When God's People Pray...part 3

Can I be honest with you? I'm not the best in the world at being a disciplined pray-er. In fact, I'll be even more honest...I might be the worst of all the saints at this. So why am I asking for people to pray in Part 2??

Quite simply, because I believe prayer matters:

^{Daniel 10:12-14 NIV} Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

Daniel had a troubling vision that we're told about at the beginning of chapter 10. So he fasts and prays, basically forsaking all creature comforts for 21 days (three weeks.) He then is confronted by a man:

"I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude."

Some think this is an angel, but many scholars believe this is the pre-incarnate Son of God (prior to Jesus' birth around 4 BC.) He speaks the words I have pasted above, offering an explanation of what happens as a result of prayer. We don't understand all of the details, but these things are very important:

1. Daniel's prayer was heard and answered IMMEDIATELY.
2. The answer was sent via a messenger.
3. The messenger was delayed by a confrontation with what we believe is a spiritual power.
4. Only after receiving help from Michael did the messenger make it to Daniel 21 days later...during that time Daniel fasted for the sake of his people.

The next time you are praying, imagine that your prayer is being heard and IMMEDIATELY answered. Perhaps you should consider praying for the delivery of the answer in case the messenger is delayed. Perhaps you might consider fasting in order to more fervently pray for the answer to be delivered.

If there is any 'unlesson' to be 'unlearned' from this passage, it is that God is always slow to act. Maybe he is sometimes, but we see in this picture a God who is ready to respond to our prayers. But I think we can take something else way from this.

Daniel is referred to by the angel Gabriel as "esteemed" in chapter 8. Here is referred to as "highly esteemed." There seems to be an added urgency because of Heaven's respect for Daniel. I am reminded of the verse "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." That verse is even more applicable in its context:

^{James 5:13-18 The Message} Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. ¹⁴Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. ¹⁵Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven--healed inside and out.

¹⁶Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. ¹⁷Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't--not a drop for three and a half years. ¹⁸Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

I love that: "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other SO that you can live together whole and healed." Nothing thrills my soul like the concept that through our every day actions we access the power of heaven. And if we had no better reason than to seek holiness than so that our prayers would be effective, shouldn't that be motivating enough?

It kind of makes you shiver when you contemplate what God could do through you if you fully committed yourself to him, doesn't it?? Why not claim these verses as promises and see what he WILL do??