Daniel 9

Edward E Wade

A Study Of Words • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Daniel 9

Prayer

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A proper posture and attitude towards prayer

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A Study Of Words July 21, 2013 New Light Baptist Church

Turn To Daniel 9

Prayer is much more than what you say

It’s what You believe and trust about God

It’s also who you are on the inside

If you don’t believe what you are saying and trust who you are saying it to…then it’s just a bunch of words.

Daniel was committed and dedicated to His God.

He knew God and he knew how to approach Him in prayer

Daniel had the proper attitude towards God so his prayers followed after a spiritual pattern.

The attributes and attitudes of prayer are:

Humility towards God, confession before God, and Reverence in the presence of God.

The elements that make up the proper pattern of prayer are:

* Prayer is in response to the word of God

* Prayer is grounded in Gods will

* Prayer is characterized by fervency

Stand And Read Daniel 17-19

17 "Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 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 do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.''

Our word for today is prayer

One Point: Approach God With Humility When You Pray

Daniel has been captive in Babylon about 67 years

The year that he was thrown into the lions den he was reading Jeremiah, which said the captivity would last 70 years.

We read verses 17-19 and we saw that Daniel was asking God to do something but this was the last thing he did.

Daniel followed a proper pattern for prayer.

His prayer was in response to the will of God…look at verses 1-2

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord, given through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel knew that God already planned to free them from the captivity in 70 years.

So his prayer was responding to Gods word and it was grounded in Gods will.

His prayer was also fervent…look at verse 3

3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

He prepared his heart and mind before he approached God.

Daniel starts by praising God and recognizing His Greatness

4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

Now Daniel confesses his sin to the Holy one

5 "we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 "Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 "O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. 8 "O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

Daniel acknowledges that God is a forgiving God and continues to confess

9 "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

10 "We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 "Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 "And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such never has been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

Just like us…they still would not do right despite the warnings.

13 "As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

Daniel admits that it is their fault not Gods

14 "Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.

Daniel is preparing to petition God to keep His word and free them according to what His word says.

15 "And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly! 16 "O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

Daniel has not been hasty to dive right in and start asking for stuff.

He has praised God, confessed to God, thanked God for being forgiving, and only after all that does he ask God to do something for Him.

And what he is asking of God is what He already knows God said He was going to do anyway

So in other words…since you said you were going to do it. I am asking you to do it.