Daily devotion – Dare to be a Daniel
Each Wednesday evening we gather for prayer and Bible study here at Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour. Some people are like clockwork. You just know they will be at the chapel at this time each week to pray.
As we have been going through the book of Daniel, we find in this man’s life some very wonderful constants that we could each learn from and follow.
One in particular was that Daniel was a teen, a young man, and an old man of prayer.
Daniel 6:4 Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. 5 So they concluded, “Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the rules of his religion.”
6 So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! 7 We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. 8 And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” 9 So King Darius signed the law.
10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.
For Daniel, prayer was who he was. He was a man of the God of Israel. He was a devout man. He was a praying man. Yet prayer to Daniel was no menial task, not a religious obligation.
Prayer to Daniel was as normal as breathing and just as vital!
So well was Daniel’s passion for prayer known, that even his pagan enemies knew all about it. That nothing could interfere with Daniel praying. They knew it was his life.
Prayer is an indication of our relationship with God. It’s a great reflection just whether we have a relationship at all with Him.
If Daniel was living today here in Secret Harbour and attending Calvary Chapel, we could set our clocks and our compass about what he was doing and his whereabouts each Wednesday.
There is the old saying, “Dare to be a Daniel” which most people refer to Daniel’s time in the lion’s den. For me, that’s just part of the picture.
Prayer was outlawed by the king, by the government of the day, and Daniel did not change one bit his relationship with God as being a man of prayer.
I want to be like Daniel, constant, passionate, and predictable as a man of prayer.
Can you dare to be a Daniel?