What's Daniel's Secret? | The Life of Daniel | March 15, 2026

See, prayer was Daniel's rope back to God. If you're anything like me, as your day gets going, probably even an hour into your day can feel like the blizzard's already blowing. It's like I can't even really see God. I've got all these responsibilities. Four people need me, and, like, everything's starting to crash in around me and and and blind my ability to see spiritually. What happens is is we get into those moments, and instead of pressing into God, we begin to press into our responsibilities. But not Daniel. [01:04:40] (32 seconds)  #PrayerIsMyRope

How do you think Daniel interpreted those dreams? How do you think he got the prophetic knowledge to explain riddles? Where do you think Daniel's courage and strength came from to stand in the middle of the government courts and still stand for Yahweh? Where do you think Daniel's power came from? Was it not in the hallowed courts of prayer in the presence of God? And would we not all be imbued with the same power and the same excellent spirit if we would daily practice it? Daniel stopped three times a day, and he prayed. [01:06:33] (32 seconds)  #PowerFromPrayer

Darius is anxious. Daniel is at peace in the den. How? What what sustained Daniel in the den of certain death? It was his habit of prayer. It that was his lifeline in persecution. That was his anchor in the midst of a blizzard in an idolatrous world. How does Daniel survive the lion's den? It's this moment, this this discipline of prayer. Here's what I want us to see. When you make prayer your secret to survival in a pagan culture, the secret place goes with you into the palace, into the field, into the furnace, even into the lion's den. [01:12:09] (44 seconds)  #PrayerInPersecution

See, Daniel was practically gifted, but the spirit took the raw material of Daniel's giftings and his talents, and he supercharged them with supernatural powers so that he could bring blessing to the people around him and to the pagan government. The Holy Spirit empowered Daniel's work as an exile. And this is not a new theme in the scriptures. If you were to read through the Old Testament, there are spirit empowered exiles everywhere you look in the Old Testament. Genesis 41, Joseph, he's sold into slavery. [00:46:45] (36 seconds)  #SpiritEmpoweredExiles

What if you ask God to fill you with his excellent spirit to see the kind of power he would wanna unleash in your space and domain through you? Daniel, he had the excellent spirit of supernatural gifts and abilities. Second, the spirit also gave Daniel a pure character. Because of Daniel's success with his superiors, I would guess, as I read, that he he sorta had a likable personality, that there was a disposition about Daniel that, caused him to have favor with people, maybe a natural charisma. But more than that, what the Bible says about Daniel is he had an integrity that pervaded every part of his life. [00:49:33] (43 seconds)  #FilledWithHisSpirit

In a matter of days, he's been betrayed by his closest associates. He's been set for a trap, and the king has passed a law that forbids Daniel from praying to his God. And if Daniel wants to remain faithful to Yahweh, it doesn't just mean his job is in jeopardy. It means his life's in jeopardy. But it says in the text, it says when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, when when he knew that persecution was coming, when he learns that that the cultural pressure to compromise is closing in on him, what does he do? He prays. [00:58:06] (35 seconds)  #CourageToPray

This is the second portion of Daniel's secret. The secret of a faithful exile is the secret place with God. I want you to look at the text again. It says this, Daniel got down on his knees, mark this in your Bible, three times a day. And he prayed, listen to this, mark this part, just as he had done previously. [00:58:41] (25 seconds)  #SecretPlaceWithGod

In our congregation filled with the holy spirit, a word that I think is for us this morning. This idea that Daniel had an excellent spirit, but Daniel was not perfect. And he would still run to the Lord at times, and the Lord delighted to give him mercy and to raise him up. And I I believe that there might be a person in this room that heard this and said, I'll never be Daniel. There's no way I could be Daniel. But I the word is for you this morning, that it's the Lord who raises up that character. He delights to give mercy, and the mercy is forgiveness, and then the mercy is restoration that empowers us to live with obedience. It's the lord that does the work. [01:30:08] (49 seconds)  #MercyRestores