When King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian Empire carried thousands of prisoners of war from Israel back to Babylon, he never dreamed that their God would come with them.

Nebuchadnezzar educated the best and the brightest captives at royal expense as a strategy to develop loyal young leaders to help lead his growing empire. One of the stars of this program was a smart young Jew named Daniel who was gifted at interpreting dreams.

Once when Nebuchadnezzar had a puzzling dream, he demanded that his royal astrologers tell him the dream and its interpretation. It was a clever approach, for by not telling them the dream, he prevented them from faking an interpretation. When the astrologers said this was impossible, the king added more pressure by threatening them with death if they didn’t come up with the answer. Daniel was on the execution list so he asked for an audience with the king. Nebuchadnezzar gave Daniel twenty-four hours to come up with the answer. Daniel immediately asked three godly friends to pray for him. During that night God told Daniel the king’s dream and the interpretation. When Daniel returned to report the dream and its interpretation to the king, the king was so impressed that he rescinded the death sentence for the other astrologers as well.

Daniel trusted God but he didn’t try to go it alone. He enlisted the prayer support of three faithful friends. There is great strength in the community of faith. When we come to God with our requests standing shoulder to shoulder with other believers, we get far more than moral support, we get the power of their prayers.