[Darris McNeely] There are certain habits that if we build them very early in our life,
they will stay with us and they will serve us quite well. One of those habits is that
of consistent, daily, regular prayer, even multiple prayer during the day.
The story from Daniel Chapter 6 that we all well know is of Daniel in the lion's den.
How did he get there? Well, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den because he defied the
decree issued by the Persian King, Darius, to not pray to anyone but to him for a period of time.
Daniel was working in the Persian court at that time, and he was kind of an underling to the
Persian masters, but there was jealousy, and they were trying to trap Daniel. They couldn't find
anything on him, no dirt in any of his records, or embezzlement, or anything that they had,
his record was spotless. In fact, it says in Scripture that "We shall not find any charge
against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Quite a testimony.
I wonder if all of us could stand up to that test. Hopefully, we could,
that there would be nothing found against us if anyone examined every aspect of our life, except
the fact that we were keeping the law of God. But that's what they
turned on him when they passed this bogus law, and the king decreed it.
What did Daniel do when the decree went out that you couldn't pray to anyone but to the king? Well,
in Chapter 6 of Daniel, it says in verse 10 that when Daniel knew the writing was signed,
he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows opened toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on
his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since his
early days. That was Daniel's practice, his habit built from his earliest days, to pray regularly,
even up to three times a day, to take all of his needs, his petitions to God. And Daniel was not
going to let any law, any decree of the king, or anybody's personal disfavor cause him to stop
doing what he had already been doing, and that was to pray, he took it to God. Build those habits in.
Psalms say that David himself prayed three times a day. It's a good thing to do,
to build that habit, to pray without ceasing.
We don't know how many times we might need to take something before God. We don't know
exactly what it is that God will answer, how or when He will answer our prayers,
but don't let anything crowd out prayer. Don't let any obstruction cause us to not pray. And as
Daniel was bold enough to go to God even at the risk of his own life, and you know the story,
he was thrown into the lion's den, God protected him at that time, God will be bold for us, as we
are bold for Him. Build that habit, and don't let anything stand in the way, take it to God.
That's "BT Daily," join us next time.