Do You Have A Prayer Plan?

Daniel 6:10

¹⁰ But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

In movies about good guys and bad guys, and cops and perps we often are witnesses to the stake out. It is when someone follows a person to a place of business or their home. They sit and wait for a long time to see if they can catch the bad guy doing something he is known to always do. So they sit and wait until, at the right time, the bad guy or the one being watched is on their normal routine coming or going. Sometimes they take pictures or plan to knab the bad guy while he is walking out of his house. The stake out only happens when a predicted pattern of behavior is noticed.

Daniel was in a pickle. All the old Babylonian officials who knew him under Nebuchadnezzar are gone. The Medo-Persian empire had just taken over control. Darius the Mede has just chosen Daniel and two other officials to help divide the empire into 120 provinces. Daniel, once again, had proven himself to very valuable. Because of this, Darius was planning on placing him over the entire empire, pushing out the other officials who were probably with Darius much longer. Daniel was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy (vs4). Naturally this did not sit well with the other officials and they hatched a plan to take Daniel out.

They get the king to sign a law that made everyone in the entire kingdom to only praise and worship Darius the king for the next thirty days. Knowing Daniel and his faithful devotion to the Lord this plan was sure to work. Even though the king signs the law and the officials catch Daniel in the act of praying, the king is deeply troubled. Daniel, after hearing the law, went home and knelt down and prayed as usual in his upstairs room with the windows open to Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day just as he always did, giving thanks to God.

We all know Daniel survives the lions den because the Lord shut the mouths of the lions. After Daniel heard the law he still prayed like he always had done. The other officials understood this. They knew his pattern of prayer was not going to change and their plans worked. Daniel was thrown into the lions den. The Lord shows up and rescues Daniel. Darius then throws the men who hatched this plan into the lions den and this time the lions had lunch. Darius then sends a message to all the kingdom explaining how the God of Daniel rescued him and how is power is unmatched. Daniel goes on to prosper under Darius.

What is your prayer plan? Do you even have one? Not the kind that is before dinner or before you go to bed. No, I mean do you have a plan to pray? Daniel did. It was set in stone and every day he did the plan. Everyone knew the plan, everyone was clear and understood he worked his prayer plan. It was not a secret. Is your prayer life secret? I hope not. We can learn a lot from Daniel in prayer.

Today make a prayer plan stick to it. Go on a planned walk and pray in the Spirit. Make the time a set time of day. You don’t have to pray the book of Lamentations but start planning to pray. Jesus even planned to pray. He would leave his disciple and pray regularly. Work the prayer plan. Work the reading your Bible plan. Make it a set time and place so you can start to build that relationship with the Lord we read about in Daniel. Satan is on a stake out and his is watching you ready to pounce when you are weak. Don’t let that happen, make a prayer plan today and stick to it.

Prayer: Father help us to make a prayer plan and stick to it. I pray that we devote ourselves to you by planning to read our Bible every day and praying. I pray the we make and do the plan to pray in Jesus name, amen.