Darius divided his kingdom into a hundred and twenty states and placed a governor in charge of each one. In order to make sure that his government was run properly, Darius put three other officials in charge of the governors. One of these officials was Daniel. And he did his work so much better than the other governors and officials that the king decided to let him govern the whole kingdom. The other men tried to find something wrong with the way Daniel did his work for the king. But they could not accuse him of anything wrong, because he was honest and faithful and did everything he was supposed to do. Finally, they said to one another, "We will never be able to bring any charge against Daniel, unless it has to do with his religion." They all went to the king and said: Your Majesty, we hope you live forever! All of your officials, leaders, advisors, and governors agree that you should make a law forbidding anyone to pray to any god or human except you for the next thirty days. Everyone who disobeys this law must be thrown into a pit of lions. Order this to be written and then sign it, so it cannot be changed, just as no written law of the Medes and Persians can be changed." So King Darius made the law and had it written down. Daniel heard about the law, but when he returned home, he went upstairs and prayed in front of the window that faced Jerusalem. In the same way that he had always done, he knelt down in prayer three times a day, giving thanks to God.
Daniel 6: 1 - 10
If you have ever heard the rest of this story, you know that Daniel spent a night in a pit with hungry lions as the result of refusing to stop praying to God! This story is about a man choosing to be obedient to God rather than the King.
Daniel could have thought that to stop praying for only thirty days would not have done any harm. He wasn’t required to pray to the King. The law simply said obedience to that law meant that Daniel could not pray to God for those days! The law did not require that Daniel denounce his faith in God. It did not even insist that he stop telling others about God. All he would have to do is to stop praying to God for a month.
When Daniel went home and prayed that day, he had heard about the law, and surely the penalty, which was to be thrown into a pit of lions!
So I would ask this question: “Is your prayer time with God so precious and wonderful that you would not give it up for one day, even if you had to spend that night in a pit of hungry lions?”
One lesson from this story is that when you pray everyday it can be so fulfilling and marvelous that you would not quit, even if someone threatened your life!
Daniel had a one on one, personal conversation with Almighty God, every day! He would not give it up for a month, a week, or even one day!
“Lord Jesus, help me today to have a time of prayer like Daniel had withYou! Touch my heart, my mind and my life like You did his! Praise Your Holy Name now and forever. Amen.”
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