Title Daniel 09:1-19 How to pray
Contents
How to Pray (Daniel 9:1-19)
Let's learn Daniel's earnestness / Our prayers should be for the glory of the Lord
Daniel is one of the people who was used more beautifully by God even in the midst of trials. He was taken captive by the Babylonian Empire at a young age, and even though the empire and emperor changed several times, he surprisingly revealed the greatness of God. This is the content of Daniel's prayers for the restoration of his people, the Lord's sanctuary, and the kingdom in captivity.
How should we pray in these difficult times?
1. Let's take the word of God again.
Although the place was a captivity, Daniel did not let go of the word of God. Daniel finds God's promise for the restoration of Jerusalem in God's Word (2). It seems that the world has collapsed and there is no hope, but God's Word has promises of restoration and hope. God's people have what the world does not have. It is God's promise. God's promises are all yes in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).
When the times are getting dark, the country is struggling, and the churches are losing their strength, it is God's promises that we must hold back. The promise of God's hope for this age, this country, and the churches of this earth is clear. We must turn our eyes to the word of God, seek it, and hold it firmly by faith. At that time, like Daniel, we can pray powerfully with a clear and unwavering vision.
2. Let's pray and confess ourselves first.
Daniel did not hold back or just sit on the promise of the restoration of his people and kingdom. He immediately began to pray and confess (4). Because Daniel had God's promise, he could pray more earnestly and confess. What we need more than anything at this time is the knee of prayer and the form of confession that tears our hearts.
We do not find through the book of Daniel Daniel's great sin before God. Is there anyone else who has set his will before God and lived a holy life like Daniel? Nevertheless, Daniel fasted, put on sackcloth, put on ashes and prayed and confessed that Jerusalem had become desolate and that shame (7), curse (11), and calamity (13) came upon his people (4). ).
Let us pray like this from ourselves. Before speaking to others, blaming others, and complaining to the world, let us pray to God, confessing that we have sinned, rebelled, evildoers, and rebellious, and have departed from the ordinances and ordinances of the Lord like Daniel did (5). Daniel acknowledged that all that God does is just (14). One of the things we can do before a just God is to confess, repent, and return to His promises to be reestablished.
3. Let us pray by relying on the great mercy of the Lord.
In the earnest prayer of confession, Daniel continues to ask for and depend on one thing. It is the mercy of the Lord. Daniel confesses that all of us, kings, princes, ancestors, and all the people rebelled against the Lord (6), but the Lord has mercy and forgiveness (9) and asks for the Lord's grace. Daniel does not depend on his own righteousness or on the righteousness of the Israeli community, but on the great mercy of the Lord (18).
God has great mercy that covers all our rebellion. Our Lord has great mercy, which we do not have, for pardoning and renewing all our transgressions and iniquities. Our Lord has great mercy that is more than enough to restore the shame, curse, and calamity that came with the whip. Because the God of justice has this great mercy, we can pray like Daniel. “I trust in Your great mercy, Lord, hear me, Lord, forgive me. Hear, Lord, do it. Do not delay.”
4. Pray for the Lord Himself.
The climax of Daniel's earnest prayer is that not all of the purpose of prayer is focused on himself and on Israel. Daniel focused on the Lord Himself, pleading for the restoration of the Lord's sanctuary and the restoration of His people. “For Your sake, let Your countenance shine upon Your desolate sanctuary” (17). “Do not delay, my God, do it for yourselves” (19). Daniel prayed this way because your sanctuary and your people have your name (19). For your name must not be profaned because of your people and your sanctuary.
We desperately need this prayer now.
“In this age, the churches will rise again, the Lord's people will be restored, and the nation will prosper again with the vision of the Lord. The purpose of all of this is for the glory of the Lord to appear again. The purpose is that the will and vision of the Lord be replanted, and that the things of the Lord will be re-presented by the Lord's reign. Let it not become our goal in this age to prosper for ourselves, for your house on this earth, and for this nation itself.”
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