Daniel: A Man of Prayer

Today is Father’s day and one of the things that really sticks out to me about my dad, is the fact that he is a man of prayer. He knows the importance of prayer, he knows the power of prayer and through his emphasis on prayer, he leaves a Legacy of living in obedience and submission to the authority of Christ to every generation kids and grand kids that follow after his example.

I am certain that there have been a countless number of times that dad has interceded on behalf of my siblings and I… and now our children.

Growing up, it didn’t matter the circumstances, good or bad, Dad made sure to assure us that The LORD loves us, and His promises are true.

In a culture where many abandon their responsibilities of a being a dad, I am thankful for the training and encouragement that I recieved and still receive from my dad.

As Melissa and I raise our children and we see the sinful traps that Satan has laid out in this world… I now know the importance of being a father that constantly prays for his children.

As we continue in our study through the book of Daniel, I hope that you will learn two very important lessons…

1. When we are facing insurmountable problems and seemingly impossible situations… we need to pray.

As we looked at last week, Daniel and his friends are facing death because of an impossible dream challenge that King N introduced to his wise men. But Daniel doesn’t freak out, he doesn’t protest, he doesn’t gather up all the wise men and come up with a plan to assassinate N… he simply goes to the Lord in prayer.

2. When God answers the prayer, go back and praise Him for it… even if the answer is not what you expected or wanted it to be.

This morning, lets look at…

Daniel: A Man of Prayer

Daniel 2:19-23…

Meat:

I would say that the main thing that made Daniel and his friends so special was their emphasis on prayer. Daniel was a disciplined, godly man that spent a lot of time in prayer… Once we get to chapter 6 we are going to see that, It was his dedication to prayer that landed him in the lions den.

However, Daniel doesn’t just pray and make his requests known to God… when God answers his prayers… he offers praise and thanksgiving for those answers…

And that is what we are going to focus in on today, because it was this attitude of praise and thanksgiving that prompted God to continue to answer Daniel’s prayers… and if it prompted God to answer prayers back then, it is still the same attitude we need to have today if we want God to continue answering our prayers as well.

v. 19 says… Daniel 2:19 “19 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.”

He didn’t run straight to N and say “I got it, I got it!”… He takes the time to “bless the God of Heaven”

The Hebrew word for bless is “Baw-rak” and it means to kneel down before God and offer reverent praise to Him.

Daniel Praises God...

First of all…

1. For Who He Is

Again, v.19 says that Daniel “Blesses...”

1.1 The God of Heaven

Daniel uses this phrase to show that he is praising the One True, High and Holy God. There are gods (little g) that are created by men and then there is the One True God (capital G) of Heaven…

Daniel is on his knees, bowing before the One True God of Heaven. And he is praising Him for Who He is…

Daniel acknowledges that God is…

1.2 The Source of all Wisdom

Daniel 2:20 “20 Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His.”

In Romans 16:27, The Apostle Paul, refers to God as “The Only Wise God”.

A.W. Tozer defines wisdom as “the skill to achieve the most perfect ends by the most perfect means. Both the means and the ends have to be worthy of God.” He goes on to say “Wisdom is the ability to see the end from the beginning, to see everything in proper relation and in full focus. It is to judge in view of final and ultimate ends and to work toward those ends with flawless precision.”

Daniel acknowledges that God is the source of all wisdom and in doing so he is also acknowledging that God is omniscient (All knowing) and that He is sovereign (In control of everything).

Daniel knew that God had a plan and that God had the wisdom to carry out His plan with divine precision… and Daniel thanks God for imparting some of that wisdom to him.

Daniel not only praises God for who He is… But he also praises God…

2. For His Power

The end of v. 20 says “For wisdom and might are His.”

v.21 Daniel 2:21 “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.”

God doesn’t just have wisdom and knowledge, but He also has the power to do whatever He wills to do… Daniel praises God for having power…

2.1 Over Times and Seasons

This is not a reference to the seasons of the year… spring, summer fall and winter… even though God does control those as well.

Daniel is referring to the fact that God has power over historical events. Daniel has seen the dream that was causing N so much distress and God has revealed to Daniel the interpretation of the dream and at the time, the events of the dream hadn’t happened yet. However, as we will see in the next few weeks, the events that were foretold in N’s dream are now historical events that we look back at today.

Pastor Thompson makes this statement in his notes “God controls historical events either directly in what He does or indirectly in what He permits (or allows to happen)”

Warren Wiersbe says “The God of heaven is also the God of History”

Daniel goes even further and says that God also has Power…

2.2 Over the Rise and Fall of Kings

“He removes kings and raises up kings”

Everything that Daniel is praising God for, is a reflection of God’s Sovereignty. It also has to do with N’s dream that has been revealed to Daniel. God is revealing that He controls the leaders of the nations... He controls the destiny of a nation… and He controls who is permitted to lead a nation…

This is seen in other places of Scripture as well…

Psalm 75:6–7 NASB95

6 For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation; 7 But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.

Proverbs 21:1 NKJV

1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

God controlled the leaders of the nations back then and He continues to control them now. Most would like to say that they are in control of what is going on in our World, but the changing world we face today is not outside God’s control. Instead, He directs its movement, changing the balance of world powers as He desires.

The question is, are we going to live in fear of the changes that He permits… or are we going to trust the All mighty, Sovereign God, to carry out His will for our lives?.. …

Daniel also praises God for His power…

2.3 To Give

Daniel says at the end of v.21 “He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.”

Daniel knew that the wisdom and knowledge that he recieved did not come from the stars, it didn’t come from the moon… it came from the One True God, Who is the source of all wisdom and knowledge, and again, Daniel praises God for giving him a portion of that wisdom and knowledge.

In v.22 Daniel praises God for His power…

2.4 To Reveal

Daniel 2:22 “He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.”

Daniel knows that it is God who reveals “deep and secret things”. Again, it is not the stars, it is not the moon, it is not a message in your alphabet soup… God is the One who has the power to reveal.

The phrase “deep and secret things” literally means “things that are inaccessible or unsearchable”… God is the only One who has the ability to disclose information about these inaccessible and unsearchable things… and it is up to Him to choose who He is going to disclose the information to… In the case of N’s dream, God chose to reveal it to Daniel.

v.22 also says “He (God) knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.”

Darkness does not hide anything from God… Jonah found that out… When he was trying to get away from God, he went to the deepest, darkest part of the ship… but guess what, you cannot play hide and seek with God. He knows where you are all the time.

The Psalmist said in Psalm 139:12

Psalm 139:12 NASB95

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

God sees all, He knows all and He can, will and does reveal the dark things.

Daniel praises God for Who He is, For His Power and finally…

3. For What He Does

v. 23… Daniel 2:23 “23 “I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.””

After Daniel praised God for His greatness and power, he takes the time to thank God for what He did for Daniel…

first of all God…

3.1 Gave Daniel Wisdom and Power

Daniel said “You have given me wisdom and might (or power)”… these are the same words used in v.20… This means that God gave Daniel a very special wisdom and a very special kind of power… the kind that only God has. God imparted a portion of His wisdom and power to a human being… and Daniel was humbled and thankful that God chose to impart it to him.

Daniel is also thankful that God…

3.2 Answered Their Prayers

Notice the last part of v.23 “And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand.”

Daniel believes that it wasn’t just his own prayers that moved God to answer, but also the prayers of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as well.

Folks, I am here to tell you that there is great power to experienced when faithful people of God unite together and pray.

Daniel said, “My prayers have been answered.” It had not yet been validated; it hadn’t been proven his prayer had been answered. That wasn’t going to happen until he stood before Nebuchadnezzar and said, “Nebuchadnezzar, here’s the dream. Here’s the interpretation. Am I right?”

In other words, he was acting on faith here when he was praising the Lord for the answer to prayer, because he only had the assurance the prayer was going to be answered... He hasn’t seen the evidence of it yet.

Closing:

I’ll close with a New Testament illustration… the account is found in Luke 17… I’ll just paraphrase this morning…

Jesus went into a village on the border between Galilee and Samaria. He was met by ten men suffering from Leprosy. They stood at a distance because In Bible times, people suffering from leprosy were treated as outcasts. There was no cure for the disease, which gradually left a person disfigured through loss of fingers, toes and eventually limbs.

Leprosy sufferers had to leave their homes and families and live together with other lepers on the outskirts of town… They would have to scavenge for food.

They were forbidden to have any contact with people who did not have the disease and they had to ring a bell and shout “unclean, unclean” if anyone approached them.

As Jesus came into the village they shouted “Jesus! Master! Take pity on us!” and Jesus simply replied “Go, and let the priests examine you.”

If anyone had a skin disease from which they were cured (which was unlikely in the case of leprosy), Jewish Law stated they could not re-enter society unless they first went to the priest to be checked before receiving a certificate to say they were now ‘clean’.

On the way to the priest all 10 of them were healed… There was only one of these ten men that stopped… went back… and thanked Jesus for healing him… … …

How often are we like the one who comes back and thanks God for answering our prayer… and how often are we like the other 9 that received the blessing and forget to praise and thank the giver of that blessing?

Daniel was a man of prayer and has left an example for us to follow.

First he offered praise to God for Who He is, Daniel then praised God for the power He has and then Daniel praises God for what He does… God answered Daniel’s Prayer.

I’ll leave you with this…

I happened to be listening to Dr. David Jeremiah earlier this week and he was talking about how God answers prayers. He made this statement “If our request is wrong, God will say no… If our timing is wrong, God will say slow… If you are wrong, God will say grow… But if our request is right, our timing is right and if we are right, God will say go”

No matter what answer God gives us for our prayers, we need to be able to give Him praise and thanksgiving, in knowing that He has a sovereign plan and He knows what is best for us… every moment of everyday.

May we be a Church family… of Prayer.

Prayer:

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