Being a Person of Prayer (Daniel 10:12)
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CPT: Daniel’s humility and purposefully seeking God in prayer resulted in his answer from God.
Purpose: Our church needs to move from praying sometimes to being a praying church.
CPS: Seeking to understand God’s ways needs humility and purposeful prayer.
Introduction
I have been struck quite a bit lately about our need for prayer. Today, I believe it is important to speak about Daniel, the man of prayer. Daniel was confronted with a lot of prophetic visions, and he sought to understand God. We may not be people who see prophetic visions, but like Daniel, we also want to be people who understand God. If you want to understand God, you must first be a person who submits to God in prayer. Seeking to understand God’s ways needs humility and purposeful prayer.
When I was 18, I got my first learners permit. I went to the DMV, took the test, passed it, and got my permit. For some reason, and I don’t remember why, we planned a trip to the Poconos, and someone needed to drive my grandmother to the Poconos in Pennsylvania. We were in New York City. I had just received my permit, and I was the only one who could drive my grandmother. So, without any drivers lessons or anything like that, I got in the drivers seat, and my grandmother was in the passenger seat. I don’t even know if this is legal, but I drove my grandmother from New York City to the Poconos in Pennsylvania with just my learners permit. I had never seen my grandmother pray so much. That day, my grandmother became a woman of prayer.
Often times, we forget prayer until the last minute. Have you ever heard someone say, “All we have left to do is pray?” As if that is the worst option. In fact, prayer is the first thing we should run to. How can we learn to be men and women of prayer?
Scripture Reading
In Daniel 10, Daniel is in mourning for three full weeks. He had a vision from an angel of God who came to give him an explanation of the future. I want to focus today on the angel’s description of Daniel.
Read Daniel 10:10-12
10 Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees.
11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling.
12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.
Pray
Daniel shows us so much about being people of prayer. Daniel was confronted with a lot of prophetic visions, and he sought to understand God’s ways. How can we be people who understand God’s ways?
First,
Seek to understand God's ways by being a person of prayer.
Seek to understand God's ways by being a person of prayer.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
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Daniel was a man who interceded in prayer before God.
In chapter 10, Daniel says he was in mourning for three full weeks. This mourning certainly included prayers. It was a combination of prayer and fasting, where it sounds like Daniel 1 again. Daniel is in a difficult place, and at this time in his life he knows the faithfulness of God.
This is not the first time we see Daniel in mourning and prayer. You see this kind of heartfelt, passionate prayer from Daniel in Daniel 9:3:
3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
What stood out to others about Daniel was his passion for prayer. More than his knowledge and his understanding, it was his devotion to prayer that rattled his enemies. You can learn a lot about someone through what their enemies are saying about them. Listen to what his critics say about him in Daniel 6:13:
13 Then they replied to the king, “Daniel, one of the Judean exiles, has ignored you, the king, and the edict you signed, for he prays three times a day.”
We see this as well in how he sought out to understand visions and prophecies.
Daniel interceded before God for understanding.
In Daniel 2, Daniel is up against a big problem. King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the wise men tell him his dream as well as the interpretation. It was something no one could do, but God.
How does Daniel find his answer? He goes to his friends, and look at what he says to them, in Daniel 2:17-18:
17 Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter,
18 urging them to ask the God of the heavens for mercy concerning this mystery, so Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of Babylon’s wise men.
Daniel and his friends interceded on the king’s behalf to God to learn the meaning of his dream. Daniel seeks to understand God’s ways in revealing this dream to the king. Seeking God’s ways means to intercede to God for understanding.
We also see Daniel interceding for the people of Israel.
Daniel interceded before God for others.
The prayer in Daniel 9 is an amazing prayer of intercession for others. Look at Daniel 9:4-5
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands—
5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances.
Daniel goes to his knees in prayer for his people. Notice that it’s not just their sin, but our sin. Daniel realizes that he is a sinner needing the grace of God. He and his people need the mercy of God.
I love what it says in Daniel 9:18:
18 Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion.
The basis and drive within him that calls him to prayer is not his own righteous deeds, but the abundant compassion of God. He knows who God is and that drives his prayer life.
The Lord showed us the necessity of being people of prayer.
The Lord in his ministry shows us the absolute necessity of being people of prayer. Being a Jesus follower means being a man or woman of prayer.
Luke wrote his Gospel by speaking to different people who knew Jesus. It’s amazing that, as they are remembering Jesus at the height of his ministry, where he is going around healing people and doing amazing things, where crowds were forming around him, what did Jesus do? What did they remember about Jesus? It says this in Luke 5:16:
16 Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
Jesus talks of his followers of people of prayer.
Matt. 5:44: Pray for those who persecute you
Matt. 6:5: Whenever you pray...
Matt. 6:9: You should pray like this...
Matt. 9:38: Pray to the Lord of the harvest...
Matt. 18:19: If two of you agree about any matter that you pray for...
Matt. 21:13: It is written, my house will be a house of prayer...
Matt. 21:22: If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
Matt. 26:41: Stay awake and pray...
It is clear that Jesus calls his people to pray.
Heading: I think Christians sometimes treat God like Facebook. Maybe you have about 700 friends that you are connected to on Facebook. You have this one person that you are connected to who is special to you. And you scroll on Facebook, you scroll in your feed, and sometimes you see a post in your feed from your friend, and sometimes you don’t. You know, maybe your friend has posted something, and you look at it in your feed and go, “That’s interesting. Look at that.” Maybe sometimes you think about your friend and go to stalk their page, and see if your friend has posted anything worth reading.
But Facebook has also has this Messenger feature where you can speak one-to-one with your friend. But you forget that your friend is on Facebook, or you don’t really like to interact with Messenger, or you forget that you can speak one-to-one with your friend. Unless it’s an emergency. Then you try to reach your friend in whatever way you can.
Christians have a direct connection with God because of Christ. They can call out to Jesus at any time through prayer. But calling out to Jesus is not meant to be a public post, where you impress everyone around you with your words. Now there is nothing wrong with public prayer, but the Lord tells us to go into a private place. To seek God in the privacy of our own rooms. God wants one-on-one alone time with his children. As Christians, we are called not just in a religious service, but in every day in our private spaces and times to reach out to God in prayer.
Seek to understand God's ways by being a person of prayer.
How did Daniel seek to understand God’s ways in prayer? Second,
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through humility.
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through humility.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
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Daniel’s desire to understand God’s ways came from a heart of humility.
The angel who spoke with Daniel referred to him as someone who humbled himself before God in prayer.
12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.
This type of humility is with intention. The verb “to humble” that is used to mean “to reduce (someone) in rank, character, or status.” The people of God are people that need to learn to submit themselves before God. The people of Israel wandered around in the desert because they needed to learn humility. It says in Deuteronomy 8:2:
2 Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Daniel would remember this in his own life and know that sometimes the trials and tribulations in our life are meant to humble us before God. They are meant to bring us to a place where we realize our utter dependence and reliance on God.
Daniel’s showed his conviction of humility through his chastisement of Belshazzar.
Daniel criticizes the king because he has not realized this lesson. King Nebuchadnezzar had come to place of humility before God after going through trials and tribulations. The Lord brought that king to a place of humility where he realized that “the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms, and he gives them to anyone he wants” (Daniel 4:32).
Daniel says that Belshazzar has not learned this lesson in Daniel 5:22:
22 “But you his successor, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.
King Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4:37 that “(God) is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Humility is key in our lives as we grow in Christ. God will bring us to a place of humility to realize our utter dependence on him.
Really, it’s not too much to say that a Christian without a prayer life is a Christian without a heart of humility before God. Prayer doesn’t make us Christians. Only faith in Christ does that. But prayer is a vital part of a healthy Christian life.
Prayer brings us to our knees in humility and submission before God. Prayer is the daily reminder that we need God for every area of our life. A life without prayer is a life that is attempting to be self-sufficient. A life of self-sufficiency has no place for the Christian, because it is a place where we will crash and burn. We must be people completely and totally dependent upon God to give us this day our daily bread.
Learning from Jesus involves a humbling of our hearts.
Jesus said that we should be people who should learn from him. The reason that he gives us for learning from him is interesting. Look at Matthew 11:28-29:
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart. The eternal God took on human flesh and dwelt among us so that we should learn from him and take on the humility that he showed us.
God is bringing us to a place of rest in him, but first he must break this wall of pride that exists in the human heart. There is no better teacher for humility than spending concentrated time on our knees before God crying out to him in prayer. It is on your knees learning from God and crying out to him that you will find rest for your souls.
A humble heart thinks first of others.
What’s interesting in talking about Daniel as a humble man of prayer is seeing how he interceded for others. Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 is beautiful. We saw earlier how he thought of others first, and interceded for others in prayer.
This is an encouragement for us as we intercede for our family members and friends in prayer. Thinking of others is key for the Christian in his prayer life. This thinking of others is what Paul refers to in Philippians 2:3-4:
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.
4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
When we spend time in prayer on our knees, it has a way of stripping us of our selfishness and pride, as we humbly submit ourselves before God, as we repent of our self-sufficiency and lean into being God-dependent Christians.
Humility in prayer takes our eyes off of ourselves, and says that I need to focus my eyes outward, on others. I believe focusing outward is why God has us here in this community, to reach people for God’s family. I believe that’s what God wants for us in prayer, to pray for our family members, our church, our co-workers, to pray for good for those around us.
Jesus says that we should pray to God that he would “forgive us of our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). God wants to move from people who harbor anger and hatred towards others to people who love others so well that when we are on our knees, we pray to God for others.
Heading: Andrew Murray said this about humility:
“Faith and humility are at root one… We never can have more of true faith than we have of true humility.
Sometimes God brings us to places in our life where we need to repent of our self-sufficiency and pride. We realize that all of our daily needs, our daily provisions, our life and our breath come from our Lord. The magnitude of life is that we need our Creator. There is no better cure for a proud heart than time spent on your knees before God, seeking him, crying out to God in humility and dependence on him.
Seek to understand God's ways by being a person of prayer.
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through humility.
Third,
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through a purposeful approach.
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through a purposeful approach.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
=======
Daniel purposed in his heart to understand God in prayer.
The angel describes the motivations of Daniel’s heart as being one of purpose. Look against at Daniel 10:12:
12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.
Daniel set forth a purposeful intention to seek out God and understand him in prayer. His prayer life had purpose, it had focus, and it had an intentional drive to seek to understand and know God.
I believe it is the drive of Daniel to know God in prayer that resulted in him being a man treasured by God. In verse Daniel 10:11, the angel says that Daniel is “a man treasured by God.” In fact, if you look at the prophet Ezekiel, he lists the prophet Daniel as an example of a godly and righteous man. It says in Ezekiel 14:14:
14 Even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would rescue only themselves by their righteousness.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
Ezekiel lists Daniel along with Noah and Job as men who were righteous before God. Righteousness always comes from our Savior, Jesus Christ. The pursuit of godliness in the life of Daniel is shown in his submission and dependence before God in prayer. That tells us a lot about being a church treasured by God. We need to move from a church that prays to being a praying church.
We can look at the purposeful intention that Daniel used to seek out understanding from God in prayer.
Daniel had a purposeful approach to seeking God in prayer.
In Daniel 6, we learn something specific about Daniel as a man of prayer. He set aside regular times in his day to call out to God in prayer. It says in Daniel 6:10:
10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
There was an intention in Daniel’s life that he would not go through his day without devoting himself to submit to God in prayer at least three times a day. What’s important here is not the number but the commitment to a disciplined prayer life.
Daniel disciplines himself as a man of prayer, pursuing God with intention and purpose. It’s an intention that we see in his prayer life in Daniel 9:3 that we looked at earlier.
3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Daniel sought God at regular times in his day. He sought God through fasting, as we saw him do in Daniel 1 and other places. He sought God in lament, here shown in sackcloth and ashes. We also see it in Daniel 10, where it says that Daniel was “mourning for three full weeks.”
All of these intentions, whether we are talking about regular times in the day to seek God, regular times of fasting where he deprived himself of certain foods to remind himself of his dependence on God, whether it was a time of mourning where he lamented and repented for sins, all of these things are rooted in the foundation of prayer.
The Lord showed a purposeful approach to seeking God in prayer.
I spent some time this week examining and studying the prayer life of our Lord. It was humbling. Jesus was a man of prayer. He prayed a lot.
In his ministry, Jesus prays both publicly and privately. In public, Jesus is shown having children brought to him to pray over them (Matt. 19:13). At his baptism in Luke 3:21, Jesus is praying. Jesus prays near his disciples. They are so impressed with his prayer life that they ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).
But what stands out to me is his private prayer life. Jesus had a vibrant prayer life. The Bible says that he would get up early in the morning while it was still dark to pray (Mark 1:35). He would go away to a mountain to pray (Mark 6:46). He would spend all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12). He would often go to deserted places to pray (Luke 5:16).
I ask then, how can we be a church that follows Jesus and not be a praying church? It is a question that strikes me in the heart, and I am encouraged by the mercy and grace of God to call us to be a praying church.
We are encouraged to have a purposeful approach to God in prayer.
We have seen the purposeful approach of the prophet Daniel towards prayer, and the powerful prayer life of our Lord Jesus. God calls his people to be a people of prayer. Look at these verses from the Epistles. In Colossians 4:2:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.
Also in Romans 12:12:
12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.
Last in Philippians 4:6-7:
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Prayer is not something separated for a few people in the church. Prayer is a gift from God for his people. There is a God that loves you and wants to spend time with you.
We are called by God to devote everything within us to prayer. Devote yourselves to prayer. Be persistent in prayer. In everything, through prayer and petition, present your requests to God.
I don’t know what trials and tribulations that you are facing. We have people in our church going through tremendous difficulties. I’m not saying that if you pray, your trials will go away. What I am saying is this: The peace of God is stronger than the trials you are facing. As you commit yourself to God in prayer, it says “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Heading: I know of a man who spent many years in a deep and dark depression. He went to different therapists and felt completely hopeless. He felt he would never know what it was like not to live in depression. He felt he would never know what it was like to enjoy his life again.
He was driven to a place where all that was left to do was the one thing he should have done in the first place. Pray. He prayed to accept Jesus in his life. He prayed believing in Jesus, trusting in him. Every day, that man would read the Bible, and he would pray.
There was something about spending time with God that began to transform that man. There was a peace of God that surpassed all understanding that began to guard that man’s heart and his mind.
I know about this man because that man was me. I know that if you can rejoice in the hope that you have in Jesus, that if you can be patient in the affliction and the trials that you face, and that if you can be persistent in prayer, God will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
Seek to understand God's ways by being a person of prayer.
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through humility.
Seek to understand God's ways in prayer through a purposeful approach.
Daniel was a man like all of us. What was the difference? He sought out God in humility and in purposeful prayer. God is calling his church to do the same. Seek out God in humility and purposeful prayer.
Have you heard the message today and realized that you need Jesus? Are you ready to put your faith in Jesus? We want to pray with you, and celebrate your new life. Please see one of our pastors after the service.
Blanks:
Prayer
Last Song
Doxology
24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you;
25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’
24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!
