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Unlocking God’s Power


Issue 16
Lifestyle Lessons from Three Intercessors

Doug Wendel
Jan/Feb  2000


Joshua prayed—and the sun stopped in midsky. Daniel prayed—and the angel Gabriel revealed future events. Cornelius prayed—and millions of Gentiles received the life-giving message of Jesus Christ.

Over the years, I’ve seen God work in supernatural ways in answer to prayer. At other times, I haven’t In His sovereignty, God answers prayers according to His perfect will and timing. The Apostle Paul experienced this: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” But God replied to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:8-9).

In the lives of Joshua, Daniel, and Cornelius, however, God appeared to move heaven and earth in answer to prayer. Obviously, their requests fit God’s will and timing. But what else characterized the prayer lives and prayers of these men who brought God’s heavenly power down to earth? What can we learn from them that might allow us to impact our generation through prayer?


A Lifestyle of Prayer

Joshua, Daniel, and Cornelius all prayed regularly. In Ex. 33:11, Joshua was described as the young aide of Moses who “did not leave the tent.” His experience as Moses’ aide at the tent of meeting, and his mentor’s example of face-to-face meetings with God, no doubt impressed upon Joshua a lifestyle of prayer. We know that Daniel was tossed into the lions’ den because he continued to pray to God three times a day, even when forbidden to do so (Dan. 6:10-16). And Cornelius is described as a man who “prayed to God regularly” (Acts 10:2).

God’s supernatural answers to the prayers of these men were not the result of onetime encounters. Rather, they were acts that flowed out of a daily prayer relationship between a prayerful man and his Creator.

Biographer N. G. Dunning said of prayer warrior Samuel Chadwick, “He was mighty in public prayer because he was constant in private devotion.” The lifestyle of prayer, being constant in private devotion, is essential for any person who desires to be used of God. Without it, we lose touch with our Master, and our days are filled with personal agendas. With it, we can become holy instruments by which God brings His eternal purposes into our temporal world.


A God-Honoring Life

At the time of his prayer to stop the sun, Joshua was engaged in carrying out God’s command to destroy one of Israel’s enemies (Josh. 10:8). His prayer did not come out of his own desire, but rather in solid obedience to his Master’s plans and a desire for God’s glory in victory. Daniel’s use of his God-given gifts and his stand for righteousness brought God’s praise to the lips of two pagan kings (Dan. 2:47, 6:26-27). And Cornelius’ habits reflected the care and goodness of God as he “gave generously to those in need” (Acts 10:2).

This trio of men did not cry out to God from self-centered hearts. Instead, they obeyed His commands, did not compromise on what was right, and helped those who were less fortunate. Their prayers flowed out of hearts and lives that glistened with God’s glory.

Our godly motives and good works do not earn us the right to force God into action. In Acts 10:4, however, Cornelius was told by the angel that his gifts to the poor had “come up as a memorial offering before God.” Just as Cornelius’ compassionate giving was an offering to God, so our right motives and conduct can be offerings to Him also.


Words That Reflect Our Heart

A lifestyle of prayer and a God-honoring life are important components of prayers that impact our world. But so are the words themselves, because they reflect the inner attitudes of our heart.

Since very little is recorded of Joshua’s prayer in Joshua 10 and nothing is recorded of Cornelius’ prayers in Acts 10, Daniel’s prayer (Dan. 9:4-19) is our best example of the three.

1. Praise. Daniel starts by exclaiming, “O Lord, the great and awesome God.” He doesn’t begin by asking for forgiveness or with a request. He enters God’s presence with praise.

In their book Praise: A Door to Go’s Presence, Warren and Ruth Myers discuss the importance of praise when we come before God: “Praise and thanksgiving help us rise above self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness.” Praise lifts our hearts and minds out of our worldly setting and transports us into the heavenly one, where we can focus solely on the God we worship.

A lifestyle of praise to God is fitting and right. Why? Because God is worthy of our praise. He is a sovereign, powerful, just, and loving God who works for our best. Those who practice praise in their lives are most likely to know and experience His majesty. A good example is Anna, an elderly widow who “never left the temple but worshiped night and day” (Lk. 2:37). When she encountered the infant Jesus, God allowed her to recognize Him immediately as the Savior for whom they had been waiting.

2. Holiness. Daniel ends the first sentence of his prayer in confession: “We have sinned and done wrong” (Dan. 9:5). But he doesn’t stop there. Daniel took the sins of his nation so seriously that he acknowledged their wrongdoing in 12 of the 16 verses in this prayer. His fervent and thorough confession clearly reveals an attitude of holiness.

Interestingly, Daniel, who was called “highly esteemed” (9:23) by the angel Gabriel, does not confess his personal sins, but the sins of his nation. He considered their sins to be his sins. His desire for holiness extended beyond himself to include others. Dr. David Otis Fuller, in his foreword to A Treasury of Prayer by Leonard Ravenhill, speaks of the need for this kind of confession in our own time: “Our nation is doomed and damned unless born-again Christians, with their backs to the wall, fall upon their knees beseeching a holy God for mercy.”

When we (or our nation) have sinned against God and man, a desire for holiness should always result in confession. This means agreeing with God over our wrongdoing, turning away from it, and yielding to His lordship in our lives. Confession is a breath of fresh air that dispels the stench of sin. Those who desire holiness will clear the air frequently with it.

3. Sincerity. Daniel ends his prayer with a plea for God’s mercy: “Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name” (v. 18), and “O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act!” (v. 19). These pleas display what is perhaps one of Daniel’s greatest qualities: sincerity. His earnest pleas flow out of a heart that sincerely wants to see God’s name honored throughout the earth.

My wife recently commented on the different ways she hears people pray at our church. Some, she said, sound as if they are praying to the congregation and from a list. But some really talk to God. Their sincere words lift the whole congregation into His presence as they plead for His will in our lives.

Sincerity means that we need to remember we are talking to our God and that He is listening. God knows our heart and is immensely pleased when we come to Him in complete openness, making our prayers warm and personal. Lack of sincerity brings coldness and sterility to prayer. It does nothing to enhance real communication with a relational God.

4. Humility. Through praise, confession, and sincerity runs the common thread of humility. Humility allowed Daniel to put down pride and give God His rightful glory. It led him to avoid self-righteousness and admit both his and his nation’s wrongdoing. And it caused him to plead for mercy like a man on death row. An attitude of humility held Daniel’s whole prayer together.

Prayer warrior E. M. Bounds once stated: “Humility is a rare Christian grace, of great price in the courts of heaven, entering into and being an inseparable condition of effectual prayer.” Without humility in prayer, we cannot give God rightful glory. Nor can we earnestly desire holiness. And without this “rare Christian grace,” we can forget about having a heart that flows with sincerity. Our prayers need to start with humility, dwell in it, and finish strongly with it. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5). When we practice humility, God’s storehouse of grace is opened to us.

The prayers of Joshua, Daniel, and Cornelius brought God’s power down to earth. May our own lives and prayers be so focused as we wait in faith for God to answer according to His perfect will and way and timing.



About the Author

DOUG WENDEL is a Navigator staff member at the University of Oklahoma, where he and his wife, Karen, minister to East Asian students.

Doug says he wrote this article “because the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” He wishes more people would realize the power of God that we have at our fingertips through prayer.

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