“I set my face toward the Lord God to make a request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes…. Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering” (Daniel 9:3, 20-21, NKJV).
Don’t be mistaken; faithful praying will not keep you out of a crisis. On the contrary, it will most likely bring you to a furnace of trials, but prayer will prepare you to face it all with complete trust in our Master Yehovah to deliver us, as His slaves bought and paid for by the blood of His son Jesus, from all our trials, so we can become slaves of righteousness as living sacrifices, taking up our cross daily, in the newness of life He has given to us by His amazing grace!
Daniel’s praying led him straight to the lions’ den, and this test came when Daniel was in his old age, after years of faithful service to his king and dedication to his God Yehovah. This may frighten you, especially if you wonder how long it will be before you stop having crises. Perhaps you thought you’d learned all your “important” lessons after a certain number of years in the Messiah Jesus, but notice here God is allowing one of his greatest prayer warriors; a man of a quiet, tender spirit; to face the crisis of his life after decades of faithful intercession!
Notice another man who leaned upon the power of prayer: Luke 22:39-46: And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him. When He arrived at the place [called Gethsemane], He said to them, “Pray continually that you may not fall into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup [to become a sin offering sacrifice] from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Now an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more intently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down on the ground. When he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not fall into temptation.”
Here we see Jesus praying in anguish knowing what lay ahead of him and even with the encouragement of an angel, he still continued to pray more intently - earnestly so that his sweat became comingled with blood. It is well to take heed to what he told his disciples before he went to pray and what he said afterward to them: "Pray that you don't fall into temptation." We should continually pray that we who have become new creations in the lord Messiah do not fall into temptations and thus not walk unworthy of our awesome calling as the sons/daughters of the living God Yehovah!
This is why Paul, in his command for believers to put on their spiritual armor, ended with “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).
Do we come before our God and Father Yehovah and pray with all perseverance and supplication for all our brothers and sisters who are scattered all over the world? Many of our brothers and sister live in difficult situations, in countries where people hate Christians. Many are undergoing persecution and being put in prison for what they believe. Are we praying that Yehovah our God will intervene on their behalf? Do we think of all the mothers in this world who without husbands are trying to care for their children? Jesus said: Mark 10:14: .... suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Indeed, do we pray for the children who are suffering in this world for lack of food and clean water and clothing, and a warm place to sleep? I am sure Jesus did and that is the reason he was called a man of sorrows. [Isaiah 53:3]
Notice: James 1:27: Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
If we are unable to visit the fatherless and the widows we can assuredly pray for them, asking our God and Father Yehovah to intervene on thier behalf according to His heart of compassion.
Beloved, the testing only ends when Jesus the Messiah comes or when you die in him! This is why prayer is so important. You can make a commitment to live an undefiled life, but that commitment is impossible to fulfill without also having a commitment to seek God.
Written by David Wilkerson (1931-2011) and edited by Bruce Lyon
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