To begin, Pastor Morgan reminded us that prayer is our practical expression of our need for God - an acknowledgment that we cannot live this life without him. One of the goals of prayer is to navigate life with a posture of awareness of & connection to God. But what does this actually look like? This is where we turn to the example of Daniel found in Daniel 6:1-28.
“For every New Testament point, there is an Old Testament story or illustration.”
To understand Daniel, we have to understand Babylon. Babylon was a kingdom that deified (idolized) their culture, language, and politics. Pastor Morgan accurately pointed out that this is not too dissimilar to our own experience in America today. In Babylon, the nation of Israel (God’s chosen people) lived in exile. They were committed to the way of God, but they had to learn how to be committed to God while living under the worldly reign of the Babylonian king. This is where we find Daniel. But we don’t find Daniel locked away in a cell - rather Daniel is elevated to a position of great authority in Babylon.
Daniel wasn’t out to start a culture war, he doesn’t withdraw or shy away from the kingdom of Babylon, but he doesn’t give in to the culture or assimilate either. Daniel is an excellent example of what it means to be salt & light (recall our sermon on the mount teaching a few weeks ago) while living in exile. See this quote that Morgan shared with us from Faith for Exiles by David Kinnaman & Mark Matlock:
“The Babylon of the Bible is characterized as a culture set against the purposes of God—a human society that glories in pride, power, prestige, and pleasure. Babylon makes appearances throughout the Bible, most notably (and literally) in the story of Daniel. But Babylon is there in the pages of Scripture from beginning to end. From the Tower of Babel, the “first city of man,” in the book of Genesis to the final act of God’s justice and restoration in Revelation, Babylon is both a place and an archetype of collective human pursuits set in opposition to God.”
We look to Daniel as an example because it is abundantly clear that Daniel cherished prayer. As soon as a manipulative law is put in place for 30 days, the first thing Daniel does is go to God in prayer. The law stated that if anyone was caught praying to anything other than the king of Babylon, they would be put to death by being fed to lions. All Daniel had to do was not pray openly for 30 days, and he would be fine... But praying to God was more important to Daniel. In fact, Daniel immediately went to pray knowing that if he was caught, the consequence was to be eaten alive… Translation: prayer was more important to Daniel than his very life. Think on that for a moment. Is this how you understand or how you have experienced prayer? If this is a radical redefinition of prayer's importance, you're not alone, I am right there with you!
Pastor Morgan shared with us an example to better help us understand prayer. For years it was a practice of farmers in the midwest to prepare for winter storms by tying a rope between the door on their home to their barns. When the blizzards would come, the visibility would be so poor and the winds so strong, the farmer’s had to cling to the ropes in order to navigate to and from their house. If they lost the rope, they would actually be at risk of getting lost and lose their lives to the storm.
The spirit of Babylon is the blizzard, and we absolutely need our rope of prayer in order to navigate it.
To end, Pastor Morgan shared with us some ways for prayer to be practical. As a reminder, Redeemer leadership can make recommendations, but you get to make the decisions. Application is not legalistic or compulsory, it is invitational.
- Start where you are - if you are unpracticed in prayer, rather than pray for an hour right away, maybe start with 5 minutes.
- Consider going on walks and pray with a close friend while you walk
- Try journaling or writing your prayers
- Learn from the minority experience - Christians are a cognitive minority, how can we ensure we continue to come together to preserve the value of prayer
- Embrace this process, it is called a “practice” for a reason!
- Reframe distractions - 1,000 distractions are simply 1,000 opportunities to return to God
- Normalize boredom, don’t always seek out distractions, seek God in the gaps of your day
