(Read Daniel 6:11)
This morning we continue our series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”. We will pick up the story where we left off yesterday. The Bible says, “Then the supervisors and satraps went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.”
So what does this mean to you today? I will share a few thoughts with you based upon the fact that Daniel was found PRAYING, ASKING GOD FOR HELP.
1. God’s grace does not obviate you from your responsibility to pray.
a) Some believers take grace to an extreme that is not Biblical. They say, “Well, if God is going to do everything He is going to do by grace anyway, then why pray? Me praying doesn’t change anything because God is going to do whatever He wants to do by grace.” People who think this way have clearly not read the Bible.
b) Daniel understood the grace of God. He benefitted from God’s grace every day. But Daniel also knew God was looking for his faith. God operates by grace and He requires us to operate by faith. It is our faith that accesses His grace.
c) Since Daniel understood the difference between God’s grace and our faith, he prayed in-faith, asking God for the grace to help in a time of need (Heb 4:16).
d) James clarified our need to pray when he told us that we have not because we ask not (James 4:3). Daniel had never read James, but he knew he needed to pray and he prayed in-faith, asking God for help. God expects you to do the same.
2. Prayer is how we invoke God’s involvement in our situations. I have taught on this before, but here is a quick recap:
a) Prayer is agreeing with God’s plans and purposes faith, knowing He prepared them by grace, and believing they will be accomplished in the earth.
b) Prayer is how the earth agrees with heaven.
c) Prayer is earthly license for heavenly interference.
d) Prayer is man exercising his legal authority in the earth to invoke heaven’s influence on the planet.
e) Prayer is the creation getting the Creator involved in any given situation.
3. As a further recap, here are a few key aspects of prayer.
a) Prayer is not about you telling God what to do. You cannot command God. He is not your servant, it’s the other way around. Prayer is about submission and surrender, acknowledging that there is a God, that you are not Him, and that you need His grace to help.
b) When you understand the divine authority God has given you in the earth domain, you appreciate and respect the responsibility you have to bind (prevent) and loose (permit).
c) When things are happening in your life that you don’t like, you must ask yourself the question, “Have I prayed about this?” “Have I invoked God’s involvement?”
d) Heaven responds when believers on earth make valid requests. Stop accepting everything that happens and get heaven involved in your life today through grace-based prayer!
4. Pray from a position of grace — from God’s perspective of you.
a) Don’t pray as if God doesn’t already know what you are facing. It’s not news to God.
b) Don’t pray as if God hasn’t already equipped you to face and overcome every challenge. He has already given you the grace for it.
c) Don’t pray as if God is not in the fight with you. Don’t ask Him to come, His Word promises that He is already there. You are never in a fight that God is not in with you.
d) Don’t pray as if what you are facing is going to destroy you. When you do this you show God you have no faith, no trust, and no confidence in Him or in the plans He made for you before the world began.
e) When you pray from a position of grace you are praying from God’s perspective and your prayers will be full of faith, hope, confidence and peace, regardless of the situation.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. It is Your grace that enables me to live by faith. I would not even have faith if it were not for Your grace. You do all You do by grace, but you expect me to do all I do by faith. And it is with that understanding that I approach my responsibility to pray. I now see the error of my ways in the past. There were many occasions where I simply did not pray. I asked not, and I received not. On other occasions I asked, but I asked for my will and not yours. I asked for things I wanted instead asking for things You have already given me by Your grace. So from this day forward I will pray and I will pray grace-based prayers. I yield my will to Yours. I die to self. I surrender to You. I lose myself in You to the point where Your will becomes my will. When I get to this point I will be able to pray for whatever I want, because at that point, what I want will be what You want for me. And when I pray this way — in alignment with Your will for my life — heaven responds, because I am accessing what has already been freely given to me by Your grace. So I am led of Your Spirit concerning what to pray for. I understand my responsibility to bind and loose, to prevent and permit, and I will fulfill my responsibility from now on. No longer will I simply accept everything that happens. No, I will seek Your face, discern Your will, and pray Your will with authority. Declaring that Your Kingdom has come and Your will shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Whatever is not lawful in heaven, will not be lawful on earth for me and my family. Whatever is not permitted in heaven, I refuse to permit in my life or in the lives of my family members. And whatever You freely do in heaven, will be freely done in the earth, through me, for Your glory! I have a responsibility to pray and I will pray every day, and all throughout the day! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
