How's Your Prayer Life?
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
This morning, we want to begin with the first few words of Daniel 9:4...
And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
Congregation, how’s your prayer life? Pastor Campbell, how’s your prayer life?
How long has it been since you talked with the Lord
And told him your heart's hidden secrets
How long since you prayed how long since you stayed
On your knees till the light shone through
How long has it been since your mind felt at ease
How long since your heart knew no burden
Can you call him your friend how long has it been since you knew that he cared for you
Or do we need to ask the Lord, as the disciples did in Luke 11:1:
And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
As we have already seen, Daniel was a man of prayer. Prayer is a very personal
endeavor. And yet, God allows us a peak into the prayer life of Daniel . Why?
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
It should be our desire to be men and women of prayer. It should be our desire that South Charlotte Baptist Church be a praying church!
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
The early church in the book of Acts was a praying church. We should be a praying church.
Prayer has been defined in many ways. I believe that most definitions of prayer are deficient in one way or another because prayer deals with an individual’s relationship with the Lord.
Evangelist Rich Tozour recently recommended to me a book entitled simply, “Prayer.” In the book, the author, Ole Hallesby, a Norwegian preacher from the 19th century, said...
“To pray is nothing more involved than to lie in the sunshine of His grace, to expose our distress of body and soul to those healing rays which can in a wonderful way counteract and render ineffective the bacteria of sin. To be a man or woman of prayer is to take this sun-cure, to give Jesus, with His wonder-working power, access to our distress night and day.”
“Prayer therefore consists simply in telling God day by day in what ways we feel that we are helpless. We are moved to pray every time the Spirit of God which is the spirit of prayer, emphasizes anew to us our helplessness, and we realize how impotent we are by nature to believe, to love, to hope, to serve, to sacrifice, to suffer, to read the Bible to pray and to struggle against our sinful desires.”
The prayer that we read here in Daniel chapter 9 is Daniel’s heartbroken response to the sins of his people.
Although prayer cannot be boiled down to a simple “formula,”there are aspects of prayer that we can see in this prayer of Daniel that can challenge us as we pray because if we are not careful, our prayer time can become merely a time where we say, “God, have a seat while I give You my Christmas list of what I ‘need.’”
Adoration
Adoration
And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
Adoration is the act of paying honor to God. It is worship that is paid to God for Who He is.
Daniel didn’t just barge into the presence of God. He came humbly realizing that he was not worthy to be in God’s presence but that God was worthy of all!
To help us realize the significance of this, we simply need to look at
All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
If an earthly king is worthy of that kind of honor and respect surely it should be easy for us to understand and realize that God Almighty is worthy of all the adoration that we can offer Him?!?!
We see Daniel’s adoration of God throughout his prayer:
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
The amazing fact of the matter, though, is that although we are not worthy to enter the presence of God, He invites us to come into His presence.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Confession
Confession
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
A vast majority of Daniel’s prayer is made up of confession. Confession is simply agreeing with God.
Notice what Daniel agreed with God about:
They had departed from God’s Word. (vs. 5)
They had not listened to the Word of God spoken by the prophets. (vs. 6)
They had trespassed God’s law. (vs. 7)
They had rebelled against God. (vs. 9)
They did not obey God’s voice. (vs. 10)
They did not walk in God’s law. (vs. 10)
They had transgressed God’s law. (vs. 11)
Do we confess or do we make excuses?
Daniel didn’t make excuses for sin. Instead he said, “God, you are completely justified in the judgement that you have brought upon us!”
Turn to and read Daniel 9:11-14.
Turn to and read Leviticus 26:1-14; 27-39.
When we pray, do we make excuses for our sins like Adam did in
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Don’t make excuses. Don’t try to justify. Simply confess.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
We do not live in a thankful society.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Don’t believe me? The next time you have the opportunity, hold the door open for people and see how many actually say, “Thank you.”
Daniel pauses for a moment to give thanks, “God, you brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand!”
When you pray, are you thankful or is it always “gimme, gimme, gimme?”
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
At the end of the service, at the very least, we should all bow the need before God and say, “Thank You!”
Supplication
Supplication
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Supplication is the act of asking but it includes the attitude of humility.
When you pray, do you humbly make your requests known to God or do you make demands of God?
Notice the requests that Daniel makes:
God, turn your anger and fury away from Jerusalem. (vs. 16)
God, cause thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary. (vs. 17)
God, hear our prayers. (vs. 18)
God, forgive us. (vs. 19)
But here is an important point. Why did Daniel make these requests?
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
Daniel begged, “God, please do these things for your sake…not for ours!
When we pray; when we make our requests know unto God, is it for our benefit or for God’s?
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Could it be that our prayers are sometimes not answered because we are asking, not for God’s sake, but for ours?
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
We should desire to be men and women of prayer. We should desire that South Charlotte Baptist Church be known as a praying church.
This morning, do you need to humbly come before God and adore Him?
Have you been justifying yourself to God? This morning do you simply need to confess - to agree with God about the sin in your life?
Are you thankful or demanding? This morning, do you simply need to come to God and say, “Thank you?”
Have you been asking for the wrong reasons? Maybe this morning you need to come and pray...
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Let’s pray!