Daniel 10:12-13
New International Version (NIV)
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
Archibald Gracie relished his swim on April 14, 1912. The ships pool was a six-foot tank of salt water, heated to a refreshing temperature." In no swimming bath have I ever enjoyed such pleasure before." But his account went on to say, "How near it was being my last plunge. Before the dawn of another day I would be swimming for my life in a mid-ocean temperature of 28 degrees!" After his swim that Sunday night aboard ship, Colonel Archibald Gracie retired to his cabin and fell asleep, only to be awakened by a "sudden shock and noise." Dressing quickly he ascended to the deck and learned the ship had collided with an iceberg.
During the same moments in New York, his wife's sleep was disturbed. Seized by sudden anxiety, she sank to her knees holding her prayerbook, "which by chance opened to the prayer 'For Those At Sea.'" She prayed earnestly until about 5 A.M. when the burden lifted. she rested quietly until eight when her sister "came softly to the door, newspaper in hand, to gently break the tragic news that the Titanic had sunk."
What happened in the meantime to her husband? I was in a whirlpool, swirling around and around, as I still tried to cling to the railing as the ship plunged to the depths below. Down, down, I went: it seemed a great distance ...(Ascending back to the surface) I could see no Titanic . She had entirely disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean without a sign of any wave. A thin light-grey smoky vapor hung like a pall a few feet above the sea. There arose the most horrible sounds ever heard by mortal man, the agonizing cries of death from over a thousand throats... Colonel Archibald Gracie later wrote: I no of no recorded instance of Providential deliverance, he wrote, more directly attributed to...prayer.
Brothers and Sisters as Daniel always went to his knees and humbled himself before God, the scripture tells us that his words were heard. The same being with the prayers of Mrs. Archibald Gracie as she fell to her knees in prayer for her husband. God loves, and requires our honesty every time that we communicate with him. Telling God what is truly on our hearts is the best way to make sure that our words are truly heard.
Praying in Truth and Humbleness
Pastor Tim
