Effective Prayer: Daniel's Example
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Prayer
Prayer
There are many biblical examples of prayers found in the Bible. Faithful prayer, persistent prayer, pattern of prayer. Who cannot use improvement in their personal prayer life? Prayer and exampled effective prayer is what we are looking at this morning.
There is no better example of prayer, resolved prayer, responsible prayer than the passage we have set before us this morning. As we look at this passage together let’s see what we can pick up, pick out about items from Daniel’s prayer that we can assimilate into our own prayer life.
An occasion and purpose for prayer (Dan9:1-3)
The body of prayer (Dan9:4-19)
True prayer (some facts to consider)
Setting, purpose, occasion for prayer
Setting, purpose, occasion for prayer
There is a particular situation, occasion that is upon Daniel when this prayer is offered up and there is much we can learn from the passage.
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 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.
Setting: Year is about 539-8 Darius the Meade was given the kingdom and assumed the throne.
The Babylonian kingdom was taken from Belshazzar and given to Darius the Meade. Who took and ruled over the Chaldeans at this time too.
31 So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.
We have already, previously studied about this transfer from the Babylonian kingdom to the rise of the Medo-Persian empire in Dan6:1-28
The time of this event in Daniels life is about 639-8 BC
Setting: Daniel is reading from writings of Jeremiah the prophet (Jer25:11-12; Jer29:10-11).
Jeremiah was acknowledge as a prophet by Daniel and was contemporary of Daniel. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem while Daniel is in Babylon.
Daniel is reading the writings of Jeremiah about the 70-years.
11 ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
Daniel wanted to know about the end of the 70 years that Jeremiah wrote about, the end of the desolation of Jerusalem (Jer29:10-11)
10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
The 70 years of desolation and devastation began in 606 BC with the first wave of deportations from Jerusalem, of which Daniel was a part (you can note down Dan1:1-6; or look at 2Chr36:5-7 for more info on this)
Interesting fact, just so you know, This is the time of the Medo-Persian empire and Darius is over Babylon region, but Cyrus the Persian is over all (2CHr36:21-23; Ezr1:1-4) .
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete. 22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah—the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,
23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!’ ”
and add to that
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: 2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 ‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 ‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’ ”
Again, Daniel was a man of resolved faith, he believed in the words of the prophet Jeremiah, he knew it was coming close to the end of the 70 years
Occasion: Daniel was resolved to understand the end of the 70 years (Dan9:3).
I want us to look at (v.3) again and see the position, the manner and the dedication to prayer that Daniel had.
3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
He gave attention to; or set his ace toward the Lord depending on version you are reading.
Gave attention and sought through prayer and supplication.
He did it coupled with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
You may note down a couple of other examples, similar manners of prayer like this (Neh9:1-2; Jonah3:5-9)
(Transition) now that we have the occasion and the purpose and the manner of prayer as well as seeing Daniels dedication, his resolve to prayer, now Daniel pours out his heart in earnest, responsible prayer.
The Body of Daniel’s Prayer
The Body of Daniel’s Prayer
What a beautiful example, a wonderful picture of patterned prayer to our awesome God (Deu7:21) who keeps covenant and has lovingkindness (Neh9:32) And this prayer is really broken down in three parts, Adoration (v.4); Confession (vv.5-14) and Petition (vv.15-19).
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,
Now that leads to the next section the confession, as we look at this, look at the responsibility taken too.
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, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
9 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
11 “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14 “Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
Daniel acknowledges his own sinfulness as well as Israel’s
Daniel is specific in the naming of sins (vv.8-11)
Daniel does not leave himself out from the sins, he identifies himself as a sinner too in the use of the words (we, us, our)
Daniel in naming the sins, these are the sins that led them into captivity in the first place.
Sinned against God (v.8)
They have missed the mark, missed God’s written commands, standard set for His people.
Rebellion against God (v.9)
They claim God, but rebelled against Him in their actions.
Turned from God and are disobedient to God (v.10, 11)
This is not a one time event, this is a lifestyle a constant turning from God’s good orderly direction from His law and His ways.
Transgressed against God (v.11)
God has spoken through the prophets and they have not listened, repented and returned.
Wrath coming, wrath deserved (v.12-13)
We have not obeyed God (v.14; also look at 2Chr36:15-21; Ezr9:6-9)
There is a contrast in the faithfulness and the righteousness of God and the unfaithfulness of Israel.
(Stop; time to ponder and consider) - can we do the same thing today? Don’t think this is just an Israel thing, for all fall short (Rom3:23) there is none good, no not one (Rom3:10-18) but that is another lesson for another day.
Daniel knows God is just and will keep His word and pass judgment on the rebellious people, the covenant breakers. He is faithful to His Word even when it means judgment as noted in (vv.12-14)
I think for us to get a good historical look at what is going on from another perspective let’s look at 2Chr36:15-21 together.
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon.
19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.
Daniel had been confessing on behalf of the people, a rebellious people whom the prophets spoke to the kings, princes, fathers and all the people about. You can read more also in Eza9:6-9 too when you have time.
To summarize their sin, Daniel wraps up the confession
15 “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.
(Transition) We have sinned, we have been wicked! and now that leads to Daniels faithful petition on behalf of self and the people.
Daniel’s Petition of God (Dan9:16-19; Jos24:17)
16 “O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. 17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
18 “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
In the spirit of Josh24:17 remembering God’s promise to keep covenant, Daniel calls on the God who is the the covenant maker and keeper.
17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
He prayed for restoration (v.17)
17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
(something to ponder) do we know people who need restoration? Do we pray for them? Eventhough we may know many may have brought calamity on themselves as it says in (v.16) we should still pray for them.
He pleaded for attention to his prayer (v.18)
I know we read the verse a few minutes ago, but I want us to glean from it a little more.
18 “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
God, incline Your ear, lean in, hear the plea of my heart
Open Your eyes to the desolation
Daniel knows that that they, Israel and he himself, have nothing to bring of merit, but that God in His history, in His promises, His mercy, His compassion, His grace does.
Daniel calls on the character and nature of God.
(Transition) from a heartfelt pleas for attention to a passionate plea for action now as we finish the petition
Daniel pleaded for action (v.19)
19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
Oh Lord hear
Oh Lord forgive
O Lord listen and take action
O Lord act now!
(Transition) - now may we take away from effective exampled prayer today.
True Prayer
True Prayer
We have looked at occasion, purpose, taking responsibility in the body of Daniel’s prayer to the plea, the petition, and the resolved faith and known history called upon by Daniel, now may we look and apply some from what we have looked at.
True prayer is based on the fact that God speaks (Dan9:2, Heb1:1)
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
Today we know how God has spoken previously through the prophets, and in the last days through the Son
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
True prayer seeks the glory of God (v.19)
True prayer appeals to the mercy of God (v.18)
True prayer expresses the true need of the people (vv16-17, 19 and Heb4:16)
So need to finish with this verse of faith!
16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Daniel had resolved faith that lead to effective prayer that was exampled for us from the passage, may we too have resolved faith and effective prayers that draw need with confidence to the throne of grace!
(Prayer slide) prayer; end recording (exit slide)