I’ve always wondered about prayer. It puzzles me to think about the fact that God hears our feeble pleadings, our humble requests – and He responds. Why does God listen to us? We are so small, and God is so great. He knows infinitely more than we do, He is the grand and marvelous God that transcends our capability to understand – and yet he relates to us on our level and not only hears us, but listens to us. We plead and cry out to him – God-followers have been doing it for ages. When we spend time in communication with God, that is when we can open ourselves up to hearing God’s voice. That is how we can get to know God’s voice. Daniel knew God’s voice because he lived in prayer to God.
· “When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” (Daniel 6:10).
· "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day” (Daniel 6:13).
Daniel was not in prayer just because of the circumstances of his time. It was a continual discipline for Daniel. He was rightly connected to God, and God heard his prayers and answered them. I can rightly confess that my prayer life is not as strong as it should be, and the time I spend communicating with God does not amount to the time I spend communicating with others that I care about. From this, one could deduce that God is not the most important in my life or that our relationship is not very strong. Maybe that’s true. I don’t like to admit my struggles – especially in a public form like this – but I struggle with prayer. When I do take time to pray, I usually am begging God to change a certain situation or crisis. I forget that prayer is a conversation, and that I need to spend time continually seeking God’s voice. That means – I need to be quiet and listen for Him, seek him, spend time getting to know Him so that I can recognize His voice. The only way to recognize someone’s voice is by taking time and allowing them to speak. Not only do I need to slow down and make time to talk to God, but I need to take time to listen as well.
Daniel’s fierce dedication to the spiritual discipline of prayer in his life convicts me of the weaknesses in my own spiritual disciplines. Following Daniel’s example, I desire to grow spiritually through the spiritual discipline of prayer. God did not mess up with this – there are enough hours in the day! I am getting serious about this and making a change. I desire growth and change –enough of this weak spiritual life for me.
"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God."
~Brother Lawrence~
