Daniel: A Prophetic Life of Prayer, Fasting and “KINGDOM Building” Altar Time Will Alter You…You Can Then Alter Your World

“At Belshazzar’s command Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in Babylon. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.” Daniel 5:29-30. Did you ever wonder, “how this all could possibly have happened in just one day, October 12, 539 BC?

Indeed, we should ensure that we are well acquainted with the man Daniel, his prayer life and relationship with God. Daniel’s life gives us a great role model of prayer and fasting but also of personal character. His life of faithful service to his God, while in the service of a succession of kings, provides a superb model for living our lives in America as we experience a succession of Presidents. It was this consistency and intimacy with God that enabled Daniel to win great favor with the powerful pagan kings and continue to influence national affairs, as we read in Daniel 5:29.

We know the Book of Daniel begins abruptly with the defeat of Jehoiakim and capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, just as Jeremiah, in 25:8, had prophesied. The Jewish captives, their possessions, and temple treasures were taken some 900 miles east to Babylon, about a 4 month walk with no Burger King or Motel 6. Throughout the text, Daniel’s heart to serve his God with zero compromise takes on increasing importance. We should make a note of this. After 70 long years of captivity far from home, Daniel’s faithfulness and prayer life continued to bear much fruit. Daniel was surely aware of Jeremiah’s words recorded in 25:12, “when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon.”

Much of this fruit of prayer and fasting is manifest in the very abrupt change of rulers in our opening text: “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians was slain and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.” To find out how this happened we must go to another prophet, our old pal Isaiah, to discover what he had prophesied 140 years earlier. (read Isaiah 44:24-28; 45:1-3)

From this text we see that Isaiah named Cyrus as the deliverer of the Jewish people from captivity and recorded that Cyrus would order the temple to be rebuilt. 2 Chronicles 36 ends with much the same message, “This is what Cyrus King of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.” Again, amazing! Knowing all of this, Daniel continues to pray faithfully…as though he were giving birth to a new day. That is a great message for all of us in 2025. We should never pray, “Your Kingdom come Your will be done” in a routine manner, rather in an entreating, expectant and faith-filled manner.

There was a major obstacle to Daniel’s prayers being answered. We have probably all been there...an obstacle between us and the answer we earnestly seek. The obstacle here was the extensive two rings of “impenetrable walls” with 250 watch towers surrounding the city of Babylon that held Daniel and the Jewish people captive. Both ancient and modern historians give various estimates of the wall’s height, the lowest being around 80 feet, some say much higher, and most agree the walls were 30’ to 40’ thick. In addition, there were 8 major fortified gates, one of which controlled the Euphrates River which was flowing through the middle of the city of 200,000 inhabitants.

Remember Isaiah’s words, “who says to the watery deep, be dry, and I will dry up your streams, who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please.” From the writings of Flavius Josephus, we learn that the chief engineer in Cyrus’s army had the idea of diverting the Euphrates River over into some major marsh areas upstream from Babylon. The historian Herodotus, wrote that Cyrus must have timed this plan of diverting the river, with his attack around the date of a Babylonian feast when everyone would be in party mode. The engineering plan, digging 180 trenches on both sides of the river, delayed Cyrus’ plan for a full year, yes, to conform to Jeremiah’s 70-year prophesy. So, the army marched into Babylon, on God’s schedule, in water up to about mid-thigh on the men, ergo Daniel 5:30. Darius, mentioned as the new king, was a member of the palace guard who was placed in charge of Babylon by his king, Cyrus the Great. With the capture of Babylon, Cyrus “God’s shepherd”, ended the Babylonian Empire and formed the Achaemenid Empire.

You may have head the expression, “God is never late…He is always on time!” I would like to have been there just to see the expression on Daniel’s face. He has just been proclaimed to be #3 in the kingdom, was standing there clothed in his new purple robe, with gold chain around the neck and Cyrus arrives taking out Belshazzar. A great line from Daniel could have been, “I’ve been expecting you!” We should note that Daniel was now in position to share with Cyrus what Isaiah had said of him. Amazing!

So then as recorded in Ezra, Cyrus sends a detailed list of Jewish people, by family, back to Jerusalem. The whole company numbered 42,360, besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; 200 male and female singers, 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. The Jews traveled with the verified inventory of all temple treasures taken by Nebuchadnezzar, many of which were in use at the final Babylonian festival. These included including 5,400 articles of gold and silver such as dishes, pans, bowls, and goblets, some of which Belshazzar ordered brought in for the great banquet, Daniel 5:1-2. Cyrus also sent huge amounts of gold and silver, his personal representatives, and authorization to rebuild the temple. Our God really has an accounting of His people and all their stuff. We should make a note of this and be encouraged today, only 2564 years later. Amazing!

There are always many things that compete for our affections and our time. We don’t know how long Daniel’s three prayer times were, Daniel 6:10, we just know that it was “his custom”. We do know that we also are ‘creatures of habit’. If we could tarry 10 minutes in prayer three times a day, there might be times we could tarry longer, even more frequently. And so, there is no manual…no video…no charge card we just have the simple example of Daniel, the man whose prayer life influenced world history. This is so attainable for us and so important for the life of our nation at this critical juncture. But just think, what could be more pleasing to the Father than getting to talk with his sons and daughters regularly, even daily? We can do this…we must do this! Altar time will alter you! You can then alter your world!

Barney Barnes, 01-05-25, Former Promise Keeper National Ambassador for the Military and Prisons