Prayer Devotional

Daniel 9

I want to talk to you about Daniel’s prayer in chapter nine. Because what we see is Daniel praying for the nation of Israel, the way we need to pray for America. Daniel was living in captivity, yet He is praying for his people.

In the same way, we are living in captivity, to a spirit of wickedness that seeks to destroy our country, and we have an obligation to pray for our people and our leaders.

We need to pray God would deliver the hearts of our nation and He would turn us back to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!!

 We are responsible as citizens to-do our part, to pray for our people, our nation, and our leaders.

Well in Daniel chapter 9 we see a great example of Godliness. You can sense the burden, and responsibility Daniel feels for Israel. As he turns to the Lord in prayer, and he seeks God’s forgiveness for the nation.

Daniel 9:2-7

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

6 “Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.

7 “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame

In our passage Daniel is starting to realize his time in captivity is almost over. He is an old man now, and he knows he probably never will return to Jerusalem again.

But he has a sense of hope for his people, and he turns to the Lord in prayer. Daniel teaches us we have a responsibility to pray for our people as well. We should pray our nation to be restored to God through Jesus Christ.

Notice Daniel had a reason to pray, because He knew the scriptures. Vs. 2 tells us, He knew what God said through the prophet Jeremiah.

That captivity was only going to last for 70 years. He knew His people were going to be returning home but nothing had changed. They still had not repented of their sin, and Daniel was concerned.

Let me ask you this, are you concerned about our nation? Are you concerned that our sin is growing worse everyday, and we are growing further away from God? I think like Daniel, we have a reason to pray for our nation.

I don’t want you to miss the fact that Daniel refers to the book of Jeremiah here. That tells us, Daniel knew the Word of God, and he knew that if he was going to pray for his people, he had to do it according to the Word.

Daniel was a man who diligently studied the scripture. He built his life on it, and you see that in his prayer. He gives us a great example of praying according to the scripture.  The truth is, If we do not have a disciplined time with God’s Word, chances are we don’t have a disciplined prayer life either.

Time in God’s Word should automatically turn our hearts to prayer. It should humble us and convict us.

I am reminded of 2 Chr. 7:24 where God says, “If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I would hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.”

Daniel shows us how to do that. He shows us a man who would turn and seek the face of God for the forgiveness and healing of his nation.

What is interesting to me about Daniel is: he wasn’t responsible for the transgressions of the people, but notice his confession. Vs. 5 says we have sinned against You. We have acted wickedly and rebelled.

Daniel was just a boy when he was taken prisoner from his home in Israel. However, they were his people, and he shares in their burden of their sin with God. He identifies with them and includes himself in their transgressions.

We need to think about that when it comes to sharing the burden of America. We might not participate in its sin, but we are citizens of this country, and we have a responsibility to pray for our people.

Billy Graham once said, “To get nations back on their feet we must first get down on our knees.” We are either a part of the problem, or we are a part of the solution. We are either praying for the sin of our nation, or we are ignoring it.

Daniel understood the nation of Israel deserved everything they were getting from God, because they had dishonored Him. And Daniel’s heart was broken for them.

And he also knew nothing had changed. They were going home and they were every bit as sinful now as when they were first taken captive.

Daniel knew that without repentance and faith they were headed for destruction again.

Listen this is not just Israel’s problem it is the problem we face in America today. Our people don’t even realize they have a problem.

They don’t even realize their desperate need for repentance, and I think we as Christian leaders are failing to pull the fire alarm!!! I feel like It’s not until there’s a crisis in our country, that we begin to pray and seek God for it.

I can’t help but think as I read this passage in Daniel we should be just as passionate as he is in prayer.

We should be seeking the face of God, pleading with Him for the needs of our families, our nation, and the world.

Jesus said in Matt. 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. We have been given a mandate to make a difference in our world, but are you asking? Are you seeking, and knocking?

What we learn from Daniel is how important it is to pray for our people, our nation, and our leaders. We take things like peace and prosperity for granted. And while we live at ease, we grow complacent.

We fail to understand God. We fail to understand the scriptures, and we fail to pray. We take for granted that everything in our world will continue just as it has, and God tells us it will not.

The time clock is ticking, and I can’t help but wonder where we are at in our commitment to Christ.

Just as Daniel pleaded with God to forgive his sin and the sin of the people, we need to plead with God to forgive our sin.

The good news is we have the power of God that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the answer and we can turn to Him in faith and dedicate our country to Him in prayer.