(Read Daniel 6:10)
This morning we get back to our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”. Let’s pick up the story where we left off about a week ago. In our last message we saw how the people jealous of Daniel’s favor and power tricked King Darius into signing an irrevocable Law that prohibited anyone from praying to any god or any human but the King for 30 days.
The Bible says, “Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God. Even though Daniel heard about the new law, he still went to his house to pray. He went up to the upper room of his house and opened the windows that faced toward Jerusalem. Then Daniel bowed down on his knees and prayed just as he always had done.”
So what does this mean to you today? A few things. Today all my points will flow out of this thought: Public success is birthed from private routine.
a) Daniel was a three-time public phenom. He rose to the highest levels of power under three different regimes and he did it while his nation, Judah, was held captive. During a time when Daniel was supposed to be a slave he was a remarkable and public success. What was the key to his success? The answer is found in our text today. Daniel prayed three times every day. Daniel sought the Lord in private and the Lord blessed him in both private and public.
b) I believe this is a season of Great Grace, where we will see the grace of God manifested like never before. God has been blessing His children profusely, and He will continue to do it, but we must be both postured and positioned to receive and walk in the blessing. God’s grace must be accessed with our faith and in order for our faith to work, we must walk in love, remain humble, and develop a private routine that will promote public success.
c) Michael Jordan is widely known as the best basketball player to ever play the game. Jordan’s success on the court was birthed out of his private routine. Michael Jordan maintained a grueling practice regimen and it was what he did in practice that helped him perform on game-day. During one of those hard practices he once told a reporter, “I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.” No, he was out there to be ready to perform when it counted the most. If he did not put in the work in private he would not be ready in public.
d) Christian author Mike Murdock said, “The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine” and “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”
e) My good friend Pastor Jonathan Bryant always says, “Your preparation will show up in your performance.” Don’t mistake the message of grace to mean you don’t have to prepare, pray, seek God, and develop a disciplined routine in private. No, God is not in the business of promoting unprepared people. When God sees your discipline in private He will elevate you in public. It’s amazing how the grace and blessing of God flow for those who have the discipline to be prepared.
f) Develop a routine of praying and keep your praying private. Jesus taught us to go into a private room and pray to the Father in an unseen way. And then, what we do in private will be rewarded publicly when God manifests the answers to our prayers (Mat 6:6). If Daniel were alive today he would tell you that his private prayer time was the secret to his very public success.
Here are a few closing thoughts:
— If you don’t like the harvest you are reaping you should check the seed you are sowing.
— The grace of God is available to you, but you must ask yourself:
— What am I doing to prepare myself to embrace and walk in God’s grace?
— What am I doing EVERY DAY to become the person God has called me to be?
— The way you are perceived in public is shaped by the habits you form in private.
*** Your public success begins with your private routine.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. Your grace is made available to me and You want to bless me richly. You made plans for me before the world began. My success is connected to those plans. I will never become a true success outside of my divine purpose. I want to be the person You destined, designed and desire for me to be. But I also know I have a part. Prepared blessings come to prepared people. Just like I have grace for everything else, I declare that I have grace for my time of preparation. I embrace the grace to be a private success. I embrace the grace to maximize my private routine. I embrace the grace to develop daily habits and ways that help shape me into the person I was born to be. I focus on becoming a success in private and You, at the right time, will then promote me in public. Once You see what You want to see IN and THROUGH me in private, then it’s only a matter of time before You elevate me in public. So I focus on me, on my daily routine, on honoring You with the ‘small’ things, and with seeking Your face daily. And as I do, I progressively become the person I am called to be and I get incrementally closer to Your overall expected end for my life. My public success begins with my private routine and my private routine changes TODAY! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
