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“Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32).

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Do your prayers get you through a tough time in life? Do you pray? Do your prayers get you through even the night? Prayer’s an important part of life. It’s an important part of our spiritual life with God.

In Daniel chapter 6 there’s the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. It’s one we all learned when we were young. It’s one of the favourite stories in the Bible. It’s one of the most awesome stories really with a tremendous lesson.

When you look at the story there of Daniel in the lion’s den, you find Daniel being trapped by the only thing that the politicians of the court there, in the Persian court, could get him on. And that was his own personal life. They had probably gone through all of the records to find out if Daniel had compromised or embezzled money or had done something that was against the law. They could not find anything.

So when they couldn’t find something to get Daniel trapped on, they made up a law where people could not pray, but except to the king and to the idols of the empire. Daniel went, as the account says, back into his apartment and knelt down to pray as his custom was three times each day. And it was there that they caught him in the only thing that they could catch him on and that was prayer. (Daniel 6:4-17)

Interesting, isn’t it? What did they do? Well, they threw him into the lion’s den against the wishes of the king. And Daniel was sealed into the lion’s den and he spent a night with this pack of lions.

You know, you can bring up any picture of a lion that you might find on the Internet, or you can go to the zoo and you can see the lion, you can even go to Africa and go on a safari as I’ve done and see the lions in the wild. They’re very terrifying. I could not begin to imagine spending a night with a den full of lions as Daniel did.

I’ve often wondered what he did. Did he sleep? Did he pace the floor? Did he stare them down? Maybe all of those things.Probably didn’t sleep too much. But I bet he prayed a lot to get himself through the night because when day light came, he was still alive. And all of those who had accused him were thrown into the lion’s den and the king was happy. It’s a fascinating story.

The most important one, I think, for you and I to think about and to learn from is the fact that prayer gets us through the tough times of life. Prayer is our connection to God.

When Daniel prayed, his mind was lifted to bigger things beyond the politics, and the money, and the wealth, and the trappings of the court, and the life that he had. When you and I pray, it lifts us toward God and puts our minds and our hearts on the most awesome, incredible being, and thoughts and images that we could ever have. And that’s God Himself, His purposes and His plan. And it can get us through tough times in life. They can get us through the darkest nights.Make the prayer as a part of your life. Don’t let anyone or anything compromise you on that vital key in a relationship with God.