The Power of Praying Faithfully

Daniel 6:1-28

Intro: I read about a small Oklahoma town that had two churches and one distillery. Members of both churches complained that the distillery was giving the community a bad imagine. And to make matters worse the owner of the distillery was an out spoken atheist. He didn’t believe in God one bit. The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut down the distillery. So finally they decided to hold a joint Saturday night prayer meeting. They were going to ask God to intervene and settle the matter.
The church folks gathered on Saturday night and there was a horrible thunderstorm raging outside and to the delight of the church members lightening hit that old brewery and it burned to the ground.
The next morning the sermons in both churches was on the power of prayer.
But the insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner that they were not going to pay for the damages because the fire was an act of God and that was an exclusion in the policy.
The distillery owner was furious and he sued both churches claiming that they had conspired with God to destroy his business. But the churches denied that they had anything to do with the cause of the fire.
The presiding judge opened the trial with theses words: “ I find one thing in this cause most perplexing-we have a situation here where the plaintiff, an atheist is professing his belief in the power of prayer, and the defendants all faithful church members are denying the very same power.”
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We all struggle with the problems that life brings in our paths. But this morning as Christians I want us to see that God gives us a way to rise above all the things that the enemy puts in our paths. I pray that we can understand through the help of the Holy Spirit that the power that is available to us through prayer would not be taken for granted. Have you ever comptemplated what effect that praying faithfully would have in our lives……….

I. It will have effects on our personal lives(vs10)--------- Daniel knew and acknowledged his need before God. The Bible says “as was his custom”. I believe Daniel wanted his life to count for God. He put his life on God’s altar and wanted to be a bold witness for Him (tell about reading about the great men of God, He has used in the past and their prayer lives.....All these men had a common thread and it was their prayer life and time. They would spend from 2 to 5 hours a day in prayer before God for direction in their lives

A. It will effect our courage-----“Now when” Daniel went home as he always did and opened his windows toward Jerusalem….When we pray faithfully we will have a courage to stand for Jesus no matter the cost. Daniel kept the law of the land until it crossed the line of his relationship with God. Our nation today has lost it’s way and has bowed down to the false gods of this world. We need the courage that Daniel had to stand and not be ashamed of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we understand the power available to us as His children we will courageous and stand even alone for the Lord.

B. It will effect the negativism in our lives----- “ prayed and give thanks before his God” When we pray faithfully and put ourselves were we should be, in His presence, it will effect our outlook on life. Ever been around those that can find or chime in when it comes to be negative. Be it their job or someone’s action or just their plight in life, they have a negative connotation on it. Faithful prayer cannot be without thanksgiving. When we go around complaining about situations in our life and negative about people around us we are telling of on our selves and our prayer lives. Daniel wasn’t complaining about the decree he was thankful……The Bible says in

Psalms 100;4-5 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

II. It will have a direct effect on the situations in our lives(vs16)

A. Power to face whatever comes----Daniel didn’t have to face the Lions den alone. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13: 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

We never need worry about the faithfulness of our God. He didn’t fail Daniel and He will not fail us.

B. Power to go through it—vs22 “My God has sent His angel”…. We need not fret over the situations we go through in life if our prayer life is in the right place. Christianity is about a relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.. The more we know about Him the more we trust Him. ( Illustration) The Lion Sermon

There is a curious service held in an old church in the city of London. On October 16th, every year, is preached in St. Catherine Church, Leadenhall street, what is called the “Lion Sermon.” It has been preached every year in that same church for the last two hundred and fifty years (as of 1890).

If you want to be present, and would go a little earlier than the hour, you would hear the most lovely chime of bells—a chime beginning in the “Sun of my Soul,” “Abide with me,” “The Happy Land,” and the like. Then there is the service, made very short; then the event of the evening—the sermon, the “Lion Sermon.”

The story: There was once in the city a very pious man called Sir John Gayer (or Gair). At one time he was Lord Mayor of London. Sir John happened to be in Asia at one period of his life, and when with his caravan, was traveling through a desert place, he found himself face to face alone with a lion. Everybody of his company who could have helped him had gone forward. Sir John knew that only God could deliver him. He thought of Daniel in the den of lions. He perhaps thought of Paul, who at one time expected to meet an Emperor who was as cruel as a lion. And he fell on his knees there before the beast and shut his eyes and cried to God to shut the mouth of the lion.

When he had finished his prayer and opened his eyes, the lion was nowhere to be seen. So when he came back to London he set aside a sum of money to be given away in gifts to poor people every October 15th and to secure that a sermon should be preached to tell the generations to come how God had heard his prayer and delivered him from the mouth of the lion.

III. It will effect those around us.

Everyone in the kingdom of the Medes and Persians were effected by Daniels prayer life and his God.

A. The kings in our lives—look at the king’s knowledge of Daniels God. Vs16, 18-20

B. The enemies in our lives--- greed and jealousy was alive in that day as well ( vs.1-5) They knew that Daniel had a relationship with his God and prayer to Him. Are those that are against us aware of our prayer life and relationship we have with God? When we have a faithful prayer life we will not have to announce it to the world it will show. as we are faithful in our prayer life we will be in prayer for those that diabolically oppose what we do. The Bible tells us our duty. Matt 5: 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; Proverbs 25:2121 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: 22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

Daniels enemies had fire upon their heads ..vs24

When we understand the importance and the progress of a sold out faithful prayer life we will spend time alone with God. We look around today and see the immorality in our country, cities and families. We are tempted to just condemn and not pray. I want to ask you a question this morning. When’s the last time you had a prayer session with the Lord that you just lost all track of time. Or have you been like me and want to see God’s hand move in my life but not pay the price to see it. There are those in our families and in our workplaces that need a saviour and are desperately depending on us losing sleep praying for them. I share with you earlier of the book I read that really made me question do I really want to see those around me saved and living for God. These men of God prayed for 2,3,4 hours a day and God used them mightily.

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I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me in this area of my life and would ask you also to forgive me as your pastor and ask that you pray for me in this area of my life that I would be faithful in my prayer life and live a life that counts and changes those around me by intercessory prayer. Have you been pleading before the throne for revival? Revival will be uncomfortable as it will require change of heart. I believe with all my heart that things don’t happen by chance in the Lord’s house. Our revival meeting being postponed in not happenchance. God is in the process of changing hearts even this day in the area of prayer