“pray without ceasing”   ( I Thessalonians 5:17)
 

Have you ever wonderd what happens when we pray! This might seem a silly question to some, yet there are many who wonder if our prayers are chants into a vacuum. Although there are overwhelming examples through the Bible where prayers are answered we still can here cite a particular case of Daniel, who brought a desperate matter to God in prayer. When through a revelation Daniel realized that Jerusalem would suffer desolation for seventy years, he pleaded to God in prayer. “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy”           ( Daniel 9: 19-18).

What happened thereafter is revealing:  “while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed”        ( vv 21-23). Do you notice that once Daniel started praying “word went out!” The appearance of Gabriel as an answer to his distress was because of prayer.

Now, imagine, Daniel in his distress had chosen not to pray- would angel Gabriel have appeared to give him an answer? Certainly prayer is what activated the response Daniel got.

A clear message here is that our prayers do not go out in a vacuum. There is whole host of angels who are waiting on them for action. When Daniel prayed “word went out” which means once you too pray there are angels eager and quick to come to your rescue, as God leads!

Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, when we pray our prayers do not go into a vacuum but you receive them for action as you will, and may this encourage us to persist and believe in the power of prayer, this I pray in Jesus’ name!