tried to place the three inside.  Yet, the three fell down bound together into the midst of the burning fiery furnace (v. 23). 

Let me point out that these men of God were able to endure a flame that was much hotter than any man could stand. God protected them through the hottest part as they were led to a place even hotter than that!  I'm thinking this may be like jumping into a pool of hot lava! 

They did not die there.  Matter of fact, not even a hair on their head was burned.  They didn't even smell like smoke!!!  (I roasted marshmallows last week, and I stunk like crazy!)  These men were in the MIDDLE of the fire, and you never would have known it. 

Daniel 3:25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Jesus Himself rescued the men.  Because of their belief that their God would rescue them-because they stood firm to His promises-because they NEVER backed down, NEVER doubted, and NEVER stopped praying...........God showed up.  

Your trials are not in vain.  If you stand in the fire and you say, “I cannot take this.  Let the fire burn me. I'm not sure there is even a God,” then you will burn up for sure.  Remind yourself of Daniel-and if you don't know him, then learn about him.   He was on his face before God.  Not just when things went bad-but in the good.  He rejoiced in the face of adversity and gave glory to God in all things.  He never gave up.  He would not give in.  He believed that His God would save him. 

And He did. 

This may not be your first trial.  Those who follow after God face many trials.  It's just a fact.  How are you facing your trials today?  If you are really suffering right now, you are saying, “you have no idea how bad my life is, so don't even preach to me.” But I do know.  I know what it's like to lose a home, to lose everything we worked so hard to gain, been poor, and stood in the middle of the fire crying to get out.  I've been there-and I didn't get let out of the fire-NO, the heat was turned up.  When I thought I couldn't take it any more, the fire became even hotter.  I HATE the fire, yet I LOVE the fire.  It's painful, and it's the time I feel I have lost all control and am at my weakest point.  However I love it, because I know that I have lost control, and I am at my weakest point-and THAT is where God does His best work.  I would go there again.  I have-again, and again.....and I will go there how ever many times it takes.

He will save you.  But you have to do your part.  You cannot have God as your god of convenience.  Even His favorites are put to the test.  You are God's favorite.  And He just wants you to look up to heaven, right now in the midst of the fire, and say, “My God will save me.” 

And He will.

I promise
Rhonda