Not An Easy Task

NOT AN EASY TASK

Daniel 6:10

Praying clear through as Daniel did is not an easy task. It is one of the hardest battles to be fought. It is one of the hardest conflicts in one s life. It takes grit, grace, and backbone. It draws out more physical energies, more mental quickness, more spiritual unction than any other exercise in one's religious life, It is easy to sing; most anyone can sing. There is not much art in singing. All one needs to know is the notes and understand the scale of music, It is an easy thing for one to preach when he is called and has a message, preaching is easy. It is delightful. Testifying is certainly a joyful service. It does not take much strength to testify. One just has to get up and begin telling the sweet story, and it rolls forth, but when you come to prayer, the devil and all his forces are on hand to impede your progress, thwart your pathway, yea, to cause your cogs to slip, your engine to leak steam, and its water to put out the fire. The devil knows that if he does not break into an earnest spirit of prayer something is going to happen, something is going to be doing. His plans will be frustrated, his agents put to flight, his territory conquered: hence, he puts forth his best agents to block the pathway of prayer.

Over there in Daniel, when he was praying earnestly, praying long, praying in heart agony, the devil withstood the angel who had been sent from God with an answer to Daniel's prayer, twenty-one long days, three weeks, but Daniel kept at it. He never let up; he never quit; he knew it was on the road; he knew darkness must be broken up, the clouds must rift, the sunshine must break through, for if he failed to pray clear through, defeat would be his, God be dishonored, the cause injured, and Daniel's experience hurt, so Daniel took the thing by the job. He put out his pickets; he went into battle never to let up until victory rolled in.

The angel of God said to Daniel, "Fear not Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came t o help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia, Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." We see by this Scripture (Dan. 10:12-14) that God's angel was stopped, hindered twenty-one days in getting the answer to Daniel. Sometimes when one goes to prayer he has not a spirit of prayer. There is no liberty in prayer; there is no unction; things are dry; things go slow; there is no oil; there is no fire, and but little steam. But remember, always remember, and never forget, we are to stay there, keep at it, never let up until the fire falls.

Many times we have gone into prayer, and for a half hour things looked gloomy, from the human viewpoint. Why? The devil knew full well that if he permitted us to pray through he would be defeated. Hence, we felt sluggish, oftentimes sleepy, and the devil would give us a good spell of mind wandering. We could not collect our thoughts, we could not concentrate our mind, but we said, "We will stay here, we will keep at it, and victory will come." Some good promises, a few verses of a good song, looking back to how God has blessed, and answered prayer, will refresh one and often encourage the spirit of prayer.

A good wife in one of our revivals was impressed that that was the revival in which her husband must be saved. She asked this preacher to join her in fasting and prayer that God would pungently, miserably convict her husband. The meeting ran for several days; souls fell at the altar and swept through into the kingdom of grace. Her husband stood back, seemingly stubborn and
hard to move. On Friday morning she was not at the breakfast table. I started to go into the parlor for a season of prayer. Opening the door we saw her kneeling by the davenport, engaged in earnest prayer. We went running up the stairway to our room, praising God. A deluge of grace swept through our soul, and we shouted aloud for some time. That morning, after preaching the sermon and making the altar call, the congregation standing, they had just sung two lines of the first stanza, when this husband fell full length, screaming, "Wife, come to me! God has got me down." That man was powerfully converted; shouted all that day. He lived just seven months, died in a halo of glory, and went sweeping through the pearly gates. This good wife felt led to pray much for him; she was impressed that this was the time for him to get saved; the Holy Ghost laid a heavy burden for his salvation upon her heart. The devil sent in a string of company, but this good woman would get away in earnest prayer by the hour. She knew when God led out in prayer she must follow; she knew when the Holy Ghost placed a crushing burden upon her heart she must not fail to wrestle in prayer. Suppose she had entertained her company and failed to wrestle in prayer; this husband might now be in Hell.

Let us be sure, when God leads us out in prayer, to go alone on our knees and wrestle and agonize until the victory comes, He will answer prayer. Yes, He answers prayer. Do not doubt it. Never doubt it. If He fails to answer today, it is because of some lesson to be taught. It is because there is a hindrance somewhere. When you pray clear through, the victory will come. It is certain to come, It has never failed to come It paid Daniel to keep praying. It honored God for this man to hold on; it brought victory to the prayer life. We defeat God, rob Him of His glory, and thwart the pathway of the salvation of men, if we do not pray clear through. What a blessing it is to be counted worthy for God to place a burden of prayer upon one's heart.