1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian Daniels prayer | Page 6

Daniel’s prayer life was PREDICTABLE.
We read in the story how Daniel prayed three times a day in the same place and
at the same time every day. Jesus affirms this practice in our reading today when
he tells us that when we pray to go into our room, close the door, and pray to our
Heavenly Father.
I am not suggesting that this is the only way that we must pray; we all know that
we can pray at any time, under any circumstance and at any place and know that
God can and will hear us, but we have to believe that there is something
incredibly significant about praying routinely as Daniel did. One of the reasons
for Daniel praying like this is found in understanding the fact that there are some
prayers that you just can’t pray on the run.
To pray the prayer of repentance whilst doing one’s grocery shopping or driving
the kids to school is pretty much impossible. This is a prayer that is reserved for a
time when we are quiet before the Lord and preferably alone.
When we intercede on behalf of other people and situations which confront us in
life, it is far easier and more meaningful to beat a standstill when we pray these
prayers.
There are many beautiful Biblical examples which support this theory. We think
of Jesus himself who often took time aside from His activities to spend communing
meaningfully with his Heavenly Father. We read of Moses as he left Joshua in the
valley to fight the Amalekites retiring to the top of a hill to pray in the quiet and

away from the battle (Exodus 17). And then we have Moses, in Exodus 34, retiring

to a place of common routine to meet with God on Mount Sinai – same place but a
different time. And as a result of his communing with God, Moses came down
from the mountain and his face was so radiant withthe Glory of God that the
people had to put a veil over him. Such is the power of predictable praying.
I love to hear stories of people in modern day life who do the same thing. I know
this to be true of one of our retired pastors, Eugene Wiseman, who, even in the
latest stages of his life, even though old age has taken its course, he still routinely,
in the early hours of the morning, makes his journey to his study to pray. He