Pastor's Notes

Can I be a Daniel?

During all the years of ministry, Daniel was always a man of prayer. And now that he was much older, he had no intention of changing. To the contrary, Daniel was only beginning. The scripture indicate that when this man turned eighty years old, his prayers made hell tremble, making the devil extremely angry.

Do you know that we have that same power? In those days, Darius had promoted Daniel to the highest position on earth. Daniel served as one of three presidents, governing over princes and governors of one hundred and twenty provinces.

The Bible also says that Darius favored Daniel over the other presidents. He placed Daniel in charge of establishing government politics and teaching those assigned to the court and the intellectuals.

Daniel 6:3 “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm”.

Obviously, Daniel was a very busy prophet. No one could carry out such demanding responsibilities without being terribly busy. I can imagine the kind of pressures this minister had with agendas and meetings occupying much of his time.

However, nothing stopped Daniel from spending time in prayer. Prayer continued being his main occupation, for him there was never anything more important than praying. Daniel was never too busy to not pray... Three times a day he would distant himself from all obligations, his burdens and demands as a leader to spend time with his Lord.

This is exactly what we’ll do during our 21 day fast….we will be praying at the same time, three times a day.

Daniel never had to ask for advice. He simply would retire from all activities and he would pray. And God answered. Daniel received all the wisdom, direction, messages and prophecies on his knees seeking the face of God.

Daniel is an example of how important it is to have a minister that prays during times of crisis. We see this when he began serving under Nebuchadnezzar. The scripture says that the king had a terrible dream which left him perplexed, confused and obsessed. He begged his seers to explain the meaning of the dream, but no one could interpret it.

This greatly angered Nebuchadnezzar. He told his people: “ You only give me empty words. You are avoiding me and trying to buy time, but I want the truth. I want answers”.

His final decree ordered that all his seers be put to death. – Astrologers, Chaldeans, Magicians, even his closest advisors, including young Daniel y his three friends.

When Daniel was told of his mandate of death, he met with his three friends.

Daniel and his three Hebrew friends knew they had to hear directly from God. So they fell on their knees and called on to God for mercy and revelation.

Pastor Eddie Castillo