In Daniel 6 we see how the enemy frustrates the prayer for God’s move, for Daniel prayed three times a day, and Satan wanted to stop this time of prayer; we can bring God’s economy into fullness and into fulfilment except by prayer, and we need to overcome to pray and pray to overcome.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to pray, even to pray consistently. Make us those who pray one with You and one with the saints. May we depend on prayer to do what You want to do and we cannot do. Oh Lord, by prayer we can understand what man cannot understand. Amen, Lord, we are one with You to pray for Your interest on the earth. We fully open to You and we give You the ground to do in us what You want to do and to utter the prayers You need today! Amen!
This week we have been enjoying the first six chapters of Daniel and we saw something concerning the victory of the overcomers seen with Daniel and his companions.
The principle of the Lord’s recovery is seen with Daniel and his companions (Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah); they were overcomers who were absolutely one with God in their victory over Satan’s devices.
They were victorious over the demonic diet; they chose not to eat the king’s choice food which made them one with Satan, but to partake of vegetables, which made them one with God.
They were victorious over the devilish blinding that prevents people from seeing the great human image and the crushing stone as the divine history within human history.
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship; today we need to overcome this seduction.
The self tries to replace God with things related to the self, and for the Body, we deny the self, do not preach ourselves, but preach Christ as Lord, and we exercise our spirit to enjoy the Lord.
Even when we suffer for the sake of the Lord, He is there with us, making the place of suffering a pleasant situation. He is our Companion.
Daniel and his companions were victorious over the covering that hinders people from seeing the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens. He realised that the heavens do rule.
Fifth, in chapter five, Daniel and his companions were victorious over the ignorance concerning the debauchery before god and the insult to His holiness.
Daniel had an excellent spirit, and he realised that God will punish King Belshazzar because of his insulting of God’s holiness and his debauchery. May we be like Daniel and his companions today!
Daniel and his Companions were Victorious over the Subtlety that Prohibited the Faithfulness of the Overcomers in the Worship of God
In Daniel chapter 6 we see a very interesting story concerning Daniel and the enemy’s attack on him concerning his faithfulness in the worship of God. Daniel was a man who had an excellent spirit, serving God, and also serving the king.
But some of the chief ministers and satraps who were jealous of him sought to find a ground for accusation against Daniel from the perspective of the kingdom, but they could find no ground for accusation or fault, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or fault was found related to him (v. 4).
The only thing they realised they could attack was his prayer, in particular, his faithfulness in prayer.
So they took counsel together and tricked the king to establish a statute and make firm an edict that anyone who made a petition within the next thirty days to any god or man besides the king should be cast into the lions’ den (vv. 5-7).
Of course, the king agreed with this; the king loved Daniel and appreciated him, but he was deceived by these officers and satraps.
The intention of these chief ministers and satraps was to destroy Daniel, but Satan, who was behind them, wanted to stop or cut off the channel of prayer God was using for carrying out His economy.
Daniel was special before God; he was a man of preciousness, for he joined himself to God’s desire in His word to pray.
He saw that God promised through Jeremiah that the captivity of the people of Israel in Babylon would be seventy years (Dan. 9:2; Jer. 25:11), and he prayed this before God.
He prayed so much that there was a spiritual war in heaven, and the Lord’s armies could prevail to eventually release the people of Israel to return. But before the captives of Israel could be released, God needed someone who prayed.
Before God can do anything, especially the things He promises He will do, He needs men who pray.
Daniel stood on God’s word and prayed many times for the fulfilment of the prophecy and the return of the captives.
He let nothing stop or frustrate his prayer. He knew that his prayer was for the carrying out of God’s economy concerning His people, and he took prayer seriously.
He was so serious about his faithfulness in prayer that, even when the edict went out for everyone to pray only to the king, he still went to his house and prayed.
In his upper room, he had windows open toward Jerusalem, and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously.
He cared more for God’s interest and the prayer for His people than for his own life. He prayed and continued to pray steadfastly even at the cost of his life.
Satan wanted to stop and hinder his prayer time, but Daniel overcame Satan’s hindrances.
Daniel’s victory over the subtlety that prohibited the faithfulness of the overcomers in the worship of God was the last step of the victory over Satan’s devices.
Again and again, Satan devised so many things to terminate, hinder, and stop the overcomers from being one with God, but Daniel and his companions overcame and were one with God.
Without these overcomers, God would have been fully defeated by Satan, having nothing for Himself on the earth.
But here they were, four overcomers in the midst of that crooked and perverted generation, who were one with the Lord to overcome for Him.
God could boast in these ones that He has some who were one with Him and who stood for His testimony.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to pray and to be faithful in prayer. Amen, Lord, make us those faithful to pray one with You for Your interest. May You have a way to change this age by our prayer. May our prayers be an echo of Your prayers so that You may have a way to do what You want to do today. Amen, Lord, we fight for our prayer life. May we see Satan’s devices to hinder and stop us from being faithful to pray. May we stand one with You and pay the price to be faithful in our prayer for God’s testimony. Amen, Lord, make us Your overcomers today, those who overcome prayerlessness and any attack from the enemy! We pray for Your kingdom to come, Your will to be done, and Your church to be built up! Amen, Lord, may we stand one with You in Your word to be joined to Your desire and utter the prayers You need for Your economy to be carried out! Hallelujah, the Lord has some overcomers today who worship God, pray one with God, and pray regularly for His kingdom to come and His will to be done! Amen!
May we be Faithful to Pray Consistently for the Carrying out of God’s Economy Today!
The centre of chapter six of Daniel is man’s prayer for the carrying out of God’s economy. Daniel not only prayed; he prayed persistently and consistently, and he depended on prayer.
As we read in the book of Daniel, we realise that Daniel depended on prayer to do what man could not do and to understand what man could not understand.
There is no other way to bring God’s economy into fullness and into fulfilment except by prayer; this is the inner secret of Daniel 6.
God wanted His people to be returned from captivity in Babylon; He promised He would do it, but He needs someone who prays for this!
There is no other way to carry out God’s economy except by prayer. May we be faithful to pray consistently for the carrying out of God’s economy today.
God can carry out His economy on earth by having men who pray; God needs men to be the channel of prayer in faithfulness.
However, Satan’s scheme is to prohibit the prayer to carry out God’s move.
We can say that God’s move is like a train, very powerful and mighty, but this train needs some tracks; we can lay the tracks for God to move by praying.
Without prayer, God’s move cannot be brought into fulfilment. The more Satan tries to prohibit us from praying, the more we should pray.
We may say that we do pray, for we pray before meals, we pray the word of God, we pray with the saints, we pray in the meetings, etc.
But are we faithful in the matter of prayer before the Lord? We may encounter a big problem, and we may pray; but after the problem is over, do we continue to be desperate to pray?
We may have some new ones we care for, and we may visit them for half a year or more, with not much result; do we pray more than we labour to visit them and care for them, or do we pray only when we remember to pray?
Above all, before all, and throughout all the things we do, we need to pray.
We may pray for some friends, relatives, and neighbours to be saved, and we may pray for half a year or a year, and they may not get saved, so we may stop.
We are not that faithful in our prayer life. Daniel was a man of prayer, and he was so faithful even when there was a difficult situation where he had to pray at the cost of his life.
He did not treasure his life or his safety more than praying; he prayed before the Lord and worshipped God even when his life was in danger because of it.
Daniel prayed three times daily with his windows open toward Jerusalem; through his gracious prayer, God brought Israel back to their fathers’ land (1 Kings 19:12, 18).
God will listen to our prayer when our prayer is toward Christ (typified by the Holy Land), toward the kingdom of God (typified by the holy city), and toward the house of God (typified by the holy temple) as the goal of God’s eternal economy (8:48-49).
The Lord is near. He is coming back very soon. Before He comes back, however, He needs His churches and His saints to pray.
All the churches around the earth need to be a temple of prayer, a house of prayer. His desire is to return, but He needs us to pray for this. He wants to change this age, but He needs men who pray for this to take place.
It is through our prayer that we can bring the Lord back. Through prayer, we manifest our faith toward Him.
Through our prayer, even our consistent prayer for the fulfilment of His economy, God can find a group of people of faith for His economy.
He wants to build up the church as His Body, consummating in the New Jerusalem, and Christ promised that He will build His church; we need to be faithful to pray consistently for the building up of the church.
The Lord needs us to be faithful in prayer. We need to encourage one another in the matter of prayer.
The main reason and motivation for Daniel and his companions to overcome, as seen in Daniel 1-6, is their prayer.
They could overcome the demonic diet because they prayed. They could receive the interpretation of the dream of the king and its application because they prayed.
They could overcome the seduction of idol worship because they prayed. Everything was a result of prayer, based on prayer, and issued from prayer.
We need to be one with the Lord to be faithful men of prayer. Our prayer is toward the Holy Land, a type of the all-inclusive Christ, toward the Holy City, which is the church as the kingdom of God, and toward the holy temple, which is the church as the house of God.
We pray for the interest of God, not toward any man.
We may pray for someone’s sickness, for some difficult problems among the saints, or for some situations in the church; we do not pray toward these things but toward God’s economy.
In this way, our intercession will not bring in more attacks from the enemy but will cause God’s economy to be carried out.
Lord Jesus, make us those who are faithful to pray consistently for the carrying out of God’s economy today. Amen, Lord, save us from trying to work more for You; may we pray more than we work. We depend on You, Lord, and we depend on prayer. We depend on prayer to do what man cannot do and to understand what man cannot understand. We open to You. We treasure our time of prayer with You. We want Your economy to be carried out today. May Your economy be brought into fullness and into fulfilment by our prayer today. Amen, Lord, we join ourselves to Your desire in Your word through prayer. We open our windows toward Your interest and we pray for Your will to be done and Your kingdom to come! Lord Jesus, build up the church! Amen, Lord, bring in Your kingdom! Have a free way to carry out Your economy today! Oh Lord Jesus, we want to be faithful to pray consistently for the carrying out of God’s economy today! Make us those who pray consistently and persistently for Your will to be done and for Your kingdom to come!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msg. 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Noah, Daniel, and Job – Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God (2026 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 3, The Victory of the Overcomers Seen with Daniel and His Companions – day 6.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Teach us to pray and use Thy rod / In strong, prevailing prayer, / Beneath Thy blood to shake the earth / And powers of the air. / By prayer and faith, O may we learn / To labor, Lord, with Thee, / To know the victory is ours / And Thine authority. (Hymns #767 stanzas 3-4)
– Hear the victors who o’ercame, / Still they mark each warrior’s way; / All with one sweet voice exclaim, / Watch and pray. (Hymns #765 stanza 4)
– The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. / The churches, the churches, / Upon the earth today; / Lord, stir our hearts for Thy desire, / And build us, oh, build us, / Lord, we pray. (Hymns #1265 stanza 1 and chorus)
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