First Things First
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. - (Daniel 6:10)
What would you do if a law were passed that made it illegal to pray anywhere—even in your own home? Would you stop praying? Would you go undercover? At the very least, if you were praying at home, you probably would close the windows and pull the shades. And most likely you would never pray publicly.
The prophet Daniel found himself in that predicament. He had been raised to a position of great prominence in the kingdom, and the other rulers were angry about it. They didn’t like Daniel, and they were looking for skeletons in his closet. (This still happens a lot—especially around election time.)
But Daniel was squeaky clean. His enemies knew the only way they could nail him would be with something in his relationship with God. They knew that three times each day, Daniel would go to his house, open all his windows, get down on his knees, and pray to God. So Daniel’s enemies went to the king and tricked him into signing a decree that banned praying to anyone except the king. The king foolishly signed it, and so the trap was set for Daniel.
Daniel knew the law had been passed, but he went home, and with the windows open, he got down on his knees and prayed. And interestingly, Daniel 6:10 tells us that Daniel “gave thanks before his God.” That is really the number one thing we should do when we come to the Lord in prayer. Why? Because when we give thanks to God, we are acknowledging His glory and His greatness. And as we worship and honor Him, things start to come into perspective for us.
When see God for who He is, we will see our challenges, our problems, and our needs for what they are.
Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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