United Prayer Wins The Day!
By Gordon Watt
An enraged king had ordered the destruction of "all the wise men of Babylon" (Dan. 2:12). Daniel and his fellow-Hebrews had probably received instruction in Chaldean mysteries, and were thus reckoned with the magicians. Face to face with danger (v. 13), Daniel gathered together all his forces.
"Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon" (vv. 17-18).
The reason for this act of united prayer was to learn the secret of the vanished dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and to save their lives from threatened death. Behind the command of the king was the malice of Satan. To brush Daniel and his companions out of his way would undoubtedly be part of his stratagem. Three times he sought to destroy them – by the sword, the furnace and the den of lions. The prayer force possessing these young Hebrews won the day, preserving their lives, and honoring God among idolaters.
The same power in and behind the church today holds in it magnificent possibilities of victories for God and truth.
The results of this united prayer are recorded for us in Daniel 2:20, 28, and 4:47, 48. This prayer meeting of four in Babylon is a wonderful revelation of what can be accomplished when believers in prayer come together to engage in a definite prayer battle.
Prayer blocks the way to the success of satanic wiles, fills the atmosphere with spiritual force, loosens out powers which, through the might of God, become effective on the battlefield, and makes the rails on which the purposes of grace run with the joy of salvation to the ends of the earth.
The two halves of a bridge under construction would not meet in the center until the warmth of the sun expanded the iron and brought them together. United prayer creates spiritual heat and God's plans work out successfully.