Skip to main content

3 times a day

 3 times a day

 

Daniel 6:10 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.

 

Quick context for this verse for those not familiar.  Men who were jealous of Daniel and his position in the kingdom had tricked king Darius into making a law that for thirty days people could only pray to the king or else be thrown into the lion’s den.  

 

Key points from this verse.  Regardless of the law Daniel stayed devoted to the Lord.  Daniel didn’t start praying 3 times a day because of this law.  This was his custom since his early days.  He prayed 3 times a day in obedience to God’s Word.  Psalm 55:17 “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.” (this would have been the 9th, 3rd and 6th hours of the day or 3pm, 12pm, 9am).  It is also significant the Daniel, who had been a very busy man since his captivity as a youth, had made a custom since his youth to make the time to come away and pray 3 times a day.  Being busy is not an excuse.  Isn’t it true that we make time for those things that are really, really important to us?

He prayed toward Jerusalem also in obedience to scripture, (Read 1 Kings 8:41-53.). “And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem”, let us not misunderstand this section.  His windows were already opened.  He just didn’t open them to pray or to draw attention to his praying but also, he wasn’t going to hide in fear of being seen. Again, this was his well-established custom that he had been doing for decades at this point.  He was not going to change just because the law had changed. Notice also that he prayed AND gave thanks before God.  In this time Daniel didn’t cease to give the Lord praise. 

 

To sum up the important lessons of Daniel 6:10.

Live the Word of God

We are never too busy to pray and give thanks to the Lord.

It is important for us to set a custom to pray and give thanks to the Lord daily, before trouble hits. Don’t wait till times get rough.

Prayer and praise should be something we do throughout the day.  (Actually, as New Testament believers we should not be just doing it 3 times a day but always without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.)

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts from Isaiah 10:27

 Thoughts from  Isaiah 10:27   From Isaiah 10:27 we get the popular, but erroneous, sayings in the church, “the anointing breaks the yoke.” This started from the KJV translation of this verse.  Most of the other English translations have translated it as the anointing oil or fat that breaks the yoke.  The Hebrew word used in this verse is semen, pronounced sheh’-men, which means grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed; figuratively, richness:-anointing,xfat (things), x fruitful, oil (-ed) ointment, olive, pine. (Strong’s definition). In looking at every verse where semen is used in the Old Testament it is speaking of the oil or the fat itself and not the specific act of anointing.   Now with a proper understanding of what the verse we can see the real meaning and depth of what it is saying to us even now.  To help with this I have included the verse here from 3 different English translations.    I...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Price and Cost for more of God and His Presence

  The Price and Cost for more of God and His Presence I was reading an account of a preacher’s experience that I had previous heard him describe before in a sermon. Thought the account was familiar to me this time though it hit different.   The experience was during a time he had spent months desiring and seeking more of God and His Presence.  There were two statements that the preacher made from this account that the Lord highlighted for me.  The first was “My request for more of God carried a price” and the second was from his cry to the Lord “I must have more of You at any cost!”. These statements when I had heard them before sounded very true and I totally had agreed with them.  In fact, they had inspired me.  This time, though, was different.  This time there was at first, for a moment fear and not a Godly fear.  No, it was a fear that the price I would have to pay would be the cost of the life of one or mor...
1 comment
Read more

I Thought

  I Thought This morning the Pastor was preaching from 2 Kings 5 , NIV , and there were two words that stuck out to me that he read from verse 11 that Naaman said.  “ I thought ”. I sat for a few moments and meditated on how much trouble those two words have caused in my life.  I would say that all of my failures in life involve these two words.  “I thought this was a good idea”, “I thought this is what God said”, “I thought that this would be successful”, etc.  Why do I rely on, EVER, what I think instead of what God knows?  God has given us His Word and it is never wrong and it never fails. I have never failed when I slowed down, humbled myself, searched the scriptures and followed them.  Good ideas are not good enough, experience, especially other people’s experiences aren’t good enough, even a so-called prophetic word isn’t enough on its own.  Only that which can measure up with God’s Word, the Bible , brings su...
Post a Comment
Read more