DANIEL 6:10 – When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
THEME OF THE DAY. LIVING UNCOMPROMISED LIVES. Daniel is one of those “great clouds of witnesses” we find mentioned in the opening verse of Hebrews 12 – Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. He is a glowing testimony of a godly man who lived before a watching world with conviction, compassion, and wisdom. These traits found in him marked a consistent walk with his God that was uncompromising. And isn’t that the goal of every Christian – to live an unwavering Christian life before a watching world? In acknowledging this goal, we must be willing to equally acknowledge two other things.
First, our Daniel-like commitment will be tested. By God. By the world. By the devil. Was this not true in the life of Job? Read the first two chapters of his book and we will quickly see Job was placed on display by God to prove the genuineness of his commitment to Him. And it will be the same for us.
Another acknowledgement which must be made if we are to live uncompromising salt and light lives before a watching world is the need for a prayer life that is intimate with God and focused on Him. Is this not what we see in Daniel? In today’s scripture, Daniel is being tested and not a little. Take time and read all of Daniel 6. We will see the intense pressure upon Daniel to compromise his walk with the Lord and the severe consequences at the hand of man if he didn’t – the lion’s den. How did he handle this testing? Prayer. Daniel forged a deep relationship with the Lord, not in difficult times, but in normal times. Don’t miss the little statement ending today’s scripture – “as he had done previously.” What had Daniel done previously? Develop an intimate relationship with God through prayer. And friends, if we don’t do that starting today, and be unwavering in our commitment to this spiritual discipline of prayer, when testing comes, and it will, we will compromise. What lead to Peter’s compromise and denial of the Lord? His lack of watching in prayer. Jesus challenged him with these words – “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Peter didn’t heed the challenge and compromise resulted. It will be so for us too. Should our prayer lives be mere function of words spoken without heart; simple lifeless offerings of thanksgiving over meals; and only practiced when we are in a difficult time or want God to do something for us, we are not developing a God-centered, Biblical prayer life. Such a prayer life will not endure testing of any kind. Such a prayer life does not develop a life of conviction that refuses to compromise with the world.
Daniel is a great model for us in so many ways; a man of integrity, conviction, and non-compromise. And the way he developed such a life was through consistent, God-seeking, God-honoring, relational prayer, not in times of emergency, but as a way of life. May we follow his example and develop such a glowing testimony of the God who is real as we seek to represent Him in a world desperately needing to know Him.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to build godly habits today that will sustain when troubled days come.”
QUOTE: “Without strong spiritual disciplines developed today, we won’t endure tomorrow’s troubles.”