“Three times a day he
got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God” (Daniel 6:10).
I really believe that the Old
Testament character of Daniel is our best model in all the Bible of a person
who exercised a planned, deliberate, and consistent prayer life no matter the situation. There were two major characteristics of
Daniel’s prayer life: his planned approach
to prayer; and, his consistent perseverance of prayer.
Our prayers need to be planned with
deliberate practice.
Daniel had an intentional plan for
prayer. Daniel did pray spontaneously in
his life – all the time. But that was
not his bread-and-butter day-in-and-day-out life of prayer. Daniel had set times in which he prayed three
times a day. I am not insisting that we
all ought to pray at the set times of 6am, 12pm, and 6pm, as Daniel did every
day of his life (although I think that is good biblical plan to emulate! – see Psalm
55:17). However, there needs to be some
planning and some intentional purpose behind creating and carving out time for
prayer each and every day of our lives.
In other words, we need to approach prayer with the same deliberate
discipline that we would approach anything else in our lives, like a person
doing housework, a student writing his paper, an athlete preparing and
practicing, or an employee getting her work accomplished.
Prayer takes a lot of planning,
energy and commitment. On July 16, 1969
three astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldren) went into space
aboard NASA’s Apollo 11. The rocket they
were in was carrying over 5 million pounds of fuel. At the liftoff, it took 5 engines producing
over 7 million pounds of thrust in order to reach the velocity of 17,500 miles
per hour which was needed to break the earth’s gravitational pull and get them
into orbit. Here’s the deal: Prayer is the way we escape the gravitational
pull of our fleshly lives and enter into God’s orbit. It takes planning; it takes energy; and, it
takes commitment; it takes focus; it takes discipline; prayer takes a lot of
fuel.
Using the example of Daniel, we have
two plans that need to be worked out in order to engage in and sustain a
consistent prayer life: We need a set time to pray; and, we need a set place to pray. Just as we set aside a special room in our
house just for sleeping (a bedroom); just as we set aside a particular place (a
bed) just to sleep; so, we really need a sacred space just for prayer. Just as we understand that a good night’s
sleep will not come with a nap, but with a plan for going to bed and arising in
the morning, so we need to arrange a time to get in a particular actual place
of prayer and go about the effort and energy of wrestling with God. If prayer is important, then we will
demonstrate and plan for that value by setting aside a place and a time to do
it.
Our prayers need to persevere with
consistent practice.
Daniel was a teenager when the
Babylonians came to Jerusalem, tore down the wall, and took the best young
people of the city into captivity.
Daniel lived to be an old man well into his eighties. For over sixty years, Daniel prayed three
times a day, every day, without fail.
His prayers were consistent and sustained. He never gave up. The reason he always opened his window and
prayed toward Jerusalem is that he was praying consistent with God’s promise
that the exiles would someday return to Jerusalem. He looked out that window every day, three
times a day, praying over and over again for the return, for God’s help, and
for the peace of his people.
So you see, in light of this biblical
teaching about prayer, why setting aside a special room in your church building
and/or home for the expressed intention and practice of prayer is invaluable. If you have never considered such a room,
then I suggest you breach the idea with your pastor or church board. Apart from God we can do nothing. Therefore, prayer is not just a nice idea or
optional equipment; it is vitally necessary.
So, it only makes sense to create a sacred space where prayer occurs
with some planned consistency.
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