The Table

Faithful Prayer Buddies Can Improve Progress

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

TITLE: The Table

SUBTITLE: Faithful Prayer Buddies Can Improve Progress

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/16941899

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

The Table

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

First, I'm going to pray:

Heavenly Father, please let us humbly accept the labels and names you give things; the principles and laws you have put in place; and grant us wisdom about what to speak and how to say it.

In Jesus' Name.

BY WAY OF BACKGROUND

The prophet Daniel had some prayer buddies. The Babylonian Empire named them Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. They survived some impressive obstacles. 

These three are mentioned in the first three chapters of the Book of Daniel.

They prayed with Daniel and he received not only an interpretation of a dream, but a replay of the dream itself.

During their ministry, Jesus came and visited them in the fiery furnace.

These three were proof that the God of Gods does reside with man. A new if not disturbing thought to the Babylonian emperor and many of his subjects.

The last mention of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego is in Daniel 3:30.

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

What happened to them after that promotion? 

I don’t have much information.

They're mentioned only during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Not Belshazzar; and not Darius.

An optimistic view is they just didn't find places in the subsequent kingdoms and had comfortable retirements. There are more pessimistic possibilities.

Daniel went on to tackle the interpretation of some difficult dreams of his own during the reign of Belshazzar. It looks like some of Daniel's prayer times took longer then.

Skipping ahead to more modern times.

I got a nudge from the Most High in early April 2025. I believe He said that if I wanted to write about spiritual warfare, I needed to have more people pray that I would know what I was talking about. My own prayers for wisdom were not enough. (BTW, that's not a unique thing. Daniel knew his prayers were not going to be enough the first night he and his thre buddies were sentenced to death in the second chapter of Daniel.)

Me? Write about spiritual warfare? With stories about dreams of rocks destroying statues? Stones crying out in the day of judgment? Crowds threatening to throw stones at prophets? How could I NOT write about spiritual warfare? I was already writing about spiritual warfare -- apparently not knowing much of what I was talking about...

I decided to keep my eye out to recruit someone to pray for me who isn't likely to get snared in the repercussions. I found two people that I trust. And they prayed for wisdom. In Jesus’ Name.

Within three hours, I found myself welcomed at a table where there was a discussion about "unembodied spirits". That's a big subject. It includes demons and angels and maybe more. I missed the first part of the discussion, but sat in on the end of it.

There were four men gathered near the end of a cafeteria-style table. I sat to the right of the man at the end of the table. He summarized the questions being discussed.

Things get pretty foggy pretty quick when talking about things we don't see. (Just think how foggy things can get when we talk about things we can see.)

At least in one case some at the table pressed me for an answer.

"Are there neutral spirits -- ones that can be won over to Christ by our prayers?"

My answer was no. Part of the reasoning is this: Jesus shed his blood to redeem people. Disembodied spirits don't have have blood. They can't be redeemed.

Another question was whether the devil could get saved. My answer was the same: No. Jesus became a man to shed his blood and redeem humankind. The cross is for redeeming humans, not redeeming demons or angels.

Do my answers leave loose ends? Maybe. But for the time we had at the table, it was enough.

I was cross-examined in a friendly atmosphere, but the short questions only needed short answers. 

I think we all got up from the table as friends and not enemies. Hopefully leaving something of substance for us to chew on for a few days.

IN THE FUTURE

In Jesus name, I hope to keep writing podcast episodes. I hope they are more on target than I can get with just my own prayers. And I hope for rewards for my prayer buddies as long as they are available to pray. Prayer buddies don't always last in this life forever. 

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC